Ronson and Chaffeur

Written by: MR

On Friday October 23rd…

Mark Ronson will perform on Friday night at the Bowery Hotel in NYC as part of the group Chaffeur which also includes Sam Sparro, Theophilus London, Menahan Street Band and Dap King members Thomas Brenneck and Victor Axelrod (also part of Ticklah). Although New York City will be host to the CMJ music festival this week, Chaffeur will be performing for the kick-off of Ronson’s line of sneakers for Gucci. This assemblage of talented personalities has only recorded one song — “Sole’s On Fire” — which will debut at the party.

Chaffeur >> Soles of Fire

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Ronson often collobrates with Axelrod and Brenneck as they provide the instrumentation for his soul-inspired pop. They are part of the Dap Kings, who back up for soul queen Sharon Jones as well as perform in the Brooklyn-based Menahan Street Band. Their brand of updated soul caught the attention of Kanye West who ended up sampling their single, “Make The Road By Walking,” for the Jay-Z single, “Roc Boys.”

The Menahan Street Band >> Make The Road By Walking

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Jay-Z >> Roc Boys

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Theophilus London, a former Big Live performer, has been making the rounds as of late. London has been in the studio working with Ronson for his upcoming album. Catch him at the CMJ Green Owl showcase on October 21st at Le Poisson Rouge as well as at Santos Party House on October 23rd. Check out his latest single below.

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…via Will Welch for GQ

q> How did the actual design process work?
a> It was very important that it not look like Gucci brought me some shoe and I said, “Okay!” and threw my name on it. I was really diligent about every single aspect, down to the colors of the eyelets and the fabrics in the front and back. And it was important for me to take into account the seasons: What city is this particular shoe coming out in? And when is that pop-up shop scheduled for? The shoe somebody’s going to want to buy in New York in October is very different from what somebody’s going to buy in March. And it’s certainly different than what somebody’s going to want to buy in Miami in January.

The other thing is that it was really important to have some kind of exciting musical component, so I decided I wanted to make a brand-new record from scratch that you get on vinyl when you buy the shoe. I created the music with a fictional supergroup we put together called Chauffeur. The band is Sam Sparro, Theophilus London, and Tommy and Victor from the Dap Kings. It’s coolâ€”the sound is very ’80s and luxurious. It’s like what you would imagine a Gucci record to sound like. There’s also kind of a play on Schoolly D’s song “Gucci Time:” Looking at my Gucci, it’s about that time. Maybe we’ll get Gucci Mane on the remix down the line.

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Mark Ronson and Josephine de la Baume at Le Montana in Paris via Purple Diary