If you haven’t already immersed yourself in 40 Hours, the new single from Regular Bassis, stop what you’re doing and go listen to it now. The song is a three-minute slice of genre-bending hip-hop, completely disassembling society’s outdated notions of a 40-hour workweek.
So fresh off the track’s release, we caught up with the group to chat all about it, musical influences, and what the future holds.
With an epic new single fresh under their belts, we caught up with Sydney-based outfit Regular Bassis to chat all about it.
HAPPY: Hey guys, how’s it going? What are you up to at the moment?
REGULAR BASSIS: Hey! We are going great! Thank you for asking and having us here. We’ve been isolated at the studio quite a lot these days working on new material and growing as musicians by educating ourselves in the instruments we play and what we can do to aid our songs.
HAPPY: We’ve been loving 40 Hours! How does it feel having the track out there in the world?
REGULAR BASSIS: We are truly grateful that we live in a time where being heard has become possible with technology being so accessible. It feels as though we get a step closer to being who we want to be every time we put out a new song.
HAPPY: Could you tell us a bit about the song?
REGULAR BASSIS: The story behind the song is about not being believed in by the ones who are closest to a person and being pressured to meet social expectations. The song was inspired by the concept of removing disempowering beliefs within oneself and overcoming the standard 40 hours of work that has been set by society.
HAPPY: You guys have been releasing music for a couple of years now… how did Regular Bassis come together?
REGULAR BASSIS: Sheph.ART is really the middleman here who got us all together. Sheph and Timmy went to the same high school, 4 years without speaking a word to each other and somehow ended up in music class together. They realised in music class that they both shared the same passion. Sheph invited Timmy over to his home studio back when it was in his bedroom, god that seems so long ago! But really before all of that happened, they both went to a local chicken shop and Sheph noticed Timmy eating his chicken drumstick all the way to the bone, and that’s really when their friendship blossomed haha!
Barry met Sheph on his first day at his new job as an electrical apprentice. Sheph was playing instrumentals whilst they worked together on his Megaboom. Barry unknowingly asked Sheph who the artist was, Sheph just looked at him, winks and goes, that’s me bro! It’s crazy how far we have come from then, we now have our own studio on the 28th floor of a high rise building in Sydney. We could not be more grateful for the opportunity we have been given!
HAPPY: Did you approach the writing and recording of this new single differently to past material at all?
REGULAR BASSIS: Normally we speak about a topic for the song between the three of us when we have the beat ready and we are ready to write, however, this time we went with the feeling of the beat rather than speaking about a topic of the song. No one spoke to one another, we sat there just writing quietly all three of us bopping our heads in our own worlds. Not sure what it was but the three of us ended up writing about the same cause and it was beautiful.
HAPPY: Were there any particular artists you were really digging when you were putting this single together?
REGULAR BASSIS: Yes actually! We were inspired by No Halo – Brockhampton. We love how people-orientated Brockhampton is. They put multiple perspectives together all the way from the beat to vocals due to how large their group is and that really inspires us and what we are making Regular Bassis. Another aspect that inspired us from Brockhampton is how real their music videos are – it seems as though its always a one take shot with everyone in the video truly being raw. The music video for 40 hours was also inspired by this. Our video played on the concept that everyone feels something different to what they do. In today’s society, it may be normal to drink alcohol and have fun with friends, and even though we laugh whilst we do it, all we really want to do is our passion. It hurts that society is boxed in this manner, and we want to show that you are capable of achieving that standard of the 40-hour workweek through the things that you love.
HAPPY: Is 40 Hours the taste of more to come? An EP or album perhaps?
REGULAR BASSIS: It sure is, we have a song coming out called Be Free which will play on the same concept of getting out of the societal pressure of working 40 hours and actually starting to live your passion and “be free”. However, as we are a versatile group, we want to make sure that we make music that will relate to everyone in our community and so the genre for Be Free is rap rather than alternative RnB/hip-hop in which we would classify 40 Hours.
HAPPY: What else is coming up for you guys? Any other exciting plans in the works?
REGULAR BASSIS: Right now we are building our foundations in terms of collaborating with other artists, bloggers and influencers and aim to release a lot more music for you guys! Our producer Sheph.ART has also opened up his production, mixing and mastering services under the name of beatswithsheph and is expanding his knowledge through experimenting with new voices as well as different genres.
HAPPY: Cheers for the chat!
REGULAR BASSIS: Thank you for granting us this opportunity to speak with you. We look forward to meeting again!
40 Hours is available now. Listen above.
