Combat Wombat - Australian Hip-Hop Producer Interview

August 2007

Interview with Monkeymarc from politically influenced Australian hip-hop group Combat Wombat.

How many people make up the Combat Wombat crew and how old are you?

Combat Wombat consists of 4 people… Monkeymarc (me), MC Izzy, Elf Tranzporter and DJ Wasabi. I am 34.

The name Combat Wombat is really catchy, how did it come about?

It came about because we used to drive around in a camouflage painted van that looked like a giant wombat. Then one day whilst we were touring around the desert with our solar powered sound system (Labrats) my mate Rufus said why don't you call your band Combat Wombat… so we did.

You are an Australian group, do you all come from the same area and if not how did you all meet?

Izzy was born in Sydney and DJ Wasabi was born in Matong, Western NSW, Elf was born in the USA and I was born in Cardiff, Wales. Elf emigrated here around 16 years ago and I came here with my family 20 years ago. I met Izzy in Darwin in 1998 where we started up our solar powered party political sound system. Elf joined the band in 2000 after we all met whilst living together in a massive squatting complex in the heart of Sydney. We met DJ Wasabi when we were doing a free party in Newcastle (NSW) in 2000. He was 15 at the time and rocked up in a limo and did the fattest drum and bass set ever. He followed us around for a bit and then he joined up with us in about 2002.

What is the music scene like in Australia at the moment?

Its quite eclectic. There is a huge rock n roll revival. The once huge techno scene has faded but been replaced by reggae nights and dub-step/grime nights. The hip-hop scene is strong but a little stuck in its ways. There are some great bands like Curse Of Dialect coming out of an ever growing conscious hip-hop scene and luckily for us in Melbourne there are plenty of great cheap venues to play in. There is literally something going on every night down here. Melbourne is without a doubt a creative haven for Aussie musicians at the moment. I would have to say that reggae has had a huge upheaval in the last 5 - 6 years with crews like Chant Down Sound System playing a large role. Also Melbourne has a very multicultural audience as well and nights like Uber Lingua at St Jerome's playing only multilingual music really provide a great alternative.

As for us though we are influenced by so many different sources. Elf is much more of a purist in a hip-hop sense, Wasabi loves his drum n bass, I love my reggae and jungle and Izzy spends most of her spare weekeneds at punk gigs. I guess that why we sound the way we do.

How did you get into music / producing?

I started off singing in rock bands but always wanted to have more of an influence in writing music. I remember a friend played me a 12" of Eric B and Rakims "Paid in Full" and I was blown away. I had no idea how they made that rocking beat, it had me perplexed. I started out trying make my own beats with a turntable and a twin cassette tape recorder. I started looping sections of my favorite part of a record and making these huge long mega mixes of big tracks at the time. I used to DJ at my local youth club and at certain points of the night I would drop in my extended mixes and people would love it. I loop the guitar solo up in an AC/DC track and people would head bang like mad. After that I discovered that there was this thing called a sampler. So I saved up an bought a 1 second lux-sound sampler and a four track and started making weird beats and montages. Unfortunately all those tapes went down in a house fire so I have never managed to hear what sort of crazy stuff I did back then.

How long have you been making music?

I have been writing music since I was 11 and I have been making electronic music with real gear since 1996.

What are your musical influences?

I love dub and roots reggae and am also a massive ska fanatic. I used to collect lots of funk, soul and jazzy blues when I was growing up in Sydney. I'm a huge fan of avant guard world music and collect all sorts of weird and wonderful records. As a kid I was also hugely influenced by The Jam, The Clash, Fugazi, Madness and all that two tone stuff. I love the energy that comes from raw rock music and the huge bass and soul that comes from dub so I am a crossroads with my musical tastes. I am also a big fan of old mississippi delta blues and all that ancient devil worshipping stuff. Anything with heart and soul thats not pretentious, I'm into it.

Do you have a favorite tune of all time?

Thats a hard question. I guess I would have to break it up into genres. "Dancehall Style" by Horace Andy is my favorite roots album. My favorite ska tune it would have to be "Madness" by Prince Buster and The All Stars. As far as a favorite jazz track then it would have to be "Look-a-Here" by the Ramsey Lewis Trio, it's just the coolest track out there. As far as a blues album it would have to Howlin Wolf's "Electric" album (the one that he didn't like). As far as funk goes it would have to be Eric and The Vikings "Get Off The Streets Y'all", the maddest piano funk track out there.

What was the last piece of music you bought?

An old Prince Buster vinyl album called "The Message". Its a wicked quirky dub album. Its got a picture of his old record shop on the front. I love anything Prince Buster did.

If you were given the chance of being able to collaborate with anyone you choose which other artist would you most like to work with?

Damien Marley, he seems like a good hearted guy.

How would you describe your sound?

Swinging bass heavy dub influenced political hip-hop with a worldly flavour.

What equipment do you use to produce your music?

I use…

• an Akai MPC 3000
• Akai MPC 60
• EMU SP 12
• EMU SP1200
• Studio Electronics ATC-1 Tone Chameleon
• a Technics SL 1210 MK2 turntable

I also use Logic Pro 7.0 on a mac laptop.

At the moment I have only heard the tune "Qwest" which I thought was really good, what is the rest of the album "Unsound $ystem" like?

The rest of the album is a bit darker and has a harder political edge than Qwest. There are also quite a few instrumentals on the album. The album as a whole is a conceptual album that takes you through a journey of some of the key issue that Australia and the rest of the world are experiencing at the moment. There are cut ups of Aussie shock jock racist radio presenters over beats, punked out heavy dub tracks like Corruption Dub (always a crowd pleaser), chilled dubby instrumentals like End of the World Dub and Milk Cow Mantra, and rocking hip-hop tracks like Alternative Energy and Displaced Peoples. Its an eclectic mix that pushes Aussie hip-hop in a progressive direction.

I read on your website that your studio and tour transportation are all eco-friendly, who's idea was this and how and why did you do it?

My studio is built into an old shipping container and is powered by solar and wind. The van we had for years was powered by recycled vegetable oil. The principal idea for powering everything by alternate sources was from myself and Izzy. We do it because we believe we have to do it to be responsible citizens on this planet. We want to try and show people that making the change to alternative technologies isn't difficult and can be done on not too large a budget. I also believe in practicing what you preach in. The time to make the switch to a more eco minded future is now and if we don't all make the change now then we can kiss this magnificent planet goodbye.

Where is the strangest or most memorable place you have performed so far?

We played on a full replica of a pirate ship built by forest blockaders set up in the middle of a road blockading some of Tasmania's prime old growth forest. The ship was so big it fitted 180 people on its deck (dancefloor). What a party.

Don't wait for your government to change their policies because you will be choking on black air by the time they wake up to the reality that we are facing today on this well and truly buggered up planet. Get active and speak out.

Monkeymarc - Combat Wombat

As a group you seem very involved in activist and environmental activities, is there anything you would like to say on either of those subjects?

Take a stand and make the change for a better future now, don't wait until tomorrow to work things out. Don't wait for your government to change their policies because you will be choking on black air by the time they wake up to the reality that we are facing today on this well and truly buggered up planet. Get active and speak out.

Being a activist must lead to getting involved in some politically tense times, do you have any stories to tell of any situations you have got into over the years?

Many that I probably shouldn't say as to not incriminate myself too much. I do remember a great moment when our sound system (Labrats) was having a sound clash with Omns Not Bombs sound system at the gates of the worlds largest Uranium mine in South Australia, Bedlam Sound System from the UK were also there. We were blocking the road playing tune for tune and then the cops started coming in to try and move us off the road. My mate Jason Blackcat (from the US sound system Blackcat Soundsystem) started playing all this speed bass and gabba and these country cops just freaked out. They couldn't handle the noise. It threw everything into chaos and the cops all left. We blocked the main road outside that mine for 3 more days. That was great moment. We set up a full scale wind powered cinema in the road too and invited all the miners to come and watch a documentary about Chernobyl. That totally freaked some of them out. Alot of these guys thought that it was a myth that you could get cancer from Uranium because the mining company hadn't told them the realities of the dangers. One guy left his job then and there.

I found your group after buying both the Hermitude albums while in Australia last year and then by keeping an eye on the Elephant Traks website, are you planning to try and push things on a more global scale if possible?

Hopefully we would like to push things on a global scale but at the moment Elefant Traks is limited to Australia. It seems a shame to simply limit ourselves to this market because I know people overseas would get into some of our stuff too. I guess its about making the right links with overseas distributors and labels to expand the listening audience.

Have you worked with many overseas artists in your time?

We recently recorded a new track with two Kenyan rappers from a band called Sinpare and also just recorded with Hugo 1 from the UK. I have also just written a track for Lotek (UK) as he is hanging in Melbourne doing lots of gigs at the moment.

Any future plans to do any musical projects with overseas artists and if so who?

Nothings in the pipeline but I would love to work with lots of overseas artists. I would love to do a track with Mr. Lif, Phi Life Cypher, Braintax, Roots Manuva… who knows. Any good political ragga mcs from the UK would be good to. I'd love to collaborate with some Jamaican singers too. I 'm pretty open really, all I ask for is some good socially conscious lyrics and I could take it from there.

What can we expect to see coming up from the Combat Wombat crew?

We have about 7 or 8 new tracks that we would like to record by the end of the year for another album to hopefully come out next year. We would also love to work alot with politically conscious overseas artist for the next album to keep a wider worldly vision for a more global wombat experience. If there are any out their drop us a line. It would be great to get out and tour outside of Australia and maybe goto the UK or Europe and even New Zealand. I am also currently working on a solo instrumental hip-hop / dub album under the guise of Monkeymarc that will hopefully be out by the end of the year.

Anything else you would like to add?

Stay tuned…

For further information about Combat Wombat please visit:

www.combatwombat.org

www.elefanttraks.com