So what do you do when your dad is one of the industry greats? Obviously you take his lead, just like Crissy Criss did when father Kenny Ken kept throwing him out of his studio.
“Having Kenny's studio next to my bedroom, I had no way of not hearing the music in my room!” Crissy explains. “I'd come home from school and Kenny was in the studio; music was all I knew basically. Then when I got into music, I started recognising tracks and liking them. I would spend time in the studio; I would go in there and wonder what was going on; I saw the decks dad had and of course I knew about his huge record collection. I looked at these turntables and wondered firstly why he had two and not one! Second, he had this crossfader on the mixer and I would jump into his room while he was at work and I would try to copy what he was doing.”
Eventually the great Kenny Ken realised what his son was doing because all of his needles were broken, and eventually Junior was banned.
“Every time I saw a pair of decks I thought ‘I must touch them! I have to practice' I would say to myself. That's really how I got into it; then I finally got my own pair of decks and it was non-stop from there.”
Yet, while he’s grown up in the shadow of one of the genre's greats, he’s pushing his own boundaries and doing things the right way. Not succumbing to simple software setups to play his gigs, he’s all about the three-deck mash-up, taking styles and sounds outside traditional boundaries. “You see things like dubstep and drum & bass going hand in hand at the moment,” he says. “The same thing is happening at events all over the world with DJs from all kinds of genres ending up on the same line-up. Not so many types of music can go like that; it's this brother and sister sort of thing. It's bringing more people into the scene and people can make the connection from where things came from — I think it's only a good thing.”
Crissy has been back in the studio of late, after several months of touring heavily. “I did slow down a little there,” he says about his recent production output. “I was doing a lot of gigs, with things being pretty full on through March and April; I didn't get much done during that time. Since then, I've come back and I've had a couple of studio problems acoustically, so I've gone through a few ideas like moving apartments.”
Laughing, he explains that hasn't held him up much — he's got his groove on and is about to whet appetites again with an EP of seven, maybe eight tracks.
“Some of these tracks, I made three, four years ago. Some of them could actually still work now!” Finally, he adds that he’s getting back to Australia for the second time in as many years. “Last year, I had a great time out there. It's a beautiful country and the crowds are wicked. I had such a good time at the gigs I played. A lot has happened in the time since and I've got my three-deck setup ready to go! I have very fond memories of Australia — last time I was there I remember playing this mad crazy gig on four decks. I've been going through my collection and getting prepared ever since.”
Bring the rewind DJ.
Crissy Criss plays the Arena Friday May 25.
The drug and alcohol free event, presented by the Inala Stylin' UP Community Crew and Brisbane City Council, will feature performances from The Last Kinection, Kayemtee, Dizzy Doolan, AKA, Dem Fellas, Sacha Fearless and a slew of emerging artists.
Stay tuned for updates, and visit stylinup.com.au for more info.
You want old school? You can count on the Beastie Boys to give you old school. After four long years in a musical hiatus, or “the off season” as the B Boys like to call it, the New York-based rap trio is back with 'To The 5 Boroughs', a new album brimming with the party sounds of early-’80s New York City.
Named after the five boroughs of New York — Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and Manhattan — the 15-track album is a fan letter to the city that brought them together.
“We're giving a little love back to New York,” says Adam 'MCA' Yauch, the man the other two — Mike 'Mike D' Diamond and Adam 'Adrock' Horovitz — refer to as “the enforcer” or the “cleanser” on the album the three produced on their own for the first time.
“'Licensed to Ill' (1986) was where we were at the time — just drinking beer and acting silly,” says Mike D. “'Paul's Boutique' (1986) was moving to LA; that was a whole different fantasy, hooking up with the Dust Brothers. 'Check Your Head' (1992) was getting back to the three of us. This album is really New York; all of us living here.” “Having fun in troubled times,” adds MCA.
To honour the city, the album's cover art even features a pencil drawing of the lower Manhattan skyline including the Twin Towers as they were before the September 11 attack in 2001.
Recorded on and off over the last two years at the Beastie Boys' own studio in downtown New York City, 'To The 5 Boroughs' is the first proper Beastie Boys record (the band's sixth studio album) since 1998's quadruple-platinum 'Hello Nasty'. ‘Nasty’ sold nearly 700,000 in the first week of release in the US and entered at the top of virtually every chart in every country in the world. In Australia, 'Hello Nasty' was a platinum plus selling album (over 70,000 copies sold).
The first video, 'Ch-Check It Out', was recently directed by longtime Beastie Boys collaborator Nathaniel Hornblower ('Intergalactic', 'Body Movin'', 'So What'cha Want') and features exclusive cameos from Lorne Greene and DeForest 'Bones' Kelley.
Sitting down with MCA, Mike D and Adrock in Oscillopscope, the Manhattan recording studio they built in 2002, it's pretty difficult to get them to be serious on any subject.
They joke about going into “training” for six years for this album and then recording it all in one day; they say their coach said they needed to work a little more on their defence; there was talk of trading Horovitz in for the lead singer of Creed; they confess to punch-ups, make-up kissing and bloodshed in the studio; they insist they are into tight pants this year and can't work out why marbles aren't so popular anymore. All of this is delivered in a deadpan manner.
The B Boys, all dressed in jeans and shabby T-shirts, are sitting side-by-side in simple wooden chairs in the offices of their studio. The room is immaculate with sunlight streaking across the plywood floors. A shaggy dog lies at their feet. It's 'Freddie' the dog, who is credited on the album as Assistant to the Regional Manager.
Here are some of their random thoughts. Take any, or all of it, with a grain of salt.
Partying in a crazy world:
MCA — “When we started working on the record it was much closer to 9/11 and Bush had only recently gotten into office. We did more of the serious stuff earlier on and then we started loosening up and having more fun with it as we went along.”
Adrock — “In a way, things are more crazy in the world than they've been in a long time and some of this record is definitely a reflection of that. But a big part of it is just doing our best to live life and have a good time in the midst of the insanity.”
Kissing in the studio:
Adrock — “After not making a record together for a long time. It felt really good, I like not being near them. They're weird people, these two, and I'm very uncomfortable around them”
MCA — “You know, you say that now but when you came into the studio you were trying to kiss Mike.”
Adrock — “I know, because he was trying to patch things up!”
MCA — “He's a liar and a thief.”
Adrock — “I know I'm a liar and a thief but…”
Mike D — “I'm sorry I've been trying to be quiet on this but I want to tell the truth right now. Which is, I mean look Adam, you've made uncomfortable advances toward me and I know it's to patch things up and that's fine. But I had to put the tape line down the studio, I put the tape there for a reason… ok, it got heated and that's what we do together too which is fine, it's not a childish thing but you know the record got done so there you go.”
Technology:
Adrock — “We are almost exclusively computer-users at this point.”
Mike D — “In my house I got two MPC2000s and they're just gathering dust right now, nothing against them, they're hot machines. But it's so much easier being able to do it all on your laptop.”
MCA — ”When we started working on 'Licensed to Ill' (1986) I remember we wanted to loop a beat and in order to do that we played it onto a quarter inch machine and then we made a tape loop that went around the room and we had the tape dangling under the mic stands and we were being really careful to make sure the tape would keep feeding around. To loop a beat like that now, it takes two seconds.”
This album is tight:
Mike D — “The album is about 41.50 minutes long.”
Adrock — “It's comparatively short because we're into tight things right now. Tight clothes, tight pants, tight dance routines. It's a rough, short, tight brief. Tight briefs.”
Mike D — “We have a very tight relationship. We like to bunk up together.”
Adrock — “'Tight' and 'awkward' are the two key words.”
Mike D — “Another thing that's happened over the years is when things switched from vinyl to CD, you could suddenly make a record 70-80 minutes long and people felt obligated to use all those extra minutes, including us. But it didn't make for a better record so we kept the songs tight. The album is tight and the briefs are also tight.”
Producers hate us:
Adrock — “We produced it ourselves but it’s not that different from the other records we've made. The others we co-produced with someone else but we just basically do it all anyways so this time it's just the three of us. Yauch is the cleanser. He's in charge of the final cleaning.”
Mike D — “He uses the scrubber tool, for all you ProTools fanatics out there.”
MCA — “We actually did reach out to almost every producer in the game but everyone refused to work with us. From Phil Spector right through to the Neptunes.”
Adrock — “Well, Phil Spector is in jail so he had a good excuse.”
MCA — “We did offer to go into jail with him and work but he said no. We asked Quincy Jones, but no, he said he hates us.”
Mike D — “He said we weren't relevant to his genre.”
The video really hurt:
Adrock — “The director of our new video ('Ch-Check it Out') Nathanial Hornblower, he's a real hip hop head.”
MCA — “I'm personally still mad at him about what went on.”
Mike D — “Well, it was rough on us that video, we got hurt. Do you wanna explain?”
MCA — “It was way out of line. We turn up to do the lip-syncing of the song and all of a sudden we're getting attacked during the video. Adam got hit with a fish, some French guy smacked me in the head with a loaf of bread, some jogger punched Mike. And later we found out, the director had paid people to do it.”
Mike D — “We haven't spoken to the director since that day. We were all hurt and hurting after the video. It just seemed a very savage way to create art. It was at the expense of us.”
MCA — “I'm going to punch him in the balls when I see him again.”
The British song:
Mike D — “'Triple Trouble' features a new British MC named Crayons. He's someone we're bringing out even though he's already blowing up. This song is like a routine, like the old hip hop groups.”
MCA — “The British influence on the song is undeniable even though it has some old school American hip hop on there. Some people have been asking which is the British song and that is it.”
Mike D — “It's as British as Worcestershire Sauce.”
Change the world:
Adrock — “The song 'We Got The' is about maybe we can make positive things happen in the world. One thing that's happening in America right now is the election for a new president is coming up in a few months. So maybe if people can hear that song, they could vote President Bush out of office. That could be a positive thing that happened from our record.”
It’s such a tragedy to lose such a talented artist well before his time. The Beastie Boys were a huge influence on us growing up. They changed the way we looked at sampling and live instrumentation. The hip hop scene has lost a true pioneer and a legend.
Hilltop Hoods
Beastie Boys were a big inspiration for some of us growing up. I remember the 1994 Livid where they imprinted what a hyped show should look like deep into my memory. Berzerkatron (former Herd member) and myself freakishly stalked them back to their hotel and phoned their reception asking to talk to Adam Yauch and their tour manager, eager to give them a dodgy demo of our band. No luck, understandably.
Traksewt (The Herd)
Well, I guess I never got to apologise about my dumbness at the Tibetan Freedom press conference after all. I have to say that even though I never knew him at all I loved a good deal of his work and his dedication to Buddhism and Tibet. I hope his spiritual understanding aided him in his passing. I'm sure he will be missed very much by those closest to him.
Quan (Regurgitator)
MCA was a huge huge part of our musical development and life as a band and his presence in our world will be sadly missed. His energetic expression through his laidback vocal style and distorted basslines were and will always be a true inspiration to us. Love you, MCA.
Ben Ely (Regurgitator)
An originator, a pioneer and a man of many huge talents. A compassionate and active world citizen, and crazy fresh to the very end.
Mantra
Out of all the MCs in the Beastie Boys, MCA was always the raw voice behind it. His husky voice always cut through on every track. Sadly, without him the group will never be complete. He was, and is, a great inspiration for myself and the rest of DWC. He stayed true to his beliefs and creative visions, spoke his mind and stood up for the underdog. It’s an end of an era, and reminds me, especially as an older MC, to keep chasing my dreams and go hard at this, while I am still blessed to be able to do so. RIP to the legendary MCA.
Sereck (Def Wish Cast)
A true inspiration for those of us who represent a past generation. Also, as an emcee of Jewish faith, I've always been proud of that commonality that bound us through bloodlines.
Reason
MCA and the Beastie Boys were true pioneers. As an aspiring young rapper in Australia, the Beastie Boys were fundamental in forging the belief that white rappers could and should be viewed as legitimate artists in an industry that previously viewed white rappers with contempt. They kicked in the door for white hip hoppers and showed the world that if you had something to say and the skill to present it in an interesting way, then race was really irrelevant. RIP MCA.
Jeswon (Thundamentals)
The Beastie Boys were one of the first hip hop groups I ever heard blasting through my older brother's walkman, through our tinny stereo speakers and who I saw on TV as a kid in the late ‘80s. That energy helped get me hooked on hip hop and their reinvention and growth was inspiring. This MCA line made it easier for me to write tracks like 'Subtle Brother' - 'I gotta say a little something that's long overdue, this disrespect to women has got to be through'. RIP MCA. Now I'm gonna turn up the stereo and play 'Sure Shot' and 'Pass The Mic' LOUD!
Rainman
It’s sad to hear the passing of MCA. Musician, hip hop pioneer, humanitarian ... he has been an inspiration to many a band, even if they don’t know it. We were lucky enough to share the same stage with the Beastie Boys a couple of times as Resin Dogs. They were definitely an inspiration to our band. One of my favorite tracks that I did get to hear live was ‘Egg Man’ off the ‘Paul's Boutique’ record. MCA’s lyrics shine through on that tune... Rest In Power, Adam.
DJ Katch
MCA was an inspiration to my generation of rappers coming up. Met him randomly at the buffet breakfast counter of a Gold Coast hotel; he was such a down to earth and seemingly straight up guy. He will be sorely missed by everyone who has been influenced by his music.
Rival MC (Impossible Odds)
When I first played the ‘Licensed To Ill’ tape my brother bought me in the late ‘80s, I was speechless. Throughout his life it became clear that MCA was more than an MC, he was a truly spiritual being, and he will be missed, but his soul's legacy will live on. RIP to the king Adam Yauch. JUST DON'T STOP.
Delta
I guess it's almost trite to say it's a shock and sad news, but it really is. The work he released over the years has been such a massive part of my DJing experience. 'Paul's Boutique' especially has been a staple in my crates for the past 20 years, definitely one of the most classic hip hop albums ever made.
DJ Damage (Terntable Jediz, The Optimen)
WTF? RIP, MCA. MC, bassist, Buddhist, activist, filmmaker and a third of one of the most influential hip hop (and punk, that stuff is the shit) groups ever. Thanx, Adam. Rest.
Laneous (Laneous & The Family Yah)
I first met Sammsonite and DATS back in ‘96, when we would regularly cross paths at weekend house parties and all too commonly stay up drinking until the sun came up, kicking rhymes and talking about music we liked. The Beastie Boys provided some of the strongest featured music as a backdrop to this and whether by intention or not we have taken a lot of inspiration from them as a group. I don't think it's much of an exaggeration to say that The Optimen probably wouldn't have existed if not for the fun-loving, party-rocking approach of MCA and the team to show us how it's done. I was honoured to see them at Riverstage way back when and it still remains a live-show highlight of my life. MCA, Rock Rock On!
Kristoff the Russian (The Optimen)
"I let it flow like a mudslide, when I get on I like to slide and glide." An inspiration. Sir Stewart Wallace forever!
Cutloose
MCA was a true legend and a pioneer. They don't make them like that any more. He will be missed by the hip hop community world wide.
Fluent Form
A benchmark, innovator and king of kings. MCA's contribution and innovation were immense. A pack leader!
Brad Strut
MCA was a pioneer. An inspiration for millions. A humanitarian. A King.
Kel On Earth (Bankrupt Billionaires)
MCA was pretty obviously a big deal to not only hip hop but the music industry as a whole. The Beastie Boys are one of the rare groups that just about anyone you knew growing up loved regardless of their love or hate for hip hop. I'll remember him as the first person that introduced the Free Tibet movement to me and my sister.
Newsense (Broken Tooth Entertainment)
MCA is a true legend that transcends words... he was not only a third of the trio, but also an activist and a producer. When he announced with Ad Rock via YouTube that he had cancer, he seemed optimistic, and not much was heard and I guess we all assumed all would be ok. They then released their last album which was amazing and received a great response... Many proclaimed "The Beasties were back". This news is personally really sad, because as a kid growing up it was all about Run DMC, The Beastie Boys and Public Enemy. Those three groups went together perfectly like the trio of Ad-Rock, MCA and Mike D did... We lost a good one. Also as a sidenote, when I went to work the day after MCA's passing, I was having technical issues with my computer. By chance I also had all their albums loaded on the iPhone. Punters nor staff seemed to be phased as I put ‘Paul's Boutique’ on repeat, and I guess we were all reminded about the greatness that was the Beastie Boys. Rest in peace Adam Yauch.
DJ Sheep
I’ve only ever been to two artists’ shows back to back and the Beasties were one of them. Night time overs and the following day all ages on their ‘92 Melbourne tour. Incredible. RIP MCA, my favourite Beastie.
Trem One (Lyrical Commission)
Beastie Boys were a huge part of my younger years and it’s crazy to believe MCA is no longer here. He will be missed and I will be spinning Beasties tracks forever. RIP MCA.
Prophet Rayza
Who doesn't love Beastie Boys? You didn't have to be a hip hop fan to get down to their art at all. The loss of MCA is a major blow to the music scene all around the world. Much respect to a true innovator!
Maundz
MCA and the Beasties provided me with a soundtrack to channel teenage angst and dumb teenage boy humour to the rest of the world via a large Ghetto Blaster carried on my shoulder. Thank god for the Beasties.
DJ Mathmatics
MCA is here to STAY / Rock a funky rhyme in an old school WAY.
Nick One
MCA was a bearded and grimey looking white dude. For him to take the stage in the same era as LL Cool J and Run DMC and be something was inspiring.
Robby Balboa
Always the rawest of the Beasties, Adam Yauch inspired me to be an unshaven white boy into hip hop music. His gravel rhymes were immediately recognisable, he was cool as fuck in the 'So Watcha Want' filmclip, which hit me at a point in my life where I was just starting to properly appreciate hip hop music, and he just had that something extra. Irreplaceably awesome.
Alex Roche (Former Junior Mag Editor)
‘Paul’s Boutique’ changed my world. This news is super-sized fucked up!
Luke Robertson (Former Scene Editor)
For me, MCA's appeal was never about his rhymes. I loved him for what he brought to the culture — not just hip hop culture, but pop culture. The videos he directed for 'Shake Your Rump', 'Intergalactic', 'Make Some Noise' and (especially) 'Body Movin'' were every bit as memorable as Spike Jonze's 'Sabotage' clip, and the indie film distribution company he founded was responsible for game-changing gems like 'The Messenger', 'Exit Through The Gift Shop', '30 Century Man' and 'Meek's Cutoff'. He told us he'd plot and scheme to change the world, and he actually did it.
Rohan Williams (Scene Deputy Editor)
Featuring a cavalcade of guests, both local and international (including AG, Guilty Simpson, Vast Aire, The Tongue, Hau, Dazastah, Lazy Grey and Dialectrix), it cements his position atop the Aussie hip hop food chain.
“I’m really proud of this [album]. I feel like it’s a good representation of the hip hop I want to be making,” Chasm says. “The overall sound of it is the closest to what I want to be doing at the moment. Overall I’m really happy with it, and it has been quite a quick turnaround for this (release). I only finished it not long ago and Obese have done a pretty quick turnaround with it.”
This is Chasm’s third solo release, and his first album since he teamed with Vida Sunshyne on ‘More’ in 2010. With greater industry recognition, was the added pressure of dealing with other people’s expectations a factor for Chasm? “It was probably in the back of my mind in a way. Like I felt, for sure, that I had to step up my game a bit because you know, you always want to be progressing with your art or whatever. Whatever you’re doing, you want to keep getting better at it. I definitely felt like I wanted to put a bit more time into it.
“I didn’t really feel pressure that much, but just myself... with this one, I really wanted to do what I do. I didn’t want to think about radio play too much. I was making stuff that I was feeling and that was the main priority.”
When it comes to sourcing samples, Chasm hunts for an emotional response. “For me, picking the right samples is the key. Having the ear for the right... what can be chopped up well or simply feeling music; having that emotional response to music is really important when you pick the samples. Because people feel stuff if there is a strong emotion behind the music that you decide to use that carries over to your production when you decide to flip it. That’s the key thing I reckon.”
‘This Is How We Never Die’ is out now via Obese Records. Chasm will be touring nationally in July; stay tuned for dates.
Katch and Atkins are the men behind both the Resin Dogs and Hydrofunk Records. The Dogs, as a loose collective, have been carving up the national hip hop scene since 1996. But it’s arguably under the banner of Hydrofunk Records that these local godfathers have had a greater influence on Australian rap music.
Before the internet, before Elefant Traks and long before Obese, Hydrofunk were picking up the sounds of the artists they loved and offering to release them on record. The way Katch tells it, this was never anything to do with money or a business plan, but about getting involved and giving a leg up to those they perceived as having the talent to take on Australia.
“We just like putting out music that we like,” he explains. “Because there’s no artist development anymore, and that’s something we really like doing, and helping people out – our record deals are almost like mentor programs!
“We were never expecting [the label] to go like it did. We were just wanting to play a few shows and press some vinyl … We didn’t focus on three-year contracts or budgets or anything like that – we just let the artist do what they felt.”
But Hydrofunk grew, ending up under the distribution wing of Virgin/ EMI. No small feat in the late ‘90s, when operating out of Brisbane often meant operating out of the industry loop. “There are a lot of meetings that go on down south that you miss out on,” Katch says. “If you’re not in that circle of people, it’s harder – unless you’ve already cracked it. There are so many more avenues down there, because you’ve gotta be in their face or they forget about you. It’s like putting out Resin Dogs music these days: we do an album every five to seven years, so [every time] there’s a whole new generation of people to say, ‘Who are you cats?’”
The Brisbane disconnect flowed in the other direction as well, with both international and up-and-coming artists from the south often choosing to ignore Queensland altogether.
“When it came to tours and things like that, they used to go Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide. This little triangular thing. Which was fine; that’s all good. But I remember going to a Run-D.M.C. concert down in New South Wales and there was a massive breaking circle. Four of us from Brisbane took on pretty much the whole Sydney collective, and we beat them. They didn’t know who the hell we were.”
With the isolation came a relaxed innovation, the Brisbane hip hop crews growing independently of the southern states and developing their own way of doing things. “From breaking, we always had a different style to everybody else,” Katch says. “A lot of moves got invented in Brisbane. A lot of the headspins you see these days worldwide are what we designed and came up with out of Brisbane, and just doing it in our backyards. It’s the same with MCing – we’ve always had a different style. You have a look at a lot of dudes around the country: many are trying to rap like Lazy Grey. He’s been there since dot. We definitely have a different style.”
Not that Hydrofunk’s influence didn’t reach young rappers in other cities. Melbourne MC Mantra remembers catching the Resin Dogs on a tour of his home town and being blown away by the power of their live shows. “It wasn't until I had already started making hip hop music that I really investigated the Australian scene. Their passion for the music is obvious,” Mantra says. “I met Dave and Katch a few years later and it was evident that this passion was always there, it wasn't just something they enacted on the stage. That's what I love most about the Hydrofunk crew.”
Hydrofunk’s output would wax and wane over the years, partly in reflection of the ebb and flow of talent coming out of Queensland, but also because of the heads’ other projects. Atkins would do a stint behind the kit for Wolfmother, while Katch rediscovered his gleefully right-angled DJ sets, performing in and around Brisbane on a regular basis. Now, with Hydrofunk’s 15-year anniversary upon them the duo are looking to rebuild some lost momentum, although Katch admits it’s a very different environment from that of the late ‘90s, when electronic distribution barely existed at all.
“We don’t have the big team like we used to,” he says. “It’s just been about setting that up again, and a lot more learning. We’re working out the lay of the land of the industry, because CD sales are down, digital sales are slowly picking up, and just finding that common ground – especially with not having a massive team, where we actually do it ourselves and don’t have anyone in the office doing it for us. It’s a bit of a shock going on tour and then coming home and saying, ‘That’s right, we don’t have a team’.”
Still, Hydrofunk started out as a series of hip hop parties in the early to mid ‘90s, and that’s how Katch, Atkins, and the rest of the Resin Dogs plan to celebrate a decade and a half in the industry this coming weekend. Joining them will be an eclectic mix of established names as well as impressive up-and-comers, including Mantra, Bankrupt Billionaires, Tigermoth and Fort Kilsby.
“We’ll start off slow, take it easy,” Katch says, laughing. “There are a few acts on there that we haven’t signed. It’s just about artists that we like: Bankrupt Billionaires, Tigermoth and Thavy – she’s a young singer that we just came across. We’re going to do a Two Dogs DJ set, Resin Dogs live, and I think I’m gonna spin. We’ve got a VJ putting together some visuals and all that stuff. It’s just going to be a big party: come and have a dance, come and have a boogie. And we’ll act as the in-house band for everyone, like we often have. We’ve created a little mix EP of some of the artists performing on the night, which will be available via digital download. It’s free with entry. We’re bringing in some old vinyl stock to have a little store there: what we’ve done, where we’ve been, where we’re going.”
Katch talks about the year ahead as being one of online consolidation, before ramping up the Hydrofunk presence in earnest. When asked the secret to his label’s longevity, Katch, as always, takes the humble route, talking about “timing” and the periods he and Atkins have taken away from the coalface. Mantra, though, is in no doubt about what keeps Hydrofunk alive and kicking.
“They've worked with amazing artists from all over the world and had great success, but for them it's still just about the music,” he says. “They live for making music, which is how they've managed to have such longevity and credibility as artists, and as a label.”
THE HYDROFUNK RECORDS 15 YEAR BIRTHDAY BASH TAKES OVER CONISTON LANE SATURDAY MAY 12.
The group’s founding member, and musical director, Roger Thomas sits down to discuss the seven-piece’s unique take on beatboxing.
Naturally 7 is a ‘vocal play’ group... how does it differ from the traditional a cappella sound?
Naturally 7 is an a cappella group. Vocal play expresses what type of a cappella. For example barbershop and doo wop. Assuming both are done without instruments, the names give you an idea of what type of a cappella or harmony you will hear. So a cappella simply means singing without instruments while ‘vocal play’ is becoming or imitating an instrument without actually using one.
You formed the group with your brother Warren... was the idea always to start an all-vocal outfit?
No, we only knew that we would have a heavy focus on harmony.
How influential was the a cappella competition the group won in New York in 1999, when you were first starting out?
I think this was the main reason we decided to focus on a cappella and look for a style that would be original. The competition gave us confidence that we were pretty good, somewhat unique, and it gave us the belief that we had a chance to pursue it as a career.
What does each member bring to the group?
Each member comes to the table with just the right tone that keeps our harmony very warm sounding. Many groups find that they can only get warmth in the lower parts, but we get a lot of it in the middle and upper parts too. This fills the spectrum differently than most people are used to hearing when listening to harmony.
When did you know you could utilise your voice to make unique sounds?
Some members such as my brother Warren were already aware that they could make musical sounds prior to the group. Others became creative once we decided that we wanted to be more ‘band-like’. We are blessed that it turned out that we all could do different things and in some cases we all are able to do the same sounds while imitating various guitars and horns.
As musical director, are there extra responsibilities that come with the title?
Yes. My most important jobs are arranging and deciding/ directing where we will musically go next.
How much did the YouTube hit, ‘Feel It (In The Air Tonight)’, catapult you further into the mainstream?
YouTube is everywhere... nothing travels faster than YouTube when it comes to viewing a performance. This has put us into countries and continents that we have yet to tour! In other words the video precedes us, and is always a major talking point when people meet us for the first time.
You’ve been associated with Michael Buble as well... what have you learnt from him, being a part of such a massive touring production?
Buble is from the old school... the school that believes that everyone on the tour deserves respect... almost like a family. We hope that we will be the same if or when we are in a similar position. He also believes in connecting with every audience; this really appeals to us and means so much more after you've seen it done over 350 shows!
You’ve collaborated with the likes of Quincy Jones and Ludacris. Do you have any other collaborations, joint projects in the works?
That's always on our minds and we hope to do some collaborations on some upcoming projects, but no names yet. But be on the look out; it's only ‘natural’.
Performing at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver... that must have been one of the career highlights?
Yes indeed. We shall never forget it! We are now looking forward to performing during the Summer Games in London.
You’re headed to Australia later this month... what can local audiences expect from Naturally 7?
More! And better! If we said that last time then the answer should be ‘More than that! Better than that! More than ever! Better than ever!’
Naturally 7 play the QPAC Concert Hall May 22.
The Venice Beach-based rapper has had, in a sense, three careers. Most well known is his work with Dilated Peoples, the trio Evidence formed with Rakaa Iriscience and DJ Babu to record a slew of well-regarded longplayers around the turn of the millennium. More recently there’s been a solo career, which last year saw the release of ‘Cats & Dogs’, one of the better US rap LPs in recent memory.
But before Evidence had even thought about laying some vocals down on record, he was out and about as a Los Angeles teen in 1992, attending open mic nights at the infamous Troubadour and harassing producer and future collaborator the Alchemist about getting up onstage.
“I was just hungry. It was new to me, and I was probably a little overzealous,” he says, laughing. “That’s why now I never put down on anybody trying to get on – I understand the concept of it. I’d heard there was an open mic and I was there really just to dance at that time – dancing was what everyone did – and the DJ threw on an instrumental and people could get up to rap. That was dope. This was real early.”
It was through those open mic nights that Evidence would eventually meet Rakaa and Babu, but at the time he had little idea that something special was brewing. After all, as he points out, he was barely 14 years old.
“I wasn’t really up on it, to be honest – professionally. I was kinda just in my own little world. I couldn’t even go out that much. I couldn’t even stay out that late, you know.”
By the turn of the millennium, Dilated Peoples were darlings of the west coast underground, their album ‘The Platform’ attracting the eye of pundits as well as listeners looking to make a break with the region’s gangster rap past. Still, Evidence as an MC would remain a smaller cog in the machine until he struck out on his own in 2007 with his first true solo album, ‘The Weatherman LP’. Now, with the release of ‘Cats & Dogs’ under his belt, the rapper has been introduced to his first dose of major blogosphere exposure.
“Some people think I’m a new artist, which is a real interesting dynamic in itself,” he says. “But then there are those who know me; I’m an artist who’s been around. So there’s this weird duality … But I think it would be real different if I’d just come out in 2000 as a solo artist, instead of 2006 or whenever it was that I did. I think all the experience and all the knowledge and all the ups and downs I’d been through prepared me much more for this.”
Part of the exposure he’s now experiencing is down to Evidence’s hook-up with Rhymesayers, the mid-western indie powerhouse that seems to be thriving in the brave new world of the internet. Evidence jokes self-deprecatingly that he caught label bosses Slug and Siddiq’s attention by holding a gun to their heads, but it was really the quality and distinctive nature of his work that saw him invited into the Rhymesayers inner sanctum.
“I don’t know if they were aware of my full vision or not. Either way, I thank them for giving me a shot on it, because it’s definitely been successful for me. At a time when things have been going down, I’ve been fortunate enough to have some things going back up, so it would be good to keep it going.
“I like the way they work. Obviously, they’re successful. And then they don’t have much on the roster that sounds like me, which is great. It’s a place where you can have your own lane and I feel like a lot of us share the same ideals and the same thoughts and the same goals, but we all spit our rhymes differently and that’s great … When I signed up there I was considering making music in a style that leaned towards what some of their own artists were already doing. But after a conversation with certain people they were like, ‘Please don’t. We signed you for what you do.’ That was great to hear.”
Of course, in the age of the 360 record deal, Evidence has also been doing plenty of touring through Rhymesayers as well. And this coming weekend, he hits local shores in the company of Atmosphere for a string of dates around the country. With a new album to ply and a successful 2010 Australian tour with Total Eclipse under his belt, he’s very much looking forward to it.
“Yeah, yeah. Definitely,” he enthuses, before deadpanning: “So long as there’s some weed.”
EVIDENCE SUPPORTS ATMOSPHERE AT THE HI-FI THIS SATURDAY, MAY 5.
Lack of sleep, all-night drinking, and fast food usually start to take over your body after a few weeks.
Adelaide is a city we have probably been to the least, so we’re always keen to get down there to rock a show. It had also been raining in Sydney all week, so the sun and 28 degree heat were a bonus. People turned up early, which is always dope when you’re the support act, and it was one of our best shows in Adelaide to date.
I was the designated driver that night which was balls, but I dropped Jeswon and Ozi Batla at some club; Jes strolled in mad late talking about banana pie cocktails etc.
Then onto Melbourne... we were all pretty excited, as we had heard it was sold out. The place was rammed from Sky’High’s performance and basically was mayhem all round. Really fun night in one of our favourite cities. 5am Noodle Kingdom was a definite highlight too.
Dope weekend and only a day back at home before we head south with our mouths down to Hobart. Last week of the tour; it’s gonna be sad when it’s finished.
- DJ Morgs
The Herd and Thundamentals finally roll into town this week with a show at The Zoo Friday April 27, before they head south to play Byron Bay’s Great Northern Saturday April 28.
It has been more than 20 years since new jack swing act Bell Biv Devoe stepped out of the shadows of Bobby Brown’s New Edition to release their groundbreaking debut, ‘Poison’. But for Ronnie Devoe, the memories of those times seem just like yesterday.
“Man it was incredible,” Ronnie says. “We already had success with New Edition and we were thinking that since the other two guys were pursuing solo careers, myself, Rick (Bell) and Mike (Bivins) were thinking maybe we could just sit back and wait until they had their run and then we could get back together and keep pushing things up the freeway.”
But as history shows, fate had other ideas.
“We were lucky enough to be dealing with two producers at the time, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who gave us the idea to form a group. Once they told us that, it was like a light went off in our heads and we just went with it. At the time we were dealing with a few people that wanted us to go in the same direction as New Edition but we were like ‘Nah. We got to do something different.’”
And different is certainly what they did. Although commonplace now, back in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s, the idea of an R&B group working with hip hop producers was almost nonexistent. But that’s what Bell Biv Devoe did, collaborating with The Bomb Squad, who were known for their work with conscious rappers like Public Enemy.
“Yeah, I mean one of the reasons we went with The Bomb Squad is that we really wanted to have an edge. We really wanted to be separate and far apart from what we established as New Edition and we knew that they (The Bomb Squad) were putting out acts like Public Enemy and Ice Cube, who they had just finished working with.”
While it might sound strange now, the group’s signature song, ‘Poison’, almost didn’t make the cut.
“I think Ricky and Michael will tell you that they weren’t really too keen on ‘Poison’, and they were kind of just riding off my passion at the time for it being our first single. I didn’t know it was going to be a classic, but I felt like it was a groundbreaking song.”
Following the release of ‘Poison’ and their sophomore album ‘Hootie Mack’, which was released in 1993, there has only been one further studio effort from the BBD camp, 2001’s ‘BBD’. But as Devoe explains, the group hasn’t been dormant.
“Touring, touring, touring man!” he laughs. “Our albums were always few and far between because we were on the road so long! We were lucky enough to come out when entertaining was such a big thing, and it’s what we grew up on. We were bred to be entertainers, and whether or not we had a record in the top 20 or the top 1000 when people came to our show they got every penny’s worth. So it didn’t matter if we had a song in the charts or not. When tickets went on sale people knew they were going to see a great show!”
After all this time, Australian fans will have to wait just a little longer to catch BBD after their May tour was rescheduled to August to allow the boys to tour the US with New Edition, an experience Devoe is very much looking forward too.
“Everything is really beautiful right now. This is the first thing we have done (as New Edition) since about 2007. We toured quite extensively before then from about 2003, so it was definitely a time for a break,” he says. “We did a couple of shows last year and now we are going to kill ‘em all the way up to July before we knock Australia out in August as BBD.”
And what can Australian BBD fans expect from the trio?
“All the dance moves, energy and classics. We are going to look like we stepped straight out of a time machine from 1990. I’m so looking forward to it, hopefully we can make it a yearly thing. I really want to apologise for taking so long to get down there, but this time we are definitely coming. August. Lock it in!”
Bell Biv Devoe play the Hi-Fi with Ginuwine August 12.