Native Tongues and De La Soul were also big for me,” he says. “Common was probably my favourite growing up – not so much now – but I used to be a massive fanboy of his.” Also drawing on the universally renowned J Dilla and DJ Premier, Bankowski has always been interested in carving out his own path.
“There was only one other guy who liked hip hop in my high school,” he says. “Lots of people were into punk and Blink-182 type stuff. The other guy who liked it and I used to break dance, and I met a couple of Perth graffiti artists through some other friends who were also into similar music.”
From humble beginnings, Bankowski has stuck it out to be releasing his new Heads EP and taking it on a national tour. “I’ve never thought of it as a professional career, it’s just kind of part of me,” he says. “I was involved with the hip hop group called The Stoops from 2005 to 2011 while we were all at uni and doing it for fun.
“Things started picking up in the last year and now it looks more like a career, while still being something I just love to do.”
Acknowledging the crowded, cut-throat nature of the music industry hasn’t phased him to the point where music is something to do for fun, and that’s enough. “It’s hard to get your music heard, but the rest of it has come from me just enjoying what I do,” he says. “In my spare time I play basketball, video games or make music, so even without the platform that I’ve got I’d probably still be doing it.”
Collaborating adds to the fun of production, with long time co-producer Ta-Ku taking part on this release. Ta-Ku also produced Hatches featuring ATOM from French outfit C2C and LIKE from Californian rap trio Pac Div. “I’ve known Ta-Ku for a long time, and we did my Home EP together while I was living in Japan,” he says. “With the new stuff I asked him for a sound like a hammer hitting floorboards for Hatches, and that’s what you can hear on the track now. It’s been a great process, especially when I can give him an idea or a feeling and he can build on it to make it more real.”
BY TOM KITSON
