Chart-topping Blue Mountains hip hop band, Thundamentals, will embark on their biggest Australian and New Zealand tour on May 20.
The Blue Mountains musicians who bonded over their love of music, skating and video games have come a long way since their beginnings as a local music support act, with their latest album, Everyone We Know, hitting number two on the Aria Charts. The album, released in February, was beaten only by the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack.
Everyone We Know continued the run of success of their previous album, So We Can Remember, which reached number three on the Aria charts in 2014. The albums are linked by the voice of Brisbane artist Laneous who features on both releases.
The album also features collaborations with Blue Mountains singer Mataya, Adelaide's Hilltop Hoods and Melbourne's Peta and the Wolves.
The songs on the album were inspired by real people in the artists’ lives as well as people they wish they had met.
“We hope that listeners are able to hear the types of people that we have in our lives and apply it to their own lives…that’s where the emotional quality of the music comes about,” said MC Jesse Ferris (aka Jeswon), who hails from Mount Victoria.
His favourite song on the album, Blue Balloons, is dedicated to Jarrod Samson-Hills, 19, of Blaxland, who died after falling off a balcony in 2014. The teenager was a fan of Thundamentals and the group attended a memorial in his honour at Glenbrook skate park in March 2015.
“It’s a personal song that a lot of people are resonating with. The song feels like it’s going to be a bit of an anthem for people who have lost someone special in their lives,” said Ferris.
Ferris told the Gazette the band has reached unimaginable success. “We just thought this was a hobby, something we love…to us it was inconceivable that we could work full time on hip hop music,” he said.
Having grown in popularity, Ferris said the band “wanted to make a more personal connection with the people that have been supporting us for such a long time”.
Before the album was released, Thundamentals posted a phone number on social media for fans to contact the boys. Over the next three months, Ferris, Tuka (Brendan Tuckerman) and Morgs (Morgan Jones) responded to more than 1000 text messages.
“We were calling people up and telling them that we have a new album and it’s a dedication to you guys, the fans, that have been supporting us,” said Ferris.
“It felt really personal. It was the kind of conversations that you feel that your best friends would have with you but it’s a total stranger on the other side of the telephone line. It was a really beautiful experience.”
As the band sets off on tour to play at larger capacity venues than ever before, their name will serve as a constant reminder of their Blue Mountains roots.
“It’s a reference to the bad rainy weather in the Blue Mountains” coupled with the band’s desire to “make music that challenges people’s mental state”, explained Ferris.
The Thundamentals will perform at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney on Saturday, June 3. Ferris told the Gazette “we are definitely looking to do a Blue Mountains show sometime in the not so distant future”.
For more information about the tour visit www.thundamentals.com.au
