With the vast majority of Sydney’s live music venues clustered around the CBD, other neighbourhoods tend to be a bit deprived. Bondi’s Beach Road Hotel, for instance, is one of the few live music destinations in the Eastern Suburbs. But a stone’s throw away, Jam Gallery is fleshing out the scene with the introduction of What?! Club, a new underground party night. Headlining the Australia Day launch is Kid Mac (or Macario De Souza as he is otherwise known), a musician and filmmaker who can vouch for the amount of talent that resides south-east of the city. “I’m really looking forward to it,” he says. “For me, living in Maroubra, it’s a new local. I’ve had some of my favourite shows at Beach Road, so it’s cool to see something new popping up.”
De Souza rose to prominence as the co-director of the film Bra Boys: Blood Is Thicker Than Water back in 2007. Since then, he has made another documentary and launched a successful music career. After a busy few years balancing different creative pursuits, De Souza is taking some well-earned time off. “The last five months have been fairly chilled – I’ve been thinking about what angle I want to take this year. But I’m slowly getting back into the studio and starting to write a new record. I’m just gathering myself and getting hungry for the road again.”
While the Bra Boys documentary drew both praise and criticism for its rough-and-ready aesthetic, De Souza’s second film, Fighting Fear, was a similar exploration of the gritty side of surf culture. It seems he has a penchant for documentary filmmaking, but he is quick to clarify: “To be honest, it was something I fell into. I was studying at uni and started working on the Bra Boys documentary and it just grew from there. Then I got more and more documentary projects, particularly in the surf world. But now with a few successes under my belt, I really am trying to branch out into feature films. I have a few ideas in the pipeline but it’s a big leap. You’re dealing with a much bigger budget and you have to prove you’re worth a couple of million dollars.”
On the music side of things, De Souza is about to start work on his third album. After releasing Head Noise in 2013, he has toured extensively, enjoying a stint at SXSW and performing a handful of shows across Canada, the UK and Singapore. He has met some of his musical idols and won support slots for the likes of Bliss N Eso and raucous rapper Mickey Avalon. He has also collaborated with Mat McHugh from The Beautiful Girls, releasing the single ‘Hear You Calling’ in 2011. Citing McHugh as one of his formative musical influences growing up, De Souza explains, “We had mutual friends who connected us and we hit it off. We kept sending ideas back and forth until we found what was the right sound for both of us.”
Typically set up onstage with a three-piece band, De Souza belts out catchy tunes, blending his hip hop roots with more danceable beats. He aims for an atmospheric live show. “The reason why I have a live band is to step up the energy. I just got a bit bored with the microphone-and-DJ vibe. I mean, I don’t think of myself as a hip hop artist. A lot of my influences are hip hop, but there are a lot more electronic influences, like party music. The band really takes it to a new level and it’s great having my mates behind me onstage. If I’m up there by myself, I tend to be a bit more in my shell.”
Constantly moving between film and music can be an exciting and fertile place to be. But as De Souza spreads himself across multiple projects, things can become a bit difficult to manage. “In the past, it has been a bit of an issue,” he admits. “At first, I didn’t mind it – it was a great way of being creative and generating new ideas. However, when crunch time rolls around and you have conflicting deadlines, it gets really intense. I suppose that’s what the last year has been – learning to compartmentalise things and finish projects before I start new ones.”
While the rewards have been fruitful, cross-disciplinary ways of working can be both productive and stagnating. “Yeah, it’s a both a blessing and a curse,” he agrees, “but I’m sure it affects a lot of artists.”
Talking about his plans for 2015, it seems De Souza is close to mastering the art of multi-tasking. “I have a TV project that I’m working on, so that takes up a lot of my time,” he says, referring to another series of The Crew,a reality program which follows a group of aspiring musicians, surfers and fighters. De Souza’s main role is mentoring young musicians and showcasing emerging talent. “But in the meantime, I’m just going to get right into this record,” he says. “The plan is to do a couple of odd shows here and there, where it makes sense, but I’ll mainly be focusing on the studio and hopefully get a third record out late this year.”
Catch him at What?! Club Launch Party alongsideCaptain Franco atJam Gallery onSaturday January 24, RSVP here.
