McKenzie & Gardiner

MCKENZIE & GARDINER are a certified OG funkster duo from back in the day known by serious cratediggers, rare groove and boogie fans in Europe and USA. Now making music again and supported by luminaries such as Dâm-Funk, their new single GOT TO GET AWAY 2020 was released in May 2020 and kicks off the next chapter combining delivering an infectious modern funk groove with heartfelt lyrics about the need to escape and self-heal when a serious relationship goes bad. EARL MCKENZIE and CLIVE GARDINER are two lifelong friends who grew up together in Southall, West London, UK. Their mutual love of soul, funk and jazz inspired them to form a 7-piece band THE CLASS OF ‘78 in their teens playing their own songs and arrangements. After a few years of playing live, and with EARL and CLIVE now at university, they formed a self-contained duo called MCKENZIE & GARDINER with EARL on guitar, bass and lead vocals and CLIVE on keyboards and backing vocals writing songs individually and together. They made their first demos in 1983 and then a 12" single FROM TIME which 25 years later became highly sought-after by vinyl collectors, and was re-pressed by Boogie Times in 2011. In 2013, Headstretch Records released a 12-track digital album SONGS FROM TIME - THE LOST DEMOS including funkster favourites FROM TIME (GROOVE VERSION) and HOLD ON TIGHT. In 2014, Saph Records released a limited edition 8-track vinyl version of the album which sold out immediately. Their new single GOT TO GET AWAY 2020 was released on May 29th 2020 followed on June 12th 2020 with SONGS FROM TIME - THE LOST DEMOS (EXPANDED EDITION) which adds 3 extra tracks from the same sessions in 1983 and 1987 remastered in 2020 by Tony Massera and released for the first time. Follow on Bandcamp, YouTube and Spotify.