Australian Singer, beatboxer and multi-instrumentalist Mal Webb has performed in a plethora of bands in the Australian music scene over the years. He records his own original songs, provides material for other artists and is a founding member of The Oxo Cubans, Sock, Totally Gourdgeous, and Formidable Vegetable. Eclectic, energetic and stylistically enigmatic, Mal Webb is a musical powerhouse.
Australian Singer, beatboxer and multi-instrumentalist Mal Webb has performed in a plethora of bands in the Australian music scene over the years. He records his own original songs, provides material for other artists and is a founding member of The Oxo Cubans, Sock, Totally Gourdgeous, and Formidable Vegetable. Eclectic, energetic and stylistically enigmatic, Mal Webb is a musical powerhouse.
Born in Melbourne, Mal started learning percussion at the age of 4. This led to singing, piano, trombone, jazz theory and composition all by the age of 12. At 14, he did his first paid gig, playing trombone with a big band at the Hilton Hotel. At 16, he took up the bass guitar. Mal’s diverse tastes in music led him to be a member of many groups (6-16 at any one time to the present day). He played the support for David Lee Roth in Melbourne, Australia with Afrodisa (a soukous/highlife band).
1987 saw the start of the Oxo Cubans, a brass, percussion and vocal group that went on to tour much of Australia and release 4 CDs, before taking an extended break in 1996. In the Oxos, Mal became more involved in singing and songwriting. In 1994, he toured to the Bogota Theatre Festival (Colombia) with roving circus drumming group, Batacuda (of which he was a founding member). The same year, he took up guitar and began doing solo gigs.
Mal’s interest in the vast possibilities of the voice increased and in 1996 he did his first solo a cappella show (for the Boite) and formed the a cappella trio Milo, which later became Sock. It featured 3 men, complex arrangements of swapping parts, vocal drumming and a little comedy. Sock went on to release a CD and tour.
In 1997, Mal got the job writing, playing, singing and recording the music for the ABC TV and Working Title co-production, The Adventures of Lano and Woodley. The show honed Mal’s recording skills and in 1998, he recorded the Sock CD and the award-winning CD “Aloukie” by Zulya Kamalova. That year he also began playing trombone and recording with the Overtones, which became Bomba.
In 1999, Mal recorded his first solo CD, Trainer Wheels. He formed Totally Gourdgeous with Penelope Swales, Carl Pannuzzo and Andrew Clermont, all playing gourd instruments (Mal playing bass, mbira and trumpet). They have recorded 3 CDs and tour extensively. In 2000, Mal began working with hurdy-gurdy player Barb Dwyer. They have toured to France and Germany with their band, Hurly Burly.
In 2006 he joined Chambermade Opera’s “Phobia” for tours of Singapore and the Nederlands. The same year, he began helping out with research into voice acoustics, principally with French physicists Nathalie Henrich and Lucie Baille.
Mal has made three solo CDs and likes sitting in with his famous friends whenever possible. He occasionally tours to Austria, UK, Germany, Ireland and/or North America.
Mal Webb is perfect for: Festivals, corporate events, workshops, club events, music events, awards ceremonies, galas, private functions
