After the rioting in London, many soul-searching questions were asked of the country and of its class system, of how and why the youth could evolve into this unit of violence, destruction and theft on such a massive scale. While I don’t have answers those types of questions, or in depth analysis, research and statistics, I can attest to the undercurrent and vibe of the city coming from certain people and parts of London I felt – anger, violence and a need for release through drinking. I remember reading a newspaper article while there, about two positive young guys who were doing a long distance walk to raise money for charity. While they were walking they were set upon by a gang of youths who attacked them for being “too good.” The unfortunate guys were yelling for help to passers-by, when a man did come along, only to join the gang in beating them. I didn’t witness anything like that when I was there, except for some police cars and vans cordoning off a street near Liverpool Street station.

When tumultuous social events such as this happen (think Cronulla riots in Australia), I have noticed a tendency for conservative journalists to deliver their perspective on the topic, and almost always without fail, use the situation and event as affirmation for their point of view, without substantial and credible hard evidence to support their claims. In the UK a columnist for The Daily Mirror wrote an opinion piece blaming the culture surrounding “rap music,” and here in Australia, gay comedian and Triple J personality Tom Ballard challenged an opinion piece by Sydney Telegraph columnist Miranda Devine, who somehow came to the righteous conclusion that same-sex couples and the lack of a “nuclear” family produced the wide-scale rioting in London. (See his rejoinder here)

I had a tête-à-tête with my mate Aaron Jackson aka Mnsr Frites, MC from his group Granville Sessions about hip hop, rap, grime and his thoughts on the influence of music, and also the rioting. As someone who grew up in the city, and as an MC I felt it would be appropriate to get his thoughts down on virtual paper, so read the interview after the break!

Who are Granville Sessions and how did you come about?
Granville Sessions are a live six piece Hip Hop band from London. We formed in 2008 when the bands three MC’s were booked for a show in Manchester (this was the first booking we’d ever been offered). We wanted to do something different so we formed a band from some very good friends of ours: Giuseppe Falcone who was already producing for us, plus Louis Dale (drums) and Marvin Javier (bass) who were part of a metal band called Orakai at the time. Another good friend Ed Koral who was also part of Orakai played guitar for us at the time and he continues to play live shows with us now, though now he plays trumpet in the band. The gig went well and for want of a better cliche ‘the rest is history’. Prior to the gig me, Giuseppe and Louis had filmed a little jam session at Louis’ house on Granville Road and thats where the name comes from. In the run up to the gig we practiced a fair amount at a rehearsal space in Balham and so we had a nice wedge of material to perform up in Manchester. Our sound has changed a lot since then as we’ve all progressed and developed but the bands ethos remains the same, we’re a group of friends that have known each other for a long time that enjoy making music together; Hip Hop is the foundation of our sound but we all come from different musical backgrounds and have different musical preferences and interests and I think that comes across in our sound.

The band is comprised of Three MC’s; myself (Mnsr Frites), Luca Brazi (who is also a dope producer; he produced ‘IF’ on the ‘No State’ project), and Archetype plus Giuseppe Falcone on production, Louis on drums and Marvin on Bass. We are a full live band so when you see us live everything is played real time; we have a show on September the 2nd at Vibe Bar, Brick Lane, East London so come check it out.

Top five MCs (dead or alive)/hip hop influences?
That’s a difficult question; I’ll try my best!:

1. Rakim
Although there are MC’s that I’ve personally listened to more you have to give Rakim credit for being the first dude to take rhyming to the next level in terms of complexity and intricacy, I appreciate good word play and conceptualism so I’d say he’s probably the best MC ever in regards to all that. There are MC’s that are technically a lot better than him but had he not paved the way for them I feel Hip Hop would be a very different music.

2. Zack De La Rocha (Rage Against the Machine)
Zack De La Rocha has been a huge influence for me personally. His delivery, stage presence and content are my reasons for picking him as number two. If you think he can’t be considered a Hip Hop MC just because he rose to fame as part of a rock outfit go and check out his tune with the Last Emperor and KRS One off Rawkus Records ‘Lyricist Lounge Vol. 1′ compilation; Zack is ill!

3. Nas
Nas is an absoulute badman, if you listen to ‘Illmatic’ and consider that he was still in his teens when he made that album its pretty hard to not consider him one of the best ever. Don’t get me wrong he has dropped a few clangers over the years but he’s still nice with it.

4. Kool Keith
I’m a big fan of psychedelia and conceptualism in Hip Hop and Kool Keith is a pivotal figure in terms of this style. He has a prolific back catalogue of crazy shit and he’s been dropping quality material since he was part of The Ultramagnetic MC’s. For this reason he is one of my favourite lyricists.

5. Universal Soldiers
Universal Soldiers were a quality MC duo from Edmonton, North London. I highly reccomend their music to anyone that is in to Hip Hop. Don’t get me wrong though this list changes on a daily basis and I’m super geeky with this Hip Hop stuff. I listen to a lot of Hip Hop; some other MC’s that I think are ill are R.A the Rugged Man, LoDeck and Vast Aire. Also had I not heard Wu-Tang’s first album I dont think I would have got into Hip Hop so heavily; they are the best thing to come out of the genre in my opinion! Then there is producers; I won’t even touch on that as we’d be here all day! haha

- What are yours and the group’s musical (any genre) influences (as I noticed the classical/jazz/reggae etc after listening to No State) ?
We have a huge range of influences. I personally grew up listening to a mixture of groups like Pantera and Sepultura and Hip Hop crews like Onyx, Wu-Tang and Das Efx. My Dad has always been a big reggae head as well so thats been a huge influence upon me and Reggae contunues to be one of my favourite types of music.

Luca Brazi is big into soul, Louis and Marvin have that metal influence but are also into a huge range of other stuff, Giuseppe is big into electronica and lo-fi down-tempo sort of stuff. I think the wide range of influences we have is reflected in the music we make. Our track ‘Styles’ is definitely a nod to Reggae and Sound System culture in general and on ‘Pubsteppin’ you’ll hear Louis sneaking in a cheeky bit of Thrash metal Style double pedal.

Our sound is always changing and were not afraid to experiment so I reckon our material will grow to reflect our influences even more over time. Hip Hop is the foundation of our sound though so no matter what we make it will always be that head-nod shit.

You supported Necro, and some other big names and dudes … how were the shows, and how did the crowds feel your stuff?
Supporting Necro was a quality experience; that’s probably one of the biggest crowds we’ve played to. We were somewhat apprehensive as Necro has a notoriously strange fan-base but people were really receptive and it was an awesome night; we had mosh pits going and everything which is always welcome; I love that shit. We recently supported another London Hip Hop band called the Illersapiens and that was a quality gig, the venue which it took place at (The Hootananny in Brixton) is somewhere we all go to a lot socially so it was quality to play there; massive shouts to DJ Snuff for booking us! We’re always looking for gigs and I definitely look forward to playing some more gigs like the Necro show in the future.

Congratulations on releasing No State… can you tell us what it’s about, and how would you describe your song/lyrical content – as about life in general? For example maybe about boredom, hence the stepping out to the pub for a pint or 5?
Cheers man. It’s definitely good to have it out there. We touch on quite a lot of stuff in our songs; a lot of the time its kind of rapping for the sake of rapping (which has its place) but we definitely made a conscious effort to incorporate some solid concepts into the ‘No State’ project. I’d say the general theme is (without sounding too cheesy) ‘the daily struggle’ but we also touch upon the rise of materialism in Hip Hop and a lot of stuff relating to life in London.

What’s your take on the London riots, and the people behind the rioting… as someone who, maybe given worse life circumstances could have been out there smashing and stealing shit, fighting police and starting fires?
I do not condone the actions of the rioters; but I strongly believe that there is a reason for everything and that the riots should not be simplistically dismissed as ‘thuggery’ or ‘pure criminality’. Youth unemployment is rife in the UK and I have first hand experience of this; when you are force fed an ideal of unsustainable consumerism in every waking minute of your life and then are not able to attain items that are deemed necessary to you by advertising executives people will react, it is an inevitability.

You just have to look at the type of stores that were targeted by rioters; electrical goods outlets, shops that sell sports clothing etc. These products share a common characteristic, they are items peddled to you as status symbols, we live in a society where you are taught from a very young age that money equals success. The people that took part in these riots are products of said environment. It is useless to sit around getting angry about what happened without trying to highlight the cause of the situation. Typically politicians have tried to put a spin on the events for their own benefit, a myriad of unrelated topics have been raised in the aftermath of the riots and I have no doubt that legislation will be pushed through of the back of recent events.

(I think) progress could be made by focusing on creating stringent schemes of employment for young people in this country as well as bringing about an increase in access to education. Travel within in London should be made affordable and activities for young people should be created at a local level but with consultation from young people so they are not poorly attended and patronizing. These things will not happen though because they do not bear profit for the government in the short term, money is the main focus of everything our government does.

A conservative government has no interest in dealing with issues of wealth disparity because they act in the interest of the elite, the British media quite rightly highlighted the detriment that the riots bought to small businesses and to the welfare of people who were employed at places of work that have now been destroyed. However the reality of the situation is that police were out in force to protect places like Westfield Shopping centre where large MNC’s have invested money but they were no where to be seen in poorer areas where many local businesses bore the brunt of the riots. The Police were the cause of the initial riots in Tottenham, they unnecessarily took the life of a young man and then failed to provide ample explanation to the mans family.

People living in London have little reason to place any faith in the Police as an institution. Hoards of young men have died whilst in police custody and the Police are rarely questioned or punished in the same way as your average citizen. The Police need to be policed by a body of organisations that are truly independent and transparency in their operations needs to be increased. It saddened me greatly to see the state of London during the riots but everyone needs to work together to create an environment where the chances of such things happening again are decreased.

I saw that Daily Mirror article where the columnist opined that rap/grime music was a cause of violence… I’ve been listening to rap for ages, and grime for a little while now, and after having been to London I could almost definitely say that the music arose out of the social and living conditions, it’s definitely not a cause, or didn’t incite the violence… what’s your take on the cause/effect and influence of music on people?
Musicians have a responsibility to recognise their influence upon their respective audiences regardless of genre. People are often hideously misinformed as to what Hip Hop is because they have no real experience of what in reality is a beautifully creative all-encompassing cultural discipline set. Consumerism has infected every level of society and this is reflected in Hip Hop and Grime, just as it is in Pop and Country and Western music. Older generations have historically blamed societies ills on the interests of younger generations; just look at the hoo-ha bought about by the emergence of Rock n’ Roll! people thought Buddy Holly was outrageous and a threat to the structure of society and the time!

It is not the job of a rapper or Grime MC to instil values in a young person. Hip Hop is a powerful tool that can be misused but people are complex and how they act can not be appointed simply to the music they choose to listen to, that is a naive and patronizing way of looking at things; as it is an opinion put forth by the Mirror I cant say I’m surprised.

So where to next for Granville sessions, what releases, gigs etc do you have coming up?
We are always working on new material and we often play new stuff live before recording it, so if you can definitely come and check us out live! We are next playing on the 2nd of September at Vibe Bar, Brick Lane, East London. Look out for Luca Brazi’s new project ‘Fire Makes Dead Animals Nang: The Babylon Escape Plan Soul Sessions’! Its gonna be certified fire.

Check out:
www.granvillesessions.com
trinitymusicbrixton.bandcamp.com

Since high school, my mate Robert Zile and I had a shared love of The Crystal Method, The Chemical Brothers and big beat style electronic music. I went over to his house one time and he showed me trance music he’d been making on this program called FruityLoops and I was pretty amazed – like anyone could make it (given enough time and practice haha) Well since then he hasn’t stopped making tunes, has honed his craft to a techno sound, and has seen his work released on labels around the world. I asked him some questions, so check em out after the jump, and then check out his tunes at the bottom!

“I dont get minimal techno” please explain.
Minimal can be pretty hard to listen to if you are not a big fan or never really heard it before. I do not and cannot listen to hours and hours of it. I suppose you need to experience it on a booming soundsystem in a small dark club/afterparty.. that’s when the magic happens! I do love playing a few minimal tracks in my sets but not too many. I think by only playing a few, it makes the minimal tracks stand out more. In saying all this, my best selling track is my quirky minimal remix of Tony Kanwischer – Moonhalo on Italy’s NBG Records. So maybe I should just shut up and make some more of it ahah

But there’s no peaks and troughs and it sounds like it’s building up forever and ever.
ahha I know what you mean.. but there is a time and place for everything. If you are playing to a room full of comatose patients, sending them on a neverending journey can be quite fun!

How would you describe your sound?
Probably a mixture of techno, house and a bit of electronica. I’m really not sure.. I like to make and play quite funky house music but I also enjoy the weird, afterparty type of tracks. Basically…tracks I like to call ‘face melters’ ahah.

You used fruity loops to make trance back in high school days… you’re still on it to this day yeah?
My secret is out!! Yes when I started producing, I made really crappy trance with Fruity Loops. I stopped playing video games and just focused on trying to make anything resembling a song. I had hours and hours of fun trying to make trance and basically just made things up as I went along. I am still using Fruity Loops but upgraded to FL Studio about 3 years ago. The next step is to finally learn how to use Ableton.. it’s on my to-do list, I swear!

Any hardware/equipment/instruments you like to play with or use?
I bought my first piece of hardware about two years ago, a Novation X-Station 25 midi keyboard. I am more software based but I do love plugging this baby in and messing around with it from time to time.

You’ve been noticed by some international dudes in your field… how does it feel to get some exposure and recognition?
It feels good!! It made me feel like I am on the right track and I thought well… if two of my favourite quality producers (King Unique and Hybrid) like my sound, then I must be doing something right. Before this, Valentino Kanzyani’s techno label ‘Jesus Loved You’ gave me quite a lot of positive feedback and encouraged me to keep sending them my demos. This reminds me, I should send them some of my new stuff!!

What are you listening to at the moment (any genre)?
I listen to all the promo tracks I get sent from record labels about twice a week, usually finding some seriously good music from artists I have never heard of (artists like me!!) Other than that I am listening to alot of Air, Modeselektor and of course, thy god Aphex Twin. Nothing partficulary new to be honest. Faith No More, Marilyn Manson, Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Dandy Warhols would be the most played non-electronic artists on my trusty Ipod.

What do you like to listen to when out at a club or music event?
I like to listen to everything!! Punk, metal, ska, techno, breaks, house… I really do not care just as long as it is not cheesy.

What are you working on at the moment?
A 4 track EP for a new UK label ‘OTG Music.’ This new label is focusing on broken beats, acid and left-field type of tracks. So far the EP is sounding very weird and I cannot wait to finish it so I can freak people out at 5am with these little beauties.

I am also working on a pilot tv show that hopefully will be picked up by SBS (keep your fingers crossed haha). It’s called ‘Planet 31‘, we shot the pilot a few weeks ago and it looks great. The show focuses on local non-commercialsed talent from industries such as film, music, the arts, comedy and food. (How’s that for a plug.. bam!!) Sean Pary (host and creator of the show) found me on Myspace a few years ago and we kept in touch.. then last year he asked me if I wanted to be the house DJ for the show and write the theme music. I have never done anything like this before but I’m having a good time!! Check out the website – www.planet31.com.au

Who are you working with/remixing?
I am currently working with the owner of Italian record label ‘NBG Music‘ – Gabriele Brunno. We have the same influences in music and remix each others tracks frequently. I just finished a remix of his progresive house track ‘You Are’ that will be released on his label in about two weeks. He also just remixed my new track ‘Wake The Baby’ coming out on Subtec Records at the end of the month. I am also working with UK label ‘Red Robot Records‘ quite a lot. Just finished an 11 minute Ibiza style house remix that is getting very good responses from the label, the artist I remixed (Boss T) and listeners on soundcloud. Not sure when that will be released, hopefully sometime this year.

How come I havent really heard of these techno artists, is it because they’re up and coming?
Yeah I suppose you could say that! All the artists and labels I work with produce and release great underground music.

Also what soundcloud links would you prefer up for peeps to listen to?
Cool, thanks for having me!!

My soundcloud page is
http://www.soundcloud.com/robzile but here are a few tasty treats.

Rob Zile – Wake The Baby (Subtec Records) by robzile

Boss T – Alright (Rob Zile remix) – coming soon to Red Robot Records by robzile

Rob Zile – Colour Full by robzile

She also threw in some cheeky questions suggested by myself :D !!!

My questions:

If Major Lazer had a wrestling match with Duck Sauce, who would win?
Major Lazer. Duck Sauce is just a stupid duck. If it be like me and Switch VS Armand and A-Trak, Armand would win because he looks like a crazy musclehead. I’d probably be evenly matched with A-Trak but Switch against Armand would just lose.

You did a cameo for Die Antwoord’s Evil Boy film clip, what was it like making that?
It was weird. Everything about those guys is just weird and unusual, I just loved it. It’s perfect for me. I love stuff when it confuses even me.

Check out the full article at City Search Australia (from Adelaide it would seem).