3Minutes with Indigenous Intrudaz

Q: How did you guys become a hip hop band?

A: It started when we were in high school as something to kill the boredom. We just made a conscious decision to make a career out of it.

Q: How did you come up with your name Indigenous Intruduz?

A: It sort of just came to me (Damien). I was like 16 or 17 and with our people there are a lot of issues with Australia...we've been intruded so I just flipped it around.

Q: Why has it taken you so long (10 years) to release your first EP?

A: It was more of a learning process, we only started going when we were 17 years old.

Q: What are your plans for the future?

A: To set up our own record label I I Records. Basically because there's a lot of talent in the community and we see a lot of talent in our workshops. We can help them develop a sound that's unique to them.

Q: What do you think is the biggest issue facing indigenous youth today?

A: Drugs and alcohol. They've always been a big problem and teenage pregnancy. But there are a lot of issues so we couldn't pick one that was the biggest. It all depends on the environment you're in.

Q: How did you guys rise above those issues?

A: As a necessity. A lot of people in our age group had deaths within a few weeks of each other. A lot of our circle of friends who we grew up with are no longer here with us. There was a point when there was a death every two to three weeks. We got to a point where we got sick of it. We wanted to put something positive into the community.

Q: Why do you think there is power is music?

A: It's the universal language. It taps into people's feelings.

Q: How would you describe your musical style?

A: Unique. What we try to do is not rap about the same thing all the time. We like to stay left field, if everyone else is doing something we won't do it.

Q: Would you like to go mainstream one day?

A: That's our main aim. But we don't just want to go mainstream and disappear from the face of the earth. We were brought up to give back to the community and not look down on anyone. We're trying to make our music more viable to a wider community but not so we lose ourselves in the process.