1.Growing Up
I have fond memories of reggae and soul music: it was the soundtrack to my parents’ parties growing up. When I was eight, my mum made me play saxophone. I was totally not into it at the time but I’m so glad she did. It was only after getting into hip hop as a teenager – followed by soul and funk when I realised that was where all the beats were sampled from – that I understood what it was really about.
2.Inspirations
Fat Freddy’s Drop’s Based On A True Story is definitely high on my list of favourite albums. Bonobo also gets a strong mention. I remember seeing Hermitude about ten years ago at Wollongong Unibar and being totally inspired. It’s great to see they’re finally getting the attention they deserve.
3.Your Crew
I’m a member of True Vibenation alongside a couple of my best mates Moody and Vuli. We’ve just returned from our first tour of Europe and a show at Glastonbury Festival, which was insane. Add Ribongia and Sam Z and you’ve got the whole Bare Necessities family.
4.The Music You Make And Play
My music is inspired by UK garage, soul, and a bunch of different stuff from around Africa, particularly the drums. In my show I’m jumping between the microphone, saxophone, drum pads and turntables. It’s pretty good exercise.
5.Music, Right Here, Right Now
To be honest, I’m a little concerned about the future of music in Sydney. The loss of venues since the lockouts were introduced has stopped a lot of shows from even happening. For a small population, Australia has done amazingly well in terms of musical exports on the world scale, particularly in the last few years, but unfortunately our politicians have no appreciation of this and they seem to be doing a great job of making sure that it doesn’t continue. If you care about music, or even just freedom in Sydney, make sure you get to the Reclaim the Streets and Keep Sydney Open rallies coming up.
Klue plays at the Feel Good x Oxjam Fundraiser at The Chippendale Hotel on Friday October 14.
