UNDER NO ILLUSION
A.B. Original are tackling the big issues affecting indigenous Australians, as Briggs and Trials told Kane Young
INDIVIDUALLY, outspoken indigenous Australian hip-hop stars Briggs and Trials had already achieved plenty before they teamed up for their collaborative project A.B. Original.
But both say that the music they’re making together — and the lasting impact they’re hoping it will have — easily eclipses their prior achievements.
A proud member of the Yorta Yorta tribe, Briggs (Adam Briggs) has released the acclaimed albums The Blacklist and
Sheplife (which was named Album of the Year at the 2015 National indigenous Music Awards), and even started a record label for indigenous artists, Bad Apples Music.
“Sheplife was more about leaving a legacy than it was about just leaving some songs here and there,” Briggs said.
“From that point onwards, the ideas and the movement kind of took hold of everything I was doing. More than trying to have hit records, it was always about what’s good for the soul.
“From Sheplife to everything we’re doing at the moment, that’s the progression of my career, this is the trajectory of where I was heading.”
Ngarrindjeri man Trials (Daniel Rankine), meanwhile, made a name for himself with Adelaide crew the Funkoars, before becoming an ARIA Award-winning producer for the likes of Drapht, Illy, Seth Sentry and the Hilltop Hoods.
“Obviously there’s something way different about making music that my mum can actually listen to — that’s the big difference for me,” Trials said.
“But there’s something extra rewarding about the fact that it relates to so many different layers of my life. Being able to go back to where I grew up in Murray Bridge [in South Australia] and see my cousins bangin’ this record is exactly what it was made for. It’s a trip.”
Briggs and Trials had been mates for many years, but their busy schedules had prevented them from working extensively together until 2015, when they were both invited to perform at Triple J’s 40th anniversary concert.
The pair then began writing songs together, inspired by the likes of N.W.A. and gangsta rap supergroup Westside Connection and designed to shine a spotlight on issues important to their indigenous communities.
They finally released the longawaited A.B. Original debut single 2
Black 2 Strong in April last year, coinciding with a national tour with the Hilltop Hoods.
The second single January 26 (featuring Dan Sultan) followed in August, before third single ICU (featuring Thelma Plum) and debut album Reclaim Australia came out in November. Receiving rave reviews from critics,
Reclaim Australia debuted at No.10 on the ARIA album chart and reached No.1 on the AIR independent chart.
Earlier this month A.B. Original released their latest single Report To
The Mist, a powerful statement about police brutality, racial profiling and discrimination against Australia’s indigenous community.
Report To The Mist comes 30 years after Bob Hawke called for a Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody, which provides context for the track’s hard-hitting video clip.
The clip can be viewed at www.reporttothemist.com, a site that also features some staggering information and statistics about indigenous mortality and incarceration rates.
“If there was any moments that you felt uncomfortable [watching] the video,” Trials explained, “we wanted the actual reality of the statistics to be right in your face as well — that’s something that everyone should be far more uncomfortable with.”
It seems the website is already having an impact, and not just in Australia.
“This morning I got an email back from [popular UK documentary maker] Louis Theroux saying he enjoyed the website, so I guess the people who are seeing it are the people who we want to see it,” Briggs said.
“It’s such a confronting film clip, and we really went above and beyond meeting our detractors and rednecks halfway by supplying them with facts and an easy, accessible, one-stop shop for information about why this particular subject has us so ruffled.”
Report To The Mist is billed as the “fourth and final single” to be lifted from Reclaim Australia.
So does that mean A.B. Original fans can expect to hear a second album sometime soon?
“Our attitude is, if Guns N’ Roses only ever did Appetite For Destruction, that would have been enough,” Briggs said. “If by chance we decide to create
Use Your Illusion I and II, we will. “We’re just waiting until we can sell out the MCG and get like $40 million.
“The idea with A.B. Original is that we put music out because we have something to say. So when we come back with the second record, it’ll be because we feel a certain point of view is missing.
“How and when is up to us, because we decide when things are cool.”
A.B. Original are set to support Ice-T and Body Count at their three Australian shows next week, before heading to Hobart for Dark Mofo.
Joined by Thelma Plum, they play at the Odeon Theatre in Hobart from 7.30pm on June 9. Tickets are $49 (plus booking fee), go to www.darkmofo.net.au for bookings.