One Day
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One Day

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Mainline was mainly sparked by the desire for the entire crew to go on tour together,” explains Nick Lupi, a One Day member and normally one half of Spit Syndicate. “We’ve toured with each other in various capacities over the years, and it’s just the best shit out. We just wanted to do that with the entire crew now that everyone has built up their own individual profiles. We decided to sit down and just make some songs, without knowing whether it would end up on an album or a mixtape or whatever else have you. It all just kind of went organically from there.”

Lupi – along with his Spit Syndicate partner, Jimmy Nice – are joined in the collective by Horrorshow (Solo and Adit), Jackie Onassis (Raph and Kai) and vocalist/DJ/multi-instrumentalist Joyride. Working as a septet, Lupi is the first to admit that there were plenty of obstacles for the group to overcome in order to avoid the idea of too many cooks spoiling the proverbial broth on the album.

“There were certainly challenges, man – there were certainly some spirited discussions,” says Lupi of Mainline‘s creative process. “We were able to get there in the end, because we’re all friends. We worked it all out as we went – there was some back and forth over what songs would go in what direction, but that’s just the nature of the beast. It’s especially the case when you’re working with so many strong-minded creative people.”

Another creative aspect that came up in the development of the album was the push for all seven members of the collective to bring their A-game on each track, presenting both an open challenge and a level playing field for everyone involved in making Mainline. “I wouldn’t say that there was a thematic consensus developed, but something that came up early on was that there was a real vibe of friendly competition to the creative process,” says Lupi. “There was a sense of one-upmanship – not so much in that we wanted the others to suck on the track; but more that everyone knew that they had to bring their best on the album. That went for the rappers in the crew as well as the producers. When you’re making songs with your friends and people you hold in a high regard, you want to be able to stand up next to them. It was a real driving force behind the album, and in my opinion, that’s one of the coolest things about this crew. It pushes everyone to bring their best.”

The aforementioned tour for the One Day crew kicks off with a sold-out show in Melbourne on Friday before heading across the east coast, wrapping in Canberra at the end of the month. The shows already look to be some of the biggest any of the One Day collective have ever performed at; and there’s set to be something for fans both old and new. “Everyone has their own set, and then it’s going to be one big combined set at the end,” says Lupi. “It’s predominantly going to be tracks from Mainline, but also there’s also going to be a bunch of tracks that we’ll play that we’ve collaborated on in the past. The album might be the first time we’ve done something all under the one banner, but we’ve been making music together and touring together for as long as we’ve been doing this. We can definitely guarantee some older favourites for those that have been there from the start.”

BY DAVID JAMES YOUNG