Little Red vs. Downsyde

Thu 1st Oct, 2009 in Features

This weekend, Little Red will go up against Downsyde in the second round of Red Bull Soundclash. So, how exactly do five young lads with a love for vintage rock – œn roll challenge a veteran hip hop collective from Perth? We find out from the contenders.

LITTLE RED

So, Soundclash has pitted you against a Perth hip hop crew who are probably used to using their music to ware off would-be challengers. Are you intimidated?
Nah, unless they resurrect Bon Scott from his grave in Perth and bring him to the gig, we are pretty confident that rock – œn roll will prevail over hip hop in front of a live audience.

Also, there are six of them and only five of you! If it comes to fisticuffs off stage surely that isn’t very fair?
No way! Have you seen any Bruce Lee films? We’ve got two Asians in the band and they surely know kung fu. It’s unfair for Downsyde, unfortunately. We are not a violent band and we do not expect things to get out of hand, but we are prepared to use kung fu if necessary.

So what’s your plan of attack? Got some a cappella lined up to take out the MCs?
No a cappella but certainly our harmonies are our secret weapon (if it’s still a secret). Anyone can rap. I’m rapping right now. But also the best way to take out MCs is with massive guitar solos and real drums and huge harmonies.

This gig will be a pretty interesting blend of genres; have you ever played a gig like this before? How do you think the crowd will react to the combination?
No, we’ve never done it before. It sounds crazy. Hopefully, the crowd starts a riot. Seriously though it might be a good chance for people who usually only listen to rock to embrace hip hop and vice versa.

You’ve got Falls Festival lined up, but nothing else announced just yet. Does this mean you’ll be taking it a bit easier over the summer or perhaps some more recording is around the corner?
We’ve been working on a new record for a while. So hopefully we will be recording our new album over the summer. We won’t be touring much but that doesn’t mean we are taking it easy. In fact we’ve never worked harder! We’re actually practising five days a week like real people. We’re pretty confident the second record’s going to be ace so when it comes out, buy it!

Finally, have you made any definite plans for conquering the UK scene yet? Or is that something for a later time?
Our first album is coming out in the UK on Nov 16 and UK radio has started to play the first single It’s Alright. It seems like they’re digging it as far as we can tell. So, I think we are going over there in November if everyone is organised enough to get their passports in time.

DOWNSYDE

So, Soundclash has drawn you against a mod rock/pop band out of Melbourne, seems a little different to battling other MCs or DJs doesn’t it?
Yeah a little different this time, but we are a pretty diverse flexible outfit. We come from a background of battling so it ain’t no thang!

Any chance of a mixing up your line ups on the night? You know, making some sort of hip-hop/indie super group hybrid?
I’m pretty sure we will end up on stage all together at some point on the night. Even if we do take these guys out!

And any last words you’d like to leave us with in case Little Red pull out all stops and thrash you?
You wanna battle, now what’s up with that punk? It ain’t even a question; we on some Tsun Zu Art of War shit. We got it locked! Ha ha.

This gig will be a pretty interesting blend of genres, have you ever played a gig like this before? How do you think the crowd will react to the combination?
We started playing on line-ups that we don’t quite match other bands and always pushed the boundaries and turned heads to hip hop through our eclectic style of hip hop. Think this will gel really well and we have come up with some dope stuff from Little Red’s tracks.

You’ve announced you’ll be in lock down over the summer working on your new album. Will this be your last show for a while or are some surprise appearances in the summer on the cards?
Yeah I think so, nothing major on the cards through summer as we will be in recording period, but we will see. You can’t contain Downsyde from getting on a festival or two.

Finally, any chance we could get a quick preview of sorts of ideas being thrown around the studio for the new album?
We got this shizzle under wraps for the moment, but you know it’s going to be fresh.