Footprince was formed by Mark Bin Bakar for the 1991 Kyana Festival in Perth, as a ‘put together’ unit. Its life expectancy was not that great.
On the band’s return to the rich cultural environment of Broome, gigs were offered at local venues and the unit never looked back.
In fact it looked ever forward to Stompen Ground 1992 with line up changes of Bugsy McKenzie (bass) and Lindsay Cox (lead guitar, vocals) joining Mark Bin Bakar (vocals, rhythm guitar), John Albert (drummer, vocals, ex-Scrap Metal), Bob Wright (vocals, keys) to complete the band line-up.
The song writing abilities of Bin Bakar, Cox and Wright resulted in this first album You Better Run . The recording you are now holding has been digitally transferred from the original 1992 tapes, completely remixed and remastered. Two bonus tracks are found also on this reissue including the only instrumental (and Santana tribute) that Footprince performed.
This album is a mixture of cultural influences, all the songs having primary lyrical importance, while employing funk, reggae, ska, swing and tropical desert kriol rock and roll to move them along. One journalist later described the Footprince performance sound as ‘power reggae’, based firmly in the Kimberleys and heralding from Broome.
A few months after the recording sessions John Albert left to pursue a solo career and was replaced by Alla Howard (drums) and Simon MacDonald (percussion), as the band hit the road again.
Album cover art is based around the original Footprince touring poster and album cover concept by Bob Wright, including additional archival photographs by Michael Hughes.
This new edition is dedicated to the memory of Lindsay Cox.
Songs celebrated as anthems today such as ‘Calling’, ‘Don’t Let Go’, ‘Gunada Shuffle’ and ‘You Better Run’ sit at the tropical edge of the Indian Ocean and are rooted in the Kimberley’s desert soul.
