How A Group Of High-School Mates Are Building An Aussie Music Empire

Trying to explain One Day succinctly is close to impossible. Part crew of friends, part musical collective, party promoters, as Horrorshow MC Solo explains it’s kind of “like Voltron or some shit”.

Featuring members of local hip hop royalty including Jackie Onassis, Joyride, Horrorshow and Spit Syndicate the crew have been kicking serious music and party goals lately dropping strings of thoughtfully crafted and undeniably fun releases while simultaneously throwing One Day Sundays – evolving from the much loved ritual of a ‘Sunday sesh’ One Day Sundays is an ongoing serious of parties held in the collective’s home town of Sydney, which has recently spawned the occasional interstate appearance too.

The next big event on One Day’s agenda is ‘One Day Only’ being held on Saturday November the 21st ‘One Day Only’ a revolutionary day party taking place at Manning House in Sydney on Saturday November 21st. Featuring line up bigger than most local music festivals right now, ‘One Day Only’ sees the guys work on their biggest project yet.

The festival will host 3,000 partygoers across three stages spanning multiple levels of the historic Manning House complex at the University of Sydney.

Building on the formula of the wildly successful One Day Sundays parties, ‘One Day Only’ will present some of Australia’s premier DJs and live acts spanning the genres of hip hop, r&b, neo-soul and electronica. The festival will also feature live graffiti art curated by international spraypaint brand Ironlak and a selection of Sydney’s finest food vendors. We caught up with One Day member Solo to learn about the evolution of one of Australia’s most exciting musical collectives.

The Birth Of One Day

“One Day was officially coined as a name for our clique of mates in 2006 but we’d already been friends and had been making music together for a number of years.

[include_post id=”444207″]Most of us went to the same high school and even those who didn’t; we all grew up in the same neighbourhoods around the inner west and so we moved in similar circles and were connected through house parties, mutual friends, graffiti and of course a love of rap music.

Back at this time we were mucking around, freestyling at parties and beginning some early attempts at making songs. Once Spit Syndicate had a couple of mixtapes under their belt and were playing gigs around Sydney, the crew was starting to take shape and we gave it the name One Day – a nod to our aspirations for the future as to where we might take this music thing.

For people who are interested, all of this is summarised quite neatly in a series of videos we made last year:”

Who The One Day Crew Are

“Ok, bear with me here cos the crew is kinda’ like Voltron or some shit, it’s got a lot of different moving parts that combine…. One Day is made up of Kai and Raph Lauren (MC / producer combo who make up Jackie Onassis) Joyride (one man army who produces / sings / raps his own solo material), Solo and Adit (MC / producer combo who make up Horrorshow) and Nick Lupi and Jimmy Nice who are the MCs in Spit Syndicate.

So everyone’s got their respective projects they’re involved in (shouts to The Meeting Tree) plus all seven of us also join forces and play together as One Day.

On top of this, we throw a series of parties around the country called One Day Sundays where Joyride, Adit, Raph (and lately even the boi Nick Lupi) rock parties as our resident One Day DJ’s alongside a rotating cast of guests.

Now we’re trying our hand at putting on a mini-festival in Sydney next month called One Day Only! See, told ya… moving parts”

The Creation Of One Day Sundays

“One Day Sundays began at back in 2013 when we realised there was a gap in Sydney’s party scene for the kind of party we wanted to go to and the kind of music that us and all our friends enjoyed playing at parties.

With us having the boys on deck to DJ we started a monthly party at a local pub in the inner west and over the course of two years we watched it grow from a chilled Sunday session with our fans and extended crew of mates into a institution that tours around the country and in Sydney can pull over a thousand people each month to come party on a Sunday.

Since the beginning of this year we’ve been throwing the parties monthly at The Factory but we’ve put them on hold while we focus on One Day Only which is our new festival happening at Manning House on Saturday November 21st.”

Highlights From One Day’s History

“There are a few, we’ve had a very blessed last few years and we’re grateful for it… One of the biggest moments would be touring the country together and playing our biggest hometown show at The Enmore in Sydney.

It was awesome to play such a classic venue together as a whole team and to have so many people and friends and family in the building was an unforgettable feeling.

We actually made a video clip for one of our songs based on the night”:

One Day Sundays has spawned plenty of memorable moments but one that stands out is from the party we threw in November 2014 where we had legendary producer P-Money play as a guest and the boys set off a confetti cannon when he dropped ‘Not Many’! Pretty classic moment… We’ve had him DJ at the party a few times and he loves it – he’s on the bill for One Day Only too, we’re looking forward to welcoming him back.

Move From Being Talent To Promoters

“It has been an interesting and sometimes funny learning curve over the last couple of years as we’ve gained more and more experience as promoters booking DJs and live acts.

We’ve learned a lot about how that side of the industry works and also I think because we’re artists ourselves we also approach the bookings from a different perspective to your average promoter.

We try our to accomodate the artists we book as well as we can (especially as they’re usually our friends as well) because we know what a big difference that makes as artists when you feel like you’ve been well looked after.”

The One Day Mini Festival

“One Day Only is our biggest party yet – basically a small scale festival taking place across three stages at Manning House on Saturday November 21st.

We’re essentially taking that same feeling of One Day Sundays and making it bigger and better, expanding to a massive lineup with over 20 DJs plus for the first time we’re featuring some amazing live acts we’ve hand selected ourselves. We’re especially excited to be bringing Anderson Paak to Australia for the first time ever for the festival! For those not familiar with him, get to know – this dude is bound to be an important figure in music in the coming years.

He’s an incredible rapper / singer / producer / drummer with some awesome releases under his belt (his 2014 album Venice is especially dope as is his project NxWorries) and he was also featured on a staggering SIX tracks on Dr. Dre’s latest album Compton! With a co-sign like that from the likes of Dre, you know he’s headed for big things and we’re stoked to be bringing him out for our supporters to experience live before he becomes a household name.

In addition to all the music, the festival will feature some incredible food options available, live graffiti being painted by some of the nation’s top writers and all out themed take over of the venue which will transform it into a unique backdrop for a very memorable party.”

Plans For The Next 12 Months

“More One Day Sundays parties around the country plus new albums from Jackie Onassis, Spit Syndicate, Joyride and Horrorshow! It’s set to be a big year for the One Dayers…”

One Day Recommends

“The line up of our festival is full of amazing local acts who are underrated… these include Sydney electronic duo Left., Melbourne MC Baro and our brotherman Jimblah who are all huge talents to keep an eye out for. Honestly though, this is the tip of the iceberg of the huge line up we’ve put together – get down to One Day Only and discover yourself some really dope local artists. Seeya there.”