Hey Negrita

Hey Negrita
Hey Negrita at the 2008 SXSW festival (from left to right: Ord, Findlay, Bechtolsheimer, Sandy, Greener).
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Country, blues, alternative country, folk, southern rock, folk rock
Years active	2002 - present
Labels	Fat Fox Records
Website	www.heynegrita.com
Members	* Felix Bechtolsheimer * Matthew Ord * William Greener * Neil Findlay *Paul Sandy * Paul Tkachenko
Past members	Hugo Heimann, Gus Glenn

Hey Negrita is an English country blues band formed in London in 2002. They were named after the Rolling Stones song "Hey Negrita", from the band's 1976 album Black and Blue. The band, which consists of Felix Bechtolsheimer (guitar and vocals), Matthew Ord (guitar and vocals), Neil Findlay (drums), William Greener (harmonica and vocals), Paul Sandy (bass) and Paul Tkachenko (accordion, banjo, keyboards, mandolin, sousaphone and vocals), have released four studio albums and numerous singles.

The lineup, which included Hugo Heimann for the first two albums, has undergone several changes. They were the subject of a Channel 4 music documentary broadcast in August 2006 and featured in the award-winning music documentary We Dreamed America in 2008. Hey Negrita have been on four tours to the United States, and supported Alabama 3 on a UK acoustic tour. They also toured UK prisons in 2006 in support of RAPt (Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust).

Hey Negrita have appeared at numerous music festivals around the world, including SXSW in Austin, Texas, Bergen Fest in Norway, Canadian Music Week in Canada and Glastonbury in the UK. Lead singer Felix is the older brother of Olympic equestrian, Laura Bechtolsheimer. The band has been linked with the ‘New British Roots Movement’ and ‘The Financial Times’ described Bechtolsheimer, the group’s founder and songwriter, as "the driving force behind" a "loose coalition of bands in the same sector."

Felix Bechtolsheimer started Hey Negrita in London in 2002 with Hugo Heimann following Bechtolsheimer’s return from Florida where he had spent a year undergoing treatment for heroin addiction, during which he wrote much of the band’s early material. In 2004 Bechtolsheimer and Heimann recorded their first full-length album ‘The Minnesota Method’ with Heimann playing all instruments except lead vocals and several acoustic guitar parts. The tracks ‘Beaujolais Villages’ and ‘Kathmandu’ were both played by Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2 but the album was never released.

In 2005 the duo released the 7" single ‘Devil In My Shoes’ on independent label Fat Fox Records (distributed by Pinnacle), followed by their full-length debut ‘We Are Catfish’. They also added drummer Neil Findlay (who played on the song ‘Beaujolais Villages’) to the line up. They also released three singles from the album, ‘Devil In My Shoes’, ‘Old Britannia’, the double A-side ‘Motorboat/Losing You’ plus a limited edition 12" vinyl ‘Hey Negrita The Remixes’ featuring a Nick Franglen Of Lemon Jelly Remix of ‘Losing You’ and a Chris Coco Remix of ‘One Mississippi’. The Remixes received international airplay after appearing on several compilations including Café Del Mar 13, Hed Kandi’s Serve Chilled and The Best Songs Of Ibiza’s Sunset Collection.