• NAME: Chris Colonna
  
• STAR SIGN:Aquarius
  
• ROLE IN BAND:Producer
  
• FIRST RECORD:Vanilla Ice
  
• FAVE POP STAR:Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, All the girls
  
• TOP 10 FAVOURITE SONGS:Can’t remember
  
• WORST NIGHTMARE:Bunyips
  
• WHERE YOU WANT TO BE IN TEN YEARS?Everywhere
  
• MODE OF TRANSPORT:Foot, Bike
  
• LAST BOOK:Ali G
  
• FAVE SNACK:Fruit
  
• WHO IS YOUR HERO?Basquiat
  
• WHY WOULD I BUY YOUR RECORD?Cause it’s the best
  
• WHAT’S YOUR GREATEST VICE?Do what ever I want to do
  
• ARE YOU SUPERSTITIOUS?Yeah

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• NAME: Pia
  
• STAR SIGN: Cancer
  
• ROLE IN BAND: cute lil mc/screamer girrrrrrl
  
• FIRST RECORD: salt n pepper very necessary
  
• FAVE POP STAR: hate to say it,, but damn eminem can come with me anytime..
  
• TOP 10 FAVE SONGS:

  y maps -yeah yeah yeahs, Hold me - the Beatles, Son of a preacher man -Aretha Franklin, groove is in the heart-by those people, Whats the scenario- tribe called quest, simon says- Pharoh monche, allllllllllllllllllllllll OF wu-taNG,,,ok thats enough
  

• WORST NIGHTMARE: gettin stuck in a room with Shakaya
  
• WHERE YOU WANT TO BE IN TEN YEARS: in the amazon flyin wit the faeries
  
• MODE OF TRANSPORT: trusty lil broom-broom
  
• LAST BOOK: ummmmm i so forget..chris bought me the ali g bible thing...pretty crap
  
• FAVE SNACK: Brie Cheese
  
• WHO IS YOUR HERO? MiMi
  
• WHY WOULD I BUY YOUR RECORD? Coz i'm on it why else?
  
• ARE YOU SUPERSTITIOUS? yeh
  
• WHAT'S YOUR GREATEST VICE? i'm too tired...can't think...need sleep...
  
  
  
  
  
  

OCT2003
Dec 1 sees the Bumblebeez drop their second aural A-bomb in the Printz EP saga. This time around it’s Red Printz, a sleazier, more mature but still organic update on the fluid Beez sound, with ViLa’s venomous flows and brother Chris’ illest production to date. JJJ have lifted Pink Fairy Floss onto the airwaves fresh out of the bag, check the kidz out at Homebake next month.

AUGUST 2003
Modular Recordings latest protégé will be spreading their primal stage energy at Livid in October. With the White Printz EP out and raving reviews from NME, Jockey Slut and ID in UK, the Braidwood band is planning to perform live for the English geezers fairly soon. Save your date (and some dough)…It’s worth the trip.

MAY 2003
"Some people are good at cooking where as I am just good at making beats” says Chris Colonna. Front man and brains behind the Bumblebeez, the twenty two year old possesses a capability of patching, sampling and looping sounds, beats and vocals in the way Mozart used to do with concertos. White Printz, Colonna’s debut EP features rough as guts tracks mixed with dirty rock sounds, hip hop rhymes and electro grooves that you’d never imagine compatible. The cocktail of genres sound wicked, raw and incredibly refreshing and brings to mind vintage Beck ,Beastie Boys and even Sonic Youth. Music however is not Colonna’s only passion. Art and tennis are also his “things”. While studying at the Canberra School Of Art, Last year Colonna won a six -months scholarship to study at the Pratt institute in Brooklyn. “I am glad I did art and not music at Uni. It gave me a broader vision on things,” he says. Living in NYC, the young Colonna managed to play in the New York State tennis team, submerge himself in the local underground hip hop scene and did an internship for the prestigious record label Astralwerks. “It was such an eye opening experience. I’d go back there any time,” says Colonna. And well he might with Astralwerks being one of several labels desperately trying to ink a deal with him. Time however is one thing he doesn’t have allot of at the moment. With his sister Pia , aka Queen Vila, and a bunch of friends the ‘wood ‘, Colonna is busy putting the finishing touches on the Beez second EP. The band just performed live in Sydney's Annandale Hotel and Melbourne's Revolver. Their chaotic and refreshing performances attracted hundreds of new raving fans.

Somewhere between Braidwood and NY, The Bumblebeez were created.

Led by Chris Colonna, who hung around Brooklyn for a couple of months on an arts scholarship, The Bumblebeez are a loose collective of Braidwood mates who record tracks in Chris's bedroom. The results are a dirty tumble of tunes and beats that sound like everything and nothing you've heard before.

With Chris is Surya, his best mate, on fuzzy bass and his kid sister VILA (her folks call her Pia) who has rhymes bubbling away in her head. When they spill out over the mike, Chris is there to catch them all and create an aural background for her words. Then there is whoever else is hanging around, like Willy, Karuna and Anders who make their presence felt on the tunes.

They pulled a few tracks together, put it on a disc and sent it into Fly TV who were running a competition. Fly loved it and The Bumblebeez took out first prize. Triple J Unearthed the Canberra region and guess who took the top spot? The Bumblebeez. White Printz is their first EP.

They set down the tracks for White Printz in just under a month and the results are whatever you make of it. Like we said, it sounds like everything you've heard before - Beastie Boys, White Stripes, Neptunes, Missy Elliot, Beck to name a few - but you've never heard them like this.

Chris puts sounds together like a Madhatter's jigsaw puzzle - and not a piece is missing. There are a whole bunch of influences on the record, but The Bumblebeez make them their own and play with all the authenticity of a ground-breaking group who worship at the alter of fuzzed out blues, dirty rock 'n' roll and distorted electronica.

Chris has been making music like this since he was 12 but back then it was all about cutting up pieces of tape and gluing them back together again, looping beats and sampling sounds until a song emerged to make his heart skip a throb. He'd listen to it, love it and do it all over again.

Then computers came along. Now the 21year old fine arts graduate writes, records and produces all the songs on the computer in his bedroom. Its faster, has more scope for exploration and is way less messy than the old way.

The Bumblebeez use a one mic / one take method in the studio 'cause it's not about perfection, but about instinct and vibe and getting the two together. Sometimes Chris will just noodle away on his guitar, not really sure of the notes he's making but liking the sounds anyway, 'cause that's the way he works best; making bits of noise and juxtaposing them together.

RED PRINTZ EP
RELEASED 1st DECEMBER 2003

After White Printz, Chris adds a second puzzle to his "Printz" musical saga with an absolutely wicked second EP, Red Printz.

This time Chris blended Pia's verbal verve, his own primal scream and mother Colonna's animal farm samples all together and made 7 tracks of dirty punk rock, twisted hip hop and mutant electronica. Not far from the White Printz sound, Red Printz is sleazier but more mature, cleaner but still organic.

Sister Pia aka ViLa has never been so persuasive and fierce with her ViLa Attack, Rappa and Pink Fairy Floss. She is cheekier than ever, super confident and hits the microphone with a giggle.

For Red Printz, Chris has taken his cut , paste & loop skills to another level and managed to use his signature mixed beats to create, not only an original sound, but great tunes. You still won't sing along but shaking your ass is not excluded.

It's just sexy, sassy and very naughty…

What else…?

Since the beginning of the "Bumblebeez" adventure, Chris travelled to many places, met many girls and practiced his public persona. Since the UK release of White Printz, the band received raving reviews from the likes of NME, ID, Sleaze Nation, Jockey Slut...etc. With his off-beat fashion sense and unusual art works, Chris attracted the attention of Dior Homme designer and photographer Hedi Slimane who shot him for Vogue.

Beside all these vein attentions, the six-piece band played chaotic live performances and opened for bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Death in Vegas. The kids are on their way to London where they will play four very much awaited club shows.

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