CULTURE EDITION
MUSIC (G)RIFFING OFF THE GREATS As the group readies themselves to play at The Cambridge Club Festival, we get to know the front man behind funk band Mr Griff
Words MIRIAM BALANESCU
F or Ian Griffith – the front man after whom funk-adjacent Cambridge collective Mr Griff is named – his present-day sound boils down to his youth. “I have memories of my mother, who, every time I came home from school, would have Motown Records on and she’d be dancing and singing in the kitchen,” Ian recalls. “My dad ran a mobile disco back in the 80s. I used to go with him when it was his turn for parenting duty.” A drummer-turned-songwriter, Ian took the leap from session musician to solo artist during the pandemic. “I’ve gone from being behind the kit to in front of it,” he explains. “I lost my mum at the start of the pandemic and I’ll never forget walking
out of the hospital after she passed away. The whole world was silent. I remember thinking the whole world is echoing my emptiness. I felt like a whole new chapter in my life was coming; and then I started discovering I could write songs and had all this stuff to write.” Now, two and a half albums in, Mr Griff is a fixture of the Cambridge festival circuit. At The Cambridge Club Festival, the group will be serving up a medley of the old and new. “I’m excited about the performance of new material,” Ian says, “especially on a larger scale. There’ll be a little insight into the new album there as well.” Despite only getting started four years ago, the name Mr Griff crops up repeatedly
on line-ups. The group play regularly at the Junction too. “I’m someone who grows roots,” Ian says. “I ran the Funk Jam at La Raza for about seven years, and I also had my own night which was called Cambridge Jazz Funk Soul. “I want, for us as a band and me as an artist, to be able to proudly say: ‘Yes, we are from Cambridge, we are representing the city.’” In its few years, the group has also expanded exponentially – from an initial five members to now numbering eight. If money wasn’t a limit, Ian admits: “I’d have a 20-piece band.” Watch this space. Mr Griff will be playing at The Cambridge Club Festival on 9 June. Tickets available at thecambridgeclub.co
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