SPRUNG FESTIVAL
The biggest hip hop festival Australia has ever seen is back, with Sprung Festival this year taking place at the RNA Showgrounds on November 10. Ready for this lineup? Hilltop Hoods, Illy, Pez, TZU, Vents, Kerser, Spit Syndicate, Seth Sentry, Mantra, Thundamentals, Bias B, The Tongue, Briggs, Evil Eddie, Mase n Mattic, Bam Bam, Seven, Deathstarrs, Dwizofoz and Kudos. Boom!

ROCK FOR REFUGEES
The Underground is a community space at 74b Wickham Street, and they’re hosting a fundraiser for the Refugee Activist Centre on Saturday June 30. The show is all-ages, and the line-up features Kudos, Scripted Dialects, Indigo Rising and more.

BRIZZLEMANIA
The next drawcard from 469 Underworld is Real Talk Battle Leauge’s ‘Brizzlemania 2’ on Saturday July 7. They have more than ten battles across the afternoon, including the title match: KaseWon vs Doubleyou. It all kicks off at 1pm at the Jubilee Hotel.

SINGLEMINDED CIVILIAN
Adelaide rapper K21 was the winner of the Hilltop Hoods Initiative in 2008. Now he’s set to release his debut album on Saturday July 13 at the Jubilee Hotel with special guests Trials, Realizm and Dunn D & Mdusu, plus locals Tommy Illfigga, Dwizofoz, Chase and Shadow Walkers.

GET TURNED ON
Turntablists get ready to rumble as the DMC’s are back! Entrants are allowed their choice of Digital Vinyl System (Serato, Traktor etc) along with their choice of mixer to create the best six-minute routine using two turntables. This year it will be held at Coniston Lane on Saturday July 21, featuring a special one hour set by 4x Australian DMC Champ Dexter. Rainman will be your host on the night.

SPEAKING IN TONGUES
The almighty Hilltop Hoods are in town this Friday June 29, playing at the Eatons Hill Hotel, supported by Horrorshow and Briggs. If you haven’t got your ticket yet unfortunately it’s too late, as this all-ages show sold out months in advance.

20 Years Strong

This year marks two decades of the Big Day Out, arguably making it one of the most successful music festivals in Australia. Promoter Ken West explains how the festival almost didn’t make it to its 20th year.

“That was probably the hardest question of this year, whether to just end it all, and I was fine if that was the case. I went ‘well, legacy is intact, I’ve been in the music industry for such a long time that I’ve got other things I could do with my life’.

“I think I’ve achieved all I could really achieve, and the miracle of this process is that from the depths of not getting the line-up together, and then delaying, and then having two or three other festivals going on sale before us because they’d moved theirs back, all that mess that went on, the negativity of having too many Splendour acts, all that other stuff that fell into line with it, that ultimately (I) ended up parting ways with my business partner (Vivian Lees), and having to make that call then whether the show was going to go ahead at all, it just came down to simply that it couldn’t go out like that.”

West gives credit to his team of trusted friends and his new partnership with C3, America’s third largest promotion company, for keeping the show on the road. “When it came down to possibly not happening I really needed the energy of everybody else to tell me what we could do and what we should do, because really, in this business, everybody you hire is your friend.”

When Ken reflects on the festival’s history, he’s optimistic about what the future holds for him personally. “It’s a rebirth, and that really ties in beautifully with 20 years. It’s deeply looked at itself, we’ve deeply looked at the past, and we’ve looked at what we’ve done right and wrong.”

Of course with every silver lining, there’s a grey cloud, and one thing that has changed over the years is the rise in popularity of social media, bringing with it a new wave of critics. “We’ve been judged fairly harshly this year on the basis that it’s not quite what people want. It’s primarily been judged quite harshly in the electronic internet world, of which most people with half a brain now know that there are so many agendas that go on in that world that you’ve just got to try and find some truth in it, and not take in anything as personal.”

But never fear fans, they aren’t leaving anytime soon. “While the event itself remains needed for the Australian music scene, and while the audiences can respond in a level that it’s sustainable — it doesn’t need to be sellout shows all the time — I think the future is looking great, I think the future is looking really great because it’s got a job to do.”

In a recent interview with Fasterlouder, West had a number of interesting, if not controversial, things to say about the promoter of Soundwave Festival (AJ Maddah). But West stands by his words, believing there’s a lesson to be learned for other event organisers.

“I think part of the problem of that show is that it went down a particular path, and I think lots of festivals are having a similar problem. They’re taking bands because if they don’t take them somebody else will take them, and that’s a really bad way to work. You’ve just got to have a clear vision of what you want to do and just fight for it … It’s really important that the integrity of the Big Day Out actually stays, that it’s supporting the local scene, and it’s not just a pariah and it’s actually there for a purpose. There have been way too many events started up because someone thinks that they can make some money, and a lot of them found out the hard way how much you can lose.”

Deciding on which bands to book is never an easy task, and having bands cancel is part of running a festival. Ken believes you’ve got to aim high and roll with the punches as they come. “I’ll tell you what, it used to be a lot easier when they were all young and stupid and weren’t in relationships! You've got to be prepared to take risks, where if it doesn’t come together you’re going to have some egg on your face, but if you don’t do it then you’re going to be mediocre.”

The split from long-term business partner Vivian Lees, although difficult at the time, has turned into a blessing in disguise; emerging from the rubble is the partnership with C3, the team behind international festival Lollapalooza.

“We’d been talking to lots of people that weren’t really suitable, that I wouldn’t be prepared to partner up with, and C3 actually contacted us and asked if they could help, and that approach is fantastic. And from all accounts, from everywhere, it’s a unanimous thumbs-up worldwide, they’re highly regarded, they’ve worked with Perry Farrell, so therefore I should be easier, I hope!

Which begs the question — what does the C3 partnership bring internationally for the Big Day Out? “We’re talking a lot, we’ve got lots and lots of ideas, and everything sounds exciting, potentially a Big Day Out stage at some stage at Lollapalooza with Australian acts on it.”

As the 2012 edition of the Big Day Out approaches, West is hoping the 20th anniversary reconnects with punters looking for the festival experience, and not just seeing their favourite band of the moment.

“People always ask me what band I’m looking forward to. I’m looking forward to a few people actually understanding the show. There is a feeling that this show is not going to be very good, which is much better than if they’ve got such high expectations about it being awesome. I think the chemistry of the show is really good, which is what it’s meant to be. It’s meant to be a collection of bands that form one living entity for the day. I’m hoping that we can get the Big Day Out back to the idea that you trust us. It’s an experience that we’re selling, not a collection of bands.”

The Big Day Out lands at the Gold Coast Parklands Sunday January 22. bigdayout.com

Been Here For Years

Hilltop Hoods are no strangers to performing to massive crowds. With their addition to the Big Day Out travelling circus, festival veteran MC Pressure tell us how the Adelaide crew keep their live shows fresh.

“A lot of the content we're going to perform at Big Day Out will be from our new album that won’t be quite out then, it’s due out in February, but we'll perform I guess at this point three, four new songs from that album and then a variety of tracks that people know and work well.”

The Hoods aren’t shy about mixing it up on stage with live instruments either. They’ve previously had the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra backing them up, as well as funk outfit Lowrider. Now they’ve headhunted drummer extraordinaire, Plutonic Lab, for the latest round of shows. â€œWe just like changing it up live, so for people that have seen our show they’re not just seeing the same shit, it'll be new takes on old tracks plus new tracks. So hopefully it’ll be something cool and something that people haven’t seen before.”

Hilltop Hoods have a busy couple of months ahead of them, with a tour to Canada happening next month. â€œCanada is our strongest territory away from home. We're basically just doing a short tour there, firstly as an excuse to get away and hopefully do some snowboarding, and secondly to give the Canadian fans a bit more love because last time we went there we sold our tour out. We can’t get enough of going back there, the crowds are just amazing.”

The new album from Hilltop Hoods will be titled ‘Drinking From The Sun’, and Pressure says it will be full of that familiar sample-driven music they’re known for, plus a couple of party joints as well as a few moody tracks. â€œThere is a fair bit of live instrumentation, there is a fair few guests on the album, there's some rappers, some producers, I can't really drop any names at the moment because it’s too far from completion, and some of the tracks might not make the cut.”

As for whether we can expect a Golden Era tour or posse joint in the future, only time will tell. â€œI don’t know if there will be a posse joint at this stage, there could be, it can always happen in the last week of making the album, a lot of things happen in the last week of making an album! There is definitely some collaborations. Trials has done some production for the album and I’m sure there will be some more, but I don’t know about a posse joint or a tour at the moment, although it isn’t a bad idea!”

After leaving Obese Records in 2008 to start their own label, the Hoods had a lot of ideas about how they wanted to operate. With a shelf-full of successful releases to their name, Pressure believes the imprint’s success can be credited to the strong relationships they enjoy with their artists. â€œWe are a pretty laidback label really. We give our artists all the creative control so they make all the calls on their music, which is everything from their film clips to how they want to present themselves in their photo shoots and their artwork, that’s all them. Sometimes we're probably a bit too casual, but it’s a fine line between being a fellow artist, being a label, and to all the guys that are on our label, being their friend as well.”

As they get set to embark on the 20th anniversary of Australia’s biggest travelling music festival, Pressure leaves us with his favourite Big Day Out memory. â€œI think my best Big Day Out memory was making DJ Debris do push ups on stage! He fucked up our set so badly one day that we were like, ‘Right, you’re doing push ups in front of like forty thousand people’ … He got to about nine, he couldn’t even get to ten!”

CATCH HILLTOP HOODS PERFORMING AT BIG DAY OUT, AT THE GOLD COAST PARKLANDS, SUNDAY JANUARY 22. BIGDAYOUT.COM

Something Different

The Winnie Coopers have been around for awhile now, and even though their sound and their line-up has changed over the years, the message remains the same - it’s okay to be different!

Their third studio album 'Surface Parasites' hit shelves in May and The Educator is happy with the response they've had so far. They loved having Magoo (TZU, Regurgitator, Midnight Oil) handle the production side of things, and as for impressive guest spots, you don't have to look far past your own backyard with locals like Kate Miller-Heidke and Evil Eddie.

“We wanted to keep the tone or the flavour of the album Queensland based … We wanted a really diverse mix of artists to collaborate with because I guess that's sort of our sound, we combine various genres in what we do so that was really an honour to work with those artists.”

For some bands having a few members leave to pursue other things can be the kiss of death, but not so for Winnie Coopers. “You really have to evaluate whether you want to keep on doing it and whether you're passionate enough about the project … But we're really fortunate to have some great replacements. It's also exciting as well because they bring something new to the band.”

It's fair to say the Coopers aren't your typical hip hop outfit. Sick of hearing raps about fake people and things that didn't apply to them, they make music more applicable to where they’re from. “There seems to be this idea that you need to look and dress a certain way, and it becomes a bit clichéd after a while, so I guess we've always tried to challenge that. It's comical in the sense that the hooded jumper is a bit of a symbol, but it's always funny to see people wearing them at gigs in 30 degree heat when it’s not really practical.”

Being genuine and positive role models is something that's important to them as well, and they’re ready to challenge how people perceive the hip hop culture.
“A big part of it is we don't come from rough or disadvantaged backgrounds … People forget that the origins of hip hop are really positive - it was about getting together and showcasing skills, and it's only a recent thing where gang violence has been incorporated into the subculture; now that's all people seem to associate with hip hop.”

WINNIE COOPERS PERFORM AT THE HAMILTON HOTEL AUGUST 26.

Ever Evolving 

Just hours before Thundamentals hit the stage in Sydney for a secret show last week, Tuka has a chat about the joys of going back on tour.

“We love Brisbane, we always connect really well with the people there, it reminds me a lot of places like Byron and the Blue Mountains. I think we're on the same page on a lot of things.”

As for touring with international headliners, Tuka isn't jumping to any conclusions about what might be going on backstage, with Thundamentals to support Big Boi on his upcoming Australia dates. “I don't like to make assumptions about big artists, the press play a big role and make a lot of money by overdramatising things so who knows what went down. Obviously (Big Boi) got caught with some drugs but that's not to say that he's a crazy party animal. It will be cool if we get to meet him; in a lot of these situations you don't actually get access to the bigger artists.”

Thundamentals have been lucky enough to work with some of their biggest influences, and there is still a couple more they would like to tick off the list.
“I know Jesse would love to do a track with KRS-One. I suppose people that inspired me coming up, other than artists like Pegz on Obese and some Elefant Traks artists, would be Jehst and the UK thing that happened around 2004-2005. A lot of stuff from LA at the moment is really exciting, like Blu & Exile. It's a pretty old record now but that scene and the Detroit stuff like Black Milk has been really inspiring for us.”

With a couple of projects in the works Tuka is staying very hush-hush for now.  “I can't actually give you the hot gossip but there is a very interesting one coming up in the next couple of months that I don't think anyone would have guessed would happen. It's not a rapper, I'll put it that way.”

With the majority of the production on their latest album handled by DJ Morgs, Tuka and Jeswon comfortably tackle a variety of styles from R&B to dubstep.
“The most important thing to me is to have my own style, and I think all three of us have that mentality. We find it really important not to sound like anyone else, and hopefully Thundamentals doesn't, hopefully we have cut through with our own sound.”

THUNDAMENTALS WILL SUPPORT BIG BOI AT THE TIVOLI AUGUST 26. ‘FOREVERLUTION’ IS OUT NOW.