There’s a special moment when you get to embark on a national tour with your idols; Mr Hill and Rahjconkas know exactly how this feels.
“It's crazy,” Mr Hill says, talking about the duo’s tour with Funkoars earlier this year. “I had the Funkoars songs as my ring tone when I was 17, 18. I was a huge fan of theirs and now to have them come out of the woodwork and claim that they are fans of our music, and we have all this mutual respect is just crazy, really mindblowing. It's really cool to be able to hang out with your idols and have them tell you they like your music and want to tour around the country with you.”
Some may say that the origins of Mr Hill and Rahjconkas are a little unorthodox. “We never really met each other,” admits Mr Hill. “He contacted me out of the blue after a film clip I did to one of my songs. We sent a few tracks back and forth and liked what we were hearing, so we decided to be a duo before we really met. We actually met for the first time face to face halfway through the album. It was all done through emails — I was living in Brisbane and Rahj was living in Wagga Wagga.”
The duo have now been crafting beats together for more than three years. In that time Mr Hill says their music has definitely evolved for the better. “It's given us a unique sound, especially from our first album to now. Working with the same person gives you a benchmark for each song. It makes you raise the bar every time you want to bring something out.”
The Brisbane pair have a new single available, ‘Telescope’. “[It] will be off our third album which hasn't been released. The difference with ‘Telescope’ compared to the music we've made previously is it's the first time Rahj and I have sat down in the studio together and made a song from scratch. It wasn't me coming over with lyrics I've made to record over a track he’s already recorded. It was the first time we made a song as a duo, sitting in Rahj's studio in Wagga Wagga and writing it from scratch. Prior to this we had been living interstate — me in Brisbane and Rahj in Wagga Wagga. So I've moved myself down to Sydney and it's made things a lot easier. The music is a lot stronger now we can do it all together.
“The biggest challenge is to find time to get into the studio and get things recorded. Now that we've agreed to record things together in Rahj's studio, it's hard to find time to get away from your day-to-day job and life, but if you're passionate you'll find away to do it. Not being affiliated with a label is another challenge, it's hard to come [through the ranks] on our own and doing everything on your own merit. It's a little bit harder to build a fan base and get known with no help. The way we get around it is by working harder than everyone else and trying to make the best music we can.”
Later this month, Mr Hill And Rahjconkas will be heading to Brisbane as one of the local supports for hip hop heavyweights Jurassic 5. Mr Hill’s glad the show will be in his own neighbourhood, as it “makes me feel more relaxed, but this will be the biggest show we've played in a long time. It's almost a bittersweet thing, because I'll be really nervous side stage. It doesn't matter where we go really, we'll put the same amount of energy in wherever we go. We just wanna do things right and get some more fans out of the show. “It'll be good back in Brisbane again, I'll have a few friends out the front supporting me, it'll help calm the nerves knowing I have people out there who support me.”
