Sauce

If the infamous psychologist Sigmund Frued was alive today, he’d probably have a field day explaining the traits and quirks of the hip-hop word. Luckily, he’s not, so Adelaide MC and recent signing to Obese, Vents, can rest easy. He spoke to me about being Hard To Kill.

One of the shows you’re playing in Tasmania is an all-ages one, and I was just wondering, in your experience, how is playing to an underage crowd different to playing licensed gigs - how are they different in terms of how they respond to the music?
I don’t think I’ve ever done an all-ages gig! I think the only one I kind of did was The ‘Hoods launch – The Hard Road launch, that was an all-ages crowd but I wasn’t out for long. I guess they’re not drunk… I think maybe the younger people have a little bit more enthusiasm or something, you know. They just haven’t been to as many gigs ‘n that… so… I dunno. I don’t discriminate playing to younger people.

You’re heading down here and playing with some locals – Mynse and Heads of State – what experience have you had performing with these artists and how do you think they’ll compliment your set from a stylistic point-of-view?
Honestly, I haven’t heard these artists but… I’ve heard good things about Tasmania and hip-hop and I know the crowds are a bit crazy there, you know, when we did Bloc Party there and that, so… yeah, I’m real keen to check it out, move a few heads and that; have fun!

Hard To Kill has been out for around a month now, is that right?
Yep!

Killer title, by the way – I thought it was a Steven Seagal movie [Laughs]…
[Laughs]

…Now that you’ve got a little distance from it, how have your feelings about it changed – like, what do you see as its strengths and do you perhaps see any weaknesses you’d like to [improve on] on your next album?
This is… Okay… Maybe we made this album with a little bit of idealism that we could make, you know, a really hardcore record and it could be successful… and I think it was always gonna be a limited audience, regardless of how much airplay we got n’ that, because it’s not very dancey kinda music, and… yeah, I think that’s definitely its weakness, but its weakness is also its strength, on the plus side – you know we didn’t have things like that in mind when we were making the album, we were just, you know, whatever music we liked to make, so it’s gonna be harder the next time around if we’re gonna make a similar album; you know, trying not to water it down a little bit until we sell a few more records… yeah. It has only been out for a month and it’s tough on the first album… you have to establish a fan-base first and I that takes a little bit longer than a month, in my experience, here.

Yeah, sure… so what’s the best bit of feedback you’ve got regarding the album – you know, something a punter’s told you, or another Aussie hip-hop artist?
The feedback is, you know… because we don’t make any money! – the feedback is what it’s all about, man! And, you know, I’ve had some people say things… you know, some of the nicest things anyone’s ever said to me like, “It’s the best Australian hip-hop they’ve ever heard,” and, you know, “It’s a classic,” and stuff so, I mean that’s, sort of… it’s the nicest thing anybody’s ever said to me, you know? 99% of the feedback I’ve got has been positive… I’ve been really, really happy with the response to it, definitely.

And, just for fun, what’s been the worst bit of feedback – what’s something someone’s said that was so far off the mark that they didn’t get it, at all?
There was a… I think it was a dance music site and this guy was wailing on it pretty hard and he was saying that it sort of sounded like the soundtrack to a bunch of sweaty men taking their shirts off in the gym, pumping iron and…

[Laughs]
Yeah! And, I dunno if I should take that as a compliment or not… I think the dude had… you now, it sounds like he has some sort of repressed homoerotic things going on in his head, man…

I think, if he was gay, that would be a massive compliment!
[Laughs] I think Freud would have something to say about that!

[Laughs] So what do you reckon Freud would say about an Australian hip-hop artist whose first album is called Hard To Kill?
Oh geez… uhm, what would Freud say – I dunno, maybe he’d say I wanna have sex with my mother and… gee, what else… yeah. That’s sort of the extent of it, I dunno…

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