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Magazine

Burning the fucking joint down: we chat to A.B. Original for Happy Mag Issue #5

To say that A.B. Original are pushing the conversation around Indigenous presence in Australia would be an understatement.

With their most recent album Reclaim Australia entirely focused on addressing the dispossession and abhorrent treatment of our Indigenous community within our correctional systems, our political history and our society, it’s no wonder it was met with mixed commentary. Reclaim Australia was a bold and purposeful release, one that Australia desperately needed.

But it was not just an album for Indigenous audiences.

When I sat down with Briggs and Trials to discuss their ongoing tour and the intent behind the record, it became more and more apparent that Reclaim Australia was not meant for the informed, but for those of us who remain blind to the realities of Indigenous experience.

a.b. original interview Briggs trial happy mag issue #5
Photo: Jack Stillman

A.B. Original make music that will shake you to your core, even if it means their careers are over. We caught up with Briggs and Trials for Happy Mag Issue #5.

BRIGGS: Up to [Reclaim Australia] if you wanted to get a perspective on Aboriginal rap, it wasn’t necessarily Aboriginal people that everyone was going to. And so for us, it was filling that lane and saying “now you’ve got to check in with us”.

TRIALS: These are experiences that you, or your family, or someone you know close to you are a part of in one way or another. That’s part of the reason we think it has been received so well, because people can recognise the truth in it and the honesty in it. Because Briggs and I were going to do one big career ending, burning the fucking joint down record and that was it. We figured if we’re going to have one shot, fuck ‘em we’re going to give it everything we’ve got.

 

Read the full interview in Happy Mag Issue #5.