Black Rocker Bares His Soul

Andrew Roachford, the lean lead singer and keyboards player for the British band Roachford, was sitting in a nearly empty poolside restaurant of his West Hollywood hotel one afternoon, sniping at today’s soul music and American soul singers.

“I get bored with soul,” said the 24-year-old black Englishman, guzzling hot chocolate, trying to stay warm on a gray, chilly afternoon that wasn’t really ideal for sitting by a pool.

This anti-soul diatribe surfaced while Roachford--who was very chatty and often brash--was singing the blues about being pigeonholed as a soul artist.

“If you’re black, supposedly you automatically like soul,” Roachford noted sarcastically. “That’s what a lot of whites think anyway. But I find soul music too sweet. What people like Luther Vandross and Freddie Jackson do is too sweet, it doesn’t have any kick to it. It’s just boring. It will put you to sleep. Bobby Brown is OK, but just OK.

“The way most soul music is now. If someone calls you a soul musician, that’s almost an insult. I like soul music that grabs you--that jumps out at you. Like the way Little Richard used to sing. He was the most soulful singer I’d ever heard in my whole life.”

Roachford, you see, is a rocker.

“I’m trying to be like Sly Stone and they’re putting me in a category with Luther Vandross or Bobby Brown,” he said.

What Roachford does--as shown on the debut Epic album “Roachford,” which features the current Top 40 hit “Cuddly Toy”--is mesh R&B; vocals with rock guitar, creating a searing funk-rock sound. Some of the material--all written by Roachford himself--is laced with a myriad of elements, including blues--Roachford’s personal favorite--and ‘60s soul. But the dominant sound is rock--with that guitar thundering throughout, boldly defining the music.

This rock-dominated sound plunks him into the rock category, basically a no-man’s land for blacks.

“I’m very different,” Roachford said, gloating a bit. “I’m black and I play rock. In people’s minds, blacks and rock don’t go together. Black rock star . That’s hard for people to understand.”

Roachford was often hard to understand too, speaking fast but surprisingly softly, his British accent operating like a thrasher, slicing and chopping words.

“Black people can play rock,” he said. “People should listen to the album.”

Smugly, he added, “We’re pioneers.”

In Britain perhaps, but not in this country.

In America, Living Colour, with its Top 10, million-selling album “Vivid,” has already proved there’s room in the rock marketplace for a black band. Living Colour is also on Epic, which seems to have become the home of black rock. Roachford owes some of the success of “Cuddly Toy” to the pioneering efforts of Epic and Living Colour. In fact Epic might not have imported Roachford from England if Living Colour hadn’t paved the way by cracking the rock color barrier.

Roachford, who grew up in a music-oriented family in a tough section of South London, has been into music--blues particularly--since he was a youngster. But in his teens, though, his tastes gravitated toward rock.

“I’ve always been attracted by the aggression in rock,” he pointed out. “I like an edge to my music. I like it to have power and feeling--and a bit of thunder to it. That’s rock for me.”

When he decided to form his own band, which includes drummer Chris Taylor, guitarist Hawi Gondwe and bassist Derrick Taylor, he finally settled on a rock-based sound.

“I knew it would be easier to get a deal if I played soul because it would be easier for a record company to market me as a soul artist,” he said. “But I have to play music that is rock-based. It’s the music I feel most comfortable with, the music that’s the best form of expression for me.”

England didn’t take to Roachford right away. Early last year, Roachford’s first singles were ignored by English radio, but the band finally scored there in January.

“Radio thought it was a bit of a risk--a black group playing rock, with rock guitar running through the music,” he recalled. “They thought people wouldn’t like it.”

Undaunted, Roachford decided to take the music to the people, but finding places to play was a problem at first. “I couldn’t play soul and hip-hop clubs because I play the wrong kind of music,” he said. “There aren’t that many rock clubs in England. Black rock bands are an oddity. We just played where we could. It wasn’t easy, but we didn’t give up.”

Touring with prominent artists like Terence Trent D’Arby--an early Roachford fan--also helped the band gain acceptance.

“While we were touring last year, this buzz was created about us,” Roachford explained. “Radio heard about us and decided to play the singles. So singles that didn’t get much attention the first time were re-released. They caught on the second time. All of a sudden, radio thought we were the best thing since fried rice.”

How is he regarded by black fans in England?

“With mixed feelings,” he replied. “They’re happy for my success, but some see me as a musician who’s abandoned my roots. But that’s ignorance talking. The roots of rock are blues, and blues is black music. But when you explain that, people don’t want to hear it.”

As with any rock band, most of Roachford’s fans are white--which he somewhat laments.

“Not that many black people see us,” he said. “I would like more blacks to see us but they don’t go to clubs and they’re not that into rock music. Blacks are my people. I’d love it if we were a favorite among blacks. You’d like your own people to be proud of you and see you in all your glory. With us, though that may never happen.”