Hilltop Hoods’ best songs take on a new sound with the Adelaide Sympony Orchestra
THEY may be the party starters on the festival stage but pair Hilltop Hoods with an orchestra and you can hear the heartache behind their songs.
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THE Hilltop Hoods had just finished an all-nighter as their ninth record soared to the top of the iTunes charts shortly after its release early last Friday morning.
A few hours later, over Bloody Marys and hiding from the glare of reality behind sunglasses, Suffa, MC Pressure and DJ Debris attempted to discuss their ambitious Restrung project.
And failed. Interview aborted, much mirth ensues.
A few days later, Suffa and Pressure have recovered enough to give Restrung its due.
It is still No. 1 and on track to claim that spot on the ARIA charts this weekend for their fifth chart-topping album in a row.
With Drinking From the Sun, Walking Under Stars Restrung, the country’s most successful hip hop act recasts the genre as more than raps, beats and hooks with intricate and eloquent orchestral arrangements.
The good vibes of songs including their biggest hit single Cosby Sweater, take on a vibrant energy with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in tow.
“Ah, it’s the yazz flute,” Suffa jokes.
Yet for the fun times offered by I Love It, which features Sia, or Walking Under Stars, there are tracks whose emotional impact is amplified by the addition of strings, horns and percussion.
Pressure will welcome the day when Through the Dark isn’t on their setlist. He will have to get through the Restrung tour with the country’s leading symphony orchestras in April.
The song recaptures the anguish he felt during the long months he sat beside the hospital bed of his son Liam as the eight-year-old was treated for leukaemia.
Three years later, both father and son have a love/hate relationship with the song. They are proud of it but you won’t be hearing it on the family stereo.
“It’s very hard to perform live, it’s not enjoyable but I feel compelled to see it through,” he says.
“I won’t miss it when it’s not in the set anymore but it always needed to be on this Restrung album because orchestras are at their best on a moody song.
“I still can’t play it to my 11-year-old. He cried when I played him the original — he was proud I wrote something for him but it’s too close to home.”
Listening to Restrung does more than amplify the mood of the songs. It reveals the vulnerabilities of three blokes who may be the last at the party but will be the first to help a mate or wear their hearts on their sleeves.
The love letter to their respective partners, Won’t Let You Down, thanks them for accepting the challenging life of the musician. If it worked as one of hip hop’s more romantic tunes in its original form on the Walking Under Stars, it is now swoon-worthy with strings.
New single Higher, with the soaring soulful vocals of Jamie Chatburn, also acknowledges these mighty men of music are as fallible as mere mortals in the relationships game.
“You date a musician and it’s really fun going to gigs, hanging backstage, stuff like that. But when that becomes family of musician, and it’s still backstage parties but they are on the other side of the world and you can see everyone on social media having a good time while you are at your day job, sometimes it’s hard,” Suffa says.
“We’re always saying to each other, imagine if they were in a band and we had the day jobs ...”
Another new song featuring the lush, delicious orchestral arrangements of their longtime collaborator Jamie Messenger is 1955, with guests Montaigne and Thom Thumb.
The song was inspired by a quip by Irish comedian Dylan Moran who opened his show with “I love visiting Adelaide because I’ve always wondered what it was like in 1955.”
The video, set in an old diner circa 1955, co-stars one of the Hoods’ best mates, rapper Briggs as Grill Murray.
It’s a scene-stealing cameo filmed as the respected indigenous artist was exposing the keyboard warriors trolling himself and singer Thelma Plum after they called out two men who went to a “Aussie Icons” party in Ballarat in black face.
The Hoods joined the Australian music community supporting both artists online as Briggs and Plum copped abuse for protesting the insensitive behaviour of the partygoers.
“That backlash hit as we were shooting. It’s such a simple thing not to do (wear blackface) ... and weird that you would want to do it to begin with,” Suffa says.
“He is one of our closest friends and when something like that happens, we will pull you in closer to show the world you are with us.
“Having him in the video was half that, showing the world we care about him. And half that I knew he would be hilarious as Grill Murray.”
The Hoods’ next challenge is the Restrung tour. They will perform with the respective symphony orchestra in each state and have only a day’s rehearsal with their guest big bands before each show.
It is an ambitious undertaking, marrying these hip hop and classical worlds.
“You put these very talented musicians in a controlled environment and I am not worried about them nailing the music,” Pressure says.
“The thing I am most worried about is how loud the music is because they need to be able to hear themselves to play properly.”
Pressure said his greatest frustration about performing these concerts is he doesn’t get to see it.
“We are gonna record one of them so I can actually see it. I have no idea what is going on behind me at a show,” he said.
HEAR: Drinking From the Sun, Walking Under Stars Restrung out now.
SEE: The Restrung Tour, Allphones Arena, Sydney, April 2. Ticketek.com.au
The Restrung Tour, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, April 8, Ticketek.com.au
The Restrung Tour, Adelaide Entertainment Centre, April 16, Ticketek.com.au
The Restrung Tour, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, April 23, Ticketek.com.au
The Restrung Tour, Perth Arena, April 30, Ticketek.com.au
Originally published as Hilltop Hoods’ best songs take on a new sound with the Adelaide Sympony Orchestra
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