Interview Horror Show
October 21st 2010 18:25
Horrorshow have officially solidified their position in the ‘bands to watch’ list and there's presently a demand for Horrorshow growing, them having supported the likes of Hilltop Hoods and The Herd these guys are the next generation of talented young Hip Hop artists in Australia.
Horrorshow's SOLO
Questions by David Jobling
What has influenced your musical tastes? Were you a Video Hits kid, a community radio kid, a my space music kid - all of the above?
Solo: Many different things influenced our musical tastes. As younger kids I'm sure we soaked up plenty of pop music via Video Hits etc like most kids do, but I think the majority of our influences come from other places. Adit, our group's producer, was definitely influenced by his parents vinyl collection and their interest in funk and soul, which led him to his early musical love of bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. We played instruments in bands at school which exposed us to a lot of jazz, rock, even concert band type music.. but the major influence has definitely come from hip hop culture. Older kids around our area were very important in putting us on to hip hop music, and particularly early Australian stuff, and from that moment on it was all about certain hip hop websites, our local hip hop store (Soul Clap / Next Level) and just word of mouth from other people who were into hip hop.
Is it difficult to be taken seriously as a hip-hop act in Australia or are things not too difficult?
Solo: Not anymore. I remember when I was growing up a lot of kids would pay me out or make fun of the music I listened to, calling aussie hip hop 'BBQ rap' and things like that. But only a few years later these same people are well into groups like the Hilltop Hoods, Bliss n Eso and The Herd. This has come about due to the hard work of these acts in getting it through people's heads that Australian hip hop is a legitimate form of expression, and their success in building fan bases through touring etc. to the point where nowadays plenty of aussie rap gets played on the radio and aussie MC's are getting booked for big slots at festivals, doing large scale tours... things have come a long way in the past few years.
Is there a big difference working to a festival crowd and simply doing a gig at a venue? What differences stand out?
Solo: Definitely. At a festival what you get is raw energy - it can be 1PM and the crowd is going off like it's midnight on a saturday night, just because the nature of the event has them so excited to be there in the first place. The big tents, the bringing together of all different sorts of crowds, the good vibes.. these are the things that stand out at a festival. In a venue situation though things are much more intimate - you can really look people in the eye and deliver your message on a personal level, and that works well for the style of lyrics that I tend to write. You're more likely to get a deeper connection with people in a venue situation, and it's much easier to interact with them afterwards, hear their stories etc.. both kinds of gigs are awesome but they're definitely different.
Hip Hop and Rap tend to be pretty politically motivated a lot of the time, would you agree with that? Is it the case with you guys - as in - do you have a thematic message underlying in your work? Or is it just great beats and good fun?
Solo: I agree that hip hop and rap tends to be a lot more political than a lot of other genres of music, in that it tends to touch on issues that can't often be explored that well in a pop or jazz song.. because of the spoken nature of it and also how many more lyrics you can fit into a hip hop track it can be a forum for discussing issues in depth in a way which lots of other genres can't. As far as our music, I think we always try to have themes or messages in our music as opposed to making songs about nothing - which is also a very dope way to approach making music, just perhaps not our forte - but that doesn't mean our songs are necessarily politically motivated... I try and put lines here and there in the lyrics that perhaps touch on social or political issues, but I feel like there are people who are much better at talking bout that sort of thing than I am.
Is there much interaction between you and other HH/R acts around the country - do you gig with the Hilltop Hoods and Elefant Traks stable acts?
Solo: Yes, definitely - there's a lot of collaboration in terms of touring and also musically, everyone's pretty interconnected. We've been lucky enough to get the chance to tour with a number of the acts from the Elefant Traks roster including Hermitude, Urthboy and The Herd and they've all been really positive experiences. We've played one show with the Hilltop Hoods which was actually in London... a truly amazing experience. The Hoods have been very influential on us as they have nearly everyone involved in aus hip hop so to play with them overseas was a wicked experience! Urthboy and Hermitude were also playing in London that night so we all rocked out together afterwards... it was definitely a memorable evening.
What's the plan for the next few years - heading overseas or keeping it real here? Any plan for something special?
Solo: We've got gigs going on up until New Year's and after that we're heading back to the drawing board... we wanna start working on new songs for a new record and see where that takes us. We definitely have plans to try and do some more shows overseas but for the most part we're just keen to get back to what we enjoy doing most - enjoying writing songs and seeing what we can come up with. We've been gigging pretty consistently for the last couple of years so these last few festivals we've got coming up are gonna be a good way to cap that all of.
Tickets on sale now - www.openarmsfestival.com / Oztix.com.au
Tickets also available at:
Park Beach Music, Coffs Harbour / Icegraphics, shop 18 City Boulevard, Coffs Harbour / Coopers Surf (Palms Centre, Toormina, Woolgoolga, Coffs Harbour Plaza) / Coffs Coast Visitor Information Centre / Sunpatch Surf; 49 First Ave, Sawtell / In Harmony Music, Kempsey / Sunflower Music, Gold Coast / Buckleys Music, Grafton / Bellingen Tourist Centre, Bellingen / Eulogy Music, 142 Beardy St, Armidale / Little Red Vamp, Port Macquarie
all Oztix.com.au Outlets
Horrorshow's SOLO
Questions by David Jobling
What has influenced your musical tastes? Were you a Video Hits kid, a community radio kid, a my space music kid - all of the above?
Solo: Many different things influenced our musical tastes. As younger kids I'm sure we soaked up plenty of pop music via Video Hits etc like most kids do, but I think the majority of our influences come from other places. Adit, our group's producer, was definitely influenced by his parents vinyl collection and their interest in funk and soul, which led him to his early musical love of bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. We played instruments in bands at school which exposed us to a lot of jazz, rock, even concert band type music.. but the major influence has definitely come from hip hop culture. Older kids around our area were very important in putting us on to hip hop music, and particularly early Australian stuff, and from that moment on it was all about certain hip hop websites, our local hip hop store (Soul Clap / Next Level) and just word of mouth from other people who were into hip hop.
Is it difficult to be taken seriously as a hip-hop act in Australia or are things not too difficult?
Solo: Not anymore. I remember when I was growing up a lot of kids would pay me out or make fun of the music I listened to, calling aussie hip hop 'BBQ rap' and things like that. But only a few years later these same people are well into groups like the Hilltop Hoods, Bliss n Eso and The Herd. This has come about due to the hard work of these acts in getting it through people's heads that Australian hip hop is a legitimate form of expression, and their success in building fan bases through touring etc. to the point where nowadays plenty of aussie rap gets played on the radio and aussie MC's are getting booked for big slots at festivals, doing large scale tours... things have come a long way in the past few years.
Is there a big difference working to a festival crowd and simply doing a gig at a venue? What differences stand out?
Solo: Definitely. At a festival what you get is raw energy - it can be 1PM and the crowd is going off like it's midnight on a saturday night, just because the nature of the event has them so excited to be there in the first place. The big tents, the bringing together of all different sorts of crowds, the good vibes.. these are the things that stand out at a festival. In a venue situation though things are much more intimate - you can really look people in the eye and deliver your message on a personal level, and that works well for the style of lyrics that I tend to write. You're more likely to get a deeper connection with people in a venue situation, and it's much easier to interact with them afterwards, hear their stories etc.. both kinds of gigs are awesome but they're definitely different.
Hip Hop and Rap tend to be pretty politically motivated a lot of the time, would you agree with that? Is it the case with you guys - as in - do you have a thematic message underlying in your work? Or is it just great beats and good fun?
Is there much interaction between you and other HH/R acts around the country - do you gig with the Hilltop Hoods and Elefant Traks stable acts?
Solo: Yes, definitely - there's a lot of collaboration in terms of touring and also musically, everyone's pretty interconnected. We've been lucky enough to get the chance to tour with a number of the acts from the Elefant Traks roster including Hermitude, Urthboy and The Herd and they've all been really positive experiences. We've played one show with the Hilltop Hoods which was actually in London... a truly amazing experience. The Hoods have been very influential on us as they have nearly everyone involved in aus hip hop so to play with them overseas was a wicked experience! Urthboy and Hermitude were also playing in London that night so we all rocked out together afterwards... it was definitely a memorable evening.
What's the plan for the next few years - heading overseas or keeping it real here? Any plan for something special?
Solo: We've got gigs going on up until New Year's and after that we're heading back to the drawing board... we wanna start working on new songs for a new record and see where that takes us. We definitely have plans to try and do some more shows overseas but for the most part we're just keen to get back to what we enjoy doing most - enjoying writing songs and seeing what we can come up with. We've been gigging pretty consistently for the last couple of years so these last few festivals we've got coming up are gonna be a good way to cap that all of.
Tickets on sale now - www.openarmsfestival.com / Oztix.com.au
Tickets also available at:
Park Beach Music, Coffs Harbour / Icegraphics, shop 18 City Boulevard, Coffs Harbour / Coopers Surf (Palms Centre, Toormina, Woolgoolga, Coffs Harbour Plaza) / Coffs Coast Visitor Information Centre / Sunpatch Surf; 49 First Ave, Sawtell / In Harmony Music, Kempsey / Sunflower Music, Gold Coast / Buckleys Music, Grafton / Bellingen Tourist Centre, Bellingen / Eulogy Music, 142 Beardy St, Armidale / Little Red Vamp, Port Macquarie
all Oztix.com.au Outlets
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