Port Stephens isn’t a locale that attracts a great deal of attention from the average Hip Hop pundit in Australia. However, in the last year or so, two locals have emerged with a promising, debut EP entitled The Welcoming Party. Brothers Elgen and Johnny Utah released the polished effort earlier this year. Elgen has since relocated to Norway but Utah remains, often seen abusing stages in the Sydney vicinity with partner in crime, Drake.
John Utah, what exactly was it about the Keanu Reeves character in Point Break that stuck enough for you to make him your namesake?
Utah: Hahaha, dude, everything. Nah, it’s kind of a stupid ‘in joke’ with friends, we used to watch it a lot because of how stupid(in a good way) the movie was. Then I changed my myspace name to Johnny Utah and it just stuck I guess.
How were you two introduced to hip hop?
Elgen: I had heard a fair bit of Dr Dre, Cypress Hill, Biggie, etc during the first part of high school, but it never grabbed me that much. The song that REALLY got me into hip hop was Eternalist by Reflectional Eternal. I heard it on a skateboard video and I kinda found most of my first lot of hip hop like that. Contribution by Jurassic 5, Simon Says by Pharoahe Monch, B-Boy Document 99 by High & Mighty. I remember those songs as the ones that got me into hip hop.
U: My brother and his friends. Or more specifically, Skateboarding videos haha. There was alot of Talib Kweli, Gangstarr, Mos Def, Biggie, etc being pumped out of those tapes. So it was a natural progression to source out more I guess.
Do you find that people are surprised by your vocal presence when seeing you onstage for the first time?
U: Umm…yeah, I guess so. I mean, most shows we play I’ll get a couple of people telling me they didn’t expect me to be rapping because i don’t ‘dress hip hop,’ haha, which is something I’m pretty ok with, and it’s always nice when people compliment your presence in relation to your height. My size to volume ratio is pretty non-existant, haha.
Your music is driven by a dynamic, emotional sentiment. Do you find that the artists who inspire you tend to come from the Rhymesayers and Definite Jux cliques?
E: Brother Ali is DEFINITELY an influence. The music that him and Ant make is incredible and inspires me to no end. I’m dying for us to make our own Self Taught, haha. Also, Cage is someone who makes albums that really make me want to make music, he does some spaced out stuff, but it’s really great to see someone push boundaries.
U: Definitely. As far as overseas cats go, Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Grieves, Mac Lethal, etc are probably my biggest influences. I mean, lyrically, that’s exactly how i want to develop my style of writing, and hopefully that shows. Obviously I draw inspiration from a lot of places musically. But the aforementioned are definitely at the front of the pack for me personally.
Recently, along with Drake and Steve Hollins, you formed The Paper Street Project. What can you tell me about this venture?
U: Well, basically we already did plenty of work together so it just made a lot of sense to get together and focus on something together, as opposed to scattered tracks on various releases. It’s something that we could focus our individual strong points on, to benefit us all. Hopefully it’s something a little different that people can appreciate.
Are there any particular experiences or ideas that really accelerate the lyric-writing process for you?
U: Umm, I’m not too sure. I tend to write a lot more when I’m bummed out or have some shit going on. My music is generally pretty melancholy I guess. As cliche an answer as it is, i don’t really have a writing process, If I’m feeling something and I want to talk about it, I’ll write about it. I wish i had a more defined structure for song writing haha. It would make things a lot more simple!
“…I tend to write a lot more when I’m bummed out or have some shit going on. My music is generally pretty melancholy I guess…”
Who else is making noise in terms of hip hop around the Port Stephens area? Or is it a somewhat solo affair?
E: Port Stephens isn’t exactly a breeding ground for hip hop! Even with Utah and I, we’re more a part of the Sydney scene. So I’m guessing if anyone else in Port Stephens is making some moves, they’re either in Newcastle or Sydney. It’s hard to get heard around our area.
So it becomes a matter of travelling to Sydney as often as possible on account of the scarcity of hip hop in your area?
U: Dude, massively. Haha. Before we recorded the EP I think I’d been to Sydney two or three times? I can’t even count how often I have made the weekend trip there now haha. It’s a staple of making music for me now. But it’s not so bad, having good friends there doesn’t make it feel like a business chore.
Utah, Tell me more about The Welcoming Party EP with your brother Elgen, who incidentally went all John Lennon/Yoko Ono on your ass and moved to Norway.
U: Hahahaha. The Welcoming Party EP is our debut release. We wrote it in 2008 when my brother Elgen was home for a year before leaving for Norway again for good. Realising it was our last year under the same roof, we decided to put a little something together as a cheesy keepsake haha. It was recorded in September 2008 in our friend, Phatchance’s studio, and released early 2009. It’s a seven-track release,
If the EP is a memento of the final year together, why the seemingly contradictory title?
E: It’s just an introduction to us. It’s not a final statement, so we’re kinda leaving the door open, contrary to the title of the last track.
U: It was our entrance into having recorded and readily available music. We had never released anything prior, nor had we been a part of the scene in any way at all, so this was the beginning of that.
Along with Drake, you have been killing show after show in NSW in recent times. What can you tell me about some of the tours you have particpated in?
U: Well, I’ve only been doing shows for, like, 6 months? A little more maybe. But so far I’ve been lucky enough to jump on some very cool shows. Drake and I have supported The Funkoars on The Hangover Tour, on 3 of their NSW legs, which was killer. After that we did a gang of east coast shows with the Reverb tour, with the likes of Mind Over Matter, Phatchance, Coptic Soldier, Tycotic and Spit Syndicate. Also, we just finished doing support slots for Motley’s Burches Knows tour on a couple NSW legs, aswell.
How does it feel to be rocking shows with such big names after such a short span of time?
U: It’s very, very dope haha. Definitely awesome to jump straight into playing killer shows, it’s a massive confidence boost to be able to add this sort of stuff to my resume, so to speak. It’s a really weird feeling to go from being squashed in a sweaty crowd to see some of these acts to supporting them.
Elgen, your beats seem to have a slight indie tinge to them, who influenced you musically when you were growing up?
E: Concerning hip hop, early on I was influenced by Hi-Tek, Premier, RJD2, RZA, Embee and a lot of Outkast’s stuff. But I’m not sure if that really shows through in my beats. The indie tinge definitely comes from Utah, who’s been quite involved in sample digging on the EP and he’s also, of course, had to ok the beats that we’re gonna use, so I think it’s just the way our styles melted together that created that ‘indie’ sound.
How has your experience with Scandinavian hip hop been thus far?
E: Neither here nor there, to be honest. I’ve heard some real cool stuff, but also some incredibly cheesy stuff. The same as every scene. There isn’t anything I’ve heard yet that’s made me want to jump head first into the scene…but I would love to work with Promoe!
Who wouldn’t…
Shoutouts to Big Drakezilla, Steve Hollins, The Artist Formerly Known As Phatchance, Mind Over Matter, Coptic Soldier, The Almighty 2316 Crew and NGC Collective!
Great interview – thanks for posting