The Bamboos are an Australian funk and soul band from Melbourne. Biography 2000–2005: Formation and early releases The Bamboos were formed in 2000 in Melbourne, Australia by New Zealand-born producer/guitarist/songwriter, Lance Ferguson. The initial line-up consisted of Ferguson, Ben Grayson on Hammond organ, Stuart Speed on bass and Scott Lambie on drums. The band's first live performances were at The Night Cat in Fitzroy, Victoria, where over an evening they would play three sets of instrumental material drawn from artists such as The Meters, James Brown, Grant Green, Ivan 'Boogaloo Joe' Jones and Reuben Wilson. In 2001 The Bamboos released their debut 7" single containing the original songs "Eel Oil" and "Blackfoot", earning them international acclaim from UK Deep Funk DJs Keb Darge, Snowboy, Mr Scruff, Patrick Forge and Russ Dewbury. The Bamboos second release was a remix for a side project of UK artist, Quantic called "The Limp Twins". It was released as a 7" B-side on the Brighton-based UK label Tru Thoughts in 2003. By this point, Scott Lambie and Stuart Speed had left the band to be replaced by drummer Jamie Jones and current bassist Yuri Pavlinov. A horn section consisting of Ross Irwin (The Cat Empire) on Trumpet and Bruce Sandell on Tenor Sax & Flute expanded the line up to a six-piece. In 2004, the Bamboos released the single, "Tighten Up"/"Voodoo Doll". Both Jamie Jones and Bruce Sandell left the band in 2004 to be replaced by Daniel Farrugia and Tenor Saxophonist Anton Delecca. In November 2004 the band toured Australia and New Zealand with U.K artists Quantic and Alice Russell, performing as a substitute backing band for Will Holland's regular The Quantic Soul Orchestra line up. A chance meeting between Lance Ferguson and label A&R Rob Luis in a Brighton club (where Ferguson was able to hand Luis a demo of new material) led to The Bamboos being signed to his Tru Thoughts label full-time in 2005. In late 2005 the band embarked on a second tour of Aus/NZ with (now label mates) The Quantic Soul Orchestra, Alice Russell. Russell would record two vocal tunes during this time for the bands upcoming full-length debut album. 2006–2009: Step It Up, Rawville and Side-Stepper The Bamboos debut studio album, Step It Up, was released by Tru Thoughts in 2006. The 11-track album included 9 instrumentals and two vocal tracks featuring Alice Russell. Step it Up received