AETEACIX INTERVIEW – FIELD TRIP

FIELD TRIP/AETEACIX INTERVIEW 

G Force (G):  Alright, first of the bat, a lot of people want to know.  Why Aeteacix? Explain the name to us? 

Aeteacix (86):  I was a big fan of Get Smart back in the day,  so it started off as Eighty Six, and kinda just evolved over the years, for various reasons, into what it is now.  I’ve tried to fuck it off in favour of other names a couple of times but it sticks like flies to shit. 

G:  A little background on Field Trip first.  How did you guys hook up being that Thorts is originally from Brisbane then G-Town whilst you reside down Franga way? 

86: I met Thorts in Geelong while i was visiting mates sometime in ’99.  We were both familiar with each others raps from spittin’ on The Formula, and started hooking up regularly along with a gang of other dudes, just bustin’ raps and shit.  It was early 2000 that Thorts and I went on an incredible adventure together and decided to start a group. 

G:  Both yourself and Thorts have been around for a while and have been working on things for a while now, a lot of people have been waiting for a release.  Has it simply been getting something you are happy releasing or other constraints leading up to the release? 

86:  Yeh, we both kinda got caught up in other shit, Thorts moved to Shepparton and we weren’t in contact for about a year.  I had sold all my recording gear,  and was basically just running around doing stupid shit. so we didn’t actually get started on any tracks until late 2001.  After that, yeh, it was pretty much just putting something together that we were happy with.  Making it sound like a complete package rather than just a bunch of tracks. 

G:  From what I have heard from both of you seperatly and as Field Trip your lyrics are very introspective and often seem to take a third person look at yourself and the scene.  Deep and dark at the same time in a few cases, will this set the tone for the album? 

86: Pretty much, yeh,  but thats not to say that all our stuff is gonna be like that.  I wanna fuck with alot of different styles and sounds, which is kinda why i did the other 2 demos (see question 7), to show that we are a very diverse bunch of dudes, not limited to the stuff that you’ll hear on our debut’s. You can expect this release to be deep and sometimes dark as you’ve mentioned, but nothing i ever do in the future will be like it.  As for my lyrics, well, i don’t really think about them much, i just write down whatever comes into my head. 

G:  So as an overall package what can people expect from the Field Trip album? 

86: An honest look at ourselves, from our point of view.  Dope artwork by Touche, burner verses by Budsa & Raven.  Back to basics type shit, beats n rhymes straight up.  This is for the true heads we’ve known over the years, writers, emcees, whatever.  Dudes that we’ve chilled with or who have lived through similar shit. 

G:  You also handle the production on the album.  Your production is highly original and always seems on point.  When and how did you begin your production and where do you draw inspiration from? 

86:  I started making beats in about ’96 with a SR16 drum machine and a casio keyboard, just so i had something original to make tracks with.  I still only really make beats so that we have something to rap on, but i’m starting to take it more seriously now, I’m gonna step away from the mic a bit this year and concentrate more on production. Hopefully upgrade my setup as well, which currently consists of a stock standard pc and a home hifi system from the early 80’s.  As for inspiration, it can be anything from the weather to a movie i watch, I fancy myself as a bit of a horror flick connoisseur, so alot of it comes from there.  Usually i’ll come up with a song title or just feel a certain vibe i want to put across and take it from there.  It’s very rarely hip hop music that inspires me to make a track. 

G:  Again on production you have a few other projects that you are associated with, Hungry Humans and Fatty Phew amongst others, what are your involvements with these artists and what can we expect from them? 

86: Hungry Humans is my crew: Phew, Thorts, Raven, Budsa, Perplex, Autism and SeshOne.  The Hungry Humans release that i’ve been working on is one of two little demos i’ve put together while waiting for Field Trip to come out. It features stuff from all members of the crew, on beats that I produced.  The other one is called ‘The Fuck You EP’ which I made last week.  Six tracks of pretty much off tap battle type shit, all the songs on it were one take (that means the whole song) none of this punch-in shit :).  These will be released on cd-r and thrown at people from the stage.  Lost Souls (Raven, Budsa & DJ Perplex) are also putting the finishing touches on an LP that should be out very, very soon.  Theres plenty of other stuff in the works, but nothing solid enough to really comment on yet. 

G:  Through your tracks there are many references to past behaviour and lifestyles.  Has hip hop taken you from past problems and given you focus in life or is it simply putting down your progression through life into words? 

86:  For sure man, hip hop gave me purpose when i really didn’t have anything else goin’ on.  The references to the past that you speak of are probably due more to wanting to put life down on paper than anything else though.  We had some shit to get off our chests and did it.  Hip hop was definitely a major distraction from sittin on train stations, drinkin’ and rortin’ though, which was pretty much all that was going on a couple of years ago. So to answer your question; Yes, to both points. 

G:  It seems you work with a pretty tight knit crew of people.  Is there any chance of outside collaborations, production or any other work? 

86:  I’m not in any hurry to go out and collaborate with anyone outside the crew.  I’ve done some shit with Awakenings, and Raven is planning a collaborative project for this year, but i probably shouldn’t talk about that yet. There are a few people around the country i’d love to work with at some point, but all in good time.  I’m more interested in just working with the crew at the moment. 

G:  So can we have the exact date of the release and where people are going to be able to pick it up from? 

86:  ok, release date should be March 19th if all goes to plan.  It’s being distributed by Checkoutwax and will be available from anywhere you’d normally go to buy local hip hop. 

G:  Thank-you for your time, any further shout outs or anything you would like to add? 

86:  Cheers mate.  Big ups to all Hungry Humans, Touche, Dan Murphy, my girlie and all crew, crew of crew, and crew of crew’s crew.  Make sure to head down to The Tote on the 27th of March for City Under Siege, featuring The Hospice, Field Trip, Lost Souls, Autism & Phew,  Equills and more.