Staunch has a new name and it’s Tornts,
easily the most original rapper in the Australian
hip hop scene you’d be hard pressed to
find anyone that sounds like Tornts. Let alone
someone who openly calls out everyone, abuses
everyone & certainly not anyone that actually
hates as much shit as he does. He is unrivalled
at what he does, Decimation Recordings is the
best ‘go fuck yourself’ record out,
flagged by his crew of Hired Goons he is unstoppable.
Whilst Adding Insult To Injury has become somewhat
of an underground classic, Decimation Recordings
is a massive step up in terms of both lyricism
& production. Chances are you will get offended,
most females probably wouldn’t appreciate
a track about a Heroin Addled prostitute called
Filthy Whores, but when you start to see things
from his perspective or just really listen to
the lyricism, his wit and ability becomes difficult
to ignore. His disenchantment and loathing of
pretty much everything can either be an insult
or music to your ears, either way his talent
and originality is undeniable.
What do you see as the major differences between
Adding Insult to Injury and Decimation Recordings?
The beats on Adding Insult to Injury were a
bit slower whereas Decimation Recordings has
a whole lot of amped up tracks. On Decimation
Recordings I spit on a few different topics,
real life shit.
You produced both albums entirely; did you
consider getting other producers involved? How
do you feel your production style has evolved
since the last release?
Nah I like using my own beats I don’t
hear much original beats round the place lately
anyway it’s usually either imitation NY
shit or imitation Jurassic 5 shit. I reckon
my beats have got better every year. I’ll
take a loop from fuckin anywhere.
You are a collector of movie soundtracks,
how do they influence your production? What
are some of your favourites?
I like the Iva Davies, Jerry Goldsmith 80s
sort of shit, drum machine and synth evil sounding
records. I remember when everyone was still
using funk and jazz records I was already using
soundtrack vinyl, I love those mashing snares
they used to use. I like spitting over murky,
nasty beats so a lot of tripped out loops and
noises I get I’ll find on soundtracks
or other places. I don’t want to give
too much away……. Cunts have bitten
my beats already, I suppose it doesn’t
matter now.
What are some situations or experiences that
provided lyrics or subjects for Decimation Recordings?
Life, alks, I write about real life and shit
that I see and think about. ‘I Don’t
Wanna Hear It’ is a track I wrote when
I was sitting in my flat just thinking fuck
everything so I just wrote down what was going
through my skull. See Through is a song about
how I can see through the fake bullshit that
a lot of mc’s spit. ‘Filthy Whores’
is about filthy whores. ‘Step Into My
World’ and a few other tracks are straight
up battle tracks, some keep to yourself shit.
‘Hells Burn’ is a track about what
goes on around the city- this is the chorus,
“Drink that longneck and watch the world
turn, sink into the metal bench can you feel
hells burn, from the bricks, dirty walls and
all the pavement, watch ya back cos the city’s
full of hatred”. Self explanatory, I’d
rather let my tracks do the talking you know.
In particular what inspired Filthy Whores?
I made that beat and I just started spitting
that chorus. Within about an hour I had most
of the first verse written that’s how
I knew it would be a sick track. I always thought
how E popping, speeded up, coked up club chicks
were like hookers, but for drugs instead of
cash. You know the ones that would do anything
for dealers or anyone with some ‘good
shit’. So I did a verse about that sort
of girl and a verse about a hooker and showed
how there is no real difference. It’s
got a lot of good imagery on that track ha ha.
Tell us about the guests and what they brought
to the release.
I only got my Hired Goons crew up on the album.
I got Bigfoot on two tracks; he always mashes
and is a good mate of mine. He reps sick on
the double time track Meet Ya Maker. Rhys is
on that track too, fuckin kills it. I got them
on that track cos they get into the same double
time shit that I get into. A lot of tracks like
that coming out of the UK are dope so I felt
like making one and putting my own spin on it,
showing I can rep my own style on any beat.
Billy Bunks is on the track called ‘Booze
Bastards’, which is the name of our crew.
We spit 4 bar verses on the beat, wrote it all
drunk and recorded it drunk in accordance with
our name. Fuck all the fake drinking songs.
Watch out for Booze Bastards in the near future,
Tornts and Bunks.
Fletchrock spits some real dope shit on ‘Pickin
Victims’, don’t sleep. We’ve
always wrote about the same sort of subjects
but with different patterns. It was about time
we did a track over one of my beats so we wrote
8s for it and culled.
How was the skit after Adding Insult to Injury
received? Was there any backlash from rappers
that thought they were being targeted?
Everyone seemed to love that skit. Who knows,
it dissed a lot about the scene but I think
hardly anyone thought it applied to them which
was funny. That was on some Monty Python shit
ha ha. I didn’t get no backlash but then
again dickheads don’t talk to me because
they’d know I don’t want them to.
How do you think the involvement of commercial
television, radio & major labels is affecting
the music being made locally?
More exposure for hip hop obviously, it’s
funny before that Eminem flick came out, half
these people didn’t even know about hip
hop or battles. As long as people rep what they’re
about and don’t rap and sound like they’re
from America when they live here, with all chains
and jumpsuits and pre fits looking stupid I’ll
be happy. I suppose some rappers now are trying
to do tracks to get with major labels but what
would be rewarding doing bullshit, I don’t
like pop music why would I want to make it.
Commercial radio play is all paid for by publicists
and labels anyway. Anything on commercial TV
is paid for too, not much is on radio or TV
is played based on skill and style its all industry
shit.
How would you sum up the current Australian
hip hop scene?
It’s definitely growing and getting better.
A lot of mimicking, copying mc’s around
the place though. I hope a lot more street,
grimy spitters start getting releases out. There’s
heaps of rappers that are just straight up full
of shit.
How do you feel your music differs from other
product out there?
It’s like nothing else around, I rep
where I live, what I do and my twisted brain.
No nursery rhyme pattern shit my own style.
Original hardcore hip hop shit from Melbourne.
How would you like Tornts to be remembered?
Original spitter with style that mashed on
tracks. A drunk, charismatic god to women ha
ha.
Anything you’d like to add …
Twist those bottle tops. Decimation time…..check
www.soundclick.com/tornts
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