Seems like a long time coming for a release that everyone has been sweating on, what has been happening in the life and times of Newsense and Ciecmate since the Hospice debuted to this LP dropping?

Since The Hospice’s debut? Shit, that was like 2003 that we put out Stormwater. A whole lot happens in 6 years. Basically we have been working on our own material and poaching from it for different albums and projects, helping other people with beats and so on (mostly Ciecmate in that regard). Also there was the epic Hospice Crew ‘Visiting Hours’ album and ‘Dental Records’ compilation that took up a bit of time and energy. We’ve always got a lot going on in our personal lives, alcohol binges (mostly me on that one), getting evicted and moving houses every 6 or so months and having to re-setup the studio, plus I’ve shifted between Canberra and Melbourne quite a lot which hasn’t helped.

With the advances in technology is the fact you are based in different cities irrelevant when it comes to recording music together? Or are you the type of artists that thrive off of each others energy in the room?

Most of our back and forth shit was written together in the same room, and most of the ideas and initial work is done while we meet up for weekend studio sessions or on tour. A lot of the time we’ll take shit away and come back when we got a verse because i find forcing a verse turns out shithouse. You need to write something around whatever mood you are in. It’s been good having the separation and meeting back up, both having totally different inspiration since we last saw each other. Of course phone calls and email help a lot for trading ideas and playing or sending beats back and forth… which is kinda how the concept for linking up the album and the intro came about. It became pretty essential towards the last two or three tracks of the project having Ciecmate send up the files to me via email and hit the studio up here and get them back to him to meet our final deadlines.

What sort of feel does the LP take? Is it mood music to woo your lady to or that typical no bullshit BTE hip hop? Are you surprised at the beat choices and song directions you found yourself taking?

Man we took it back to the hospice roots on this having some really diverse topics and concepts on there. After Visiting Hours and Dental Records people may have pigeonholed us back into just that braggadocio and posse track style shit. I mean, we love that stuff and there is that shit on there but we like dropping all sorts of shit and using all kinds of beats. The topics go from like a travel track in “Men Still Moving, to a ‘From Dusk Til Dawn’ type recreational drug track in “Club Meds”, to some dark story telling on a drug dealers downfall in ‘Labarynth of Shadows’, to some less serious shit about picking up cougars at the local pokie parlour in ‘Codename Cougar’. Ciecmate’s beats have a lot more depth as you can pick up the natural refinement in his shit over time and I’ve also stepped up to the plate and pulled a few beats out of the hangar.

When you look at how far hip hop has come in Australia in terms of exposure and acceptance are you excited or perhaps is it a feeling of worry as you look around at a pure product being diluted?

It’s a case of a little from column A and a little from column B. You do have these herbs out there that haven’t payed their dues trying to be the next big thing. In most cases Australia is pretty fortunate in that most of the people that are getting a heap of recognition have been on the grind with the same sound for years and just refining it and getting their live shows popping off more hyped. There isn’t too much of a case of people switching up their shit, but a whole gang of so called artists come out wack from the start! Shit does come down to publicity, marketing, and budgets, but Aussies aren’t idiots. They can sniff out a lot of the bullshit and not support it, but it can be a challenge getting it out there sometimes. There are a few that switch up their shit, but you find that they lose their initial fan base and end up on some whole other genre and different heads at their shows type shit. So I’m not really that worried… suckers will be suckers, and innovators and the skilled will just keep on keeping on. At the end of the day if you’re doing this shit for money and haven’t got the hunger or love, you will most likely give up a year or two down the track as the bills pile up!

How does the lack of radio support for BTE releases affect the label? Is it something that even enters your thoughts when looking at the music to make or artists to sign?

For starters, we don’t really ‘sign’ people. We’ve got a full roster that we are happy with and are all likeminded friends. Shit, we have enough trouble trying to give the heads we do have with us enough time and support! Our shit is under resourced on some Somalian shit. If someone is a mate and they are working on stuff we always keep our eyes and ears open, and it’ll most likely come up casually over a few drinks somewhere what they want to do with it and if they’d like us to help. Our mates know we’re always there to lend a hand even if we don’t have the budget or schedule to put their shit out.

Radio play is always a factor if you are concerned in moving units. We get some pretty strong support across community radio and myspace, plus the internet obviously makes shit a lot easier. Having Hau hosting the hiphop show on Triple J has seen a bit of a lift as well, he’ll give a track or two of all of our different artists a play here and there. Basically most of our shit isn’t made for the masses, so we understand why it doesn’t get played to the masses. Just makes things an uphill struggle financially, but we’ll always keep on the grind!

How does the release feel to you as its creator, are you happy with the end package or are you still picking up bits and pieces you would like to tweak?

If there aren’t bits and pieces you still want to tweak when you get something out then you are either an arrogant fuckwit, or have become too complacent. As an artist there should always be shit you wanted to do or improve. I mean, I’m pretty happy with what we put out – but there was so much more we wanted to do with a few skits and more songs we wanted done… there’s a few bits and pieces in recordings and beats I look back in hindsight and wish I had time to flip. At the end of the day you gotta just get it out or it will sit in the studio for years and never see the light of day cos you will feel it’s too outdated. It’s just the nature of the beast!

The release has been out for a little while now how is the feedback going? Are people feeling the overall sound and content?

The feedback has been dope! There are tracks on there that are like 6 years old, some that are less than 6 months old. Some of them I just can’t listen to cos we’ve had them sitting there so long – but the heads hadn’t heard them yet. I was pretty much over most of the shit by the time it went to press and was a little apprehensive as to how people will feel it after its been on the back burner for so long. We’ve gotten some really positive feedback from artists and fans alike though, which has been great affirmation of the efforts we put in.

What’s on the cards next for both yourselves as a duo and the label as a whole?

As a duo we’re starting to get our tour dates booked to try and cover as many places as we can. We’ve got a few beats and concepts left over from the project that we’ve talked about forming the basis as a follow up, so perhaps in another 6 years you will get another one! nah seriously, After we’re done touring we’ll talk more about what time frame we will need to bang out another joint album and it won’t be a 6 years in the making thing again. Ciecmate & myself will both have some solo shit in the pipeline, and we’re starting to spread some murmers through the label of a Dental Records Vol 2. There’s a few artists that are always diligently working away, and heads will be happy to know that Bigfoot’s album is really coming along. I’m amped to get that one cranking, personally!

The label seems to be one of the most respected by fans Australia wide, is that far more important to you than accolades such as awards or hottest 100 charts?

Fucking oath! We don’t make chart music, we don’t try to make chart music. Radio play, commercial viability, and all that shit is the furthest thing from our minds in the artistic process. If something does get some strong radio support, that’s dope, but wasn’t really what was on our mind when putting pen to paper or sampling something. We just want to make some banging shit we like and that our peers can relate to. It’s great when shit spreads wider, but if they don’t understand what we are talking about then it kind of defeats the purpose. Having a random keeno chew your ear about how you are ‘a mega fresh rapper’ sucks balls, but having a head come up and comment to you about the way a message in a song is conveyed, something that you have done out of the norm, or generally the way you artistically did something means a lot. It’s for our peers, and most humans don’t get down on the same shit we do.

Finally some up the album in 3 of your own words….

THATS THE SHIT!

By Shane Scott

A Tale of Two Cities is OUT NOW on Broken Tooth Entertainment and availble where all good Hip Hop is sold.