Words by Christopher Kevin Au // Photography by Cole Bennetts

Earlier this month, The Meeting Tree sent shivers up the spines of music fans nationwide when they announced their retirement, effectively marking the end of the Australian music scene as we know it.

The Meeting Tree exploded into earholes back in 2015, releasing their debut single ‘R U A Cop’ off the back of a multi-pronged social media campaign that took aim at everybody from the NSW Police Force to Chet Faker. The music video saw the duo even surge forward with even greater vigour, featuring Joyride drinking a sweet, silver sack of goon while shirtless and Raph Lauren wearing a Fila turtleneck. Soon enough, The Meeting Tree were officially crowned ‘The Godfathers of Australian Dance Music’ and still managed to be nominated in the ever-vague ‘Best Urban Release’ category of the ARIA Awards. They didn’t win, but they did tell Chet Faker to suck Joyride off on the red carpet. Somewhere in between, The Meeting Tree also held a 24 hour long lunch which was live-streamed to fans online. Just as ambitious as it was downright confusing, the event was attended by Australian music industry elite from Jimmy The Junkie to DJ Leon Smith.

Fast forward to July 2016 and The Meeting Tree are being laid to rest, pointing to ‘legal reasons’ for their sudden, saddening demise. Their final EP titled I Was Born A Baby & I’ll Die A Baby is being released tomorrow, while their farewell show will take place at Splendour In The Grass this weekend. Unfortunately, Raph Lauren – who has now re-branded himself as the more upmarket Yves Saint Lauraph – will still be midway through his international escapades, leaving Joyride to fend for himself in Byron Bay. Yves Saint Lauraph will also be replaced by a cardboard cut-out of himself wearing pink Reebok Classics, ensuring that he will be on the Mix Up Stage in both heart and spirit.

With the news of The Meeting Tree’s end now sinking in, Joyride and Yves Saint Lauraph have stepped in for an exclusive in-depth interview to discuss their dissolution. In a press release I wrote back in 2015, I said that The Meeting Tree delivered “the most exciting sounds to emerge from Redfern since Anthony Mundine’s rap career.” Now, with the power of hindsight, I think we can all safely agree that they belong in the upper echelon of Australian talent reserved only for Natalie Imbruglia, Red Symons and Savage Garden. Read below for The Meeting Tree’s final reflective thoughts on their short yet eventful career:

What goals did you have for The Meeting Tree when it was first created? As you head into the final hours of the project, would you have done anything differently?

Raph: We had no goals, we really just did whatever came to us over breakfast. I wouldn’t have done anything differently. Actually, someone once accidentally booked us a QANTAS flight instead of Virgin and it was horrible. I’d have that rectified.

Joyride: A goal is just a dream with a deadline, and deadlines are for people who feel they owe their work to someone else. We create, first and foremost, for ourselves. I second the ‘Fuck QANTAS’ notion.

You recently embarked on what we now know to be your last headline tour called ‘Some Gronks Are Cops’, supplementing your debut single ‘R U A Cop’. What has inspired your consistent focus on the NSW Police Force for your music?

Raph: We don’t understand them, and they don’t understand us. There is a mutual understanding there I guess. Also, I was once full cavity searched when I was innocent and it changed me. It made me angrier.

Joyride: The ‘Us Vs Them’ mentality that police perpetuate flies in the face of what policing is meant to be. They are the face of an unjust system. Cops should be paid $150K a year, maybe then we wouldn’t have to deal with the bullshit that these badge-laden bottom-feeders dish out.

How does it feel having thousands of people yell ‘Boy I fucked your girlfriend’ in unison on ‘First Place Pt 1’?

Raph: In this time of division I’m in favour of anything that unites us.

Joyride: How would you feel if a group of people yelled out your DJ Khaled interview in unison? Fucking great.

Take us through some of your favourite quintessential The Meeting Tree moments, including Joyride’s famed reflective gold tracksuit pants.

Raph: Joyride’s gold tracksuit, our all white tracksuits, the time we bought Shane Warne’s tracksuit. Also this time a British guy said he ‘got us’ because we played some Garage and I was wearing an Umbro tracksuit.

Joyride: Raph’s dancing has defined our live set. Measured, unique and effortless. A metaphor for the project.

Have you buried the hatchet with Chet Faker yet? Has he responded to your comment that he should suck Joyride off at the 2015 ARIAs?

Raph: We actually address it on the last track on the new EP. Dixie, has he responded to your DMs yet?

Joyride: Chet, we know you’re reading this. Check your DMs.

What would you say was your biggest achievement: Having a 24 hour live-streamed lunch attended by Jimmy The Junkie or making your own commemorative dinner plates as merchandise?

Raph: Shout outs to Jimmy the Unkie for coming through.

Joyride: Our biggest achievement was convincing the world we don’t exist.

You just revealed your latest single called ‘First Place Pt. 4’ – can you outline the guest features on the track and how it came about?

Raph: We made it with some friends of ours who have been part of The Meeting Tree journey. We partied with Sam and Elliot and the rest of The Rubens on Groovin The Moo – We had a lot of fun. And then we also got our mate Joji from Gang of Youths involved. The Gang of Youths boys are from around our area in Sydney and are always a great time. They have an immense amount of respect for us artistically, and vice versa. Joji made that Fender cry. That man can really strangle the goose.

Joyride: Also, shouts to Ty$ for the #fitspo.

It seems like Australia is in quite a lot of political turmoil at the moment, seeing as Pauline Hanson is a real person in the Senate and not a meme. What do you think is the route for Australia to take to become a more prosperous nation?

Raph: Land value taxes, death tax, and a couple of excise taxes – abolish all other forms of taxation. Abolish private schools. Legalise, regulate and tax all recreational drugs. Immigration reform. Double police and teachers salaries. Some form of public funded re-education system for workers whose industries are made redundant due to innovation. Acknowledgment of privilege. $250 cap on political donations.

Joyride: That, plus kill all Boomers.

You will be playing your final show at Splendour In The Grass. How do you think you’ll handle the emotional density of the moment? Do you have any special guests lined up for the farewell?

Raph: There will be a couple of special guests.

Joyride: Emotional density is for lost scuba divers. Work’s work.

How well will Raph perform his duties as a cardboard cut-out?

Raph: It’s only fucking DJing, it probably won’t make a difference.

Joyride: DJs are people too.

How do you think the Australian Dance Music scene will survive without its Godfathers?

Raph: It’s time to take the training wheels off. They might not realise it, but they need us to let go of their hand.

Joyride: Will people be listening to ADM in 20 years time, with their own children calling them lame for liking ‘old music’? Maybe. Is that something I want to be intrinsically linked to? Again, maybe.

How would you like The Meeting Tree to be remembered in Australian music history?

Raph: The financial year that the music smiled.

Joyride: A speck of dust on the laptop screen of Australian music.