Vacating the Premises
[Originally published in BMA Magazine, August 2013]
Whether through his eloquently ill-mannered restaurant resignation, or his infamously articulate rant about hover boards, SETH SENTRY is one Aussie hip hop artist with whom most of us should now be acquainted. Having just returned from a successful US tour of his 2012 debut album This Was Tomorrow, it seems it’s not just Australia in which Seth’s excelling.
Barely having touched down on Texan soil in March, Seth won himself an opening slot for LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Ice Cube and Doug E. Fresh through an audience-voted freestyling competition at the world’s biggest music conference, SXSW. Moments later, Seth was confirmed as the support slot on LL Cool J’s June/July Authentic tour, as well as gifted an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live – making Seth the first ever Australian MC to perform on the show.
‘It’s pretty phenomenal. It was my first time even overseas, let alone playing a set over there, so there was just so much going on. We’re stoked, we just couldn’t have possibly predicted an outcome like that.’
For many Aussie artists, the call of international success and support from a growing US fan base would be enough to send them packing. Not for this notoriously fun-fuelled MC. ‘I really wanted to do this regional tour first in Australia, ‘cos that’s something I love doing, and I felt kinda bummed out last time we just got to do the big capital cities. I’m excited. Regionals are just my favourite shit – they always go so crazy.’
Sentry’s upcoming tour will promote his latest release, Vacation, taken from This Was Tomorrow. Though its lyrical content comprises a bemusing mix of drug references and video game quips, beneath this satirical surface, Seth said, ‘Man, that song’s a funny one. That was the last I wrote for the album and I’d just spent three years working on it. It was all kinda finished and the end was in sight, so really it’s just about me wrapping it up and saying, “I’m going to take a break after this”. Not even so much as in stop writing music, but...’ Struggling for words, Seth paused, before continuing with a hint of atypical angst. ‘When you’re writing an album, or when I am, I’m just constantly thinking about it; constantly stressing and constantly got all these dates and times and schedules to keep to. And then it’s all gone.
‘That album took way longer than I thought and I was really starting to get hassled by people who’d been listening to my music for a while and stuff … it was cool to just kind of let it go and just focus on the fun stuff, the performance side of it. That’s the vacation for me.’
As for the rest of the album, listeners can expect the same kind of relatable, light-hearted lyrical content of 2009’s widely circulated The Waitress Song and last year’s My Scene, covering everything from intolerable housemates to the zombie apocalypse. In an industry saturated with ‘daddy issues’ and hard times in the neighbourhood, it’s no wonder Seth’s approach to hip hop has gleaned far-reaching appeal.
Of course, this doesn’t mean Seth is free of his own demons, which, on the odd track or two, leak through his verses – apparently unwittingly. ‘It’s not really a conscious thing. I guess [songwriting] is just an extension of your personality. Like, I’m generally not the most forthcoming, open kind of person when it comes to my personal life, even with the people around me, so I guess that’s going to happen with the music. So yeah, every now and then little bits come through.
‘But I certainly don’t think I could ever imagine myself sitting down and wanting to write and dedicate a whole song to my struggle or whatever. Everybody’s got their problems and things they’ve been through, and when I listen to music I sometimes don’t really want to hear a guy crying about his shitty upbringing or that his dad didn’t love him or whatever, y’know? I think there’s a way to release that information that isn’t so obvious … that isn’t so “Dear Diary”.’
Clearly, the accumulation of multiple recent successes have done nothing to chip away at the dogged humility of this rapidly accelerating rapper, who confesses to never once having predicted this future for himself. ‘I don’t think I would ever have been able to convince “past Seth” exactly of all the awesome stuff that’s happened in the last few years. I wouldn’t have believed it. It just wasn’t viable.
‘Not only could I not see myself doing this, but just where Aussie hip hop is at now. Growing up, you couldn’t be doing it to get famous or to get money because there was no money there and no one really liked rap. When I told people I was a rapper I’d have to kind of mumble it under my breath. So that, coupled with how ridiculous it’s all been, I couldn’t have imagined I’ve been able to do what I do.’
But surely, most stunned of all must be a certain restaurant owner; Seth’s previous employer and subject of the scathingly witty Thanks for Your Hospitality? Seth’s response was laced with a contented blend of utter indifference and cheeky retribution.
‘I’ve had lots of different hospitality jobs and I’ve quit in many, many, many ways, so I’ve been able to tell my dickhead bosses at every turn exactly what I think about them. I mean, I’ve had some good quits.’ Without skipping a beat, Seth recounted one particularly momentous occasion: ‘Once, I was working at a place that had these really nice shirts with the name of the restaurant embroidered onto it. I was like, “I quit” and the sous was like, “Yeh?” and I went to walk out and he goes, “That’s our shirt!”, so I was like, “Yeh? Well, fuck this shirt!” and – this sounds psychopathic by the way – I actually ended up ripping my shirt off mid-shift in the middle of the restaurant, throwing it on the ground and walking out.’
Well, I guess the moral of the story is that success is indeed the best revenge … except, perhaps, if you’re Seth Sentry.
Barely having touched down on Texan soil in March, Seth won himself an opening slot for LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Ice Cube and Doug E. Fresh through an audience-voted freestyling competition at the world’s biggest music conference, SXSW. Moments later, Seth was confirmed as the support slot on LL Cool J’s June/July Authentic tour, as well as gifted an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live – making Seth the first ever Australian MC to perform on the show.
‘It’s pretty phenomenal. It was my first time even overseas, let alone playing a set over there, so there was just so much going on. We’re stoked, we just couldn’t have possibly predicted an outcome like that.’
For many Aussie artists, the call of international success and support from a growing US fan base would be enough to send them packing. Not for this notoriously fun-fuelled MC. ‘I really wanted to do this regional tour first in Australia, ‘cos that’s something I love doing, and I felt kinda bummed out last time we just got to do the big capital cities. I’m excited. Regionals are just my favourite shit – they always go so crazy.’
Sentry’s upcoming tour will promote his latest release, Vacation, taken from This Was Tomorrow. Though its lyrical content comprises a bemusing mix of drug references and video game quips, beneath this satirical surface, Seth said, ‘Man, that song’s a funny one. That was the last I wrote for the album and I’d just spent three years working on it. It was all kinda finished and the end was in sight, so really it’s just about me wrapping it up and saying, “I’m going to take a break after this”. Not even so much as in stop writing music, but...’ Struggling for words, Seth paused, before continuing with a hint of atypical angst. ‘When you’re writing an album, or when I am, I’m just constantly thinking about it; constantly stressing and constantly got all these dates and times and schedules to keep to. And then it’s all gone.
‘That album took way longer than I thought and I was really starting to get hassled by people who’d been listening to my music for a while and stuff … it was cool to just kind of let it go and just focus on the fun stuff, the performance side of it. That’s the vacation for me.’
As for the rest of the album, listeners can expect the same kind of relatable, light-hearted lyrical content of 2009’s widely circulated The Waitress Song and last year’s My Scene, covering everything from intolerable housemates to the zombie apocalypse. In an industry saturated with ‘daddy issues’ and hard times in the neighbourhood, it’s no wonder Seth’s approach to hip hop has gleaned far-reaching appeal.
Of course, this doesn’t mean Seth is free of his own demons, which, on the odd track or two, leak through his verses – apparently unwittingly. ‘It’s not really a conscious thing. I guess [songwriting] is just an extension of your personality. Like, I’m generally not the most forthcoming, open kind of person when it comes to my personal life, even with the people around me, so I guess that’s going to happen with the music. So yeah, every now and then little bits come through.
‘But I certainly don’t think I could ever imagine myself sitting down and wanting to write and dedicate a whole song to my struggle or whatever. Everybody’s got their problems and things they’ve been through, and when I listen to music I sometimes don’t really want to hear a guy crying about his shitty upbringing or that his dad didn’t love him or whatever, y’know? I think there’s a way to release that information that isn’t so obvious … that isn’t so “Dear Diary”.’
Clearly, the accumulation of multiple recent successes have done nothing to chip away at the dogged humility of this rapidly accelerating rapper, who confesses to never once having predicted this future for himself. ‘I don’t think I would ever have been able to convince “past Seth” exactly of all the awesome stuff that’s happened in the last few years. I wouldn’t have believed it. It just wasn’t viable.
‘Not only could I not see myself doing this, but just where Aussie hip hop is at now. Growing up, you couldn’t be doing it to get famous or to get money because there was no money there and no one really liked rap. When I told people I was a rapper I’d have to kind of mumble it under my breath. So that, coupled with how ridiculous it’s all been, I couldn’t have imagined I’ve been able to do what I do.’
But surely, most stunned of all must be a certain restaurant owner; Seth’s previous employer and subject of the scathingly witty Thanks for Your Hospitality? Seth’s response was laced with a contented blend of utter indifference and cheeky retribution.
‘I’ve had lots of different hospitality jobs and I’ve quit in many, many, many ways, so I’ve been able to tell my dickhead bosses at every turn exactly what I think about them. I mean, I’ve had some good quits.’ Without skipping a beat, Seth recounted one particularly momentous occasion: ‘Once, I was working at a place that had these really nice shirts with the name of the restaurant embroidered onto it. I was like, “I quit” and the sous was like, “Yeh?” and I went to walk out and he goes, “That’s our shirt!”, so I was like, “Yeh? Well, fuck this shirt!” and – this sounds psychopathic by the way – I actually ended up ripping my shirt off mid-shift in the middle of the restaurant, throwing it on the ground and walking out.’
Well, I guess the moral of the story is that success is indeed the best revenge … except, perhaps, if you’re Seth Sentry.