international musician | Tinsel Town News Now

06 - by Rom Anthonis.jpg — Nexus Effected (left), KidCrusher and Xibalba Bunny (right) shot by Rom Anthonis

When one thinks of Australia’s music scene, death metal hip-hop, more commonly known to fans as horrorcore, doesn’t necessarily come to mind. However, this style of music, which is considered a subgenre of hip-hop with a strong horror-theme influence, cryptic lyrical content, and brutal imagery, has garnered quite the worldwide following due in large part to an electrifying artist by the name of KidCrusher.

Initially stimulated by hardcore hip-hop, “I started my first rap group at the age of 12 and released 2 albums on cassette tape (around 1996), when I reached high school I was introduced to metal music and assembled my own cover band, ” says KidCrusher as he recalls his early love for the music genre.

The Adelaide, South Australia native exploded onto the music scene back in 2005 when he released his first single “A Dirty Fuckin Murder,” and the accompanying music video, which instantly went viral. With over 280,000 plus views online, the popularity of the video skyrocketed and became a sensation among fans, the irony of this is the fact that the musician filmed the video by himself in his own backyard! What is even more impressive, and something that has lent to the major traction KidCrusher gained in the public eye back in the early stages of his career is that fact that it was included an episode of the hit TV show Law & Order. KidCrusher gained a huge cult following online and around the world, and the talented musician came to the fated realization that a career in music was his true calling.

Check out the music video below:

After that there was no turning back for the KidCrusher. He began churning out albums like there was no tomorrow; and, the worldwide praise he has received in exchange is monumental. The unconventional, multi-talented musician (who also plays guitar, bass, programmed drums, piano, and also produces most of his own beats) released 12 studio albums over the past decade. In addition to this prolific pace, his live shows have definitely been a major cornerstone of the artist’s success, Over the years he has been featured on the bill with other popular global artists such as Insane Clown Posse, Xzibit, Tech N9ne, Hed(pe), Mushroomhead, Hopsin, and many more.

The musician’s most recent album “Metal Murder 3D” is perhaps his most universally acclaimed production to date with the album going on to win the Faygoluvers Metal Album of the Year Award in 2015. The award winning album also features a track entitled “Alice in Zombieland,” and with the support of Strongman Productions, a film-driven music video for the hit song was created and released in theatres throughout Australia during Monster Fest Trasharama.

“Music has always been like my best friend forever, I connect so well with it that to me, music is my life, career, past present and future of me. Every time I finish an album I say to myself ‘I’ll take a mini break and relax for a bit’ and it never happens, it pulls me back in, I feel so separated without it. I don’t know if its boredom or the drive for that amazing feeling of creating a masterpiece,” says KidCrusher.

And there doesn’t appear to be any slowing down as far as KidCrusher’s passion for making music and movies go. He recently released “Back to the KidCrusher” a video that celebrates his ten year anniversary of making music which also happens to coincide with “Back to the Future Day” on October 21, 2015. After the music video ends, there is a 30 minute documentary that highlights KidCrusher’s ten year career entitled “Ten Years of KidCrusher.”

You can see the music video and documentary below:

Regardless of what medium is used, KidCrusher’s drive to make music and movie magic is nearly unmatched by any other performer in the Australian scene.

Ze Gran Zeft — ZGZ’s Da Kid (right), Boots and Sideman (right) shot by Marie Gimenes

France is certainly known for its cuisine, high fashion, and romantic allure. However, throughout music history the country has never been at the forefront of producing great rock music until now: rock band Ze Gran Zeft is looking to change all that and in a big way.

Compared to bands such as Limp Bizkit, The Prodigy, and Cypress Hill, ZGZ (as they are more commonly referred to by fans) consists of singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter Boots, bass player Sideman, and Da Kid on drums.

Hailing from Toulon in the South East of France, the band was formed in 2009 at a band contest when Da Kid met Boots and the rest, as they say, was history.

Da Kid recalls how well they clicked right away saying, “Total chemistry, we have a lot of influences, and that makes ZGZ’s richness, and it’s been like that from the beginning. It’s been 6 years since we started working together and it’s still the same craziness!”

Shortly after their formation, musical impresario Charles “Kallaghan” Massabo was brought into the picture in order to help put a grasp on their still raw and edgy sound. With his keen ear, Massabo molded ZGZ into an exciting and energetic band with much more cohesion. Kallaghan’s vision and big brother-like presence has given the band a much more focused approach to making music.

“We work as a “rock band” but with a “hip hop” approach – the beat/instrumentals are made first, then I would write some hooks keeping the best one to build a powerful chorus. The inspiration/recording/writing process stays the same for us, we create a vibe, we just fool around until we reach the positive vibe to create and record a track. And basically that is what ZGZ is made of,” says Boots.

ZGZ’s first two EP’s were “Watch the Crown” and “Crunked Vizion” which were both released in 2013. The sound for both albums is wild and rambunctious, perfect for youthful party goers, and very reminiscent of American singer Andrew WK.

According to Boots, “I usually write lyrics about stuff that amuses me, like partying with friends, having a good time, and most of all: SEX. We like the 80’s vibe before grunge came out with all their penis problems haha…But we are also huge fans of 90’s music and that paradox is ZGZ’s main direction: the crossover. We’re just a bunch of kids that love to fool around and annoy elder people.”

After releasing the hit single ‘Spaceman’ in September, which features Falling In Reverse’s former lead guitarist and vocalist Jacky C. Vincent, the band released their next single ‘#Millennial Kids’ featuring Mopreme Shakur, Tupac’s older brother, on Dec. 3. The song pays tribute to the generation of 20 and 30 something’s that grew up on Super Nintendo, Baywatch and everything in between that made it so great to grow up in the Millennial era.

Their first full-length album entitled “JOI” is set to be released in 2016.

You can check out the video for their new single ‘#Millenial Kids’ below, as well as buy some of their past tracks and albums through iTunes.