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True Live.
 Ever thought you'd hear a hip-hop act with a three-piece string section consisting of a cello, violin and double bass? Well, True Live are about to rock your musical world. A fusion of six musicians from groove jazz, classical and hip-hop backgrounds come together to create some of the more interesting and unusual sounds you'll hear.
Ryan 'Rhyno' Ritchie is in a windy part of Melbourne-town, but for the most part, his confident voice can still be heard over the wind slapping the phone. As the founder of True Live, Ritchie steers the group single-handedly in every aspect, with firm ideas and an unwavering sense of determination. Unfortunately, Ritchie's experiences of some media haven't been favourable, he says, as he has been "misquoted and taken egotistically." Initially, it's hard to see how that could be, but by the end of our conversation, I'm a bit wiser as to why some people might take Ritchie that way. He's confident, opinionated, makes no apologies for his views, and speaks passionately and heatedly about music, the industry, other bands, and his bandmates. It's easy for him to say something and rub someone up the wrong way - perhaps it's the way Ritchie phrases things, or maybe it's just misconstrued in the mind of the interlocutor. His intention doesn't seem to be to piss you off, but he has a way of making you want to challenge what he says. Either way, Ritchie explains his side.
"Sometimes people think I'm a bit egotistical because my passion lies a bit deeply in music and not much else, really," he says. "I'm not in it for the stardom and the 'rockstar' thing and all that kinda crap - that doesn't interest me remotely. I studied music for seven years and this is just a progression in my journey of doing that."
When it's pointed out that an ego of some description is necessary to get up on stage and be in the public eye, Ritchie relents slightly. "I suppose you have to be egotistical... to do things. But as a rapper, I mean, man! The biggest rapper on the planet at the moment thinks he's Jesus - Kanye West. I'd love to have a chat to him... Maybe just explain to him that Jesus probably wouldn't sample, you know?"
I laugh. "It's true!" he insists. "Do you think Jesus would sample? I think Jesus would just write his own music.
"My point is that like, for me, thinking that I'm kind of good, having a remote ego in my kind of genre... having the small ego that I do considering what I do, is uncommon," he explains. "I'm not hugely egotistical about what I do, 'cause I surround myself with great musos and they always keep me well in check, because I'm nothing on what they are as musicians.
"And so for me to get an ego - trust me, I've played with a lot of hip-hop bands and I see these fucking kids with their bullshit fucking egos and it's... angering. You just go: 'Dude, you talk over the music and hype people up, don't let it get to your head!' And the most down-to-earth people that I've met are guys like the [Hilltop] Hoods, who are just so relaxed; they're just straight up, and that's what makes them so impressive!"
However, Ritchie points out, and rightly so, that if egos grow out of control in any industry, it's the music industry - and if in any genre, he adds, it's hip-hop.
"You've got to be grounded," Ritchie insists. "Every single one of my friends that's made it or is doing it, is just so hilariously grounded.Once you break into the national market there's a point where you can start getting freaky and demanding certain things and being a bit psychotic, but even then, you've got to be grounded; or you've got to be self-loathing. That seems to be the other way around it, which is kind of the one that I kind of use. I grew up just hating myself, going through my whole Nirvana phase, so it seems to be kind of a vibe."
Ann Marie Sosnowski
 | True Live play at the Fuse On Stage Export-Ready Showcase on Wed 1 March at the East End Exchange with Pharaohs, Legless, The Boat People, Before The Aftermath, The Panda Band, FourPlay, Little Ice Age and more. |
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