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INTERVIEW
Mik:
Do you want to tell us what your name is?
Unique: Unique, aka Sereck
M:
How did you get involved in hiphop?How did it all
start for you?
U: Basically, the first smidgets of things you ever
seen were like Buffalo Gals film clip, and Blondy - shit like
that. But the first main thing, like I always say in every
single interview - Flash Dance man. Flash Dance did it. It
was the first movie out before all the breaking movies were
out. It was the first one that had breaking in it, so that's
why I got into it.
M:
What year was that?
U: Eighty Three
M:
Is that a movie from America?
U: Yeah. It had Rock Steady Crew doing a certain thing
in it, and when I seen that, that's when I just flipped out
and thought 'Fuck that, I'm doin' that.'
M:
So it kicked off from breaking?
U: Yeah, breaking of course. That's pretty much how
the whole Sydney scene kicked off.
M:
So tell me about Celsius. It's yourself as Sereck and Brassknuckles.
How did you get together with Brassknuckles?
U: I met him at Blacktown actually, at that youth center
across from Street Level. I met him there in the outdoor jam.
He wanted me to go bust raps with him. He was a young dude.
We rhymed together and it was all cool. And then him and a
mate were going out to see Case now and then. I'd go over
there and see him and then we just started getting along from
there.
M:
Celcius seems like a pretty hot name. How did you come up
with it?
U: A good day of thinking man. We come up with some
stupid names. I'm glad we didn't go with it. Actually, Spice,
she come up with the name years ago. She's the cause for most
of the stuff, like sometimes even the old Def Wish Cast shit,
she named some songs. She's just got one of those minds to
come up with shit.
M:
In the early days, how was it that you made all your beats
and stuff? What do you use, what sort of equipment?
U: When we first started, it was four tracks and drum
machines. Now days its samplers. So basically, a cheap easy
set up is a sampler. An S900 or an S950 like Akai - cheap
- with a sequencer. Even if you want to go to an old Atari
and get an old Q based program. That's really cheap, that's
like 250 bucks. So you can set up under a grand if you want
to.
It depends on how you want to do it, because these days you've
got your own computers. Everyone's got computers. You can
always get sound cards. You can get anything. You can get
on the Mac and get Logic. Get full audio recording programs
for free now, you know, they're all cracks. But it is a lot
harder to find shit for PC, the Macs are a bit easier.
M:
Have you travelled overseas anywhere, or done any tours across
Australia?
U: Yeah, I've toured Australia. Perth I've been to
once, but we've done Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide about four
times. Something like that.
DANE:
Do you get much feedback when you're going around Australia?
U: Oh yeah. We went up and did a gig up there, and
we always draw a few hundred people in the house. People come
and check out the gigs. It's good man.
And Germany, I went to Germany.
M:
Yeah? Doing shows? Or writing?
U: Yeah, I did writing, shows and breaking. I was supposed
to paint for a gig, these guys who I know helped me out. It
was just fucken wild.
I went over there, and all I had to do is paint a board about
a meter, and a meter and a half. And then I said 'do you want
me to do the show or what?' and he goes, ' Oh yeah, if you
want.' I was like 'fuck, are you kidding me?' So I fucken
got a free holiday.
M:
What do you think of the graffiti scene in Germany?
U: It's nuts. It's out of control. I was up there at
the point where yards were pretty hot. There were times when
we couldn't do panels because they were carting all the nuclear
waste. And in Europe because they're fucken activists, a lot
of people are just full on, they're no joke. Australia is
laid back. Over there, if something happens, a whole lot of
activists will come out and do shit. They would cause riots
or whatever.
So people were out there and digging up the train tracks and
cutting lines and shit like that. So all the soldiers were
out. If anyone was out there they would shoot them. So fuck
that, we weren't going to do panels. But we got to panel up
in Hamburg. That was dope.
D:
Defwish Cast, now Killawattz and Celsius. Was that like
a mutual thing?
U: There's no beef at all, it's nothing like that.
People don't understand it. We all grow up and we eventually
do other things. There were some sad things about it, like
the split up. But I think we're both happy as two separate
groups and now you've got two separate releases.
M:
Do you plan on doing any live shows or anything like that
in the coming future?
U: Maybe next year, I think there will be. At the moment
Sydney has got a piss ass live scene. It's really shit. There's
no proper places around no more. We've got the worst live
scene now in Australia and there's nowhere to gig, there's
no pub scene or anything like that. We hate Metro. Metro is
really stale. It's not set up for hip hop. You want a place
where you can fit a good three hundred crowd in, everyone
having beers and your rockin' the mike and you can feel a
bit of heat in the room. You know what I mean? It's a good
environment.
I think a lot of people are really concentrating on their
product at the moment.
M:
So you're in the studio at the moment?
U: Yeah man. Like a lot. For Basic Equipment there's
a few releases coming out early next year. And that's the
label - Basic Equipment - that we started.
M:
What other acts have you got on there?
U: We've got Thirteenth Son of December, and he's from
Fathom. They've been out for a few years, but now he's got
his solo EP. Mac Cross from Levelheads, he's solo. Ear Infection,
which is Apex and Sleeping Monk. They've got their album coming
out. And then there's just this mock children shit coming
out.
Celsius now, we're working on two 12 inches that will come
out through the UK. They're not coming out through Australia.
D:
The UK, how did you hook that up?
U: Hooked up with some guys like the Runaways from
the UK.
M:
Is it going to be hard to push the music out in foreign lands?
U: Yeah, it is. But because we've got a certain name
on our next 12, we've got distribution and pressing already.
So it's all hooked up. This is a big move for us next year.
It's fucken dope man, working with Tommy Tee from Norway.
Things like that. It should be good. And hopefully K Note
from Canada as well. So a lot of big things are moving up
at the moment.
D:
So this label that you started, is this just you and a mate
or something?
U: It's me and Spice who own it. It's a label but we
don't want it to be known as a label. It's basically a focus
point of shit coming out. My brother is designing the web
site at the moment, and that's all going to be sold online.
We've got distributors and it's going to get reviewed around
the world. The best way I heard it described was by Sleeping
Monk - "instead of one dude kicking the door down, it's about
eight of us". It will go down for sure. And the wall as well.
M:
Getting back onto graff, have you had much commissioned work
where you've been able to make money or it's helped you to
travel?
U: I don't do as many jobs these days. I used to paint
shops for five grand and earn that in a week. But a lot of
it I hated doing. I really hate fucken painting legals because
it's not what I like doing. I'm only doing it because I need
the money.It's bullshit.
You're painting shit like fruit and stuff like that. And then
you got some dude telling you he wants his face there with
a bird on his shoulder and he's coming over the mountain on
a motorbike. (the boys crack up)
M:
Can you notice how much graff has changed over the years?
U: Graff has changed heaps. A lot of the history is
lost. A lot of people don't know the history of it because
it is taken off the train lines and there's only a few of
us to tell people, and whether it gets around properly is
a whole 'nother thing.
M:
For people who aren't involved in graffiti, or anything to
do with hip hop, have you noticed their views changing towards
its appearance as they've seen more quality work around? Do
you think it's going to be the same in a hundred years?
U: It's always going to be the same because illegal
graffiti is disturbing to them. They fear it. It's the normal
thing - what man doesn't understand he fears. They will always
grow up not understanding why the hell this is on a train.
But some wall sitting in the street where it's a beautiful
picture, and I'm not talking letters, then people understand
that. 'Oh, look at the pretty bird', or 'the friggin' teddy
bear', you know, something cute. They understand that so they
like it. You throw letters in there and its 'what the hell
is that' That's the whole concept, the whole wrong mentality.
Illegal bombing, everyone is always going to fear that because
it's just mass destruction, like taking out the sides of houses.
No one likes that of course, but what can you do? Personally,
if I had a house, I wouldn't like anyone to bomb my house.
But that's the way it is. Every surface is a sacrifice.
M:
Is there anything else that you'ld like to add?
U: Australian hip hop has got to be quality. It's at
a good stage at the moment and everyone should just build
on it.
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