Interview - Hoody Time, Bosho, and Max Duncan speak The Truth with Mark Derricutt - December 2020

Photo: Sean Richards / LAUNCH Media

By: Mark Derricutt

Just over four years ago I ‘met’ Joey Talmage (Hoody Time) - the American rapper/hip-hop artist via reddit's r/newzealand sub ahead of his tour, and subsequent emigration to New Zealand. I managed to catch up with Hoody, and new found collaborators Bo Ade-Simpson (Bosho) and Max Duncan prior to the literal New Year release of MUSIC.

So, the truth 2020, elections, what is the truth Joey? What is the truth?

Joey Talmage: Hm. What a question?

Bosho: How long have you got?

I was thinking back to the first time I met you in air quotes on the Reddit New Zealand Reddit group.

Joey Talmage: Yeah, true.

Where you said you were coming here for a tour and then you started going if Trump gets elected, you're just going to move here.

Joey Talmage: Yeah

...and well, and you followed thru.

Joey Talmage: I'm a man of my word.

So it's been great to watch your, your music grow and change since you've been here and settling down in Nelson.

Joey Talmage: Yeah, dude. Nelson's awesome. Have actually found a place that's as chill as it is beneficial . These two boys right here , this trio right here, man. This - there's some music getting made in the sunshine.

So why don't you introduce me to these other two fine gentlemen you've got here.

Joey Talmage: Right. So Bosho and Max Duncan, Bosho and I have the album MUSIC coming out in a couple of days, stroke of midnight at New Year's and Max Duncan will be joining us on the Truth tour for all dates now .

So that's a 12 date tour starting in, I think Christchurch on January the eighth.

Joey Talmage: Yeah. That's the one, bro.

Yep. And you're mostly doing the lower North Island and some South Island shows.

Joey Talmage: Yeah. Yeah. So I think as far north as we're going is Tauranga - we're playing Social Club in the Mount up there on February 8th. So little day party, public holiday should be good.

I've been listening to the album quite nonstop since you sent me that link - this is different to what I was kind of expecting from you, from your past material that I've heard. Of course the, the single Truth came out a while ago. And I think what was the other single that came out?

Joey Talmage: We released like a demo of Snakes just as um - one of the jam room recordings here at Bo's place .

That was quite different than that introduced Bosho and immediately I was thinking, wait, you took my advice and you've got some guitars going on, man.

Bosho: That's pretty much all I am. I guess I'm the ingredient to Joey that's changed his flavor so much. I'd make those loops which are guitar dominant, you know, I just pretty much do it with a guitar and one of those little drum pads and click record and loop and go from there. And, you know, as me and Joey , and Max as well - the three of us are very good at going first take or first try is the best try. We make our songs very, very quickly and very organically without that sort of needing to over perfect or self-doubt we kind of let it come out musically and lyrically, very, very authentically. Which is why this is so unique. I mean, each song is such a different flavor, but it's still the same dudes. And so although the songs differently, there's still this underlying sameness throughout the record.

Before listening to the album - I guess it's more of an EP than an album at six tracks, but I think those notions are kind of blurred these days anyway, for want of a better word, I always put Hoody in the "He's the hip hop guy that I know".

But everything on this album is so different, but it's still grounded in a hip hop kind of framing, even though, even though everything kind of. I guess kind of sits in that pot and then just kinda like buffers over and then kind of uses that as like a, almost a shell, but then each track is so different to each other.

You've got things that sound like your typical kind of surf punk kind of, kind of stuff, almost stuff that I'd almost expect in a Hawaiian kind of thing to rock songs, to real kind of almost growly almost, you can almost put a full-on distortion and go metal on some of the, on one of those tracks - Mufasa I think you could just like really beef that up.

When you say you just come up with some loops, and then each song is different. Do you have a kind of a vibe of what you're aiming for?

Bosho: So to answer that - the first chord or the first riff that I'll come up with actually creates the rest of the song. I'm very, very spontaneous as a musician and try put me in a genre. I mean, all those, all those loops are there. I would say, not a hip hop frame, but I've got a looping framework that I have to go by, which is very structured, kind of like I guess hip hop has.

The cool thing about hip hop is a lot of the time the core doesn't change. It's kind of got the same beat as it goes through, which is very good for a looper, because for me, I'm limited by. I've got to make the same chord progression sound interesting throughout the one song - I can't change chords halfway through. I'm kind of committed to the loop.

But yeah, put me in a genre I dare you - I just play one thing and feel a certain way and in the loop comes out and then Joey's just excellent at just, I'll go show Joey that loop, and then he puts on the accent straight away and he gets the vibe and he just blurts out of his mouth. He's adaptable.

Joey Talmage: I think the thing too about that it is very hip hop oriented because, well, not only because I've been a hip hop artist for so long, but my thing is words and song writing to begin with, you know what I mean?

And every Hoody Time song has kind of a different vibe or whatever, and I can go from boom-bap to pop punk to whatever the f***, you can always tell it's me because my thing is my words and how I deliver them. And so just how Bo can play any sound or any type of music - I have trained myself over years to write and to adapt to the delivery of those written words, to fit any type of sound possible. Anyway, so. Give me a song I can't rap on on.

Bosho: You can hear that album. Fantastic.

Joey Talmage: And I mean, Bo said it to begin with, like, you know, Bosho does a loop and it happens real quick. Hoody Time writes words, and they happen real quick. If you're spending more than 20 minutes on a song, it's probably not a good song.

Bosho: Which we never have, everything we've done is on the album.

Joey Talmage: Well, there's a new song that's after that...

Bosho: We haven't thrown anything away.

Joey Talmage: We didn't have any cuts, we made Six songs and we released Six songs. It's just like, you know, they happen in 20 minutes and that's why they're F** good.

So, when did the album start being written then? What's the timeframe of writing this?

Bosho: It's interesting you say that - it's a little bit of a complicated answer, but the story with Truth, the song. That was a Bosho loop for a while. I mean, a few of these were old school Bosho loops where I was just an instrumentalist, so I'd make loops and then just solo over top of them and kind of sing with the guitar.

And that was what I was doing. And one of these loops in particular, which was Truth, I just keep thinking - Joey does kept entering my mind and I got them around my house one day and I just told him to shut up and sit on this chair right here, actually. And you know, and I got there like right behind this camera's all this other sort of music gear and started playing this loop and, you know, and Joey's just sitting there. It's like, yeah. He's like "Oh, what's this , what's the song called?" I said "aah I just been feeling this, the hook Truth", you know? And he's like, got it.

It's funny watching him, man, like he's a colourful kid and when he's writing music, it's this child at Christmas - he shuts off and I just kept playing my thing over and over again.

And he'll just sit there. And then all of a sudden you hear a giggle. Ooh. And like, he'll get excited because he's just pulled out four lines in 10 minutes or whatever, and then have 20 minutes half now he's like done, done, done, and then I'll be like, okay, what do you got then? Any spat out Truth - just the way it was with the same lyrics.

And I just was like - that was a call from something that was higher above in a creative realm.

Joey Talmage: And that was what April, late May, early April of 2019.

Bosho: And the story goes, we go, that was exciting. Okay. Come around tomorrow. And, and we'll record this live in the room. And it takes Joey about 10 minutes to get to my place. And so I'd sit up all my gear the next day, ready to record and I started making this loop and then Joey gets in the door. And I said, Shut up, shut up. Like, I know Truth is exciting, but sit down and sit down. And I played Snakes - the next song on that was the track or the track two.

And yeah, what's this song about, you know, you know, snakes, like people who like, when you start getting big people, deceive you, you know, and he's like, cool. And then. I think it was even a shorter amount of time. Snakes was written and we ended up doing both of those tracks live on that day. And, and then life happened for a year.

Joey Talmage: Literally, like we didn't even make music. I don't think we played together at all. We just hung out from time to time. You went to Europe. I went to Europe, I went to the States for a little while.

Bosho: I do the producing on the album, I kind of made a couple of demo versions of those backing tracks and kind of through them at Joey and I said let me do a proper version of it and send it to you. And we did the track and showed it to a friend, Johnny who's a really good film director and he owns the droning company in Nelson and next thing you know, we're doing this music video .

That was the lockdown in the basketball court, in the empty.

Bosho: All these places where people will think, how the F*** did they pull that off? You know? Where is everyone, what is this magic?

Joey Talmage: The idea there too, was that, I mean, you've heard Truth the song, and I feel like probably more so than just Americans, but people in general are constantly like screaming at the top of their lungs, figuratively, you know, at their governments and at their world leaders. At the fact that we can't just all get along and be equal and shit, it's just, everyone's f**king tired. I feel like, at least for Americans - we scream and we scream and we scream and we're never heard and nothing ever is done about it.

So why not go to places that usually have tens of thousands of people, you know, Trafalgar Park, Saxton Field, Trafalgar Center, all these places. And you'd never think that no one was there, but that's the whole point is we're screaming, that we want the truth, but no one can f***ing hear.

Bosho: Worked out perfect.

So was that actually filmed during lockdown?

Joey Talmage: Just at the tail end of it. I think once we were allowed to be in alert level three, you were allowed to hang out with the other bubbles. So we mixed our bubbles to make that video.

Legally, completely legally. I must abide by COVID-19 protocol for my visa. So everything has been by the book.

Bosho: And it was by the book - but just to make that long story short, we did a congratulations release party on the music video. We released it and played it at this place that we do a lot of creativity at.

And that night - smoked the dope and drunk the beers and start improving as I do on the on the loops, my music gear was setup and started making this tune as you do. And then as all the other songs f***ing come about, I make up a loop, Joey walked in and just grabbed the mic and then the last song of the track - People written right there, Mufasa was written right there.

So that was two more down. I had an old Bosho loop for Gimme, which was just this, like this club vibe that I had done. Just go, yeah, it was kind of like, how can I get people to dance? Being just an instrumentalists and obviously Gimme come out and.

Having seen some of your videos - just the vibe of your playing and the loops and your interaction just pulls people into dancing.

Bosho: Yeah, thank you. I'm playing a lot of the time. My eyes are closed and I have no idea who/where/why I am. And normally we have to talk to these boys to say like, Did that like it, like, you know, we've got these guys say "Oh yeah, no, they, they were all watching and they were engaged".

So Max is opening up the tour.

Max Duncan: Yes. Yeah.

And so what about you? What's your background like I'm unfamiliar with you. So what kind of music are you, how do you fit into this trio of bliss?

Max Duncan: It is a trio of bliss you're dead right there. I was living in London last year. And returned to the Homeland just in time before the chaos erupted which I was happy to do. And then quite early on into come back - I'm from Wellington, studied fashion design there and I've come to Nelson now and settled in quite nicely. Met Bo and kind of found a sound through music, which I'd always been yearning for because previous to meeting Bo I've been doing kind of solo work with my other name called Silk Satin Suede, which is quite avant garde, darker music in a way if you had to turn it that way.

But I always knew that there was a more funky groovier vibe that I could express within myself, you know? Cause I do theater work as well. I have in the past. And then working with Bo found that other side to me, which Bo - you embrace the groove entirely and many other things.

Bosho: We met this guy four months ago and peanut butter and jam or whatever you want to say. I mean hard work but it came naturally as well and the vibe was there. This guy on stage - he's another Freddy Mercury or some sorts. This guy on stage is captivating is the word. Yeah, he's fun.

Max Duncan: So like moving into this side I decided to use my name Max Duncan as this part of my music, especially working with Bo, I guess there's - I'm a vocalist really and then I use my own kind of movements. I just move man, and let it feel through my veins. And it kind of adds this theatricality to the music and performing, especially obviously in the live shows and other music videos that we do. So yeah, that combination between theater and vocal range, I guess.

Bosho: And so it's tied in really nicely because how the show goes is me and Max would be doing a similar size set as me and Hoody - but he's a lot more , Joeys sets got more aggression and more , I think the words aggression to it and Max is a little bit more you can relax into it. So it's a really nice warm up to getting punched in the face.

It's going to be good and you know how that album that you saw of six songs are all very, very different, but they all kind of can tie in very, very nicely to each other - it's the same thing I've got the same six originals lineup with Max and they're all really, really good on their own, but they're also really, really good as a six song set and it really takes you on the journey which is really, really cool.

There's 12 songs that really, you're never stationary. You're always being led to the next song. I think as far as a band or an act, I don't really know many out there who were doing that? I feel like there's a lot more bands out there who have a reggae sound or a Sunday BBQ blues sound or, and they play similar genres - so we're really excited.

Max Duncan: Show's going to be changing as each song progresses - it's really exciting.

Any tracks where you're singing with each other or, and bouncing your two different styles into the same song?

Joey Talmage: Were probably idea of doing like a super jam. So like Bo and Max will play then Bo and me will play, and then the last set will be one of my typical Hoody Time sets where it's, you know, all my singles and electronic club hits and stuff, but floating the idea of like an encore where all of us come out and jam for two songs or so, or just one song that you just don't understand when it will end.

Bosho: That kind of, that happened the other day, where there was this loop that came out, that was very much fun, and very much you could just pass the mic and spit a line - then there's a very, very easy, fun hook that you can repeat for a bit. It feels like one of those songs that, you know, it's like an Afro man - you could just keep it going and the hook doesn't get boring. So that, that felt like it was the right thing that might get.

Max Duncan: We might make it up on the night.

Bosho: We might be writing it on the road, you know,

Joey Talmage: I'm sure it's the miles in the same van will produce some strange, super jams for sure.

So the album drops I guess you could say it's the first album of 2021.

Joey Talmage: That's the thing man!

Where whereabouts is this actually dropping? Are we getting - is there physical copies as well as the online streaming?

Bosho: Just digital at the moment. We would love to one day put this on vinyl. I know that's a pricey job and it takes time and for me as the producer, it takes a little bit of a different mastering technique . Lately we've been really under the pump as you always need to be in life, but we really were just trying to get this done and get this released on this first second, and we've achieved that which was really surprising, but also very kudos to us for doing that. But we would like physical one day if we can. And vinyl was very timeless.

Joey Talmage: I think if any project I've ever been a part of this would be the one to press to vinyl, but yeah, it'll drop on all platforms and digital stores and whatnot - I know I got to get it up on Bandcamp for you and in Audiomack - that seems to be the new buzz, but yeah, all the typicals, you know, Spotify, Apple, Tidal, all that shit.

Well, it's been great talking to you guys today and hopefully I'll be able to catch a show soon.

Joey Talmage: For sure. I already, already got your name plus however many friends you want to bring to Tauranga. So if you want to make it over that way. Cool. Otherwise we'll catch you the day after bro.

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