KEEP MOVING™: July 2008

With their debut album dropping August 16th (do not sleep) it was time for keep moving to chew the fat with Solo from Horrorshow. Out through Elefant Traks, The Grey Space promises to be a future classic.

G’day mate, how you going?

what's good FZA, I'm well thankyou if not a little busy for my liking...

First up for all the rookies out there who are you? & what do you do?

My name is Solo and I rapsing in a hip hop crew outta inner western Sydney by the name of Horrorshow. The crew is made up of myself on rhymes and my man Adit on production, and we have a debut album coming out on August 16th through Elefant Traks - it's called The Grey Space...

How long has Horrorshow been together & where did you meet ?

Horrorshow has existed officially since mid 2007 or thereabouts.. But Adit and I have been working on stuff for a few years and have been friends since long before that. We met at high school, we were in the same year together alongside a whole bunch of MC's (the boys from Natural Causes, my good friend Nick Lupi of SS fame etc.)

What is the last thing you paid money for?

I just went out and bought some Gumboots - my first ever pair actually. I'm heading up to Byron Bay tomorrow for Splendour In The Grass and the mud at that festival is no joke... talking some serious swamp pit shit. Before that I purchased a very tasty pad see ew with chicken..

Big ups on the deal with elefant traks, how did this partnership come about?

Thankyou brother. Elefant Traks came about through us approaching Urthboy with a copy of our album a few months ago.. We had pretty much finished the project and were beginning to think about options for how we could get it out there. We spoke to a few labels and initially got in touch with Urthy for some advice and I guess things just developed gradually from there. We both have a lot of respect for the Elefants and what they've acheived in their 10 years as a label so we're stoked to be getting involved with their operation, plus they're based in our local area - all of these things added up and I guess it became clear to us that ET would be a good home for our music.

Had you finished the entire ablum before getting signed?

Essentially, yes. We had already recorded and roughly mixed the album with the big homie Fame at The Bank studios in Sydney before we approached anyone about putting it out. It's been important to us, not just in terms of getting signed but in terms of making music in general, to try and really refine/complete our product as much as possible before trying to get out there in front of people's eyes and ears too much. I've watched alot of crews 'come up' (in Sydney and in other cities) playing stacks of shows and maybe dropping random tracks but never really getting their shit off the ground as far as recorded material's concerned, and I guess that made us want to try a different approach. Our first goal was to work on songs and record an album before even really trying to put ourselves out there at all. Only once we'd finished the bulk of the album did we set about trying to get some shows, doing a bit of self promotion, getting a myspace and all that bullshit, and eventually getting signed...

How long did it take to make the album?

I would say the recording and mixing/mastering process took about 8 or 9 months all up start to finish, including a 3 month break in the middle where we both went overseas. As far as writing the shit, it's a bit harder to answer that question - some of the beats/raps on there were started years ago when we were 16/17, and some of them came together in less than 2 weeks when we were putting the album together last year. So I guess all up the album represents a few years of gradual progress followed by a few months of heavy dedicate work..

Who did you guys work with on the album?

Essentially we worked with people who are friends of ours. I mentioned we recorded and mixed with Fame, he does a guest spot on one of the tracks as well. We've got Nick Lupi and Just Enuf of Spit Syndicate on a track each, those guys are family and it was important to us to have them on there, repping the One Day team and all that. Jack Prest did all the cuts on the record, we’ve known Jack for a while and it was great to work with him. We also worked with a talented girl by the name of Jo Seto and a few other also very talented friends who lay down some live instrumentation on a few tracks for us.

Are you touring, what dates?

We’re going to be joining The Herd on some of their upcoming Summerland tour dates during August – we’re playing at Canberra (August 8th), Jindabyne (August 9th), Sydney (15th), Manly (16th), Katoomba (21st), Newcastle (22nd) and Erina (23rd). Shit, that starts in like 2 weeks – no rest for the wicked. Oh, and then it’s our album launch on September 12th at the Annandale which should hopefully be a good way to cap it off..

What’s in your pockets right now?

A new iPod! My old one broke when I was overseas and my life’s been void of music for months, I just bought a new one.. other than that, an empty wallet and some house keys.

What’s in your CD player right now?

Lots of good stuff to listen to at the moment, Illzilla’s album Wasteland is chronic, as is Nas’ new album. Also been listening to Santogold and trying to listen to some of the bands that are playing at Splendour cos I’m not that familiar with all of them, trying to get educated on some new shit..

Who is coming up in Sydney we need to look out for?

I don’t think it would be fair to say he’s 'coming up' but I think The Tongue is looking pretty dangerous. His mixtape was dope, very clever and I think whatever he puts out next will be on point. Also Reverse Polarities are on the rise, those guys have been putting on solid shows for quite a while now…

Any shout outs?

Shoutouts to all my people reading this killing time on the internet. I’m starting to think we all really need to get the fuck off facebook, starting with myself… thanks for the interview my man.