Perth rapper Mathas has managed to collect a pretty hefty stockpile of awards and accolades in a short amount of time, having won the WAM Song of the Year Grand Prize in 2013 and WAM Urban Artist of the year 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Mathas was also named a Triple J Next Crop artist in 2014 and won Best Music Video at the 2015 WA Screen Awards for ‘Stone Cold Sober’. He’s also stacked up four successive singles on triple j rotation.
As he prepares to thrill audiences at the debut of Panacea Festival next month, we caught up with this intriguing homegrown hip-hop talent to find out what makes him tick and to talk about his incredible triple j Like A Version.
Panacea Festival debuts Friday, 20th November and runs till Sunday, 22nd November 2015. Get your tickets or more info right here.
Genesis
At about 15 I had a cassette tape I would record onto that I named “1min Junk Sessions”. It was a collection of the first instrumental beats I ever made on my four track recorder and the first rap I ever wrote was on that, the beat was whacked out loosely on my keyboard, rapping in an unconvincing American accent.
I still have the tape. It’s hilarious. I started a group called Math & Balance with two good friends and we did our first show on New Year’s Eve 2003. I was working on solo stuff that whole time.
Early Days
I was in a grunge band from about the age of 10. Well, at least we thought it was a grunge band. At 13 we won the triple j Unearthed competition, they picked us because my voice hadn’t broken yet and they thought I was a female singer.
We did a bunch of shows, the song went on one of the Unearthed CDs, we were gonna go to China at one point. Crazy times. But then my voice started breaking and the drummer sold his drums to buy turntables because you know… it was becoming the future.
That Like A Version
I used to go to school with Glen, he’s a great man and it’s been awesome tracking his success with that band. He’s probably one of the best guitarists I’ve ever known but he’s usually on keys these days.
He got in contact with me when I was up in Broome staying in a caravan park, I crammed the song for about a week before I was flown over to Melbourne. They were playing the Grand Final the very next day, so I got put up in a fancy hotel with a robe and slippers, did the song in the morning, flew back home in the arvo.
Pretty amazing whirlwind experience. Also a remarkably strange thing to rap somebody else’s lyrics, particularly someone you hold in such high regard. Likely not something I would do again but I did have a ball.
The Future
My album Armwrestling Atlas comes out on 30th October, followed by a national tour that begins on 14th November. Somewhere in there is a single and film clip. I’m playing Panacea and Disconnect Festivals and I have three collaborative projects to work on next year.
Keep An Eye Out
Currently I’m a big fan of Methyl Ethyl, their album Oh Inhuman Spectacle is Australian album of the year for me so far. Loving Tobacco Rat, Grace Barbe, and the album Empty has been working on is a work of genius.
Highlights
I received a letter from a prison inmate at one point telling me that on her worst day my song had stopped her crying and “changed her mind”. I also just came back from a local festival called Camp Doogs. I played to the most lucid crowd I’ve interacted with in years.
The highlights are always the various connections you’re privileged enough to have with other people.
