The rising trend of genre-crossing is taking hold of the heavy music scene and as we've seen in previous years, combining EDM with heavy core sounds has become not only popular, but a go-to for bands that want to take their sound to the next level; and following the success that Aussie acts like Northlane and Void of Vision have had, it's no surprise that almost all bands within the heavy realm are taking that path...
And then you have Nick 'Frowny' Brown and his new musical project Benchcup, who today released their debut track 'Excess'. Upon first listen, you may start questioning why we're covering a trap/hip-hop artist - a genre well outside of our usual target audience and understanding - to which I'll reply with this simple request 'just keep listening'.
When Frowny hit me up to give his new song a listen, I was ready to pass on it after the first 30 seconds or so (because trap beats and hip-hop are NOT in my usual listening schedule these days), but when the drop kicks in around the 1:04 mark, my eyes lit up and I was gobsmacked by what I was hearing - trap-hop-core blended together with killer riffs, in a style that I've never heard before - and it just worked so fucking well. A literal 'hooked from the first spin' deal.
I grabbed Frowny for a deeper look into this new project, the inspiration behind the song and that surprise collaboration with Future Static's Amariah Cook that just adds a whole new level of depth to the song... please enjoy!
Frowny, congrats on 'Excess'. Tell us the story behind the band name and how you landed on that!
BenchCup just sounded cool to us, as much as a name like “The Last Drop of a Dying Breath” or “Red Dawn” or some wanky video game reference would’ve probably fit the scene better. BenchCup stuck out to us and sounded memorable.
What were you listening to when you came up with the idea to go trap-hop-core?
I don’t listen to many heavy bands these days. Obviously, I have tremendous love and appreciation for the sound, but for me, hip-hop has been so much more progressive and interesting to watch over the years. Lil Yachty just dropped an AOTY contender with a psychedelic rock album, Playboi Carti is in my opinion the biggest rockstar on the planet. It’s just fun to watch.
To give us an understanding of your musical appreciation can you give us your five fav acts from core/hip hop?
21 Savage, Playboi Carti, Void Of Vision, Reliqa, Brakence
And Is the auto-tune because you can't hit those highs?
What Autotune?
Amariah's collaboration was totally unexpected, but so welcomed. Is there an intricate story to how this collab came about? Or was it, 'hey, wanna be on my drug song'?
Again all very hip-hop inspired, I love artists collaborating together and Ami is such a powerhouse it just seemed like a no-brainer. Also I love that we don’t say “featuring Ami” in the song title, I like to think people will be surprised and excited to see that happen in real time.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CoG-aCDrsCS/
Preaching to the choir here! Would you consider doing a sequel song, like Eminem and Rihanna's 'Love the Way You Lie' Parts 1 & 2 - from her perspective with the singing roles reversed?
Ami is welcome on as many songs as she wants honestly.
I don't do reaction videos, but would a fair first-listen reaction be - this sounds like Post Malonecore?
Personally I don’t agree, but I don’t hate it. I understand why people want to put genre labels on everything, but we just write music.
Speaking of new music, is there more on the way? If so, will you still retain that trap-hop-core sound or will you go full TikTok rapper?
More tunes coming soon. Every song will sound different.
Interesting. Well, a fun one before we go - who would win in a fight between Nelly's St Lunatics and Eminem's D12?
Odd Future wipes both of them
Interview by Paul ‘Browny’ Brown @brownypaul
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Stream 'Excess' here
