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  Ciecmate of the Hospice Crew Interview
interview 0527 added 19.09.07 words:
Fraksha
technical:
Spoon
Ciecmate was one of the first people I met when I was originally here in 2002 – he thought I was an Ozzie putting on an English accent! – and I can safely say he’s one of the safest people I’ve come into contact with…but don’t mistake kindness for weakness, a keen martial artist he will stomp you out! Anyway, back to the music…Ciecmate is a part of the Hospice Crew and also runs Broken Tooth Entertainment, renowned around Australia for releasing no bullshit, staunch as it gets Ozzie hip hop.
State your name and occupation
Ciecmate - General Manager of Broken Tooth Entertainment, Studio Engineer, Producer, Rapper & Unemployed bum
So tell me about Hospice Crew, Broken Tooth entertainment, whose involved and what you all represent?
Hospice Crew is a big bunch of us who have been down with each other for years now. Along the way we built a pretty solid reputation in the Hip Hop scene in Australia for the music we've put out, shows we've torn up, towns we've trashed and parties we've turned out.
 Broken Tooth Entertainment is the label and production house I formed in 2003, it's basically an avenue for the current B.T.E family to get their music out to the people. Currently, my-self and Newsense are running the business side of things for B.T.E along with our Distributor, Shogun Distribution.
The current roster is: Tornts, Billy Bunks (A.K.A Boozed Bastards), Gargoyle, Ciecmate, Newsense, Rhys, Mexi, Para, Smokey B & Aire Tight (Hospice Crew), Maggot Mouf & Overproof (Swarmy, Fame & Abuse).
You're originally from Canberra yeah, what motivated you to come to Melbourne?
My friend got me an application form to study sound engineering, I applied and much to my surprise got accepted for an interview so I thought of a million other great excuses to move here. A few of my friends moved here at the same time, so the timing was just perfect all round really.
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Yeah we're a bunch of rowdy bastards, but we're out to have a good night just like everyone else
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You've encountered you're fair share of trouble at Hospice Crew shows in the past, what with fights kicking off and venues getting shut down. I know you find this to be a real annoyance because of the hard work that you put in to making shit happen. Why do you think Hospice attract these problems?
The fact is that Hospice Crew DON'T attract these problems, neither does Hired Goons or any of the B.T.E heads... What's most annoying about this is that there are so many other shows put on by other groups here that are plagued with problems but nobody ever seems to mention them. I guess we just got picked out to be the scapegoats. Yeah we're a bunch of rowdy bastards, but we're out to have a good night just like everyone else.
Last year you released 'Visiting Hours' to a real good response? This featured exactly how many mc's? How the hell did you pull this off without losing your head?
From memory the total was 41 (I could be underestimating though haha). It took 5 years all up... Lot's of communication, persistence, patience, production, spliffs, drinks and a whoooooooooooooooole lot of vocal mixing.
And I lost my head several times during the making of this album... Still don't know where I fucking put it!
You've mentioned to me before problems with people downloading your products? Most people have downloaded something in their life at least once, but how does downloading affect an independent label like Broken Tooth?
It comes with the territory, people were burning copies of our shit before they knew about downloads. The thing is that nowadays it's so much easier to obtain an album without having to actually buy a physical product... I understand the appeal in that and the bottom line is that the people downloading free copies of our shit for free aren't doing it because they want to rip us off, they're doing it because they ARE fans.
Alot of true heads will still cop the CD coz they wanna support the hard work we put in.
It only affects us because Australia has a pretty small market of dedicated local Hip Hop consumers. There needs to be a certain amount of album sales in order to break even on Manufacture and promotion costs alone (Not to mention the countless hours spent writing, producing, recording, etc...), but with the event of digital downloads nothing is certain in regards to sales anymore. So if CD sales drop so does the label kitty.
It's the future though and nothing's gonna stop it, so I'm gonna work out some cool ways to roll with it.
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people downloading copies of our shit for free aren't doing it because they want to rip us off, they're doing it because they ARE fans
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You've just recently released 'Dental Records', a compilation of tracks from Broken Tooth artists? My favourite track on there is the Tornts one, have you got a favourite and why?
 My favourite songs on the album are 'Sans Abri' by Gargoyle because of how effective the imagery in it is. It's actually produced by none other than I.N.C.H Beatmakerz in Paris. The Tornts song you mentioned is a remix of the song Tornts also did with I.N.C.H (To be released on acompilation in France soon).
My other favourite is 'Showstopper' by Newsense coz I know each and every event he's making reference to in that song. He is without a doubt the debauchery king of Aus Rap.
So I hear you got a Ciecmate and Newsense album in the works? Whats going in with this and what’s your plans for Hospice Crew and Broken Tooth in the future?
Yeah we're working on an album together which is starting to shape up quite nicely. Should be out early next year... We'll keep you posted. As for Hospice Crew, everyone's working on their own individual projects currently. over the next 15 Months B.T.E will also be releasing albums by Billy Bunks, Tornts, Bigfoot, Gargoyle, Maggot Mouf, Para, Rhys & Boozed Bastards (Bunks & Tornts). We'll be doing some clips and possibly a DVD soon also... Lots on the cards.
Outside of the Broken Tooth camp who do you rate and who should people be checking for?
750 Rebels, Hungry Humans, Nine High & all the heads you all know we all already know
Finally any shouts
Nah... fuck cunts!
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Fraksha
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