Latest / 78 Amped / Remember Fun? ft. trials

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Remember Fun? ft. trials · 78 Amped

• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Maximum Hugan.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: There's a fair bit of me, I'll tell you that much.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if it's the maximum amount of level, but there's a fair bit of a.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Plenty of it.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: He's got more than you can bargain with.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: So today we are chatting with uh Trials, the producer.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: I was gonna say he's well, he's he's a bit of everything.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: Songwriter, producer, rapper himself, and uh live I don't even know how that's got Looper Extraordinaire.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of whale anymore.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: But uh we got up with trials, uh the stuff I tell during Big Sound while he was up here.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll tell you what, this is uh it's an it's a chat I've really wanted to get into because we talked about Handel um his debut solo record earlier this year and about the the stories and uh you know I was gonna say trials, but that seems too obvious.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: The the trials behind the stories of trials and the tribulations.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: And the tribulations, if you will.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and just getting to talk to him about it and like sort of hear how those not only have impacted the album, but how they, you know, host the album, how he reflects on everything again.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's just such an interesting conversation.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it is.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: It was a really deep conversation at times.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: It was very jovial at times as well.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: It was yeah, one of the more fun chats I feel like we've had, or the more interesting chats we've had.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think um look, let's not waste too much time here, but I think let's just get stuck into it.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: I think you might uh start us off talking to Trials.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Maxwell, joining us on the pod today, Aussie Hip Hop Trailblazer Trials.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you very much.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I guess that's me.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Allegedly.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's a busy week.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: We've caught you in Big Sound Week, which is arguably it's the music Christmas in the Australian music scene.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: But before we get into everything you've been up to, handle the album as well.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: We start the show.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just getting an idea of what you're spinning in your playlist lately.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_03: Easy.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_03: There's only one thing in my playlist right now, and it is say true God.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: Say true God question mark.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: He's a rapper right from here, Queensland, Brisbane.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_03: He's phenomenal.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: The fella is an inspiration all around.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: He's a young lad, father, incredible MC.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_03: The energy behind this kid is second to none, and I've told him all week every time I see him, anything I can do to weaponize you, my brother, you have my support.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_03: So I listen to this kid all day long.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: Say true God.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: Say true god.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_03: He's on the Big Sun lineup, isn't he?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he played yesterday.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_03: He's got a couple of showcases this week.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: Make sure if you can see him, please.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_03: Alright, hot recommendation.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_03: I like it.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_03: I like it all.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_03: Say true God.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Sam mentioned obviously that you dropped Handle, which is your your debut solo album.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we wanted to start like just sonically with the record.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, we're really admiring how many different sounds and textures you're kind of pulling into the into the piece.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: Run of the river, you know, the opening track, it opens with this kind of three chords in the story country kind of vibe to it.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: Cool World has that real soulful vocal sample.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: Be an adult had a breakdown.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: It feels like Flume could have been in the production of the production booth.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, like, was it just a chance to flex your muscles from with like the production of how you're pulling this thing together?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, bro.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: I I I think that it's it's definitely a case of when I realized the album was Guilty Pleasure City, it's like, well, everything is gonna sound and just be unashamedly me and my favorite shit, you know?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_03: So I just take all these influences from all the people I've been lucky to work with and just steal, you know, all the my favourite soundparts from them all.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: And like early on, I was really, really blessed with um a whole week session with a fellow called Ash Grumwald from Up This Way as well.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_03: We hadn't met each other before, and um he sent me a a text message saying, I'm gonna drive across the nullaboard with a couple of guitars.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_03: You want to make a record?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_03: And it said, Yeah, bro.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: So I'd never worked on a guitar album in my entire life, just rap music.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: So we had a similar kind of interest, which was just you know, head nod and stuff that makes a bass go you know, so I said, Yeah, pull up.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: So we ended up working on records for about a week, going to the Hoods studio and reverse engineering their vocal booth for the first time to be able to send out amps and be able to send guitars back in and stuff.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: It was amazing, and that kind of stuff there just changed my sonic palette and my appetite for making records and how to make them, you know.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: So I just stole all that energy and I steal as much as possible from all my collaborators.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_03: So if you're ever with me, hold your secrets close where I'm coming for them.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you mentioned mentioned Ash Grunwold.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: You've had such a varied career as a collaborator and producer with artists like Birds, Draft, Hilltop Woods, DZ, Death Race, my guys, um, which covers such a huge range of sounds.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: Do you feel like the album sort of represents the culmination of all those collaborations in one?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_03: 100%, definitely.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: And I feel like every time I'm in a room with those people, it's that genralist thing.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_03: Like we don't even ever consider it, we just make music together which has a like-minded intent, you know, and the energy is always just paramount.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: We always get in the room and throw it all against the wall, and something sticks, you know.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I've taken that approach to my own music, which is throw everything at the wall, and it gets real sticky.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: Is there a genre that you dabbled in that you were surprised, like how much you enjoyed it?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's a really good question because I I I just enjoy the challenge everywhere.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_03: I really do.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_03: It's like because I'm really bad with my hands, as I was saying earlier, I I'm not very good at m making things work or go together like they should.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: When I see someone like an electrician, say, come to my house and do a simple thing, I'm incredibly in awe at how they take their skills and apply them to a brand new setting that they've never been into before.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_03: And that's the shit for me.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_03: Like, so I feel like I do that musically.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I walk into a whole different genre with a whole different studio with a whole bunch of instruments and go, where do I fit into this?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_03: Or how does this fit into me?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: You know, and just take the things that I like.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I don't know how to really classically use anything, including all the gear, like all the compressors, all the EQs, all the stuff that I've used my entire life now to mix and master records and stuff.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: I don't actually know sort of how to use it, yeah, but I know exactly the spot in my ear where it hits, and that's enough for me.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: I figured that's that's it.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_03: That's you don't really need to know how to learn how to use it as long as you do that.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, there it is.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: And again, and then again.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's mixed direct.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the Rick Rubin approach.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_03: It's very much that.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: Like, if you've ever seen him do Hurt, like and he's the first guy to say, I don't know how to do anything, like respect.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_03: He's doing Hurt with Johnny Cash, who's you know, on on the way out, and he's doing this last kind of victory lap of big vocals, and you see Rick Rubin holding the compressor and riding it as he's doing the vocal, like that's a that's a choice doing that.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like, yeah, yeah, that's an unrepeatable thing that's happening.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_03: He's dialing it purely that sweet spot in his ear, and I remember seeing that just sticking with me so hard that like leaving a sterile knob behind is pointless.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what is it there for?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_03: What are we doing?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: Like that little thing there should be touched.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: Get that little mojo out of it.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_03: Do it, don't be scared.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_03: Like, it happened.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_03: And if it if it sucks, fix it next time.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, yep.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, that's a fucking good approach.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's all I got.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: Fan up.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: Well, when when handle dropped, we talked about it on the show a fair bit, and we we talked about how obviously it's so autobiographical uh, you know, about your life and your story.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, you've you've worked as trials for so many collaborations, as Sam said, throughout, you know, since the early 2000s.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: What felt right about 2026 to finally lay down the trial story in an LP?
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: It was a big case of realizing that I had probably done what I could do for all my friends and collaborators around me.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_03: Was we had made lots of good pieces of music together, and I was very satisfied with a lot of the stuff I'd done as far as being involved in the music industry and the rap scene, and I was pretty satisfied to just leave it at that unless it was something way more meaningful to me, you know, and slowly but surely it started creeping its way out that this is something I must do and I want to do, and the big catalyst was getting sober and having a lot of time to think.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_03: So, about five years ago that happened, and it's you know, I miss it desperately, and it's painful, but I am much better for it, and that time allowed me to figure shit out.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: And congratulations, man.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's such an achievement.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you very much.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_03: Five days is an achievement, five hours is mental.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_03: If you get there, like it you know what it is.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's it's really difficult to disassociate it from a reward type behavior, you know, and think I deserve this because I put in some hard work.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you you know, that was tough for me to break that.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_03: And five beers turns into five hundred very quickly for me.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_03: And anyone who knew me back in the day knew that I was fantastic at drinking and even better at making shitty decisions when I was drunk, you know.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I I I knew pretty quickly that having kids around, having a hangover in the morning was not an option.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, it's definitely an option, but not one that I wanted to take.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and they notice everything, bro.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: They see everything, like they really do.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_03: They they it's osmosis every step of the way for those guys, and I just I made that choice to try and be a better human every day, like as much as I can.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not definitely not a great person yet, but I'm fucking trying.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: Every day, one step better, every single day.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_03: Well, not one step better, you know.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_03: Some days I sidestep a little bit.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_03: That's fine.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: That's fine.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, some days I go all the way back, but I'm I'm trying, you know, and that's the most I can commit to is I'm really giving it a shot.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's the main thing.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean the album itself doesn't waste any time sort of getting into your story, it's really reflective and at times incredibly personal.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'd love to dive into the opening track Run to the River if you're comfortable with it, because for our listeners that might not be aware, it it tells a pretty harrowing sort of retelling of I guess how you and your mother escaped an abusive family situation, and you know, it reflects on the first few years of your life.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, do you feel like if a a young Daniel going through at the time had heard that song, he'd be proud of you know the man you are now?
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: I don't I don't know what that is, you know.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not sure what proud is yet.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_03: I'll get there one day once it's all done, I can look back at it and figure it out.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: But I think now while I'm in the mix, I'm not quite sure.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_03: But I I do know that half of the reason for doing a lot of these songs was literally to provide the vessel for someone to talk about it or see themselves or others around them.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_03: And I know it sounds corny, but it's it's the truth.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: Like I I learned very quickly doing the A B original stuff is that just being visible for other people that either look like me or sound like me or come from places around me or know people that you know know people to look like me.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_03: It's really important to be visible and just show people that there's different ways, alternative ways, or the current way that they're doing something to support them.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: So it was way more difficult for me to not do the songs than it was to do the hardest shit ever.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's pretty much the crux of it.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Did it feel quite therapeutic?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, getting it all out there.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like, you know, putting it into art can be quite a full circle moment for artists.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Was it the same for you?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think so.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_03: Like again, I don't really I'm not quite sure until like 10 years, you know.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_03: Because I've been fortunate enough to make songs for like 20 now.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_03: I know that there's this kind of shelf life where a song sort of is established and then you really have no more power over it, and yes, it's about 10 years for me.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_03: I can objectively look at a song and go, okay, that was shit, or like that was good intention, you know, great idea, bro.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_03: Or every once in a while, not bad, bro.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like every once in a while.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_03: I I think I'll I'll get there eventually with this thing.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I know that I'm just hyper focused right now and trying to communicate and deliver the intention behind that because as you know, there's a lot going on, and yeah, in 20 years and two minutes or something like that, sometimes it's fucking hard.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_03: So that's why it's multifaceted.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_03: There's a big old book that comes and serves as the liner notes to the whole record as well.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: So you can sit down and really unpack it chapter by chapter and understand a bit more of what I'm getting into.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: But waking up in the middle of the night, getting on a plane, and and waking up what felt like a few years later in a country that completely didn't resemble anything I was ever even aware of.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_03: I wasn't sure what this place was, and it didn't sound like anybody I knew, and I was the brownest kid in a class full of people that didn't look or sound like me.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_03: It was a very strange, very strange thing to do in real time, you know, especially when they have one word which started with N, which they used to describe me, that they did back home too.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm like, how the fuck did they how'd they pass that message that quick?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like, male takes yonks to get from here to there.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: How did they tell them that this kid's coming and this is what we call him?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like, because I'm trying to figure it out in real time that oh, this is what you do here.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I I get it.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_03: And I was saying to a friend yesterday, like, we have racism here, but they have a different ingredient over there, a real old-timey special one.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's like the MSG of racism, like, it'll hit you hard.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: They've just dealt it down.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_03: They've really got it to a fine fucking science over there, and it's stuck with me forever.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: And and I I just dreamt about getting home and thinking, oh, Australia's gonna be fucking sweet in the 90s.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_03: There's gonna be no racism here, bro.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_03: We sold it, yeah.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_03: It was easy.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_03: I just landed.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, where the fuck do I belong?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_03: What is all what is this?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: Who am I, etc.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_03: etc.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm still doing it now, you know.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_03: And that's why I'm standing on on the whole story, is that all I've got is that.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, is like the truth of the moment that I was there, and even when you're in these kind of moments, like different people infer different things from the situation, different points of view.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_03: So it's difficult to write these songs in any way that's not reflective of just my own view of it, you know what I mean?
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I don't try to answer for someone else, I'm not trying to villainise people at all.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_03: I'm trying to do it in a way that's definitely non-specific specific, you know what I mean?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want to write hurtful songs, uh, I'm but I do want to be able to provide a avenue for people who have been hurt to understand that it's okay to feel like shit sometimes as well, you know, but we don't always have to do it in this kind of sad mopey funeral way.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_03: Like we can also reclaim that shit in a way or two, and I think that's the overall story of the album, as well, is is success, you know, despite the setbacks.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, on on that, like you mentioned six letter six-letter word, which aside from I just want to take a side note here, the the lyrical master stroke that you've got in that the the alphabetic six-letter words is amazing.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like when I was listening to that, I was like, this is fucking awesome.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like such an incredible verse there.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: But aside from the lyrical master stroke, obviously you're talking about you know the impact that words can have on someone.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: Then in uh Cool World, you're talking about like you know, the the impact of the destruction of the lands around Maralinga, and then I got dressed, you flip the disclaimer that we often hear about uh indigenous people into like you know the victories of indigenous people.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: Do you see this as kind of in your eyes at least partly like a protest album?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: Or is it more just about that visibility that you're talking about?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I pro that just even the word protest always kind of rub me kind of funny because even because it always kind of makes it feel like it politicizes like a personable thing, yeah.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean, all the time.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like uh it doesn't I don't feel like I'm making like you know, rights music when I'm just saying everybody should have a fucking fair go, you know what I mean?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_03: Like oh give me a break.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_03: I think that I think there's a a place for a big discourse where everybody should just be taking fucking accountability, and that's all I'm trying to do is like I I know that I've made so many mistakes along the way and I do it every day, and I'm trying to hold others around me to the same standard now.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: And it's difficult, but you know, I started my talk yesterday with that exact disclaimer, uh just reading out in front of everybody, right in front of just up there, just to make everybody understand that you know you're familiar with these things and you don't realise how fucking stupid some of it is sometimes when it's well-meaning, but it also means that every time there's something on TV about us, it's bookended with this kind of miserable tone.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_03: And it always made me feel like, why aren't we ever just saying, hey, the next 20 minutes is gonna show a bunch of black fellas being fucking awesome.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_03: And everyone would be like, oh yeah, fuck it.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, come check this out, you know what I mean?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_03: Like I I just feel like there's a different tone of voice that sometimes we can be used to be described and talked about, you know what I mean?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_03: And talked to, talked with, talked amongst.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_03: I think that there's plenty of space for other voices, and I just know this this is mine, you know.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like I learned really early that from Uncle Archie Roach that like I was talking to him just about songwriting and how I have this heavy hammer fist approach to it, you know, and how the fuck does he communicate these concepts with such a beautiful, soft-spoken manner?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_03: And he imparted lots of game on me.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_03: And it's it's been an amazing, amazing experience learning from him, learning from fellows like Paul Kelly and all these people, these legends around who opened their hearts to me and to my intentions, you know, because we we share a similar goal, which is just create and and and foster a community around us.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we spoke earlier about how the album, you know, it talks about mental health, your family life, addiction issues, and well, and how you've come to you know, reflect on all of them in a specific but non-specific way.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: When the album dropped, what was the emotion like seeing it, you know, all these stories hit the world?
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know you wanted to serve a purpose for other people, but you know, did it feel like you were sort of bearing your soul to the public a little bit, or did it just feel like a bit of a an emotional release?
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a that's a lovely question, Bola.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_03: I it's one of the first things that came back to me was someone that I knew really well, and they said, Man, it feels like I'm reading in your diary here.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, is that a is that a good?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_03: What are you saying?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_03: What does that mean?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_03: Is it a good thing or a bad thing?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um I definitely wanted it to feel different, you know, like I'm I'm so used to a lot of these stories and a lot of these conversations being had in certain tones of voice and and in certain genres too, you know.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: Then I got dressed, the original title for that was Thought About Killing Myself.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: And uh everybody around me was like, you can't do that.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_03: Why the fuck not?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's my record.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_03: We won't get a Spotify playlist.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, well, we didn't anyway.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: Goal achieved.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_03: Measure the success.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's it's that type of thing.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_03: Like thought about killing myself, then I got dressed.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_03: I am allowed to be proud, mad at the cloud, as long as I am not depressed.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_03: Like, it's like you we don't have we don't have a space for that voice with in what you do.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's like oh I'll just go fuck myself over here then and say nothing to nobody and just internalize it for the rest of my life and fuck fuck it up all over again, you know?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like, nah, I'm just gonna be honest about it and talk about it.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_03: It's disingenuous of me to say it otherwise.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_03: And that's why when we talk about sobriety, I'll always bookend it with, yeah, it's fucking sucks, it's very difficult, bro.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_03: Because it is hard.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, man.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_03: And for me to just say, Yeah, every day I get up and go for a walk, which I do, it's it's not just that, it's all the rest of it that gets me to do it, you know.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_03: It's the fact that I get to go home to my boy and pick him up in my car and take him out and do all that stupid shit and watch him climb rocks and then show Paul Kelly videos and make him late for his chat.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_03: Such a power move.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_03: I'm living for that, bro.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm living for that, dude.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like I don't I don't I don't want it if it doesn't mean something all round, you know.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: Speaking speaking of your kids, I mean you're a father now, obviously, and your kids are fairly young, but yeah, eventually they will grow up and I'm sure they will want to know more about you and and leave.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe, I don't know.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_03: If there's right now there's anything to go by, nah.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_03: They're not really interested.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: If if and when that time comes.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: If yeah.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: Is is the is this album at least a part of how you want them to experience that journey of getting to know you?
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: For sure.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: Like I think about it a lot.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like one of the um one of the moments in my talk yesterday is is talking about on the$50 note, once in upon a time, there's a fellow on there called David Yunapon, a black inventor.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_03: There's a little church on there too, and that church is where I'm from.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_03: So that's Raukin right there.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_03: There's 99 people from that tiny little mission there.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_03: And that fella is a is an inventor of sorts, and he created the modern-day sheep shearer, which changed the fucking industry all around him, but couldn't afford the patent.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_03: So somebody else got it, lived off of it, etc.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_03: He got his credit posthumously and well changed around him, and everybody made money, and then he got his little tokenistic gesture at the end.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_03: And I refuse to let something like that happen to me, my friends, or or my art, or or or the influence that I can have on someone else's, you know.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_03: It's ownership of the music and and of yourself and your story is fucking paramount to me, and I'm trying to set that example.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: Your live set, I want to talk about quickly because I had the privilege of seeing you uh open for Hilltop Woods.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: Which was incredible.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: Here?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, here.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_03: That was one of my favourite ones, bro.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: It was amazing, bro.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: That was an amazing show, bro.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: And my old, I mean, funny story, my old man is a mad Hilltop Woods fan, so I brought him and he was going off during your set.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, how does he do all that stuff?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's incredible.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: So tap dancing on desperate buttons at my feet.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: There's just one guy.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: How is he doing all of that?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, Dad, we need to talk about loop pedals.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: There's all these little buttons at my feet.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: Four big ones in front of me.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: I already should have like, he's just actually phenomenal.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, you're going between so many instruments, you're looping, you're live mixing, and rapping all at the same time.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Was coming together.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Was there a lot of consideration of how you bring it together live, or was it just a let's throw shit at the wall and we'll figure it out later?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: I had zero plans to do shows ever again.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, this is me done, I don't want to do it.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: I'm finished.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like this is not for me.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_03: I've finished, I got my cups full, I'm good.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_03: Like every hand that's been waved in the air like it didn't care is done for me.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_03: Cool, satisfied.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like, so I I finished the album, and like I do with every single thing I've ever done in my entire life, sent it to suffer from the Hutz Up Woods.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's my one of my best friends in the entire universe.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_03: A dude has steered me towards success and victory in a way from fucking my life up seven hundred times.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_03: Even when I didn't listen to him the first hundred times, like that guy stuck with me.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_03: So I always send it to him first, and if he if he gets it, I'm good.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_03: Like so with the AB original record, we sent it to him, and Uncle Archie wrote, she was like, if they if they both get it, sweet, you know.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I sent it to Sopha and um he said, What what are your plans for the shows?
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_03: You know, and I said, I'm like peace, brother.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_03: I said, Cool.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_03: Would you like to do um an arena run with us?
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_03: They said, no, bro, but I definitely will.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_03: I'm absolutely gonna do it, dude.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: You know I am.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_03: And um they had not they had no idea what I was gonna do.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I hadn't I had no idea either.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_03: Like the the half of my band was on this tour already.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_03: So DJ Total Eclipse is every original and Funkaw's DJ, so he's been with me for years.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um Marlon Motlop's my one of my best friends, guitarist in my band, like he's on the tour as well, doing vocals.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_03: It would have been one extra person to take on tour with me, my keyboard player, and I would have had my whole band there.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_03: So it would have been even easier to do that, to have a band play my songs.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_03: But I I really hate myself, bro.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm like, well, let's let's ruin your life for a couple of weeks later.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_03: I thought we had to play everything, dog.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_03: And I I thought that visually it would really reinforce that this is me, this is all me.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: Every single part of it is is me.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_03: Like, and I wanted that to be really rammed home, at least in the first iteration of it live.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like I've got big plans to do longer versions and extended kind of versions of it where I get really, you know, fancy with all the strings and whatnot around me.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_03: But right now I love it just being me up there and owning it all, and everybody seeing that it's just Watson, all this guy pouring his fucking soul out.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it definitely comes across that way.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're just putting a stamp and authority on your songs, and I think it creates this really kind of interesting connection with I've I certainly felt it in the audience, like you're just in control of every single piece.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm so not, you know, I'm panicking up there, I'm just shitting my pants every single button press.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_03: Like, and when I've got one particular mate, Sester, I love you, brother.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_03: He he knows when I press the wrong button, and he and I'll get off stage and there'll be just a big text list of I saw when this happened, and I saw it keeps me incredibly honest about my friends.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_03: But the spontinuity of it all was necessary for me.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't want to go up with a Serato backing track ever again.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: Like I just didn't want to go up with it on rails.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: I want to be scared, I'd like to be a bit terrified again up there and have fun too.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_03: It's like remember fun, like the actual reason why we started playing music in the first place, and then it gets commoditized, and then you try to get tighter and cleaner, and you lose every single part of the fucking soul that got you there in the first place.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_03: I refuse.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_03: I really chuck it all out and just make a fucking few mistakes, and that's jazz, baby.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_03: It's the notes between the notes.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_03: You're always one fret away from the right one.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: Mm-mm.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: You do have some other uh concerts coming up soon.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you did some festival runs as well.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: Are you doing the uh the solo trials thing?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_02: You bringing the band.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's all dolo for now.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_03: Hell yeah.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_03: Just just stupid old dad up there for now.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_03: Just me.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_03: It feels good, it feels great, and like you said, I I feel like the intention is felt.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, and when when the hoods offer you a platform like that with a room that I already felt familiar with, you know, because I've already been in front of them twice already, we've done two stadium runs with A B before, and because of my involvement in their catalogue, like it was the greatest entrance into a big old space with unfamiliar songs because I'd never even played those things live before.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_03: I was the first go at it all in front of 15,000 people.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_03: It was like, let's have a crack.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_03: And when we came here, I made one of those beats on the way over because Birds and Fred were here, so we're like, let's do a remix tonight at the entertainment centre, it's gonna be sick.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_04: Fuck yeah.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_03: I just want to live by just absolutely on the edge.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_03: Just redlining the whole way redlining hard.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_03: I don't recommend it.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: Before we let you go, um, obviously, Handel has been a massive chapter in in the story and the career of trials, and and you've shared your story or you know, the first few years of your story uh through Hendel.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: What's what does moving forward look like?
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_02: Is there a next album in the works?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: Is is it something where you want to say, I'm I'm done with the autobiographical stuff?
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: What what's next?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: Man, it's funny because I couldn't even get to the real wild shit before I laid the table.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_03: And I feel like that's all I've done is just set the table here.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_03: It gets crazy.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_03: It gets really, really crazy.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_03: It gets incredibly complex after that.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_03: And it was very difficult to have that in mind, but I did because there's a big old story that I'm trying to tell eventually.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_03: And I feel like that first one, as packed and convoluted as some parts is, is a drip feed of what it's about to be.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_03: It's there's a big old story that I have left to tell, and I I can't wait to expand on it.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, I mean, we're certainly on the hook, I think.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_03: I apologize profusely.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_02: I love a hook and a tease.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: That's incredible.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's that's that's that's the uh the setup for the sequel, like at the end of the first film.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's good shit.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: It's a clear thing.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_03: My brain doesn't let me get that far.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: What's the next thing?
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: What are we doing?
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_03: What are we doing?
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: Is it what?
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_02: Handle 2 Empire Strikes Back coming at us.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god, my boy and I are gonna watch that on the weekend.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_03: I can't wait.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: He just watched the first Star Wars with me last week because he's just getting into Star Wars, he's 10.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: I've just let it slowly wait for it to come to him.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: He went to Book Week last week as Darth Vader.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_03: It was the shit.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, Dad, can you get me?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, I can get you a fucking lightsaber, boy.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_03: I got him the dopest one.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_03: That's actually fucking sick.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah, bro.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_03: I live for the shit.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_03: So I get to go home and watch Empire Strikes back with my boy, and uh, I'm trying to explain to him right now who Salacious Crumb is.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh this is a guy who knows deep cut characters.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot going on for my broad.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_03: He knows going on in the background in these Consolus movies.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_03: He's in trouble, bro.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_02: Bless him.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: Well, listeners, uh, listen back to Hendel, the debut solo record from Trials, wherever you get your music.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_02: Catch him live at Rolling Sets Festival on the 28th of November at Tweed and the 5th of December in Newcastle or at the Castway Festival on the 21st of November in Perth, the 12th of December in Mornington, or the 20th of March next year in Wollongong.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: There's thanks so much for coming and have a chat to us today.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate everything.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate all the lovely words you said about my record.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, now that I'm not going to be around you, you can say all the things you really think about your record.
• 29:16
  unknown: So thank you.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's part two coming up.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's a hook of a tease, boys.