Onion Interview with Thes One

Interview by: Cyclone

Date: Summer 2004

US legends People Under The Stairs revived the ol' skool spirit of hip hop in the late '90s along with acts as diverse as Ugly Duckling, Foreign Legion and Jurassic 5. In 1998 Double K (Mike Turner) and Thes One (Chris Portugal) introduced themselves to the international scene with a grassroots LP, 'The Next Step', on the unlikely OM Records. They returned with their breakthrough, 'Question In The Form Of An Answer', two years later. In 2002 they delivered 'OST (Original Soundtrack)' and now they're heading back to Australia for the first time in four years. Thes One is amped.

"People are pretty open-minded there, musically," he starts. "I think there's some people who come to the show, who come to the club, and don't know what to expect - maybe they've never heard us before - but they end up rocking with us, having a good time and participating, and that's what's important."

Of late PUTS have been working on a fourth album, 'The Stepfather', with last year's compile '...Or Stay Tuned' serving as a stop-gap between LPs. The new project was due in October but has been delayed until early 2005.

"It's gonna be dope," Thes One enthuses. "It's just gonna be another People Under The Stairs album, basically. People know what to expect in one sense, but in another sense they don't really know what to expect - because there will always be some sort of evolution off the main theme."

Thes One reveals that PUTS are "pretty close" to finishing it and will perform some of the material in their shows.

Of course PUTS have now been making albums for over six years and the PUTS of today is very different to the one heard on The Next Step . "We've changed a lot - I mean, one, we've gotten older, and with that comes a different perspective on things and a different sense of maturity. There's been so much - we've met so many good people and we've learned a lot about cats out there who listen to music and our fans."

Indeed, PUTS have never identified themselves with the current hip hop scene. Their bio asserts that they have in fact "excused themselves from modern hip hop."

"I think by that we meant that we're just really not concerned with what's going on nowadays. You won't see a bunch of guest appearances on our albums of people who are 'hot'. We're just not really concerned. At the same time, we're super concerned with the history of this and who started this and what were they trying to accomplish - and so we just try and keep that going. We're not really stuck in the ol' skool, but we're definitely paying homage and trying to evolve outta that - as opposed to coming along and trying to make our own thing."

PUTS are wary of being associated exclusively with the past, as if incapable of taking hip hop into fresh directions. And they're not purists, either. It does bug them to be stereotyped. "Some people have been kinda critical in terms of like, 'Well, they're stuck in the past' or 'All this early '90s hip hop is all good and great but...' - it's frustrating for us because it's not what we're trying to do. We're just trying to go back to an era when we thought things were great and build upon that and move forward from that era. We're trying to go back to where we feel like the train went off the track and get it back on track and keep it moving, so a new generation of kids out there can grow up on samples and jazz and whatever - just like we did."

Until recently the hip hop mainstream was defined by bling-bling but, for some, Kanye West's mega-selling College Dropout has signalled a shift in the wider culture. But, as Thes One points out, West is hardly a backpacker. "Kanye West - it's kind of an interesting thing but, on one hand, he'll discredit fame or money, or other artists who are like that, but he also will call himself 'the Louis Vuitton Don'. I don't have fame or Louis Vuitton on, so I can't really relate to a lot of that stuff (laughs).

"The only thing I could really relate to is if someone wrote a song about eating fish tacos or something, I could relate to that , so I just stick to my own thing, 'cause I don't live that type of lifestyle and I don't like listening to other peoples' fantasies about it...

"Someone wants to claim 'underground' when it's convenient but, at the same time, I'm sure he wouldn't be showing up to do a free charity show or a free show at a college or whatever in a small club. These are cats who become accustomed to making enormous amounts of money - and that's why they do things."

At any rate, Double K and Thes One are a tight team. They MC, cut beats and engineer together. In the past Double K has expressed an interest in making ol' skool R&B and Thes One, too, is keen to tackle new things. "There's a lot that we do outside of this - we take that influence into People Under The Stairs, but we also know when to temper it and just be like, OK, it's time to get down to nuts and bolts and pull out the turntables and the records and really do this the way it should be done."

Of late Australia has experienced a spate of so-so international hip hop acts - such as Missy Elliott - who have disappointed crowds, but with PUTS you get the real deal.

"I don't think a lot of 'em are talented - that's the bottom line," Thes One says of their hyped-up contemporaries. "I don't think that they're entertaining and I don't think that they're entertainers and I don't think that they're talented. If it wasn't for the system of the record industry and politicking, I don't think these people could hold their own if it came down to a few microphones and a stage. Some people can - some commercial artists are totally ill, they're super, super dope - but other people aren't, and they just get on because of a variety of different reasons."