Jackie Onassis are a hip-hop duo from Sydney’s Inner West who have had a stellar twelve months, with Triple J choosing them to play the Big Day Out in January and scoring airplay from UK radio DJs Zane Lowe and Rob Da Bank via their track ‘Crystal Balling‘.
To date, the two have released one EP, Holiday, with their follow-up extended play Juliette expected to drop in the very near future. We’re keen to hear what they bring out next. For now, here’s the jam that’s garnered them some international love.
You’re long time friends, but when did you guys first decide to start making music together?
Raph: It wasn’t until 18 months ago really that we formed Jackie Onassis. We both went to high school together, but I went off travelling and Kai did his own thing, and it wasn’t until we bumped into each other in a lecture at uni that we chatted about the music we’d been working on and decided to make some tunes together.
Kai: Yeah, we were at Manning Bar at Sydney Uni and we showed each other our lyrics and beats and they fit together pretty well. We were sitting there and just talking smack about a band name, then Jackie Kennedy came up. You know the rest.
And what first made you want to start making music?
Raph: Hip-hop was pretty popular amongst my friends as a teenager and we’d also be freestyling and beatboxing just for the fun of it growing up. I can’t actually remember when exactly, but at some point some of us decided to start actually recording the raps that they wrote, which meant they needed beats, and so yeah, I guess a few of us started playing around with making beats around then.
Kai: Back in highschool I used to beatbox and that was it. But then I’d be listening to people freestyling and in my head I’d be thinking, oh man I reckon I can do better than that, so I just started rapping.
So this month you guys headed out on your first ever national headline tour. How was it been, and what have been some of the highlights?
Kai: So far it’s been great! We didn’t really know what to expect, but we’re really happy – it was a huge highlight to sell out our Melbourne show. It’s also great to catch up with the various artists in different cities. In Melbourne we had our mate Allday jump up on stage for a track, which went off.
For people who haven’t caught you live before, what’s the experience of a Jackie O show like?
Raph: We love to have a party live, so if you ever come along, expect to have some fun!
Kai: Yeah, we try and play a range of songs and go through a few different vibes. But in the end, Raph and I always like to have fun with it so there’s definitely a bit of dancing and all that good shit.
Congratulations on signing with Sony – that’s massive. Fair to say you celebrated afterwards?
Kai: Cheers! We actually had a gig up in Byron at a Splendour party the night before we signed. So we ended up having a big night then with the guys from Fishing and Yatch Club DJs and basically didn’t sleep. Picture us driving from Byron at 4am to catch a super early flight then heading straight into Sony to sign the contract. Raph ended up spilling champagne all over his face immediately after the toast.
Raph: Yeah, and night was a bit of a celebration. Actually, I was working on a cocktail at the time, so I bought a few bottles of cinnamon whisky and had a few friends round and attempted to perfect this cloudy apple juice, ginger beer, ginger and mint concoction.
Another talking point of your huge 2013 was playing at Big Day Out. Was it everything you’d imagined it’d be like?
Raph: The gig was great! But to be honest with you we were so pumped to be there that we spent most of the day with mates watching bands. That said, yes, there are backstage shennanigans to be had.
You also toured over in the UK recently, which must’ve been pretty insane. How was it?
Kai: It was awesome, we had a great time. The UK live music scene is so healthy and everywhere we played we got a sick response and people seemed to be really into it. We couldn’t really ask for much more. The highlight would have to have been a mini stage invasion we had at a UK club night called Yo Mama and having a posse of dancing Brits with us for most of the set!
How’s the progress going on your second EP, Juliette? What can we expect to hear from it and – most importantly – when?
Raph: You can expect it soon! It’s all written, we’re just finishing off the technical bits haha, you know, mixing and the mastering. I think it’s a progression of our sound from Holiday. I feel it’s like we captured the vibe we wanted on Holiday, but now our song writing and production has matured a little, so Juliette a bit more complex.
Tell us about the songwriting process. There’s always so much lyrical depth to your songs, so where do you take their inspiration from?
Kai: I used to just write songs without a beat, but nowadays I think of ideas and wait for one of the beats Raph sends through to trigger one of those ideas or some feeling, and then I just run with it. Sometimes writing takes a month, other times like with ‘Smoke Trails’, it takes 1 hour. I love it when it happens quickly cause usually I have all this scenery in my head to sample from. Then I send it back to Raph and he starts adding details and chorus parts and different developments until it sounds right!
What’s it like inside the Australian hip-hop scene? There always seems to be cross-collaborations between the big players – is everyone really good mates?
Raph: Yeah, it’s definitely got a strong community vibe. With festivals like Sprung and Come Together you meet a heap of different hip-hop artists from round the country. Then we’ve been lucky enough to support a bunch of other acts when they’ve come through Sydney. Add that to going on your own tour and having a bunch of local acts supporting you means you get to know everyone pretty quick!
If you could collaborate with any Australian artist – hip-hop or not – who would you pick and why?
Raph: It’s hard to say – we only really collaborate with people we know personally. I don’t think we’d ask someone who we haven’t hung out with a bunch so it would probably be someone we consider a friend.
Kai: For me, I’d love to do a song with The Drones just cause I’m a hectic fanboy. I have no idea how our styles would mix, but I do know that it would be a lot of fun.
Who’s getting the most plays on your iPod right now?
Raph: AlunaGeorge, Body Music – They’re both so talented, I’m smashing their stuff right now.
Kai: Horrorshow’s new album, King Amongst Many.
Where we can see you play next, what releases do you have available and where can we get them?
You can download our EP, Holiday, here: http://jackieonassis.net/
Jackie Onassis Australian Tour 2013
Saturday 17th August – Flinders Social, Townsville
Thursday 22nd August – Prince Of Wales, Bunbury
Friday 23rd August – Metropolis, Fremantle
Saturday 24th August – Amplifier Bar, Perth
Thursday 29th August – Spurs, Devonport
Friday 30th August – Waratah Hotel, Hobart
Tickets are here: jackieonassis.oztix.com.au
