STACK #167 Sept 2018

MUSIC

NEWS

INTERVIEW

Divine vocal melodies, instinctual beats, and new layers of personal insight and complexity drive the fresh EP from 21-year-old Adelaide rapper-singer,Tkay Maidza. TKAY MAIDZA

In late ’16 (around the release of debut LP TKAY ) you said that you were writing for yourself, and it was just a bonus that other people cared. Do you still feel that way? For sure. I think you can probably tell that I’ve kind of grown up. It sounds more mature, for sure. When you’re writing at the beginning, you’re like,'I want to make the best record I can, and for people to like it' and then when time goes by either you fall into a hole where you’re ducking your head, or you’re just doing it for yourself. In the middle of it I was like, 'I don’t even know what song’s going to come out, so I might as well just try and figure myself out.' What was the number one weird thing about last year? I think I just had a lot of

experiences where people were kind of mean to me, and then you’re like, life is so strange. Does that make sense? It seems like kind of a dark title but it’s not meant like that. I just went through some stuff. The song White Rose is about a missed opportunity in love, and the symbol pops up again in Say It ("I'm a white rose"). What does it mean to you? Whoever has the white rose could be your friend, or it could be someone who you appreciate a lot but they don’t appreciate you as much. It's strange, I came up with the concept when I was walking home from pilates!

Last Year Was Weird Vol. 1 by Tkay Maidza is out now via Dew Process.

have days where you have really bad experiences, and you have really good ones, but then that makes you who you are. When I was writing this EP, a lot of my songs came out of conversations with friends and family; no one wants to get old. We’re not going to be as fast as we were. I like all the craziness and weirdness of life, but I just wish I could learn things and not age. ZKR

laying down, and your mind is in some other world. You come out of it and you’re like, 'Where did the time go?!' Growing Up has some astute lyrics;What’s the difference between growing up and getting older, to you? Growing up is finding out more about yourself and finding more about the world in general. You

Pilates is really good for contemplative time.

Yeah, for sure. You’re always really zenned out. It's so slow, so you’re literally spending hours

THE SUPERJESUS

WITH SARAH MCLEOD

1998 is often considered, historically, the golden year in the arc of Australian music. One of the many beloved albums released during those 12 months was The Superjesus’ debut album Sumo , the china anniversary of which the band celebrate this month with an extended re-issue of the record. “There were so many cool bands around and we were all marching toward a common goal – it was a really exciting time,” guitarist and vocalist Sarah McLeod tells STACK . “The Jebs, Grinners, Spiderbait , Magic Dirt, Regurgitator, Shihad, Killing Heidi. It was a super happening scene that was supported heavily by the public and the industry alike. It felt like we were in the circus! I felt so honoured to be part of something so cool.” Of the original Sumo tracklist, McLeod says it’s the heavy melodic sway of Sink which has grown on her the most over the last 20 years. “I forgot how much I loved it until I

re-learnt it recently to play on the tour,” she says. “There’s so many parts to all the songs on Sumo ; re-learning them has reminded me how complex they are.” One of the new tracks on the reissue is a surprising cover: Kylie Minogue’s Confide In Me . “We played with a version of it back in ’97, around the same time we recorded Sumo ,” McLeod explains. “We never finished it though – we only recorded loads of heavy guitars playing the badass

riff, then forgot about it. Recently though, I heard it again – it made me remember how cool the riff was when it was tuned down and dirty. So I had a crack at a full demo of it, vocals and all. That rad harmony came from our guitarist Jason; when everyone was on the spot in the studio some real magic came out. I love it when that happens.” ZKR

Sumo (20th Anniversary Edition) by The Superjesus is out now via Warner.

TOURING 29/09 - 17/11

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