Hilltop Hoods emcees Suffa and Pressure, along with DJ Debris are a groundbreaking Adelaide based crew who have single-handedly put Aussie Hip-Hop on the commercial map as well as the world stage.
They have gained two ARIA Awards - Best Independent Act and Best Urban act.
Hilltop Hoods were among the original line-up announced for The Big Day Out, and Eventfinder spoke to Dan (aka Pressure) about his move from store room manager to bagging a part in one of Australia’s most successful Hip-Hop groups.
Eventfinder: What’s behind the name Pressure?
Pressure: It was my tag name when we were younger – we were all graffiti artists. We started rapping in ’92 but it was in ’93 that we properly formed as a band. We weren’t consciously thinking about becoming full time professional musicians. We were young, it was fun and our hobby and it was only we started touring that things began to take off and we quit our day jobs.
EF: What was your day job?
Pressure: At the time I was a store manager from 9-5 and every evening we’d go and make music.
EF: Congratulations on winning the Best Urban Act. How did you feel?
Pressure: It was an honour, a real honour.
EF: Given you’ve played with Public Enemy and Cypress Hill, who are both highly successful artists in their own right, what’s been your most memorable experience?
Pressure: Our new album 'The Calling' in 2003 was a turning point for us as was when 2,000 people were turning up to our gigs.
Public Enemy were my inspiration as a 12 year old so when I was on stage playing with them at the age of 25, I have to say that was pretty memorable too.
EF: So what can we expect from you guys coming up?
Pressure: We’ve been to London and Berlin this year so we’re aiming to break more territories across Europe soon. Also watch out for our new album coming late next year.
EF: Will you be moving away from your main sound or experimenting at all?
Pressure: No, it’s going to be more of the same. It’s what we love.
EF: So, do you have a message for your fans ready eager for The Big Day Out to come around in Auckland, January 2008?
Pressure: Yeah, rock up, come see us. We’ll all be hyped up, playing our party tracks!
Going from strength to strength, Hilltop Hoods two most recent albums, The Calling (2004) and The Hard Road (2006), have both achieved Platinum sales, with The Hard Road debuting at Number 1 on the Australian Charts. We're looking forward to their Big Day Out debut.