Big Boss Man (band)

Big Boss Man (band)

Nasser Bouzida, who was brought up in Harlow but formative year were spent in Newbury, Berkshire had a strong love in Latin music. When he was a teenager, Nasser liked composing mini rock-operas in the style of Showaddywaddy. When he was in his early twenties he appeared on the low-budget cableTV show “Jenny Powell’s Hot”, due to him becoming a pioneer of the sports-casual movement. On the set of this show he first met the band Bloodvessel, one of whom was Trevor Harding. A quote from their website describes the pair:

"Bouzida and Harding soon formed an unbreakable bond through their love of the Portsmouth Sea life centre and Roxy Music. After witnessing a life – changing gig by world music surrealists “Bandanna” at the now infamous Bedford Arms, the two formed “Espadrille”."

The story continues:

"Their first big break came when Sea Link offered them a glamorous five show per day three-month contract. (Including two free hot meals per day and unlimited access to the mini-bar) On one particularly choppy entertainment voyage the duo bumped into Coffin Nails’ tattooed psycho dog-man “Mad-Man” Scott Milsom and indie sex-fiend / owner of Europe’s thinnest ears; Nick Nichols.

That ferry journey changed their lives and on that November day in 1998, the band now known as Big Boss Man was formed. The original lineup was and still is Nasser Bouzida a.k.a. “The Bongolian” on organs, percussion and occasional vocals, Scott Milsom on the bass guitar, Trevor Harding on the electric guitar and Nick Nicholls on drums. In the first half of 1999, the band played a gig at the "Blow Up" when it was situated at the Wag club in Soho, London. According to the band's website they were loved by the crowd, which had filled the club to capacity as was normal.

"as usual the club was packed and the crowd absolutely loved the Big Boss Sound. They were then immediately signed up to the club's very own "Blow Up" record label."

Afterwards, the band made their first release, as part of the V2 Blow Up compilation "Blow Up A Go-Go" with the demo version of the track Humanize, (recorded in the band's very own Ramshackle studios). This track was then re-recorded and released as the title track on the band's own debut album.
In 2000, the band appeared in and wrote the soundtrack for the short comedy film "Sweet". This film starred the UK comedy duo The Mighty Boosh (Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding), who were awarded the Perrier Best Newcomers award of Edinburgh Festival. As well as providing the soundtrack, the band are in the film in the club scenes and as extras in the bar scenes.
November 2000 also saw the inclusion of "Xmas BOOGALOO"on the compilation album "It’s A Cool, Cool Christmas".