There was a time when I found the idea of street level poetry being recited over beats kind of interesting. But these days hip hop is all too often a soundtrack for repetitive and insincere whingeing, most often by guys so rich they could buy the ghetto. It is very rarely ‘dope’ or even ‘the bomb’ — if indeed I have used the appropriate vernacular correctly - so it is refreshing to note the emergence of the Resin Dogs, a thoroughly live and funky collective that references hip hop without succumbing to the empty boasting, complaining and misogyny that plagues the genre. Talking to DJ Katch I am struck by how unassuming and Australian he sounds. In fact he comes across as a good bloke, and is not in the least afraid to talk about the techie, nerdy things that have to do with actually cranking out tunes.

The Resin Dogs are very Australian it seems because they went about establishing themselves the time honoured way with lots of live shows. This in itself is unusual for an act with electronic underpinnings. Playing to a thousand people in Brisbane, and large crowds in Sydney, got them label attention. And it created a solid base from which to create their music. A Resin Dogs tune may be sample heavy, but in some cases the sample ignites some live percussion ideas, or a live groove gets sampled. Having the luxury of a live band makes the creative process that much more flowing. And although they now have a studio Katch states that they have their own Akai MP units which they take with them to work on song ideas. Once it’s taking shape they get in the studio and lay it down. The band format also means that in the live context they can feed off the audience and be a bit flexible with arrangements.

For the new album ‘Hi Fidelity Dirt’ they have some notable collaborators drop by such as LA’s The Pharcyde on the track ‘shut yo mouth’, and Good Buddha on ‘take off’ amongst others. Katch claims this wasn’t a label imperative but rather the result of playing lots of shows with different artists and developing enough of a rapport to get around to asking them. With a live drummer, percussionist, bassist, MC and samplist it is no wonder that the Resin Dogs have no qualms about playing live often and even trying some Latin grooves such as on the track ‘Latito’. An East Coast run with the Livid festival will only add to their reputation having now played to over 400,000 people.

If Katch has any advice for entry level musicians interested in electronic based music he’d suggest you get ‘simplistic gear….not the biggest and greatest gear.’ ‘Try to be original, really put yourself into it.’ His belief being that too much emphasis on gear can be a distraction from actually making tunes. With a second album that promises to be an even bigger hit than the first, a huge fanbase and international shows beckoning, he knows exactly what he’s talking about. And mercifully he never said ‘yo’ once!

Article by Baz (www.psyburbia.co.uk)