Shag Rock is a Brisbane band that have worked with Ian Haug (Powderfinger/The Church) in their Airlock Studios for their latest double album called ‘Double Overhead‘.
Before an evening of two shows at the Lion Arts Factory in Adelaide, members of the band spoke with radionotes…
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IMAGE CREDIT: Linus Marsh
The band Shag Rock can be seen LIVE in Festival mode Spaced Out (Burleigh Heads, Queensland) October 8th, The Drop Festival (New South Wales) 15th + 22 October with Tones And I, Matt Corby, Gretta Ray + more… and Le Currents (New Zealand) in December. As well, as their own headline shows that they share on their website.
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Feature Guest: Shag Rock
- Official Site
- Sunbleached Girl (Official Music Video)
- Yanto Browning (radionotes Chat)
- Airlock Studios (Official Site)
- A Man’s Not A Camel -Frenzal Rhomb (Album – Bandcamp)
- April Nights (Music Video on Meta’s FB)
- How To Read the Dune Book Series In Order by Adrienne Westenfeld (Esquire)
- Gabbi Bolt’s Shoey (Twitter)
- Double Overhead (Album) on Spotify and Apple Music
Tayla Young:
- Unearthed (Tripe J Radio)
- Heavenly (Single) on Spotify and Apple Music
Next Feature Guest: YI-LYNN
- Foul Water -EP (Bandcamp)
BONUS: From The Archives – Freedom Williams (1993)
Know for his vocals across C+C Music Factory’s biggest hits, in the early 90s Freedom Williams released his own solo record called Freedom (Columbia). Here is a chat that was recorded 21st July 1993 for dance radio and a street publication:
Transcript of the Freedom Williams’ chat – done by REV‘s Tara C:
John Murch:
How’s it doing there?
Freedom Williams:
It’s good, man. It’s nice. It’s 9:30. The sun’s going down. 9:00, the sun’s going down. It’s kind of cool.
John Murch:
Okay. Let’s start off. Why did you leave C+C?
Freedom Williams:
I just wanted to do my own project. Now was just that time to do it.
John Murch:
The freedom for your own music, your own style?
Freedom Williams:
Yeah, that’s right. The name of the album is Freedom.
John Murch:
It sure came out, actually, in this album, especially the new rapping style. It’s faster, it’s more hard hitting.
Freedom Williams:
Yeah, it is. It’s a little more hard hitting.
John Murch:
Where are you rapping from? From the heart, or?
Freedom Williams:
Oh, yeah. Always.
John Murch:
No particular place, just the heart?
Freedom Williams:
Just from where it come. Whatever mood I’m in, you know? Sometimes I write songs about the ghetto and dancing. Depends on how I feel.
John Murch:
Yeah. I really enjoy your solo work. It’s the meaning that I find so cool about it, and I guess that’s the main idea behind being a solo artist, is you can get your own feelings and ideas out. Do you have any problems getting those ideas out? Does it have to be a right moment for you?
Freedom Williams:
It has to be a right moment to a degree. Sometimes where I’m different moods, girls or money or problems or dancing, it’s just a mood. The music is right, the rhymes are right. Sometimes the words come first. It depends. Sometimes I don’t feel like writing and I don’t write.
John Murch:
Yeah, that’s fair enough. Do you – sort of – on the dance floor and you go to a side and write, or is there a special time in your day?
Freedom Williams:
Sometimes I can be on a dance floor and I just go over in the corner and write something down on a tissue or something.
John Murch:
That’s pretty cool.
Freedom Williams:
That’s what I do, man.
John Murch:
What do you like rapping about most? There’s your feelings, but you like rapping about where you live or the girls that you meet? What do you like rapping about mainly?
Freedom Williams:
Whatever the music… I mean, I could write about the ghetto. I grew up in Brooklyn, my friends and my brothers. I could write about anything. I just like to make music, man. Whether it’s about blues or whatever, man. I love the Blues. I love Rock n’ Roll. I love R&B.
John Murch:
In your music you don’t look like many artists do for that commercial success, or do you?
Freedom Williams:
Excuse me?
John Murch:
The commercial success. Do you look for that or not?
Freedom Williams:
Not really, but I’m a commercial type of artist because of my look and all.
John Murch:
That’s fair enough, but within yourself, deep down in your heart, the music’s coming from the heart, so it’s not a one song that has to sort of hit the Top 10 or anything?
Freedom Williams:
No, I would like them all to hit the Top 10.
John Murch:
Of course.
Freedom Williams:
To me, I don’t mind saying commercial. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m not against going commercial or pump or something like that.
John Murch:
Is the money an issue for you, though? As an artist…
Freedom Williams:
Yeah, it is. Always. It’s always an issue. You have to have money to buy nice things. To make better records, you need sometimes more money. You want to go to buy things, you want to buy a car. It’s not always an issue, but it’s part of the issue. It’s not the full thing. The music to me is first.
John Murch:
To your knowledge, do you know if there’s another single being released off the album?
Freedom Williams:
Groove Your Mind for the States.
John Murch:
That’s States-only? What about down here?
Freedom Williams:
I don’t know. I don’t know about Australia.
John Murch:
Got any particular people that you’re going to get remixes done by for this particular single?
Freedom Williams:
Yeah, I’m going to do them with Louie and Kenny I did the other remixes with. Do some Hip-Hop. I don’t know who I’m do Hip-Hop with, though.
John Murch:
Okay. How about another album? Are you going to sit back for a couple of years?
Freedom Williams:
If this one does well, I’ll come right back out.
John Murch:
Sure.
Freedom Williams:
I can’t really look that far. I don’t know what this one’s going to do yet, you know what I mean?
John Murch:
Yeah.
Freedom Williams:
I have to sit for a minute and see what happens,.
John Murch:
But you’ve got a backlog.
Freedom Williams:
Yeah, I have the material. But the industry changes so much now. Sometimes it’s hard music, sometimes it’s dance music. You have to write fresh new material.
John Murch:
Another thing about the album, is there a hint of a tour for Oz or just the States, or what are you doing with the album? How are you moulding it, selling it?
Freedom Williams:
I’m going on tour in September in America for about two months. I’m doing a lot of promotional stuff. Lot of your conventions, music conventions, performing, a lot of radio. Just putting it out there, you know what I mean?
John Murch:
What about Oz, though?
Freedom Williams:
Huh?
John Murch:
What’s Australia getting out of it? Do we have a tour coming our way?
Freedom Williams:
I would hope so. That’s really up to the fans and to see how the record does in Australia. Australia takes a little bit more preparation.
John Murch:
And also the acceptance of dance music.
Freedom Williams:
Yeah, because it’s so far away. I know what’s going on in the States so I can go do a month, you know what I mean?
John Murch:
Yeah. Also in the States you’ve got what’s just happened in South Australia. First for South Australia is we’ve got subscriber dance radio where you pay and you get to listen to dance music 24 hours a day.
Freedom Williams:
Yeah, huh?
John Murch:
You’ve got that in the States already, but that’s somewhere where your music’s getting played a lot. You’ve got at least that avenue happening for you.
Freedom Williams:
We don’t have subscriber radio yet.
John Murch:
But you do have dance stations, though.
Freedom Williams:
Yeah, but we don’t have… Well, most of it now is hip-hop. It’s street hip-hop, R&B street. It’s more and more crossover. Black music now is really crossover music now in America. It’s really pop music now.
John Murch:
What’s happening with the rap scene? Is it still there?
Freedom Williams:
Oh, it’s blowing up. Huge.
John Murch:
What style of rap has disappeared? What’s come in?
Freedom Williams:
Street rap, R&B rap. It’s taken over everything. Dance rap. I’m the lead at the dance rap. I’m in the front. I’m the only artist really in hip-hop that does dance music, you know what I mean?
John Murch:
With the C+C stuff, is it possible that you might be going back to them for producing, using their forces to produce some of your material, or is it not your sound?
Freedom Williams:
Their sound? I don’t know if I have to. I don’t know yet. I don’t really think about it that much.
John Murch:
Right, because actually, in the media people are saying that your sound’s too much like C+C. What’s your feelings towards things like… People are going to compare you between C+C and your new work…
Freedom Williams:
I wanted to make a record that sounded like that a little bit. Just a little bit.
John Murch:
Just so they know it’s still you.
Freedom Williams:
Yeah. I did that on purpose, because I don’t believe that sound is old. I don’t believe that sound is dead.
John Murch:
And you’ve got the right because you’ve been in the band to use the same sound.
Freedom Williams:
Yeah. I know the sound, I helped create it. It’s really a part of me. It’s okay. I don’t mind what they say.
John Murch:
You can’t really look at the future at the moment and say that you’ll ring up Clive and Cole and go, “Can you help me out here?”
Freedom Williams:
Yeah, no. I don’t think so. I don’t know. I can’t really… You know what I mean?
John Murch:
What are they doing at the moment? Do you know? You know. Your best to ask…
Freedom Williams:
No. I don’t, actually. I think they’re DJing on the radio or something. I’m not sure.
John Murch:
Because they had the pride, our name, and love, and suddenly they disappeared from the scene a bit.
Freedom Williams:
Yeah.
John Murch:
Which, talking about friendships in the sense, George Michael. What was happening there? How did that all come together? Is he a local?
Freedom Williams:
I never met him. I just wanted to use it when I heard him and I called his publishing company. I never spoke to him. He has the publishing company do his business for him. I heard it and I said, “Wow, that’s my name. That’d be cool,” so we did it.
John Murch:
Would you actually like to meet him? Is there any sort of desire to help him out in the sense that he’ll probably hear something of yours and use it, or?
Freedom Williams:
I could still be cool to meet him.
John Murch:
Got the same ideas as you. You might be able to work a good track there. That’s what I was think…
Freedom Williams:
That could work. That’d be interesting.
John Murch:
Yeah. Can you just elaborate a bit on basically how you feel about the whole album’s meaning and the flow and everything?
Freedom Williams:
The flow?
John Murch:
Yeah, the flow.
Freedom Williams:
I like it a lot. I think it’s one piece of material, you know what I mean?
John Murch:
It can be played from start to finish.
Freedom Williams:
Yeah. It’s almost like one big piece of pie. It’s not like a bunch of different producers with different ideas. Everybody worked together. I always describe it as thick, rich, and creamy. It’s really thick. It’s good music to me. I just hope everyone accepts it.
John Murch:
Yeah. One thing all around the world that some people don’t accept is when an album sounds all the same, but what you’ve done is you’ve kept… Some albums just use this one beat all the way through, and we’ve got –
Freedom Williams:
They do that. A lot of hip-hop albums do that.
John Murch:
But sometimes it just doesn’t work and you’ve made that work, not using the same beat, but the same style all the way through. I don’t just mean dance. I mean this particular sound, and it –
Freedom Williams:
What makes it stick together is my voice. Everything is different but my voice, so that kind of makes it stick together.
John Murch:
Speaking of that, do you like working with other people?
Freedom Williams:
Sometimes it’s fun.
John Murch:
But for an album?
Freedom Williams:
Yeah. It could be fun. Depends. Sometimes it’s fun, sometimes there’s people you want to work with and other people you don’t think about. It’s fun because you have new creative energies and the studio with you. They’re really creating too, you know what I mean?
John Murch:
Work from each other.
Freedom Williams:
Yeah, and you let them do their things. It’s really an honour to have people on my record. I was honoured to Ashley Simpson who I’ve known briefly, but we’ve become closer because of the project, and The Family Stand, who have been friends of mine. We used to live in Brooklyn together and I’ve always been a fan of their music. I just called them up and they knew of my music, so we worked together and my man, Mike Moore. It’s an honour to have people work on your record. For me, it’s an honour.
John Murch:
What about crossover of music styles? This partnership, but using a crossover? Having your own style maybe mixed with some sort of more pop, not hip-hop? Would it work for you to mix the styles as the scene changes, if it does?
Freedom Williams:
If it’s a good idea and it’s a good record, it’ll work. It really has to be based on is it a good record? You can’t really say it, but if it’s a bad idea, it won’t work. If it’s a good idea, it will work.
John Murch:
Let me get it right. You’re working from Brooklyn at the moment?
Freedom Williams:
I was born in Brooklyn.
John Murch:
Where are you working from at the moment?
Freedom Williams:
I’m in Manhattan now.
John Murch:
Manhattan. The dance scene in the States at the moment, you’ve mentioned how it’s going very hip-hop. How’s the actual club scene going?
Freedom Williams:
It’s different, and New York is such a big city. You’ve got your rave, you’ve got techno, you’ve got deep house. You’ve got tribal house. You’ve got club. There’s so many clubs and so many sounds. You’ve got your hip-hop clubs that do well. There’s just so much going on. There’s no one style in New York, you know what I mean?
John Murch:
What’s the biggest one you’ve played at?
Freedom Williams:
What clubs do I go to?
John Murch:
Yeah.
Freedom Williams:
I like hip-hop music. The Museum, sometimes they rock. Powerhouse. It used to be a good hip-hop club. Sometimes I go to The Shelter for house music. Palladium does good. Palladium’s hiphop and dance and pop.
John Murch:
Yeah.
Freedom Williams:
Palladium’s good. There’s different clubs that are really good.
John Murch:
One of the music styles which I’ve just discovered: trance from Germany. How’s that influencing the States?
Freedom Williams:
It’s not really big over here yet.
John Murch:
If any… I know you’re not looking too much into the future, but a new album. It’s based on what the public wants, but what do you want to sing about on your new album? What material have you already got ready? What is it about?
Freedom Williams:
My new next album coming out?
John Murch:
Yep.
Freedom Williams:
I have different kinds. I’ll probably change, though. My heart changes so much. You go from style to style and then you develop as an artist and you change. Your style changes and your heart changes and you don’t know what you… Right now, my style is, where I’m going, in two years I may develop. I have different stuff like Rise on the album, like Freedom on the album. I’ve got more acoustical stuff because I play guitar. I got a lot of acoustic stuff, electric guitar, you know what I mean?
John Murch:
What other instruments do you play apart from guitar and keyboard or anything?
Freedom Williams:
No, I don’t play keyboard. I play guitar.
John Murch:
Just guitar and vocals. Let’s go way back. How was your schooling and all that music-wise? Did you have any of that?
Freedom Williams:
Yeah. I played trombone for five years. I played flute for two years in elementary, second, third, fourth, fifth grade. I played trombone, flute, sixth and seventh. Then I started rapping eighth grade. Got into different rap groups.
John Murch:
And got like them. Were you sort of popular within the school, or were you –
Freedom Williams:
Yeah, kind of.
John Murch:
You weren’t the outcast. Sort of, “He’s the rapper. We’ll leave him.”
Freedom Williams:
Oh, yeah. I was in a rapping school. Different rap groups. I was kind of popular.
John Murch:
That’s cool.
Freedom Williams:
Rap group-wise.
John Murch:
Any groups that you’ve worked with actually got anywhere sort of thing?
Freedom Williams:
Oh, yeah. Sure. Daddy O, Master Sonic, the Mumba from the X Clan. I was in a group called Black Rock n’ Roll who had a record on Def Jam. Friend of mine started rocking with Rakim. He’s now looking for a deal, a group called Nile Child. We’ve all branched off, kind of.
John Murch:
That’s pretty cool.
Freedom Williams:
Yeah, man.
John Murch:
But the guitar, that doesn’t come out in the album, does it?
Freedom Williams:
No, I didn’t play it on this album.
John Murch:
Why?
Freedom Williams:
Not good enough. I just didn’t really want to yet, probably just learn it a little bit more. Been playing for two years now. It’s more of a personal thing now. I’ll probably take it on tour with me and do some stuff on the road.
John Murch:
Damn. Really surprise the audiences.
Freedom Williams:
Yeah. You always have to leave something for the audience later.
John Murch:
Hey, you could always play the trombone.
Freedom Williams:
Yeah, maybe.
John Murch:
There’s a possibility that you could be looking also for a new sound if you pick up the guitar, isn’t there?
Freedom Williams:
Oh, yeah. It’d be something different and new, definitely.
John Murch:
How do you feel about the importance, then, of the club scene with your music?
Freedom Williams:
Clubs is the way people usually hear it first. The street kids, you know?
John Murch:
These people that you’re working with, the Kenny Doe, where did you meet them all?
Freedom Williams:
I knew Kenny since 1987. We made a record together, actually, on New Groove Records. We’ve been friends for years. We made a record together in 1988 on New Groove Records. Independent house record. We made a club jam that was pretty big underground. We just been friends and now he’s doing his thing, I’m doing my thing.
John Murch:
All right. How about Louie Vega?
Freedom Williams:
Him and Kenny are partners.
John Murch:
Oh, right. They’re like the new team, sort of like the C+C sort of thing.
Freedom Williams:
Yeah. They’re the new hot boys. They’re the new C+C now.
John Murch:
All right.
Freedom Williams:
They’ve actually taken C+C’s place on this club scene.
John Murch:
They work with you on the album, don’t they?
Freedom Williams:
Yeah. I’m going to do another song with them, a remix.
John Murch:
Of which track? The new one that’s coming out?
Freedom Williams:
Grove Your Mind, yeah.
John Murch:
It may be a bit personal so you don’t have to answer it, but your family life. Coming from where you come from in the States, has that influenced your music? Were they musical or anything?
Freedom Williams:
Not really. My father was in a group in high school. He was singing years ago. My mother used to sing around the house a lot. My brother played the flute and the bongos. That’s about it, really.
John Murch:
That sounds pretty musical, though, in the sense that you had something around. Did you pick up the flute from your brother, though?
Freedom Williams:
No. I just didn’t want to play a trombone anymore. I got tired of it. I played it for four or five years, so I just wanted to try something different, really. When you’re young, you just do different things, you know?
John Murch:
But trombone, did you ever sort of get anywhere with it?
Freedom Williams:
Just in the school band, actually. Not a local band or nothing like that. Guess I got kind of bored with it, actually. It’s a beautiful instrument, though. I love it.
John Murch:
What, the sound?
Freedom Williams:
I play around the house every now and then.
John Murch:
Cool. I just found out our time’s running out.
Freedom Williams:
Okay.
John Murch:
It’s been really cool talking to you.
Freedom Williams:
Thank you so much.
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