Q & A with Bootleg Rascal
Sydney-based ghetto-dubsters Bootleg Rascal have just unveiled their long-awaited sophomore album ‘Anónimo’ – produced by long-time collaborator Ian Pritchett (Boo Seeka, Kim Churchill, Angus and Julia Stone).
Taking cues from the likes of staple influences Gorillaz, Kid Cudi and Massive Attack, ‘Anònimo’ combines themes of hip hop, reggae, indie-rock, dub and electronica. Whilst melding an array of eclectic influences, the brooding new record simultaneously shines a light on the group’s ability to deliver on a cohesive sound.
It’s been a little while since we’ve seen Bootleg Rascal on the Coast, but luckily, they’ve included a stop at Solbar on Thursday October 25th…
G’day fellas. Huge congrats on the release of the new album, Anónimo. Another solid release! So, first things first, what’s the meaning behind the title of the album?
It translates from spanish into faceless or anonymous. We just wanna make it big in South America so we thought it would be best to call the album something in Spanish that both cultures could appreciate, we just wanna move to Mexico and become pop stars.
You’ve always had that reggae/dub/hip-hop vibe, with hints of electronica… but with this album, you’ve adopted more of the latter, particularly in a 90s kinda vibe. What was the recording process like for this album? Was there a fair amount of demo-ing all of these tracks, before getting long-time collaborator Ian Pritchett in?
Bootleg writes very individually, each of us write and bring songs to the table and each of us make our changes. Pretty much try and see as little of each other when we are not on tour, so it makes for some pretty random songs. I would definitely say that the 90’s hip hop vibe is definitely an inspiration. And yeah we get the songs to a point where we cant really do anything else and we go to Ian and see what he brings to the party, it’s always important to get other ears listening to your stuff.
Back to the 90s kinda vibe that’s appearing - don’t know if anyone’s said this, but the track ‘Mercy’ sounds like a cheeky nod to the Stereo MC’s ‘Connected’. Were there particular artists/albums that leeched into the sounds of this album?
‘Mercy’ was actually inspired by a song called ‘Respect’ by Biggie Smalls. But there are definitely other songs that are inspired by different artists. ‘Holy Ghost’ has a big ‘Kid Cudi’ influence. And even Massive Attack, and a band called Young Fathers has been some other big inspiration for this one.
Track 10 on Anónimo features Ivan Ooze - how did that collaboration come about?
We are long time friends with Ivan, When we played in Melbourne once I’m pretty sure he supported us or something like that. You know one of those friendships where you can’t really remember how you met, you just know you’re both cool and get along. And we have always wanted to get him on a track, and when we started putting this album together we thought it would be the best opportunity, so we sent him a tack he sent us his rap and it was awesome!!
We haven’t seen you on the Coast for a little while, but we’re lucky enough to grab you on this tour, heading to Solbar on October 25th. Anything new up your sleeve for long time Bootleg fans (which there are plenty of on the Coast)?
We really love playing Sol Bar - honestly one of our favourite places to play, So i’ts always a good time with heaps of people we havent seen in ages. But for this tour we have put some old school bangers of ours back in the set and we cant wait to get out there and play ‘em for ya!!!
Sweet. Thanks for your time, and looking forward to seeing you back up our way at Solbar on the 25th of October!