To the uninitiated, Daily Meds is a heavy hitting Hip Hop crew consisting of MC’s Mikoen and P.Smurf, producer Roleo and vocalist Billie Rose. Since forming in late 2009, they cofounded and signed with independent label Big Village Records and released a self titled EP in 2010 and have played hundreds of live shows since. Last April they released their debut full length album “Happy Daze”, followed by a successful East coast tour of Australia. They are currently back on the road with the entire Big Village roster promoting the recently released ‘Big Things Volume 2’.
Your debut album, Happy Daze, was released earlier this year, how has the reception been?
The album’s been received really well, in many ways better than we expected. Reviews have been positive and people seem to be genuinely enjoying it. Our second single “Insane” got high rotation on Triple J which really helped to get the album some exposure to heads outside of Sydney.
How does the writing process work in Daily Meds,? With two MC’s and a vocalist, there’s sure to be a lot of ideas there.
Yeah writing seems to work quite smoothly with the Meds, it usually starts with Roleo sharing his latest batch of beats. We usually relate to the vibe of beats in a similar way so that even if one of us has something already written we easily build off it. Otherwise we just write together on the spot.
You describe your music as being ‘politically charged’, what issues are you currently most passionate about?
The treatment of refugees in Australia is pretty appalling I think it reflects how backwards Australia still is when it comes its relationship with “foreigners”. There is still so much hate and racism under the surface in our culture, it’s just that its politically in correct now so its not out in the open and accepted but it’s still quite prevalent. We have an international reputation for being intolerant and racist, Aboriginal men are still being killed in custody by police. I think that’s a pretty accurate indication that we still have a serious problem here.
You must answer this question honestly or we steal your rider. What and where was the first gig you went to?
I didn’t really start to check out live shows until I started gigging myself so I missed out, but the first real live show would have been Fat Freddy’s Drop at Playground weekender in 06 or 07. High as a kite dancing to dub barefoot in the mud, awesome!
‘Fess up. What records have you stolen from your parent’s record collection and why?
I can admit to this because I’ve already been busted and copped my hiding … I stole my dad’s “Spectrum” by Billy Cobham and “Up in Smoke” by Cheech & Chong to grab some samples and have a scratch. They both ended up thrashed but I ended up with some decent samples.
How do you find new music?
Most of the tunes i come across are through listening to the radio or friends putting me on to whatever their listening to which is usually a safe bet.
Do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage, or even a lucky charm you take with you? We pretty much aim to get on stage before we’re completely buckled drunk, other than that you might find us back stage doing some warm ups and chilling out with quite drink.
When you’re Rolling Stones Big, what are you going to request on your rider: don’t be shy.
I want 4 litres of top shelf Vodka, a pound of your finest Hyge, brand new kicks ,a shit load of munchies and a massage chair…
You guys have toured in support of some great artists, if you could choose, which of these artists would you collaborate with for a Daily Meds song?
We played alongside of some of my favourite artist so to collab with any of them would be cool but if i had to pick a combo feature, I’d love to collab with Dj Premier, R.A The Rugged and Method Man.
What are the future plans for Daily Meds?
We are in the early stages of writing for an EP to have out late next year hopefully…never know it might even end up being a full length album. Either way we just want to keep making music that we can share with people.
Where we can see you play next, what releases do you have available and where can we get them?
We are still on tour with Big Village so our next show is Sep 28th @ Coniston Lane, Brisbane. If you’re in the area drop in and say hi..
www.bigvillagerecords.com.au/artists/daily-meds/
