Fluid & Litigate - Australian Idols

Fluid & Litigate have been here for years. Litigate has been running weekly hip hop nights in Melbourne, establishing solid followings and introducing new fans to local hip hop. Fluid has been here for years as part of Wicked Force and hip hop group Soul Aspects. After years of holding down Melbourne, Fluid & Gate are the new face of Triple J Unearthed winner Fizard. They’re ready to tour Australia and Fluid is already pulling skanky Australian Idol rejects. Scary thing is, these guys are still young.

Fluid & Litigate have been here for years. Litigate has been running weekly hip hop nights in Melbourne, establishing solid followings and introducing new fans to local hip hop. Fluid has been here for years as part of Wicked Force and hip hop group Soul Aspects. After years of holding down Melbourne, Fluid & Gate are the new face of Triple J Unearthed winner Fizard. They’re ready to tour Australia and Fluid is already pulling skanky Australian Idol rejects. Scary thing is, these guys are still young.

You guys have moved on up from your previous band ‘Word Of Mouth’ to the nationally recognised Fizard. How did you end up fronting for the band?

Litigate: Well…. it’s pretty tragic actually. Word of Mouth were offered a multi million dollar deal with Sony Records, and on our way to the final signing we were celebrating with heroin, crack and ketamine cocktails in our stretch limo. The limo driver decided he wanted in, flipped out, crashed the vehicle into a Factory Direct tourist bus full of bogans, and all the members died except Fluid and I. So naturally, we decided good riddance and joined Fizard the following day.
At least that’s how I remember it……
No, I remember now, Word of Mouth broke up cos they weren’t very good, and Fluid and I got the call two days later to lend our superstar rap skills to a fucking superstar band named Fizard. So it was all BUH! BUH! and hun hun from there.

How have things differed between Word Of Mouth and Fizard?

Fluid: Well besides the fact that the guitarist is yet to “do” my girlfriend, the band have a much more professional approach to their music. Other things that have differed in the change over are things such as, now we get paid for gigs, now we get groupie love, now I officially feel younger and now I feel safe around my fellow band members.
Litigate: Well, Fizard are actually incredibly fucking good. And our lead singer doesn’t get drunk and try to stab Fluid and I with scissors… that s different. Oh, and our guitarist is yet to have hooked up with Fluid’s girlfriend, I’m yet to have a near punch on with our bass player, and we have no reason to call our drummer “The Flaming Torch”, or “Red Man”.

Litigate is probably best known as the host of Melbourne’s live hip hop nights, from CatchNWreck to Buh! Buh! and now with Monsoon Mondays. I can only assume the money is about as good as running an online hip hop magazine. Why do you put so much of your time into live hip hop?
Litigate: Honestly, I felt it was kind of almost non-existent art form in Australia, the dope live hip hop show… I mean, X and Hell kill it, and LC kill it, but as a whole heaps of cats weren’t getting enough stage time to really get the shit down. So I decided it would be cool to put on a night which showcased some lesser known up and comers to give them a run, while having a real dope established headliner each week.
My rewards are that I’ve helped kick start the careers of some incredible artists, and now there are some more bearable live shows cracking.

Has live hip hop changed much in the time you’ve run the different nights?
Litigate: Fucking heaps… Dudes are really breaking out of the typical “Aussie” mold, and are making good quality all round music. And the new generation really support each other.

Which artists have you seen develop during your time running these nights?
Litigate: Man, GMC is like the fucking prodigy of my nights. Mother fucker got up real nervous and quiet the first time, now he’s tearing every stage he graces… he’s probably the nicest rapper going too. My boy Vex gets most improved, homies blazin! Answer and Straws have developed the hottest live show going, and 360 and Pez (4thwright) are the dopest skills wise, they’re gonna be THE big thing, mark my words.

Is Monsoon Mondays gonna be the shit?
Litigate: Monsoon Mondays is taking the shit to the next level. We’ve got the hottest live hip hop venue in town, we’ve got the hottest acts on board, the cheapest door entry, we re gonna bring fuckin fire to every Monday. Melt that winter snow. Heat. Fire. Blazing. Hot words a plenty! It should be called fuckin Phoenix Mondays.

Fluid: I can certainly back Litigate in saying that this will be a much bigger and better night compared to the spot. Plus I hear that Steve Fizard will be playing there for the first month. What a sight to see kiddies!

Are there plans for a Litigate solo album at this point or is Fizard the priority?
Litigate: Fizard’s the priority right now man, honestly this album is next level. It’s popping off for sure. So I’m gonna bounce off this with the Litigate solo late next year.

How is your (Litigate) next shit gonna compare with your previous release?
Litigate: My previous release was a demo in 03 which was some real dark, get it off your chest type shit. It was real cool for what it was, and cats really loved it (enough to have 5000 units snapped up), but honestly I use that shit for a drink coaster nowadays. The next shit is gonna be just that: The next shit that everyone is on.

I’ve heard something about a big band themed album, what’s up with that?
Litigate: Your ears glued that close to the street huh?

Ground Up knows all
Litigate: I can t talk about it too much right now, but lets just stick with it’s the next shit… and I’m stocking up on mouth reeds and trombones.

Fluid appeared in a recent issue of Acclaim Magazine with Lewis-One talking about a collaborative album, what’s happening with that? When can we hear some of this stuff?

Fluid: Well the album was put on hold while the Fizard album was in production. Its all back on track now. Things are moving a little slow at the moment though, as it’s quite hard to pull Lewis away from the gym. It’s gotten to the point where he’s making beats and doing crunches at the same time. I don’t know when this habit of his is going to stop but hopefully the album will be out by the end of the year. By then Lewis will have taken the crown as the new Conan of producing. As for hearing tracks from the album, any live show that I do outside of Fizard will have at least a sneak peek of a track or two. Besides that, the album is being kept pretty much under wraps. If you’re lucky and log on at the right time you may hear some at www.myspace.com/fluidaus

I heard you guys had to write and record your Fizard tracks in a very limited amount of time. How did you react to the pressure?
Litigate: We reacted really well. We purchased ten slabs of Extra Dry, 5 goon bags, three ounces of coke, 4 high class honeys and had some mushies picked. I woke up with a new tat, a new girl, and a sick fucking album.
Fluid: I woke up next to a gumboot full of custard.

How many hard drugs were involved?
Fluid: at least 200,000mg of amoxicillin. True story.
Litigate: Yeah, they were pretty hard. I hit Fluid in the head with a hundred pack of bickies and he sooked like a girl for the next hour. So I guess they were pretty hard …

When can we expect the album?
Litigate: It’s being shopped in the next few weeks, expect late this year. For a sneak preview check out www.myspace.com/fizard - It’s the kutz.

Are you doin it real big with videos and airplay?
Litigate: Is there any other way?

Fluid got it poppin with Yasmine Abeydeera (yep my Google game is off the charts). What’s it like hangin with an Australian Idol reject?
Litigate: In footy terms, apparently Fluid drafted her from another team…
Fluid: Yes apparently so. The rest is classified. Case closed.

Will you two ever pair up for a hip hop album or is Fizard the only time you will collaborate?
Litigate: No matter what’s cracking, Fluid and I will always be involved with each others projects, whether it’s a feature or a group album … think Raekwon and Ghostface, or Batman and Robin. I shotgun Batman mother fucker. You can be Dick Grayson. Shit, even Robin’s real name was homo.
Fluid: It’s more like He-man and She-Ra. And since I’m the muscle of the duo, I get to be He-man.