Words by Christopher Kevin Au
Triple One’s ominous and adventurous spirit make them the most interesting group to hit Australian hip-hop in recent memory, and oceans apart from anything being churned out on the airwaves.
Emerging from Sydney’s Inner-West, the quartet mix goth-infused production with relentless street raps that border between dark fantasies and deep episodes of self-doubt. Their signature anthem ‘Doozy‘ has clocked up close to 200,000 views through YouTube channel Astari, and exemplifies their bleak sound with blazing confidence – like a pair of black Air Max stomping sonic mud holes in your ear drums. Their vocals also feature moody breaks that reek of cheap beer and stale cigarettes, making the Triple One experience one that’s devilishly enjoyable.
The group are currently drip-feeding The Libertine EP, which finds them delving even further into melodic territory for a slow-motion, hazy effort that continues their impressive streak since first emerging in 2015. With a deeply rustic and DIY approach, it’s a release that feels like unadulterated loneliness. We interviewed Triple One below about their taste in sunglasses, the Australian rap scene and eating spiders – read below, because you’re going to be hearing a lot more from these guys in the near future:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLeVMHsHrK8
It’s only been one year since you guys played your first show. How’s it feel getting so much attention in such a short period of time?
It feels like I’m a viagra pill with a face. Fresh boys since 2015. It’s pretty good, for like a solid year we weren’t getting any attention but I guess that’s just because the music we were making at the time wasn’t up to par. We all kinda sat down and were like “What are we trying to achieve?”. Since then we’ve been focused on creating a unique sound that we hope stands up internationally.
Astari has been a pretty crucial part of the Triple One story so far. How did that connection come up? How’s it feel already having hundreds of thousands of views on your videos?
We played a couple shows with the Internet heavyweight Tag Shai who is close to the face behind Astari. But it wasn’t until we dropped the Doozy tape that Tag took it upon himself to pass on our music and introduced us to a platform that we can thank for the exposure we’ve received so far. Tag’s new track ‘Adult Content’ is pretty fucking dope if you wanna go check it out.
Having racked a few hundred thousand views kind of feels like not much right now. There are massive gaps between our audience, most the hits we get are overseas, which is positive and I suppose a lot better in the long run. It’s just kind of hard when you live in a country that has a pretty idle rap scene as a whole. We find getting recognised in Sydney the hardest, it feels like if you’re not with a label or ‘indie rock’ then most venues and stations wont even take you seriously.
Where did you get the yellow sunglasses that appeared in the ‘Doozy’ video clip?
Fuckin’ custom made, direct from Oakley. Oakley Radarlocks. When I sat down to pick out the colours they didn’t want me to put yellow on yellow. Yellow logo on yellow frame, yellow nose bridge, with yellow ear shocks and gold lens tint – it was too crazy for them to comprehend. But I was like “Fuck that, this shits the future.”
What inspires you guys to eat spiders on camera?
Drugs, alcohol and peer pressure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzrehVHaQRg
Your video for ‘Ever Since’ starred Elefant Traks emcees like Sky’High and The Tongue. What other local artists do you admire or would like to collaborate with?
We’ve done a track with Sky, she’s had our backs from the start and always believed in our music. We’re currently working on a mix with The Tongue which is gonna be out later this year.
Another artist we gel with is Lyall Maloney, and he’s on his way to dropping some trap shit so the future prospect is there. Still on local artists, we will be dropping some shit with Slim Set (Spides & Devon) when we all get round to it – Dev being a fucking monster emcee and Spidey on dat production tip lit fam. We’re really looking forward to working with these dudes, as we’re expecting big things from this Sydney duo. Apart from that we keep our shows pretty inclusive with our mates and bands we believe in, mainly playing along side the Yeh Nah Yeh boys and rockstar Nick Hutt from Capital Coast.
There seems to be a lot of great music – hip-hop in particular – coming out of the Inner-West. What is it about the area that inspires so much creativity?
The Inner West, I think it’s the desire to be more than what you are but not through self-glorification, but to channel it with an art or sound you want to produce and have the world see. Fuck Bondi, except like our mates that are from Bondi, you guys are alright.
Imagine that you befriend a Norwegian tourist who has just landed in Australia. You want to introduce them to the local hip-hop scene, so which five tracks do you play them?
Tricky question, but tracks or works that spring to mind would be:
1. Horrorshow – ‘Dead Star Shine‘
2. Sky’high – ‘Look At Me Now‘
3. Slim Set – ‘Sticky‘
4. Big Village – ‘Cypher 2015‘
5. Sampa The Great – ‘Blue Boss‘
You guys also record all of your music in a garage. How do you think this affects the aesthetic of the finished product?
Fuck, it makes it way more organic, the idea of being put in a tiny soundproof room to shout into a mic while some hack charging 200 dollars an hour stares at you through a window is a bit fucked for us. We’re not big enough yet to have a studio backing and even then we think it would feel weird. I think you can be way more creative when it’s just you four in a relatively shitty space with no real worries. But the other way works for some rappers as they will write three verses and a hook, then go pump it out in 40 minutes start to finish.
We spend any where up to a month or two from start to finish on demos, re-writing, production and mixing. It gets frustrating some times but the flexibility of a garage means your only one roller door away from having a ciggie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMoyiaF_drE
You’re currently drip-feeding ‘The Libertine’ EP. You guys really turned up the melancholy and melodic influences on this one – where did that inspiration come from? How have fans been reacting to a less rap-focused approach?
It really came from Bill’s production style, we took a back foot on the more melancholy vibe for the past year, but the beats were still getting pumped out. We guess this was just the best of Bill’s lonely time and we wrote to the vibe. Lyrically the tape its kind of selfish if that makes any sense, as most songs are just about us feeling shit at any point in time. But if somebody can take our experience and relate to it, or connect, I guess there is a point to it all.
You guys list Zach De La Rocha as an influence on your music. On a scale of one to ten, how terrible were Audioslave in comparison to Rage Against The Machine?
Hahaha… Audioslave. Like an 8 in comparison, but if a bit of Audioslave comes on at peak bend, never shy to lend the vocal cords.
Triple One are also pretty strong on the fashion tip. What are some of your style predictions for 2016? What trends would you like to see come back?
With the current state of the world we’re backing ‘otherkin’ to be the next hot thing in 2016. But really, we’re just holding out for that Victorian Era sensibility.
What’s on the cards for Triple One for the rest of 2016?
Global domination.
