MATT ‘SUFFA’ LAMBERT of HILLTOP HOODS: All About Balance
An interview by Sarah Kidd.
Things come and go in life, such is the nature of time; co-workers, friends, band mates. As the years march by it is rare that many of the bands that were around ten or twenty years ago are still going.
But there does exist those magic few, acts that through their own unwavering tenacity and love for what they do have managed to traverse the passing of the clock hands while not only maintaining their fan base but continuously adding to it, releasing quality albums as they go.
Australia’s Hilltop Hoods are one such act. Formed in 1994 in Blackwood, Adelaide they have recently released their latest album The Great Expanse. Throw in the fact that they are also coming off the back of supporting Eminem, arguably one of the biggest artists in the industry, and the group are definitely feeling on top of the world right now.
In New Zealand this week for a series of four shows – most of which have already sold out – I caught up with Hilltop Hoods co-founder Suffa aka Matt Lambert to talk about all things music, album and family related…
Congratulations on the new album The Great Expanse which you guys released earlier this year!
“Thank you very much.”
It’s been five years since your last release, so it must in some ways feel like a long time coming?
“Yeah, you know it got quite busy towards the end of us recording and mixing it, so it was almost like a relief [laughs] to get it out!”
I can imagine it would be! You are one of the two founders of Hilltop Hoods, and it’s an act that you formed in 1994. That’s twenty-five years, a quarter of a century. That’s an amazing length of time. How have you seen the hip-hop scene in general change over that period as both a person obviously invested in it and as an artist working within it?
“I mean it’s changed on so many levels from when we started out, pressing vinyl and pressing CD’s and having people buy them [raucous laughter] to this streaming era, but you know it’s like anything. It’s been around so long now that’s there’s sub-genres on sub-genres, everything from Horrorcore to Emo Soundcloud rap. It’s just diversified and diversified and diversified.
But modern hip-hop now is making a return to a few of the original techniques and stuff, like 808’s [Roland TR-808 Drum Machine] are back which is interesting. It’s almost like there has been a resurgence of an era past sort of thing.”
As you said there are a lot of sub-genres and I think that is true to be said of any style of music; do you think that the sub-genres dilute the essence of what hip-hop is too much, or do they instead pull more people into the genre of hip-hop itself and therefore create a bigger pool of knowledge?
“It’s not my place to say what hip-hop is or isn’t. This is a culture where you are almost a guest in the house, it’s not my place to judge that sort of thing. I guess if anything, the off-shoots the sub-genres and everything like that, for me, it’s all good. This is the way for people to find that knowledge, if there is a particular thing they like, and it helps them find their people then that’s a good thing.”
Hilltop Hoods are known as one of the hardest working groups in Australia which is one hell of a compliment considering how long Hilltop Hoods have been performing…
“Yeah, we do work hard [laughs] we’ve put out like eight studio albums, EP’s, various remix albums etc. We’ve always toured very hard, we’ve done thousands of shows. But it’s because we love doing it, we still enjoy it!”
What would be one of the main things that keeps the fire burning within yourself to keep doing what you are doing?
“The funny thing about being a touring artist is when you’ve been in the studio working on an album for a year, a year and a half whatever you’re ready to go back on the road, you’re sick of being in the studio.
And other times you’re sick of being on the road and you’re ready to go back in the studio. It is becoming harder for me to travel now because I have kids which are priority for me. I have a two-year-old and a one year old, it’s become difficult. My youngest just turned one last week.”
And how are you finding the work balance? Because that can’t be easy!
“Well I find like when you’re away, you’re really away, you’re really absent. But when you’re home, you’re really home, and you’re really present. It’s like that balance again. A lot of parents who have like nine to five [jobs], you know will see their kids at breakfast and bedtime.
Whereas me and my two-year-old – soon to be three-year-old – we sort of knock about all day. Go to the park, out to lunch and whatever and spend a lot of time together.
So, it is hard to balance, but it’s not dissimilar to everyone else, we just spend time together in a different way.”
Yes, more quality time.
“Yeah, and they come away with us sometimes as well…”
[laughs] That would be interesting!
Speaking of the younger generation – Hilltop Hoods have several guest artists feature on The Great Expanse album. One of them being Ruel, who is making quite the name for himself and who also recently performed here in Auckland.
“Yeah, he’s great. He’s going to be huge!”
He has an amazing voice for someone so young…
“Yeah, and he’s a nice kid, he’s got a good head on his shoulders. We wish him the best and hope he becomes a little Bieber [laughs] hope he blows up because he’s a good kid.”
How did the collaboration come about?
“We actually used to knock about – and still do – with his manager [Nate] Flagrant; we DJ up in the hip-hop stand in Melbourne where he was a DJ, so we have known him for a couple of decades. We happened to kick on with him one night and we got to talking and we mentioned the new album and it just made sense.
So yeah, he [Ruel] came down from Adelaide and hung out with us for a couple of days and yeah we got to know the kid, did the track and that’s that. He’s gone from strength to strength now.”
Just going a little more in depth into the album, quite a few reviewers have noted that The Great Expanse is quite linear. Was it designed this way?
“One of the reasons we thought of [the title] The Great Expanse is because it’s such an eclectic mix of tracks, whereas other albums of ours have sort of made more sense and have had a cohesive theme or you know a thread that ran throughout all the songs.
So we tried to get a bit of that cohesion and make sense of it when we were doing the track order, sort of make it all make sense. If you listen to it out of order, there is some pretty big mood changes between two tracks; ‘Fire & Grace’ which is essentially a ballad and about 70-80 beats per minute to something like ‘Leave Me Lonely’ which is 130 beats per minute and is just an up-tempo party track.
You hope that when you put out an album that people listen to it in order, but if they don’t [laughs] we have no control, I can’t force people to listen to it how I want them to, even if I wanted to … which I do!”
As you said it’s an eclectic mix of tracks, but when you went into the actual writing of them did you have particular ideas in mind?
“Sort of, but not really. I think because the writing and the production and everything spanned over such a long amount of time, it’s hard to keep that sort of cohesion or plan in place because things change so much. Looking at Walking Under Stars, since 2014 and this [album] in 2019, in five years even things like your taste changes… [laughs] And advances in software and recording and all that changes as well, so it’s hard to keep to one ongoing theme or sound or whatever when we’re making a project over that period of time. Like I said we just had to choose the tracks that were our favourites and put it together like that. Hopefully it’s not so long before the next record!”
I must ask which tracks are you most proud of on the album?
“Obviously I really love the whole album or else we wouldn’t put it out [laughs] but ‘Counterweight’ that’s a really strong track for me, that might be because I wasn’t so involved in it so I’m not sick of it or whatever but I think it’s actually a really strong track and really well done.
Maybe ‘H is For…’ the last track on the album, I really like it and it’s a bit different for us as well I think.”
Hilltop Hoods supported Eminem recently, what an artist to support!
“Yeah it was an amazing experience but definitely a little intimidating for us. Like we do play to some big crowds but like being at the MCG and playing to eighty thousand people [laughs] was a lot different to the crowds we play to. So that was a different kind of nerves, a different kind of anxiety [laughs]. It was just a whole lot more intimidating, I guess doubly so because you’re the support act for someone who is probably the biggest MC and recording artist alive!
But yeah it was a great experience and we had a ball on the tour, we found out the night before that the album had gone number one back home, so it was a bit of a celebration for us too.”
Oh nice, that would have been cool!
Speaking of other artists, the last question I will put to you is this; musically who influences you currently?
“Currently? Ooo, I am listening to the new Denzel Curry album [Zuu], anything that Anderson .Paak has put out recently and – I mean I’ve gotta admit it, because I have a two and a one year old – I am listening to a lot of children’s music” [laughs]
[laughs] How are The Wiggles working out for you there?
“We went to see them in concert the other day, they loved it, they were pretty good!” [mutual laughter]
The new Tyler, the Creator album Igor. I really love Igor because it’s got that sort of 90’s throwback, hip-hop feel without feeling dated. That’s a really good album.”
Hilltop Hoods are currently in NZ for a four date NZ tour, kicking off tonight at Auckland’s Studio The Venue, followed by shows in Wellington, Queenstown and Christchurch. For more information on the tour and where to buy tickets you can visit the Hilltop Hoods website here.
If you enjoyed this content, please consider donating towards the running of Ambient Light, covering expenses and allowing us to expand the coverage you love by clicking the red button below (Desktop) or visiting our PressPatron page (Mobile).