Q&A with MC LowQui

December 22, 2009

We caught up with MC LowQui ahead of his planned tour of the UK & Europe for March/April 2010. As Metalheadz resident and MC of choice for the likes of Goldie and A.I., his built a reputation for bringing vibes to any occasion and has hosted stages at some of the world’s biggest clubs and festivals. Last year saw appearances at Ram, Hospitality and Sun & Bass and he’ll be seeing in the New Year alongside Bad Company UK on the main stage at the PHAT10 festival in New Zealand. Recently he’s hosted for Black Sun Empire in Singapore, Pendulum in Korea, Andy C in Shanghai, as well as the likes of Andy C and Fierce when they’ve come to visit Australia. In between gigs he’s been keeping busy with a range of projects including promoting, collaborating on tracks in the studio and much more.

Q. Since relocating to Australia from London, have you found it tough adjusting to a different lifestyle?

A. Temperatures of 40 degree's + sound great, but hot industrial hairdryer wind makes it hard to enjoy the BBQ! The Australian lifestyle is very laid back, so it's easy to chill. On the flip that has impacted my lyrics, as I believe a lot of the poignant stuff comes from a sense of struggle.

I play less gigs now (purely as there are less cities to play in), but the quality is high and I get to tour the UK & Europe 3 times a year in block's rather than on a constant flow. Life is the same, but different, less gigs means i'm hungry for the mic like a 14 year old Junglist again at each gig and that's been very positive and highly enjoyable.

Q. Previously you've worked in the studio as a vocalist alongside Amaning and The Green Man, plus hosted mix CDs for Artificial Intelligence, Ant TC1 and Rohan (Bassbin). More recently, you've been collaborating as a producer with Jonny Hooves in Australia and J Path in South Korea. How did these linkups come about and can we look forward to you releasing music in the future?

A. My link up's come from meeting people and connecting over music. I played in Seoul with Andy C earlier in 09 and stayed to hang out. JPath & I ended up with a nice little roller. The Green Man / Amaning release was a surprise as that was recorded in Germany years ago and eventually got signed. Johnny Hooves was on my rider as my sound engineer (he's Melbourne's finest). He's now touring with Shapeshifter so our plans for further colab's have been put on hold until our diaries match up. More in the pipeline, but i'll keep who with low key (excuse the pun). Lets see if it surfaces.

Q. You're also part of the production team behind Polaroid, Melbourne's freshest frum & bass night, and a resident alongside Consequence and Joe Seven. What differences between the Australian and UK scenes have you found in your experiences as a promoter?

A. The scene is much smaller here, mainly due to the smaller population. The trials & tribulations of promoters are similar the world over, it's never easy but always fun. Hand to hand flyering is scarce compared to London (most clubs let you distro inside!). It would be nice to be able to support more emerging producers as we did / do with Essence of Chi, but compared to Europe they are a bit thin on the ground. Any AU or NZ producers / Dj's are welcome to get in touch: polaroid-events@gmail.com

Q. You've travelled the world over and have played large-scale festivals alongside the likes of Goldie, Skream and Benga, as well as more intimate gigs. Which kind of events do you enjoy most and are there any favourite places you like to visit?

A. I love small clubs where you can see into everyone's eyes and connect deeply over the tunes, but you can't beat a big festival for the sense of scale when the crowd erupts. Then you get Sun & Bass which combines the two perfectly. I could list loads of countries & cities that hold special memories for me for different reasons, from killer sound systems to crowd reactions, to friends and family to the food, but space is limited here :)

Q. Throughout the years you've managed to stay versatile, happy flowing over a range of different styles in dubstep or drum & bass. What's inspiring you right now musically and which artists do you like working with most?

A. I like artists who want to push boundaries and make music for the sake of music, not just churn out beats for an attempt at commercial success. Sabre's new album is fantastic, I love the Upbeats Big Skeleton album, it covers a lot of styles. Consequence has dropped an amazing debut, then there's the rest of the Autonomic gang who are on fire. Metalheadz keeps coming up with the goods with Jubei & Spectrasoul. Dom & Roland has really impressed recently. Skream just keeps coming with the bangers. Then there's Goldie who right now is inspiring me musically, artistically and politically. I could keep going, drum & bass is in fantastic shape right now, dubstep keeps catching my attention, my love for bass heavy beats is strong!