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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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