When your knowledge of classical music comes from Disney and Warner Brother Cartoons, it’s hard to conceive questions for one of Adelaide’s foremost classical composers. However, Jamie Messenger doesn’t fit the mould usually conjured up by the words “classical composer.” He plays keyboards, guitars and sings in bands, has produced and arranged numerous pieces for the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO), including shows ‘All You Need Is Beatles’, ‘Zeppelin Flies Again’ and ‘Orchestral Pink Floyd’, and of course is the composer behind the incredibly successful ‘Hard Road Restrung’ album with the Hilltop Hoods.
He even laughed heartily at my suggestion the Simpsons may have been an inspiration for the merging of hiphop and orchestration, giggling at the idea it was thought up whilst someone was stoned. So, what did inspire him to merge the Hilltop Hoods and the ASO? “Essentially it’s just a good idea,” he smiles. “I heard a lot of the Hilltop Hoods music before and I thought it had a chance of working – I didn’t know for sure to be honest,” he chuckles, “but I thought it was worth a try. When we did some work with the string quartet to start with (for the ARIAs) from that I got an indication of what they’re like and what they’d be happy with, which gave me a good grounding to do the orchestral score.”
“There’s certainly a lot of scope in rock, and even more so in hiphop, to add orchestral elements,” he explains. “With hiphop there’s not as much melody to clash, you don’t have to switch to a melody, and that, so you’ve got the whole gamut of melody and new harmony you can add to the music. Certainly with a lot of rock music there’s not a lot you can do with it and you have to chug along with the chords, but there is some rock music that gets more intricate. Hiphop music is based on samples repeated through the piece so you’ve got the option of writing one section and looping it or you can take the option I did and expand the piece right to the end and write the dynamics into it,” he continues. “Rather than take the sample and say ‘we’ll turn it up here’, I’ve used those techniques and put it into the actual orchestration, so instead of using a filter or effect, I get that sound just through the way I orchestrate it.”
I was surprised when Messenger told me the Hilltops were quite hands off. “The songs they really liked were those I had changed a lot and added some new melodies and things like that, so from my point of view it was great!” he grins. “The Hilltops didn’t really have much input or knowledge of what I was going to be doing but they weren’t checking up and saying we want this or that; they had enough faith in me and trusted me enough,” he laughs. “I was always a bit hesitant at how well it would work,” he confesses. “I was uncertain to how diehard hiphop fans would take to having an orchestra with the band but I’m really glad people enjoy it and get into it.”
And boy, did people enjoy it! ‘The Hard Road Restrung’ debuted at no 8 on the ARIA record charts, and the sellout concert at Adelaide Entertainment Centre saw 7,200 fans smashing attendance records for a local act. I asked Messenger if he had talked to any of the orchestra since and what they thought of it. “They were certainly blown away by the magnitude of the crowd and how they knew all the lyrics and singing along at the right time. The crowd certainly doesn’t act like that at a normal gig the ASO will play. The audience don’t jump up and sing along with the operas,” he laughs. “I think they can see how much people appreciate what they did, and who doesn’t want 7,200 people screaming and cheering for you,” he chuckles again.
If there was one criticism I could have levelled at the show it was the fact the orchestra were tucked behind the band and weren’t brought to the forefront of the show. Messenger assures me this was for the best. “We never had done anything to this scale before and the logistics of the concert meant it’s better to keep them back there. They have to be able to see the conductor the whole time, and the sound on the stage made it very hard to hear what was going on. Timing-wise it just makes it easier if they’re all together in one place.”
Messenger just finished doing the ‘ASO Plays Queen’ shows in Adelaide, and is taking it to other states, “although Freddy couldn’t make it unfortunately” he laughs. He says after this he will take some time off to concentrate on writing music for his band the Scholars, and it will be very interesting to hear what this talented musical maestro will come up with next.
The Hard Road Restrung is out now through Obese Records.