Tracking Back - Mac Lloyd
1. What is your earliest memory of music as a child? We’re talking nursery rhyme early.
First off, my memory is utter shit so this will be interesting but I'll try to be as honest as possible depending on how my memory serves me. I'm gonna go for the Mortal Kombat theme song, my uncle had the soundtrack, I wasn't allowed to watch the film or play the games but I remember losing my shit to that tune when it came on.
2. What music were your parents/guardians into? What was played around the house growing up?
I was lucky to be around a pretty wide mix, my dad covered a lot of rock and punk, funk and soul with sprinkles of hip hop here and there. His favorite band was and still is the Beatles. My mum loved Queen, Bowie, T Rex, Roxie Music that sort of thing and my grandad was heavily into his jazz, but he'd educate me a bit more on that later in life.
3. Did you have any tapes or records bought for you?
Yeah all the time. No one in my family were musicians really but they all had massive music collections, which was fucking sweet. My brother and I used to share a lot of stuff and we got given a copy of Micheal Jackson's 'Bad' on cassette by my late Uncle Si. It's safe to say we played that tape to death. That was one of many tapes that did not stand the test of time.
4. What is the first music video you can remember?
I think Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson and the Moonwalker film generally. Say what you want about the dude but he was ridiculously famous around throughout my childhood so it's inevitable really that he makes his way into the conversation, I guess. The anti gravity lean was a mind fuck to me when I was a kid.
5. What was the first record/tape/CD you bought for yourself? It can be a single or album.
That's actually really hard to remember because my brother (James) and I were buying CD's and tapes since way back. My dad worked for Woolworths when I was a kid and we used to go down there and buy CDs and wrestling figures when we could.
The first CD I remember getting with my own money was WWF: The Music Volume 5. I was and still am a huge pro wrestling fan. The artwork for that is glorious and Dwayne even did a number with Slick Rick.
6. What music were you into in the early days at school? Were your friends into the same thing?
It was quite a mix, there was so much dope RnB and Rap in the charts at the time that if you wanted to, you could stay put and didn't need to look elsewhere Although Towards the end of primary school I started really diving head first into the rock and blues. Getting into artists like Clapton, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, "guitar god" style stuff. I only had a couple of friends who were into that sort of music really in primary school, at least to the same degree. We started a 3 piece band called Way Lame, shout out Isaac and Kingsley.
7. As a teenager did this change?
Definitely, in secondary school I began meeting friends through music and skateboarding. Skateboarding is something that I feel I owe a lot of my music taste to as well. I got heavily into it in my teen years, even though I couldn't skate for shit. It is as another one of those things that I'd always shown an interest in as a kid and I loved that shit because I also got to discover new music.
When I was 16 and ready to leave school I went straight to college to study music production, I started delving into it and fell in love with the whole ideology of cratedigging and flipping samples. My music taste also got heavier at the same time, i played in numerous metal and punk bands and eventually ended up screaming/singing/yelling a lot in a band called Sell Your Sky. That was some of the most fun I've ever had in my life.
8. Did you play an instrument at school and can you still play it?
Yeah I started playing guitar at age 10 and I've played ever since with a few breaks here and there. I was at the end of primary school when I started playing and there were days where I'd play for upward of 8 hours, just learning, learning, learning.
9. Give us a fond memory of one track at high school/college. Any house parties, road trips, holidays?
The outfield - Your Love. Everyone in the crew had this as their ringtone for a while. We'd always let it play out and so no one ever actually answered their phones really that summer.
10. What was your first experience of Soul or Rap music? How did it make you feel?
They were always floating around so it was hard to pin point one. But my dad was riding around with me listening to NWA as an infant. That pissed my mum off a bit.
Another pretty random but cool memory is of my mum watching the film Step Mom, with Susan Sarandon. In the film they use Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. It was one of the first times I really listened to soul and let it hit me like that. Right in the soul funnily enough. It's been one of my all time favorite tracks ever since.
11. After discovering Soul/Rap, which artists did you listen to the most?
Typically started with the G.O.A.T's of Soul, Otis, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Aretha, Sam & Dave, Booker T. etc.
With hip hop it was usually what was floating around the chart space when I was a kid like 50 Cent, Eminem, Dr Dre, Snoop, Outkast. But when I joined college and actively started looking for hip hop I started really finding my taste for people like Nujabes, Dilla, Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, Erykah Badu, Action Bronson, Joey Bada$$ and Capital Steez (RIP). It was a nice mix of the classic and the new.
12. What made you pick up a pen and start writing bars, or what gave you the confidence to start to compose music yourself?
School of Rock had just come out and it was the first time I properly saw kids around my age really shredding. I couldn't believe it at first and I had to watch it back to see if they were actually playing. Once I realised they could, I didn't see any reason as to why I couldn't. So I got a squier bullet Stratocaster for my birthday that year and played it to death.
13. Would you say your sound today carries influences from your childhood?
Undoubtedly! Over time my taste kinda came full circle and now encompasses elements of everything I've mentioned in this interview really. But there is definitely elements of blues and soul in there.
14. Do you have any idols in music? Have you met any?
When I was a kid I had a lot of idols, mainly guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Slash, BB King and Dimebag Darrel.
Now it's a bit different because the whole climate of being a musician or artist is completely different. There are few artists who are able to maintain a level of mystery as they could throughout the last few decades. I do admire artists who have done things on their own terms creatively above all though I think. A few that have really helped me to trust myself in the creative process are Tyler The creator, Flatbush Zombies, Earthgang, Anderson Paak., Danny Brown and Mac Miller in recent years. And this isn't even just on the topic of the music but the whole package, the overall direction and style.
I was lucky enough to meet Erick Architect from Flatbush Zombies on my birthday on Copenhagen a few years back. He was sound and took the time to speak with us for about 5-10 minutes. Juice and Meech werent around but that was cool with me because Erick is one of my favorite rappers and producers. Period. His back catalogue speaks for itself.
15. Finally let’s end on an embarrassing question. What is your guilty pleasure today in modern music?
Ah shit! Are guilty pleasures a thing nowadays?
I wouldn't call it a guilty pleasure but if I put it on at a party I reckon it would be a switch up. Jefferson Starship - Jane. Riffs, wailing vocals, Bitchin' hot guitar solo and a mad disco breakdown in the middle. Shut up and take my money.