Interview with Mogwai Of All Underground Sound. Outta Toowoomba, Australia this group mixes many different styles and hits you with catchy lyrics and great beats.
How did this group get its start? A.U.S came about through a close bond that my other group The Lowdown (which is currently on hiatus) formed with Skinz Markus and Nikzman of Brisbane hip hop crew Kryptamistik. The Lowdown and Kryptamistik performed together very often and we quickly developed a mutual appreciation for each other's music. We had been kicking around the idea of collaborating together on some tracks and the opportunity presented itself when The Lowdown's other emcee (Dom) went overseas at the end of 08 beginning of 09. Previously things had been crazy busy with The Lowdown and it wasn't until then that we had some downtime to get into collaborating with the Krypta lads.
I was on the facebook page for AUS and I noticed the huge members list, How did this musician line up come to be? Its not really that we have a huge number of members, more so that we have a lot of really talented friends who have hung out in the studio with us and jumped on a track or people who have had an idea for something and collaborated with us. The core members so to speak would be Nikzman, Skinz, Cook, Lizard, myself and recently New Year's Steve on deejay duties.
How do you describe your music to the peoples? That is a hard question to answer as we tend to come out with whatever we feel at the time. Our music is definitely hip-hop but we also have a huge love for reggae, same with soul/funk/blues/jazz etc. We don't tend to repeat ourselves when it comes to sounds or styles, all the songs sound different and that keeps it fresh and interesting for us. The short and easy answer however is that we are a hip hop group.
Whats the Australian music scene like and How do you guys fit in it? Its extremely competitive due to the fact that there are an incredible number of super talented bands/groups/musicians out here of all styles and genres. Add to that the fact that due to our relatively much smaller population compared to places such as the U.S and Europe the music market is a lot smaller and therefore it is much harder to break through to the top of the game. As for how we fit into the scene it is a bit hard to tell just yet as we're just getting started with All Underground Sound. We just did our first show with one of Australia's premiere hip hop groups Spit Syndicate and one of Queensland's most up and coming crews Eloquence & Truths. We were lucky enough in The Lowdown to play with pretty much all of Australia's biggest and most well renowned hip hop and reggae groups and Kryptamistik have been doing their thing for 10 years and have opened for some incredible names both local and international. Both groups have respect in the scene and we hope to build from that. I think A.U.S's music will appeal to a lot of different people, there's really something in it for everyone, or at least I think so.
With there being as many artists in one group how do songs usually come together? There's no set process really. It can happen in any number of different ways. A lot of times it can start with a beat that someone (mainly Cook, Nikz or Mark at this stage) has put together, say a programmed drum pattern or a sampled loop and either live keys and bass or sampled instruments found from wherever. Then if it calls for it I will come up with some guitar (or in some cases Kipper from The Lowdown). When it comes to the musical instrumentation the process is on going in terms of refining and experimenting with sounds and ideas until the song is done. I tend to come up with a lot of the vocal hooks but not in all cases. I find its easier to get verses happening once a hook is established as it gives you a central feel and idea to work off. Whoever has the best verse to fit the song at the time its being done jumps on on the mic for raps and that's about it. Scratch and samples were basically added last to this first record but that not necessarily the case all the time either. The creative process is a really interesting animal with a life of its own.
I heard that theres a debut album coming out, How was recording this new album? The debut album is called 'Quest'. Its a 14 track album including one remix. The remix was done by someone we have a great deal of respect and admiration for – Lotek, he was born in Jamaica but moved with his family to England when he was young. He's now based in Melbourne Australia. He started his production/emceeing career in England and has worked with Roots Manuva (one of our all-time favourite artists) extensively. Lotek also dropped a verse on our lead single Flip the Situation. He has been very supportive of our music and has also mastered the album. I highly recommend checking out Lotek's albums, they are seriously dope. Find him online here - http://www.facebook.com/wayneabennett?ref=ts
As far as recording the album was concerned it was a bunch of fun mixed with a lot of hard work and time. We recorded everything ourselves between Cook's studio in Toowoomba and Skinz's studio in Brisbane. We took our time with the album to get it as close to perfect as we could, all up it took a bit over a year and a half.
Is there any other recordings planned in the near future? We're already working on the second album. We have shit-loads of beats in varying stages to work on already. Some are more developed than others but over all they have one thing in common and that is that they are solid fucking gold. I have no doubt that the second album will be a lot better than the first even though I am proud of and love the first album to death.
Other than that Cook and myself are working on a dub recording project called Up To Ya Nuts in Dub. We've got a fair bit of the music for it already. It will feature some killer guest vocalists
Do you guys plan on touring in support of this new album? We will be touring and gigging in support of the album for sure. We're in the initial stages of organising an east coast tour of Australia later this year when the album drops. We'll also hopefully be doing some shows with Lotek here in Queensland as well as performing locally and wherever there's a crowd for us to rock.
Do you plan on doing some shows in the United States? That would be fantastic. There was tentative talk of it with The Lowdown. We have some solid connections there so other than the obvious financial expense of such a tour I don't see why it couldn't happen. I guess we'll just have to see how things pan out but I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best!
Whats the next move? Right now we're looking at securing a distribution deal for the album. The way the music scene is in this modern day, things like that are becoming more difficult with people buying less physical copies of cds. If we somehow don't manage to secure distro we'll just hustle the disc on the independent tip. Other than that we're just gonna keep doing what we do, having fun with it and doing it for the love.
If your drinking what are you drinking? We've got a pretty open mind when it comes to drinking haha. We'll drink whatever but we're fond of good beer. Lately its been some New Zealand beers such as Monteith's, Mac's. Also beers like Big Helga's, Big Head, Paulaner and whatever. Cook and myself have also become quite a fan of pear cider to start a drinking/jamming/recording session, its really refreshing.
What would you like to say to your fans and peoples out there? Take a listen to what we do. If you like our sound stay tuned and buy the album when it drops. Also if you're digging it please spread the word around to your friends. Remember to support the music you love so that the musicians have a means to keep doing it.
Check out some of their tracks at
CHeck out their Facbook page at
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