Spoken word artist. Playwright. Author. Stand-up comic. BELOWSKY has been many things throughout his rich and varied career.
However, in something of a first for the Mancunian-born star, he is teaming up with ALAN McGEE to release a new single on the Creation 23 label: ‘2020 Ball Drop’.
LISTEN ON: YOUTUBE HERE || STREAMING HERE
Out today (18 December), the pop-poet gets on his soapbox to have the final say on a year like no other. And backed by thumping beats too.
Part rant, part poem, ‘2020 Ball Drop’ catalogues exactly where 2020 went wrong.
“The lyrics came to me in a flash during this Covid19 pandemic, yet it really transpired from the news.” says Belowsky. “Absorbing all this information from CNN and other news outlets over the last year. In my mind I kept seeing the New York Ball Drop [on New Year’s Eve] and everything was on track as usual for the year. But in March the world stopped. 2020 Ball Drop is really a play on words…”
In an attempt to purge the constant stream of misinformation and misery implanted into his subconscious over the course of the year, Belwosky spewed a stream of his singular spoken-word: ‘2020 Ball Drop’. From vaccines to covid-19, a sense of community to herd immunity, technological giants to tear-gas and bullets; ‘2020 Ball Drop’ is a whirlwind, time-warp trip through this most hellish of years, from its optimistic beginnings through to its bitter end.
Scored by 6-minutes of post acid-house squelches and primordial techno chugs reminiscent of The Orb or 808 State, ‘2020 Ball Drop’ sees Belowsky working in collaboration with esteemed producer Nicko Mezzino. Operating in his private studio (AKA The Bunker) in Fremantle, Australia; the poet supplied the words while Mezzino wrote the music, mixed and produced.
Set to be one of the final releases on Alan McGee’s Creation 23 label, this is not the first time Belowsky and McGee have crossed paths. With a mutual friend in Andy Bell ( Ride/ Oasis), the pair had been aware of each other’s work for some time, but a chance encounter at the Standard Hotel West Hollywood in LA in 2007 would set them on a collision course for their creative collaboration this year. As Belowsky reflects:
“Alan took my gig there from something average to something out of this world and it became mental, a happening, it was off the hook.”
Throughout his extraordinary career Belowsky has established himself as a true people’s poet. Living and travelling all over the world, he has performed at CBGBs in New York City to the Sunset Strip in LA, and hosted the Death Disco in London as just some of his many career highlights. Straddling the worlds of comedy, theatre and music, Belowsky has opened for The Charlatans at the world famous Cuckoo Club for Death Disco TV, hosted the Tony Wilson Experience in Manchester and worked with Andy Bell (Ride/Oasis) on various artistic projects. Currently residing in Perth, Australia, Belowsky has become an established media personality Down Under too. In 2016, he released his memoir: ‘Stay Greasy Baby’, a warm and candid reflection on a life well lived.
Neither a serious outlook nor a playful wit can stand alone, but Belowsky has both. Famed for his prolific lyrical rants, it seems there’s just about time for one more before 2020 grinds to a halt.
“I'd like to think that if aliens were to land in 2000 years from now and they heard “2020 Ball Drop” they would get an insight into what was happening on the planet earth in 2020. It would be interesting to know what the little green men would think of it. And would it become popular on their planet?...”
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