Local Collaboration

The Winnie Coopers have delivered their unique blend of hip hop, rock and reggae for more than half a decade now. They’ll be showing off their latest goods when they launch their eagerly awaited third album, ‘Surface Parasites’, later this month. They may even dress up for the occasion.

“It’s good to do hip hop gigs in the suburbs of Brisbane that don’t usually get the opportunity to see that genre of music,” says Charlie Thomson, the MC also known as The Educator. “And we’re looking forward to performing with The Optimen and the Coalition Crew. There’s going to be a lot of guest spots and a lot of improvisation, and I’m hoping I can convince the other members to dress up in Halloween costumes. So that might take some convincing but I was thinking Ghost Busters theme. It depends on the budget constraints.”

The third album from the Gold Coast five-piece was inspired by Surfers life. “Basically the concept of the album is about where we’re from, the Gold Coast, and Surface Parasites is a nickname locals give to the area Surfers Paradise. So I guess it’s a play on words and a bit of a nod to where we’re from. But also, we sort of believe Surfers Paradise is a bit of a microcosmos to society in general, and it’s a place full of hope and despair. We just wanted to deal with those issues in our songwriting and we thought it’d be an interesting backdrop and inspiration for the album.”

‘Surface Parasites’ represents a musical progression for The Winnie Coopers. “The actual album itself has more of a live band feel to it, more harmonies and melodies in the songs and we’re pretty happy with the production of it.”

The members’ varying experiences over the past few years added a depth to their songwriting previously unheard in The Winnie Coopers’ recordings. “I think we all went through different things in our lives. A lot of the band members had children and settled down, so we wanted our songs to have, as well as a sense of humour, a serious tone and social messages. I think that’s just naturally going to happen when you’ve been in a band for a few years, your songwriting is going to mature and develop as you, as a person, do.”

The five-piece worked with Kate Miller-Heidke and Evil Eddie (of Butterfingers) to make the record a truly local collaboration. “So one of the best things is everything on the album is Queenslander-based, and that was something that was really important to us, that it had a local feel to it, and local explorations … I guess it highlights the diversity of the album to have two very different guests collaborating on the album. That’s what we wanted to do, push the envelope a bit more with the album and with the hip hop music that’s coming out of the area.”

Charlie says the collaboration with Eddie felt as natural as hanging out with mates. “It was a lot of fun. All of the band members grew up listening to Butterfingers, and even some of his other hip hop work, and to have him on our album is a great privilege. And his sense of humour and particularly how he doesn’t take himself too seriously is something that I guess we share. It was great to have him involved in the process.”

Miller-Heidke, who is classically trained, provided a different dynamic to the album. “We’ve done shows together around the traps and it was very humbling working with someone of her caliber on the album. We were really excited about what she brought to the song, and just found her very easy to work with. She’s a great inspiration for local musicians.”

As one of few hip hop crews from the Goldie, The Winnie Coopers see pros and cons from being the black sheep. “There’s only a few groups that are going around the Gold Coast, and I think a big problem is having a lack of venues to perform at. So I think that’s an issue affecting artists. Having said that, we’re proud to be from the Gold Coast, and represent that area. And it’s still growing and developing but it’s nowhere near as established as the Brisbane music scene. But it makes us stand out. And it also gives us opportunities to perform at venues and with artists from other genres. So we see that as a positive thing because we can play to different audiences.”

‘SURFACE PARASITES’ WILL BE LAUNCHED AT FITZY’S LOGANHOLME ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 23.