Local musicians set to end the year on a high with live-streamed music event in Unanderra 

Words Alex Knight 

In a year that most are ready to forget, a who’s who of Illawarra and South Coast talent will be celebrating the end of it with one of the area’s first live gigs in months at Iconic Creative, Unanderra, from 7pm on Friday, December 11. Screw 2020 will be a celebration of local music and a chance for artists to get back to what they do best – playing to a live audience.

The night will kick off with the soothing sounds of local folk artists Erin Hand, Jack Willis and Corey Legge, before South Coast hip-hop artists and MCs Azza-D and HMO will take to the stage to pick things up a notch. We chatted to HMO, who has recently released singles Shadows and Hate Speech, ahead of the Screw 2020 event about his roots and passion for music… 

How, when, why did you first get into music? 
I was born in Bulli, but I grew up in Gerringong, and have been playing music since I was 13. I spent a bit of time in Sydney where I studied composition, and once I finished my degree, I moved to Melbourne. After some time, I moved back to the South Coast where I currently live in Kiama. Earlier on, I played in plenty of rock bands, but then I started getting into funk and soul music along with hip-hop and then I started to produce my own music, with a love of songwriting.  I remember hearing Nirvana’s album Nevermind for the first time when I was 13. From that point on, I was like I’m going to do this for the rest of my life, and I guess I haven’t really stopped. Pretty much everything I do revolves around promoting music or playing and recording.

How would you describe the type of music you create? 
I’ve often been asked that question and it’s really hard to answer. It’s not really heavy hitting hardcore hip-hop because I am not a gangster in any stretch of the imagination. I deal with some heavy-handed topics, like racism, colonialization, and the lack of any kind of meaningful policies for our Indigenous community. I guess I am a fusion of organic elements mixed with traditional hip hop. I do love the traditional pioneers of Aussie hip-hop like Funkoars and Hilltop Hoods, and they have definitely influenced it a lot. I am more of organic hip-hop with an instrumental twist.

What was the experience like of releasing your debut EP last year? 
It was released in May 2019, and it was nerve-racking. It was a question of how are people gonna respond to it, but it was also like a monkey on my back. I’d written a lot of \songs years and years ago, but I had to push past those songs so that I could get to a clean slate and start exploring my music a bit further. It was a relief to finish it. I mixed the whole album, and it was a really big challenge that I would never do again [laughs].

What was it like to release new music in the midst of the pandemic?
It is really hard to quantify the effect that COVID has had, as it is still happening now. Obviously, there are some positives to what’s happened because it’s given me time to reflect on what I am doing and what the direction forward is. Also, having the time to not have to engage in this massive rat race of the world and being locked inside my home studio was a productive time. It was a reflective and creative time to go through but in terms of live shows, it’s basically killed everything. Especially for small artists, like myself, there wasn’t many opportunities before the outbreak. The music industry was already in the dog rooms before COVID. 

What can you tell me about your new music, especially Shadows and Hate Speech?
Shadows was informed by the concept of the human psych and the way we operate as human beings. A lot of my songs deal with mental health and trying to deal with the state of the world, especially human emotion. I have always been a big fan of the poet, William Blake, and his ideas of the existence of dualities. I like the way that he speaks about good and evil and how they have to co-exist. Shadows is more about the unknown of the human mind and who we are and how we deal with that. 

Hate Speech is about institutional racism and how embedded the culture of racism is in our bureaucracy and every day. I just can’t understand that it is still happening and how our policies are innately racist. There was influence by what happened in Christchurch, the rise of Fraser Anning and Tony Abbot being named Indigenous Minister. It is influenced as well by the fact that we don’t have a treaty with our own Indigenous people. The fact that the incarceration rates are pretty much 100 per cent. The fact that the policies designed to make First Nations’ lives better are created by people with little to no understanding of how First Nations people feel. The song is basically about Australia’s bogan racist culture. We try to hide it and pretend it is not there – but it is. 

What has influenced these powerful themes in your music?
I’ve always had a strong sense of social justice. My grandfather was Hungarian, and the experience he had growing up in Australia being called names and not passing on the Hungarian language, as to assimilate has always stayed with me. Growing up too in surf culture, I saw a lot of misogynistic and aggressive behaviours towards women. I was always the lovey-dovey type, but I did grow up in that culture. That affected me a lot as well, and I am married to someone that is my physical, emotional and mental equal. I just think if your gonna write music, you want to write music to make a difference. 

Tell us about the upcoming event ‘Screw 2020’ in Unanderra that you’re involved in? 
There will be a small number of seats available at the venue, but it’s all going to be livestreamed for free. There is a huge range of genres on show at the Iconic Creative event. One of my good mates, hip-hop artist from Helensburgh, Azza-D, is participating – we have toured together and collaborated before. We have two up-and-coming folk artists, Erin Hand and Jack Willis, as well as Corey Legge, a far South Coast country musician.  We also have Fercho Chargie, a rootsy reggae and blues band, as well as indie surf rock band Swells. It’s going to be great!

5 things you didn’t know about HMO…

I have webbed feet

I got to rap alongside OneFour, a famous hip-hop group.

I met Kelly Slater at Sandon Point when I was a kid. 

I am a control freak, just ask my wife.

I have a smooth fox terrier dog called Louis Armstrong (named after the singer) 

Just a handful of tickets will be available for the Screw 2020 venue itself, but the entire event will be livestreamed here so everyone can watch and party along at home. Tickets for the venue are $25 (plus booking fee). Buy them here.