Feature Artist Of The Month, April - Pressure Emcee, Hilltop Hoods

After the release of yet another successful record from the Hilltop Hoods, Pressure took some time out to catch up with us and speak all things Drinking from the Sun and Hilltop. Check out part 1 of the interview below and stay tuned for the following parts out later this month.

The three part musical adventure that is, The Thirst is something that you guys haven't really done before, that is a series of short tracks throughout an album. Part one focus's on the past three years or so and what you have achieved since the release of State of the Art. What do you think was your biggest achievement or most memorable moment since the release of State of the Art?

Most memorable moment from State of the art would have to be touring and playing at Glastonbury in England which was a huge highlight for all of us. To play at the biggest and most prestigious music festival in the world. That was an amazing experience we managed to get a crowd of somewhere between 8000 - 10 000 people under a small tent when we actually thought we might be playing to a crowd of 80-100 was amazing.

That must have been an awesome feeling to travel to the other side of the world when you come from a culture that 5-10 years ago didn't have much recognition in its own country never mind world wide.

Yeh its like relating to what you were just saying about The Thirst. I open the album by talking about touring in various parts of the world and how amazing it is to go to a shore where we thought we had no accolades and no one knew us to getting a reception like that it's amazing. Sometimes you have no idea that you are even know in these countries and people come to your shows and know the lyrics to your songs, its a bit of a you gotta step back and pinch yourself kind of thing.

Part two of The Thirst explains what Drinking from the Sun is and how Australian Hip Hop is an underground culture and is drinking from the mainstream above. Do you guys still see yourself as an underground act or a mainstream act that belongs to an underground culture?

I mean the album just went Gold in the first week, I couldn't claim to be an underground act or an underground rapper but i think were true to our roots and make underground music and thats the music we've connected with people for so long and are still prolific in the Australian music scene ten years later.

For sure its evident that through out Drinking from the Sun you can still feel the connection between the tracks and the audience can relate to the tracks.

Yeah well that's it I just think that the matter of making music for yourself and making honest music and i think that it will always connect with people.

Part three of The Thirst is really interesting and most exciting part of the album for myself. The outake at the end of the track says, "from day one we were writing two albums". Firstly when is the part two going to drop? and secondly why did you you decide to write two albums at one time instead of focusing all your efforts on one album?

Basically we wanted to do a double album, I can't give you an exact due date on the next album as I don't know the due date just yet, but its kinda like a to be continued … but i can say that the next album will be out much sooner than the three year gap between State of the Art and Drinking from the Sun.

Was there a reason that there was a three year gap between releases, was it that you wanted to take some time to get away from the music or that we were just going to take our time to perfect this next one?

Nar its funny people are like its been three years since the last album where the hell you been and I'm like were been touring our arses off for a year and a half and then worked rock solidly in some respect weather Suffa was out digging or debris was looking for cuts or practicing scratching. But we were working on that album for a year and a half. A lot happened in that year and a half as well where we went physically away on tour. We did a tour with Eminem, the Big Day Out tour and a tour in Canada we made a DVD and so many other day to day things that unfortunalty is a business element that comes into it when you run your own label and taking care of everything else. We took one month off each in that three year period and after that we worked our arses off cause people don't hear from you in a while the just think that your sitting on a beach somewhere having a holiday but your not.

How was the tour with Eminem I'm sure that it would have been an amazing experience to play with someone of that calibre, I read the interview with Rolling Stone and it seemed as though you sort of got pushed to the side but I'm sure that it would have been an amazing feeling.

Yeh I've actually been an Eminem fan since my ruckas days and i really dig a lot of his music, not all of it but i do dig a lot of it. So to be able to play support for him and who is actually the biggest entertainer in the world at the moment period was just an amazing experience. Its defiantly one of those once in a life time experiences that will be with us for ever.

Feature Artist - November - Crochet Crooks

Your first EP, All Roads dropped not too long ago now. How has the response from the public and industry been?

S: Really good man, we road tested it with our friends and fam before we released it and got a really good response which made us a lot more confident in it. Since it’s dropped we’ve moved a few hundred hard copies and managed to get ourselves some love on Triple J courtesy of Hau (Hip Hop Show), and on FBi. So overall, real stoked. 

All Roads isn’t one particular style of music, there’s Boom Bap, a bit of Dubstep and even an Acoustic track. What is your process of choosing beats, and who produces your 

music?

J: We listen to whatever we’re given and we try and write to most of it. If we can build the track up nicely and it fits the vibe of what we we’re trying to write about, it makes the cut.

On the EP we had a few different producers, Daniel Neurath (SS, Horrorshow), Jacob Giles and the Jackie Onassis boys. For our upcoming mixtape and album, a lot of the production workload will be handled by the new addition to the crew, Jmaculate. He’s a real boss with a beat.

The track Cold Streets reflects on the city of Sydney. “See I’m walking city streets but I’m sick of the concrete, from Sydney’s inner city all the way to long beach” How has coming from the Inner West Suburbs of Sydney inspired your music?

J: Man, all of Sydney is a beautiful place, but there’s just something special about the I-Dub. It’s birthed a heap of talented artists and seems to have and endless supply of stories. So I guess growing up here has inspired it a lot. The inner west has something in the water.

What and or who is your greatest inspiration for your music and what was the concept behind the ep?

J: I’d have to say our friends, fam, and experiences. The feeling you get from telling a story. It’s amazing. Concept? I guess the concept was, “there is no concept”. We wanted to tell what we’d been through and seen, good-bad, beautiful-ugly. Just showcase a whole range of things.

How did the two of you, Jax and Sayso first meet and form a bond which has led to this point in your life?

J: We grew up in the same friendship circles, so we always knew of each other, I dunno. We lived close and went to the same gigs so eventually we started kicking it and writing the EP. It kinda just happened...

S: Have you ever heard of a Chinese finger trap? We got caught in one one time. Down there. Haven’t managed to break free yet ay..

Growing up in the Inner West of Sydney what sort of music did you listen to? Was there much hip hop around and did that have much of an impact on who you are today?

S: Man, growing up I was that kid bumping hip hop from home to school, all day during class and then back at home til early in the morning...and I never heard the end of it, everyone gave me shit about it...fast forward ten years and everyone’s a rap kid; it’s practically my DNA. 

What do you wish to achieve through your music? and where do you see yourself in 5 years?

S: Getting laid mostly...nahh...but yeah. Haha man I want to make something that reflects me and what I’m about and gives me the opportunity to do what I love doing most, which is hip hop. And we wanna have some fun, meet some cool people along the way.

J: As above, in 5 years. It’s 10:30 on a Saturday night right now though,...so hopefully something more exciting than sitting at a computer. 

The name Crochet Crooks, what does it mean and where did it come from?

S: Man we kicked it with a few different names for a while, and then one day we were just knitting some sweaters with gran and it kind of clicked. I like the way it sounds, and let’s face it; it gets people talking, hard to forget.

If someone was to listen to your music for the first time which track would you recommend to them? And do either of you have a personal favourite? 

J: It depends what background they come from, we feel like we have a bit to offer everyone in that regard. All sorts of different people could feel our shit. From the stay at home mum (Anywhere but Here), to hard matey down the road (Cold Streets) and the heartbroken girl or guy (All Roads). I like Cold Streets for my favourite. 

S: Cold Streets.

I hear that there is a new video clip about to drop? Can you tell us about it?

S: Of all the tracks we thought we’d make a clip for, Cold Streets was the least likely in my mind. Then Hau played it on JJJ, we got some mad love from heads on it, and seeing as it’s our favourite track off the EP, we thought why the fuck not. It’s all filmed through Sydney and the IW, but you’ll have to watch it to see more. 

What’s next for the Crooks?

J: Well we’re both heading to the Americas. Without each other though. Need a little break. We’ve compiled a few beats from some dope producers so we’ll be writing to them on our travels as well as writing this mixtape.

S: Both of us have got our hunger on, we’re real fired up and we wanna step to the next level. AIN’T NO SUCH THINGS AS CROCHET CROOKS!

Latest tracks by CrochetCrooks

Feature Artist of the Month - Mantra

BOTA: When did you first start to record your music and have you always gone by the stage name of Mantra?

- I started recording in about 2002 (in a very humble fashion), under the name of Mantra. I did have another name very early on but I never released anything under that name. And I'm not telling you what it was!!

BOTA: Growing up who was your favorite artist and what sort of music did u listen to?

- There's no way I could pick a favourite. I've always listened to lots of different styles of music, but Hip-Hop was there from the start. I got my first Public Enemy tape when I was 7 and I never looked back. From there I got into heaps of different Hip-Hop artists and my tastes would constantly change.

BOPA: What inspired your first full length album, Power of the Spoken.

- I'd been working with groups for a long time so I just felt it was time to do a solo record. Peeps had been asking me about it for so long I didn't wanna wait any longer. I also tried to represent the full spectrum of my song writing style, so the album had lots of different themes and ideas lyrically.

BOTA: Your signed to Obese Records, how did you get noticed by obese. 

- Pegz had been onto me for a while. He'd expressed interest in my first crew Equills, and Obese actually distributed Illzilla's first EP. He'd call me every now and then asking what I was up to, and if I'd ever consider doing a solo record with Obese. So when I finally had the album finished I hit him up and he was keen. It was great having a label be so supportive from the get go, it definitely took some of the pressure off me as an artist.

BOTA: What do you wish to achieve through your music, and what is your biggest goal for your music career?

- I'm gonna take my music as far as it will let me. All I want is for people to hear it. If they like it and can take something from it, thats brilliant. If not, thats ok too. Really for me music is the only thing I've ever been good at, so its all I want to do.

BOTA: Your music has a unique sound to it, how would you best describe your music?

- I hate this question, I find it really hard to sum up my own musical style. So all I will say is this: every artist should have a unique style. If people wanna check out mine, I'd love them to, so they can make up their own minds about what it sounds like.

BOTA: Your second full length album Spoken Volume dropped early last month, how was the response to the album?

- Its been unreal. All the feedback I've got so far has been amazing. It also feels like this album is appealing to more people than the last one did. I've always been good at talking to the Hip-Hop heads, but now I think some other crew are feeling it too which is cool.

BOTA: What was your inspiration for this latest body of work?

- This album came together much more easily than the first one. I was really motivated after we dropped Power of the Spoken so I was keen to get back in the lab as soon as possible. I had a much clearer idea of what I wanted the record to sound like and who I wanted to work with so I just wanted to get it cracking.

BOTA: I believe that there is a tour coming up for Speaking Volumes. Where will the tour take you and who's coming along for the ride?

- I'm gonna be joined on stage by Wasabi and Bam Bam. At selected shows we're gonna be supported by the incredible Tommy Illfigga, and at most of the VIC shows we'll be joined by In Good Company, who have just dropped their debut album. Its gonna be fun.

SPEAKING VOLUMES ALBUM LAUNCH TOUR DATES:

• SATURDAY 15 OCTOBER SPRUNG FESTIVAL @ RIVERSTAGE BRISBANE, QLD Tickets from www.ticketmaster.com.au

• THURSDAY 20 OCTOBER KAROVA LOUNGE BALLARAT, VIC Tickets from Oztix - 1300 762 545 www.oztix.com.au

• FRIDAY 21 OCTOBER HQ COMPLEX ADELAIDE, SA Tickets from www.venuetix.com.au or (08) 8225 8888

• SATURDAY 22 OCTOBER THE LOFT, WARRNAMBOOL, VIC 

• FRIDAY 28 OCTOBER LEVEL ONE NEWCASTLE, NSW Tickets from venue (02) 4929 3067 or www.bigtix.com.au or Oztix - 1300 762 545 www.oztix.com.au

• SATURDAY 29 OCTOBER ANNANDALE HOTEL SYDNEY, NSW Tickets from www.annandalehotel.com or 02 9550 1078 

• SATURDAY 5 NOVEMBER SURF COAST SPORT & REC CLUB TORQUAY, VIC Tickets available on the day

• FRIDAY 18 NOVEMBER STAR BAR BENDIGO, VIC Tickets from venue (03) 5441 8222

• SATURDAY 19 NOVEMBER EAST BRUNSWICK CLUB MELBOURNE, VIC Tickets from venue: 03 9388 9794 www.eastbrunswickclub.com, or via Corner Box Office 57 Swan Street, Richmond

• SATURDAY 10 DECEMBER JUMP OFF u/18 FESTIVAL BIRRARUNG MARR, VIC Tickets from www.thejumpoffu18.com

MANTRA

Speaking Volumes

Available: September 9th 2011

Obese Records | Premier Artists

facebook.com/mantrahiphop | myspace.com/mantrahiphop | twitter.com/mantra_mc

Featured Artist of the Month - Phatchance

Group Name: Phatchance

Members: Chance Dylan Waters

BOTA: When and why did you first start writing music, and have you always called your self Phatchance?

I guess before I started 'writing' music I was pretty into the freestyle and battle elements of the whole thing, I'd think up lines but I don't think I ever committed anything to paper until the later years of high-school, even then it was more of a hobby for me and my style of writing was very different to the tip I'm on now. Phatchance was definitely my first pseudonym though, prior to that I just went by my real name, which is Chance.

BOPA: Your latest body of work, Inkstains (Acoustic) saw you preform live with a band and a whole new approach to your music. Why did you decide to take you music in the that direction?

We'd performed with a few band members here and there on our tours before, we like to generally take at least a bass player and a guitarist with us wherever we go, but this was the first time we'd ditched the backing music entirely and gone for a full band line up. I guess it came about because both myself and Coptic were interested in doing something a little different and a little more musically challenging and we were already working fairly closely with our friend Jon Reichardt, whose quite the multi-instrumentalist, so the opportunity kind of presented itself. I've got a huge penchant for acoustic and folk music and I thought it'd be interesting to try and pull some of those sounds into local hip-hop, as I don't believe it's been done in that fashion before. It was a really rewarding experience and probably the most fun I've ever had putting together a musical project, it was also nice to give some of the b-sides from Inkstains a proper revamp and let them see the light of day, particularly a few of my favourite tracks which were never very 'singley' on the original album. 

BOTA: As and independent artist, what do you wish to achieve through your music or what is your biggest goal in your music career?

I think the elephant in the room is that all independent musicians would like to be able to live off of their music, which is obviously one of my long term aims, but I guess I have more esoteric goals than that which are probably more important to me when you boil it down. I really love the idea of leaving a mark on the world in some fashion, I feel like lyrics are one of the best ways to really touch somebody and create change in the world around you, I think in Australia particularly we're actually pretty receptive to personal song writing if we're given the opportunity, but it can be very hard to break the radio and media circuit with those types of songs, that's probably very high on my list of priorities, managing to achieve success without compromising the core messages in my music.

BOTA: How would you best describe your music?

My tag-line is 'Emotive, Independent, Australian Hip-Hop' which probably captures it pretty well, I guess I'm a mish-mash of influences but I definitely fall on the alternative/emotive side of the spectrum, I think I'm one of the few hip-hop artists in the country who uses a lot of harmony work in my tracks and my favourite songs are usually the type of introspective tracks that get thrown onto albums as a b-side or a book end, I think something magical happens when you manage to do those tracks right and make them a corner stone of the album.

BOTA: Are there any future works and performances planned/in progress?

I'm knee deep in writing my second album 'Infinity' - we're currently polishing up a few of the best songs and trying to work out who we want featuring. Most of the production side of it's done and at this point it's just trying to take our time to make sure we get everything right. I'm also finishing up the writing and recording of a free mixtape I'm dropping in December called 'Approaching Infinity' and I have a few video clips and collaborations in the works, including some songs with Mind over Matter, Johnny Utah, Cool Poindexter , One Above & Mr Hill.

BOTA: Your recently released a remix of Gotye’s 'Somebody That I Use To Know'. What is it about this song that made you remix it?

The second I heard the track I resonated with it heavily, in my opinion Gotye is one of the most talented, professional and approachable artists in the Australian music scene. I've been pretty obsessed with his work for a long time, I'd say 'Hearts A Mess' is probably one of my favourite Australian tracks fullstop, so when I heard STIUTK I knew pretty much straight away I wanted to approach him about remixing it. He was kind enough to send me the parts, I contacted One Above and asked him if he'd like to remix the song for me and we worked on it together solidly for a week or so till we had something we were both happy with.


Phatchance_Gotye_Somebody That I Used To Know (Hip Hop Remix) Remixed by One Above by phatchance

BOTA: You are apart of a independant movement, I Forget Sorry? Who makes up this crew and what is IFS all about?

'I Forget, Sorry!' is comprised of myself, Johnny Utah, Coptic Soldier and Mind Over Matter, as well as the solo projects of Smiles Again, who is half of Mind Over Matter. Basically we're a group of close friends and like minded musicians who wanted to try and maintain our independence and work closely together, 'I Forget, Sorry!' is kind of like an alternative approach to the record label model of music, we help each other out with everything and cross pollinate our music as much as possible and basically focus on finding ways to engage with our listeners and keep each other passionate about the work we're doing.