Kid Mac’s new album Head Noise is due for release in October 18 and Mac will head out on a national album tour in Australia supporting the release .
Head Noise – a personal inward journey of the busy heart and mind – written and produced by Kid Mac, was recorded with Ryan Enright in his Bondi Beach studio on and mixed by Scott Horscroft (Silverchair, Birds of Tokyo, The Presets, The Sleepy Jackson, The Panics, Little Red) at Archangelsky Studios in Mangrove Creek. The only feature artist on the record is long time friend and tour partner, Perth based UK beat box maestro Sam Perry.
Read Mac himself give a track by track breakdown of his soon-to-be-released record.
01. HIGHER
This song was produced by my good friend Ryan Enright at his home studio in Bondi Beach. It has a huge amount of vocal layers (thanks to some friends) and the angelic female vocals are by the young and talented Maxine May Chapman who sings on several songs on this record.
02. SOME DAY
This song questions the idea that if we don’t act upon our feelings now, the outcomes may be vastly different in the future. That opportunity to tell someone you love them before its too late, to shine bright when the spotlight is on you. Grab every opportunity with both hands and see where it leads you because today may not repeat itself tomorrow. This track was produced by Kustom (USA) and is one of my new favourite tracks to perform live. So if you see me in the zone performing this track, you know why!
03. BUSTIN DOWN THE DOOR
This is a conversation I am having with myself trying to shake off old habits, fire up and have a go. We all get complacent at times and lie to ourselves about who we really are vs who we want to be. I am no different. Don’t pretend you are happy when you’re not. Or don’t pretend you are killing it when you are struggling. Being true to yourself, working on your weaknesses and playing to your strengths are the ideas behind this song.
My good friend Sam Perry is the only “feature” on the whole record. In the past, I used to try and hit up big names to feature on songs to help boost my profile which was a tedious process. This time I thought fuck em, I’ll do it myself with like-minded passionate artists.
I had the idea for this track for a long time and had American Producer Kustom compose the original track.I knew it was the perfect track for Sam Perry and his pommie accent & sent it over to him. He killed it straight off the bat.
The song encompasses a lot of what I stand for both in subject matter and sonically. Another new favourite, love performing this live especially when the crowd “go fuckin mental” when the beat drops.
04. FALLS DOWN
There are certain people in this world that take advantage of kind-hearted people. Being on the receiving end of that spectrum hurts. And you wonder, if these people burn all their bridges and are all alone, who do they turn to? Choose your friends wisely. They say you become like the 5 people you hang with the most. Surrounding yourself with positive people will drive you to be a better person yourself.
I am blessed to have a solid circle of friends and family around me which has kept me grounded. You live and you learn. Don’t forget those you are always there for you when shit hits the fan.
Produced by Ryan Enright and sprinkled with the golden lungs of young Cessnock local Maxine May Chapman.
05. LOVE IS A DRUG
Plain and simple, this is a love song with some cheeky metaphors. With all the deep stuff I have on this record, I wanted to maintain that balance and show my humorous fun side too.A fun anthemic tune to play live, especially at festivals when there’s “extra” love in the air!
Track produced by Kustom (USA). The kids singing in the track had a ball belting out this tune in the studio.
06. HATERS
Possibly my personal favourite track on the whole record for personal reasons. ‘Haters’ is an anthem to anyone who has gone against the grain and come out the other side with a smile on their face. Some people I knew growing up had that attitude like they were better than the rest of us. And now the focus is no longer on them so they want to be best mates and apart of our journey. Treat people how you want to be treated. Success is not defined by your financial status, but how you carry yourself when you are in a position to make a difference.
If people are hating on you, it means you are doing something right. And to be honest, there have been plenty of times where negative comments have done my head in in the past. But you grow and you learn to use the negativity as fuel to keep your dream train steaming ahead. So while the petty haters whinge in their mundane hometowns, I’m on a flight from Sydney to Vancouver for my first even Canada tour. At the end of the day, who gives a fuck what the haters say!
This beat was composed by French Producer Skrown. I’m a big fan of his work and psyched to work with him again.
07. BEAT OF MY OWN DRUM
This track is influenced by my Brazilian roots. I have always wanted to incorporate my Brazilian heritage into my music and finally felt like this track was the one. The melody of the verses and “para papa” chorus is a famous tune originally written by MC Leandro and Doca called “Rap Das Armas”. I reached out to them a few years ago to get their blessing to use the melody in my song and was stoked when they were into the idea.
The lyrics at the start are in portuguese and I am basically repeating “Dance to the beat of my own drum” in both English and Portuguese. This resembles the mixture of cultures (Australian and Brazilian) and languages spoken at home growing up as kid with my 2 elders sisters and Brazilian-born parents. Although I was born and raised in Australia, I am also very patriotic about my beloved Brazil.
The “para papa” is the sound that I make when I beat my own drum. I pride myself in being a leader rather than a follower and do things my own way. Sometimes you put your trust in others to do things for you only to disappoint you. So I have always felt, if you want something done, you have to do it yourself. This has sometimes been a burden for me too.
This is a track I produced along with some additional production by Kustom and Ryan Enright.
08. FIGHT ANOTHER DAY
We win some, we lose some. As long as we survive and learn from our mistakes, then we will only move onwards and upwards. This song expresses the fact that we all mess up, whether it be relationships, business, sports or simple life decisions. And it’s not our mistakes that define, but how we correct them moving forward that makes us who we are.
One of the few tracks that I got some help with by some of my good mates from the South Sydney Rabbitohs (Professional Australian Rugby League team).
The boys sing the gang vocals in the background. Funny day in the studio!
09. RAIN DROPS
It’s only fair the lady in my life got her own song on the record. Rain Drops is a simple love song expressing how after seven years, I am still falling more and more for my girl.
Produced by my good mates Twice As Nice (Nick Audino & Lewis Hughes) who produced my entire debut record “No Man’s Land”. Stoked to have them a part of this second album too.
10. THE LAST SUMMER?
A lot of this record is me dealing with the different phases of my life. I’m not a teenager running amok anymore (well, still run amok here and there). This song questions whether this is the last summer together as young punks going mad as we always did when we were kids or are we moving on now to a new, more mature phase. It’s definitely not the same as a few summers ago, but I do know there will always be a kid in us till the day we die unless we choose to “grow up” and be stiffs. We are as young or as old as we let ourselves be.
This track was produced by Ryan Enright who I had the pleasure of working with on the entire record at his home studio in Bondi. We had plenty of laughs and became good mates in the process – and that’s how it should be!
11. HEAD NOISE
What can I say about this song that’s not already in one of the verses. To be honest, I went through some personal issues of my own and had a nervous break down during the making of this record. Probably because I was trying to juggle too many things in my life and putting too much pressure on myself to constantly outdo myself (amongst other things).
Writing this song was therapeutic but once it was recorded, I contemplated on whether to release it or not because it was very personal and quite exposing for me. Then after a lot of discussion with my manager and fiancee, decided it was probably a good idea to share with others some of the hurt, pain, confusion & thoughts I was going through in hope that they may relate and maybe speak up themselves to help overcome their own demons.
We lost a good friend to suicide a few years ago and no one really knew the extent of his issues because of the lack of communication. I would hate to lose any more friends like this. So I thought, fuck it. I’m speaking up.
I originally wrote over 12 long verses for this song and cut it down to just two. Also had it as a more upbeat dance version but thought I’d keep this one mellow so you could a better grasp of what is being said on the record.
But the dance version was also sick, so I made it the bonus track of the album (available on iTunes).
Kid Mac is touring nationally, click here for our dates.
