YO! How you feeling right now?
Hello!! I’m slightly hung over. We played at the O2 Indigo last night with Master Shortie and to celebrate a good gig we drunk an industrial sized bottle of JD’s after. I can’t remember massive amounts – but me and my guitarist and drummer were on a rickshaw in Soho and then in The Roxy sharing cocktails with some Swedish girls, then... nope that’s all I can recount. Head hurts now. Sandpaper mouth. It was fun though.
We’re really looking forward to having you play at Get Loaded in the Park this summer. Are you looking forward to the festival?
Hell yeah!! It’s gonna be awesome. I love Get Loaded - it’s such a cool festival. We’re all well excited. F*ck Carnival and Reading & Leeds its GET LOADED WEEKEND!!! WOOP WOOP!!
Which other acts are you hoping to catch on the day if you can?
Esser – he’s a slick son of a bitch, Orbital – for obvious reasons, Benga & Skream – I luuurve my dubstep, Chase & Status, Sneaky Soundsystem, Roni Size – I mean come on, the line- ups too good. Do I have to play? Can’t I just get drunk and harass Laurent Garnier for his autograph?
I guess it’s quite a unique event in that you can you do your thing and be home in time for Match of the Day?!
True – but I’ll probably stick around even when the sites shut. Pick up litter and that. Get the place clean for Get Loaded 2010.
You’ll be playing the XFM Stage. The London radio station has been one of your biggest supporters so far....
XFM have been amazing. The whole station has been so supportive and I’m totally humbled by it all. Every artist needs a break and XFM gave me mine. I’d take a bullet for that station.
‘Shortcuts’ is your debut album and sounding good! How long did it take to put it together, what’s the style and who did you work with on the LP?
Thanks! It took three years. I wrote about twenty odd songs and picked the best ones. I worked closely with James Rushent from DIOYY? and Lance Thomas from Ladytron. I love Punk and Grime so I suppose that’s the style but there’s Pop, Grunge and Rap in there too.
You’ve been described as The Streets Vs The Clash. Is that a fair comparison?
It’s a flattering comparison, but I’m not the next anybody, I’m the first me.
Who and what were your inspirations for the album?
My friends, my family, things I’ve been through or heard about, where I live – plus growing up listening to Brit Pop, Rave and Grime.
You decided to shoot an entire movie for the album rather than occasional videos for individual singles. Where did this idea come from?
From some very clever people at my label. They figured it’d be cool to visualize every song chronologically – so we found 11 up and coming film makers and gave them each a song to direct. They only had 2 hours to shoot their interpretation and 24 hours to cut it before it was screened 48hrs later in the west end.
What’s the storyline to the movie?
The storyline is me starting my day at 12pm on a Saturday and bopping round London until 12pm on Sunday. We shot 11 videos back to back and there were some very specific rules. For example; the last shot of one video HAD to be the first shot of the next and each video had to reveal a shot of a clock showing the exact time. It’s a piece of guerrilla art and it was so cool working with all these hungry directors, editors, actors and producers. Some of these kids will be collecting academy awards one day ‘cos they’ve got talent to burn.
Will we be able to see the full movie any time soon?
It’ll come free with my album – like a little extra present J
Where did your name, TRIP come from?
I went to school with these Nigerian kids and they all spoke pigeon English. Trip means
Loopy and they would always say “Trip Trip” to me when we hung out. It just kinda stuck.
How and when did you first get into the music scene?
Messing around on keyboards and writing little raps when I was 15. Kept me outta trouble J
Pirate radio has played a big part of your bringing so far?
Yeah Pirate radio is amazing. Only in England can you turn the dial and pick up hundreds of stations doing their thing – from jungle and grime to hip-hop and bashment- and its 24/7/365. I love it. I used to do ITCH FM and KOOL FM and we’d all pile in to do our little raps, usually in some tower block kitchen or an old abandoned warehouse. When my friends from Europe come over, they’re always in awe of how many pirate stations we got here. It’s why Britain is so contemporary when it comes to new music I reckon. The government should be endorsing it not shutting it down.
You’re also no stranger to open mic battles. What’s that experience like?
Fun. It’s a good environment to get constructively angry and vent spleen. When there was money on the line it became a lot more heated though. You have to win. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn’t, but at least I could call someone’s Mum fat without getting a kicking.
How does it all work and does it ever get nasty?!
Naa. If you grill ‘em good and proper they usually bow out gracefully. I can be a horrible little f*cker sometimes so there’s nothing I wouldn’t bring up in a battle if I thought it would riel my opponent. Once you’ve done that they’re just circling the drain.
For a new artist, incredibly you’ve already supported the likes of NERD, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Red Man and Outkast. OH MY GOD! How did that come about?
I worked with Killa Kela for a few years and we got on the best support slots when the big US acts came over. We did Busta at Wembley which was amazing - 20,000 people. And N.E.R.D and Justin at The Forum was surreal. Justin watched us by the side of the stage and then came over after saying how much he loved it. Very surreal.
That must have been quite an experience?!
Yeah. It was a giggle and I was only like 18/19 at the time so it was a good learning curve.
What’s the best thing about being on the road touring?
Meeting new people, going new places, performing 6 times a week, eating Ginsters and stealing random things from Travel Lodges.
Do you have anything fancy on your rider?!
No. I requested some midgits playing harps and some ice-sculptures but usually it’s just Redbull and peanuts.
What’s been your favourite gig to date?
XFM Big Night Out Islington Academy supporting The Noisettes. People singing River Phoenix back to me. Awesome night.
Besides Get Loaded in the Park, what else are you up to this summer?
Lotsa gigs, lotsa writing, lotsa fun.
Best festival memory?
Watching Skunk Anansie at sunset aged 15 at Phoenix Festival with my teenage sweetheart – Bronwen Campbell Golding. Her initials were BCG, like the jab.
Funniest thing that’s ever happened to you at a festival?
Being locked in a portaloo behind the dance tent with Mike Skinner at Glastonbury.
Top three festival tips?
Bring baby wipes. If you must do magic mushrooms allow ample time for them to kick in before gorging another bag. Don’t try and snog your mates bird in a drunken moment of desperation.
What’s next....
Second album. World Tour.
Trip x
Hello!! I’m slightly hung over. We played at the O2 Indigo last night with Master Shortie and to celebrate a good gig we drunk an industrial sized bottle of JD’s after. I can’t remember massive amounts – but me and my guitarist and drummer were on a rickshaw in Soho and then in The Roxy sharing cocktails with some Swedish girls, then... nope that’s all I can recount. Head hurts now. Sandpaper mouth. It was fun though.
We’re really looking forward to having you play at Get Loaded in the Park this summer. Are you looking forward to the festival?
Hell yeah!! It’s gonna be awesome. I love Get Loaded - it’s such a cool festival. We’re all well excited. F*ck Carnival and Reading & Leeds its GET LOADED WEEKEND!!! WOOP WOOP!!
Which other acts are you hoping to catch on the day if you can?
Esser – he’s a slick son of a bitch, Orbital – for obvious reasons, Benga & Skream – I luuurve my dubstep, Chase & Status, Sneaky Soundsystem, Roni Size – I mean come on, the line- ups too good. Do I have to play? Can’t I just get drunk and harass Laurent Garnier for his autograph?
I guess it’s quite a unique event in that you can you do your thing and be home in time for Match of the Day?!
True – but I’ll probably stick around even when the sites shut. Pick up litter and that. Get the place clean for Get Loaded 2010.
You’ll be playing the XFM Stage. The London radio station has been one of your biggest supporters so far....
XFM have been amazing. The whole station has been so supportive and I’m totally humbled by it all. Every artist needs a break and XFM gave me mine. I’d take a bullet for that station.
‘Shortcuts’ is your debut album and sounding good! How long did it take to put it together, what’s the style and who did you work with on the LP?
Thanks! It took three years. I wrote about twenty odd songs and picked the best ones. I worked closely with James Rushent from DIOYY? and Lance Thomas from Ladytron. I love Punk and Grime so I suppose that’s the style but there’s Pop, Grunge and Rap in there too.
You’ve been described as The Streets Vs The Clash. Is that a fair comparison?
It’s a flattering comparison, but I’m not the next anybody, I’m the first me.
Who and what were your inspirations for the album?
My friends, my family, things I’ve been through or heard about, where I live – plus growing up listening to Brit Pop, Rave and Grime.
You decided to shoot an entire movie for the album rather than occasional videos for individual singles. Where did this idea come from?
From some very clever people at my label. They figured it’d be cool to visualize every song chronologically – so we found 11 up and coming film makers and gave them each a song to direct. They only had 2 hours to shoot their interpretation and 24 hours to cut it before it was screened 48hrs later in the west end.
What’s the storyline to the movie?
The storyline is me starting my day at 12pm on a Saturday and bopping round London until 12pm on Sunday. We shot 11 videos back to back and there were some very specific rules. For example; the last shot of one video HAD to be the first shot of the next and each video had to reveal a shot of a clock showing the exact time. It’s a piece of guerrilla art and it was so cool working with all these hungry directors, editors, actors and producers. Some of these kids will be collecting academy awards one day ‘cos they’ve got talent to burn.
Will we be able to see the full movie any time soon?
It’ll come free with my album – like a little extra present J
Where did your name, TRIP come from?
I went to school with these Nigerian kids and they all spoke pigeon English. Trip means
Loopy and they would always say “Trip Trip” to me when we hung out. It just kinda stuck.
How and when did you first get into the music scene?
Messing around on keyboards and writing little raps when I was 15. Kept me outta trouble J
Pirate radio has played a big part of your bringing so far?
Yeah Pirate radio is amazing. Only in England can you turn the dial and pick up hundreds of stations doing their thing – from jungle and grime to hip-hop and bashment- and its 24/7/365. I love it. I used to do ITCH FM and KOOL FM and we’d all pile in to do our little raps, usually in some tower block kitchen or an old abandoned warehouse. When my friends from Europe come over, they’re always in awe of how many pirate stations we got here. It’s why Britain is so contemporary when it comes to new music I reckon. The government should be endorsing it not shutting it down.
You’re also no stranger to open mic battles. What’s that experience like?
Fun. It’s a good environment to get constructively angry and vent spleen. When there was money on the line it became a lot more heated though. You have to win. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn’t, but at least I could call someone’s Mum fat without getting a kicking.
How does it all work and does it ever get nasty?!
Naa. If you grill ‘em good and proper they usually bow out gracefully. I can be a horrible little f*cker sometimes so there’s nothing I wouldn’t bring up in a battle if I thought it would riel my opponent. Once you’ve done that they’re just circling the drain.
For a new artist, incredibly you’ve already supported the likes of NERD, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Red Man and Outkast. OH MY GOD! How did that come about?
I worked with Killa Kela for a few years and we got on the best support slots when the big US acts came over. We did Busta at Wembley which was amazing - 20,000 people. And N.E.R.D and Justin at The Forum was surreal. Justin watched us by the side of the stage and then came over after saying how much he loved it. Very surreal.
That must have been quite an experience?!
Yeah. It was a giggle and I was only like 18/19 at the time so it was a good learning curve.
What’s the best thing about being on the road touring?
Meeting new people, going new places, performing 6 times a week, eating Ginsters and stealing random things from Travel Lodges.
Do you have anything fancy on your rider?!
No. I requested some midgits playing harps and some ice-sculptures but usually it’s just Redbull and peanuts.
What’s been your favourite gig to date?
XFM Big Night Out Islington Academy supporting The Noisettes. People singing River Phoenix back to me. Awesome night.
Besides Get Loaded in the Park, what else are you up to this summer?
Lotsa gigs, lotsa writing, lotsa fun.
Best festival memory?
Watching Skunk Anansie at sunset aged 15 at Phoenix Festival with my teenage sweetheart – Bronwen Campbell Golding. Her initials were BCG, like the jab.
Funniest thing that’s ever happened to you at a festival?
Being locked in a portaloo behind the dance tent with Mike Skinner at Glastonbury.
Top three festival tips?
Bring baby wipes. If you must do magic mushrooms allow ample time for them to kick in before gorging another bag. Don’t try and snog your mates bird in a drunken moment of desperation.
What’s next....
Second album. World Tour.
Trip x
more info
- Date: Sunday 30th August 2009
- Event: Get Loaded in The Park 2009 at Clapham Common
- Venue: Clapham Common
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