Hip hop is a rapidly moving reflection of its time, as notorious for its creation of culture as it is for its commentary on it.
But this inclination towards the spawning of new trends comes at a price. Ask any kid who reckons they're into hip hop about old-school artists and they are likely to say: “Yeah, I love Nas and Tupac”. Maybe he’ll know Rakim, but ask about Kurtis Blow and you’ll probably get little more than a shrug.
The old school is fading and, in an age where everything has to be “on fleek”, trends are often off fleek before you’ve even worked out what the hell fleek is. This is why it’s such a relief to be witnessing the second coming of Resin Dogs.
The Brisbane-based band, who emerged in the golden age of hip hop (with contemporaries like A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers and Pharcyde), certainly classify as old school if you consider things strictly chronologically. But their sound and adherence to their roots is reminiscent of that time.
After four years of mostly not being the Resin Dogs, Andrew Garvie (aka DJ Katch) and Dave Atkins have been carefully deconstructing the band, stripping away atoms to find the nucleus, the heart of who they are and what they do, and then starting the reconstruction process from there. The lads have just been announced as headliners for Jungle Love Festival and will also be playing at Valley Fiesta.
They’re keen to get back into the festival scene and, according to Katch, their shows will be a fusion of older classics and the new stuff they’ve been working on. "We were always festival band, so it’d be good to get back to touring heaps.
“It just depends on how people accept us I guess. It’s a different landscape, the way people see music and play music now. A lot of live acts are laptop-driven. Technology has really changed things. What we did – and what we do – is totally different.”
While Resin Dogs are rolling with the times, these technological changes will always be something that’s incorporated into the band’s existing structure. “We’re refining what we’ve done over the years, getting down to its core. We won’t be jumping on whatever the latest thing is. No one’s really doing what we’re doing and we like it that way.”
With such an ethos, you might expect Resin Dogs to be an underground band. But they are unique; they have a tonne of support on indie radio while also receiving plenty on airplay on commercial stations. “For me, hip hop is totally different to what they call hip hop now. I came into the scene through breakdancing and graffiti and I liked the culture of it more than anything.
“I was in a group called B-Boy All Stars. We were performing at World Expo and that really put Brisbane's breakdancing on the world stage. A lot of time and development went into it, so to have had some influence overseas was really cool.”
As far as being a graffiti artist, Katch will only go so far. “It’s been alleged that I was. I don’t think you can get charged for the same thing twice. So yeah, I had my time as a graffiti artist. But I’ve always been more about rhythms; that’s why I got into DJing. Creating music out of other music is fascinating to me. A way of writing music without instruments.”
Katch is enigmatic about what fans can expect for the future, but does give a hint. “We’re always adding guests and bringing back old players. We like to keep it less like a band and more like a big music club with lots of different people who each bring their own energy.”
With a few decades in the music industry under his belt, Katch is pretty chill now with meeting his idols. “I’ve had one or two moments but now I just treat everyone like normal, I don’t let fame change the way I interact with them. “Some people want to be treated like rockstars and that’s cool. But at the end of the day, we’re all human… although I don’t think I would’ve been able to speak if I’d met James Brown.”
Resin Dogs play Valley Fiesta 23-25 October and Jungle Love Festival 27-28 November.
