1200 Techniques Biography

1200 Techniques Biography

Although Australia had an underground hip-hop scene starting in the late '80s, it wasn't until 2001 that it began to be recognized by the mainstream of Australian music. 1200 Techniques were an important part of that moment, with charting singles, appearances on TV shows like John Safran's Music Jamboree, and a sound that contained an eclectic blend of rock, dance, and funk influences to win over those Australians unconvinced their country had a place as a producer of quality hip-hop music. Founder DJ Peril had been a part of Melbourne's hip-hop scene for years when, in 1997, he first saw MC Kabba performing in a local pub and was inspired to form a crew. Kabba brought along his brother and songwriting partner Nfamas, mostly famous for his role in a series of biscuit commercials. The group was rounded out with another brother, this time Peril's. Up until then Kemstar had been playing rock guitar with the band Quarter2Nine. It was his hard-hitting riff that became the focus for their first song, "Hard as Hell." They named themselves after the Technics SL-1200 turntables Peril was a master of and released it as a single, with an accompanying film clip that cast them as a gang straight out of The Warriors. While working on the songs that would eventually form their first album, Kabba decided to leave the country and move to the U.K., leaving Nfamas as the group's lead MC. Now a trio, they recorded a 2001 EP called Infinite Styles and followed it a year later with the album Choose One. The crossover success of Choose One was unprecedented, winning ARIA awards for the album in the Best Independent Release category and for the video of its first single, "Karma," which made it into the chart Top 40. In 2002 they were awarded the Best Hip-Hop Act award at the national Dance Music Awards, humbly stating that they felt they didn't deserve it when there were so many other talented acts in the scene who hadn't achieved a similar level of success. In 2004 they released their second album, Consistency Theory, and proved themselves worthy of their widespread acclaim. Again they managed to make the charts and tour the festival circuit. A year later they put the group on hiatus to pursue solo work. DJ Peril and Nfamas (renamed N'fa) released their own albums, and Kemstar joined the Jack to record songs for the soundtrack to Thunderstruck, an AC/DC tribute film.

Blending eclectric tastes ranging from: hip hop, rock, soul, funk, electro jazz and breakbeat, 1200 Techniques are a hard band to classify. Formed in 1997, 1200 Techniques started out as DJ Peril and brothers Nfamas and Kabba, soon after Peril's brother Kemstar joined and together they wrote many of the tracks that appeared on the debut single Hard As Hell Choose One. Halfway through 1998, Kabba moved to London. It wasn't until 2002 that 1200 Techniques released their debut album - Chose One. It debuted at number 20 in the ARIA charts. It was the single Hard As Hell that scored 1200 Techniques a support slot with Linkin Park in early 2002. The next single Karma saw them break through into commercial success. They won an ARIA for Best Video and Best Independant Release for the single Karma. 1200 Techniques were also nominated for 3 other awards including, Best New Artist Single, Best New Artist Album, Best Dance Release, After this success they launched a national tour with support by US Princess Superstar. In November 2002, 1200 Techniques picked up two Dance Music Association awards for Best Debut Artist and Best Hip Hop Artist admidst stiff competition.

The group was formed in 1997, starting out as DJ Peril and brothers Nfamas and Kabba, soon after Peril's brother Kemstar joined and together they wrote many of the tracks that appeared on the debut single "Hard As Hell" and the group's debut album Choose One. DJ Peril & Kemstar's involvement in the hip hop scene dates back to the early 1980's as pre-teens.[citation needed] DJ Peril being a founding member of one of Melbourne's first ever hip hop crews The Island Boys,[citation needed] Peril also DJ'd in a number of different bands. In 1998, Kabba moved to England. Live shows by the group added a human drummer to the line-up. Their 1998 song "Hard as Hell" received airplay on Triple J. 2001 saw the release of the Infinite Styles EP. Their debut album, Choose One, was released in 2002 on Rubber Records (distributed by Sony Records). The first single from this album was "Karma", which reached the top 40 of the Australia ARIAnet singles chart—peaking at #36—and took the 2002 ARIA Award for Best Video and Best Independent Release. Choose One peaked at #20 on the Australian album chart. Their 2004 release Consistency Theory included the singles "Eye of the Storm" and "Where Ur At?". The former received some airplay on mainstream radio,[citation needed] while the latter reached the top 40 singles chart, peaking at #35. Following the album's release, the group appeared at the Big Day Out festival in early 2004. Consistency Theory peaked at #38 on the album chart.