Fresh off the bus from their ‘Down By The River’ tour – Bliss N Eso headed straight for the slopes of Thredbo to perform at ‘MTV Snow Jam 2010!’
The ARIA award winning hip-hop group, made up of MC Bliss (Jonathan Notley) MC Esoterik (Max MacKinnon) and DJ Izm (Tarik Ejjamai), rocked the stage, alongside pop faves Operator Please and the Stafford Brothers, at the hottest winter bash of the year.
Debuting brand new tracks from their latest #1 album ‘Running On Air’ and setting off fireworks during their encore, the trio showed Aussie fans a last dose of love before heading off to tour the US.
MTV caught up with the lads backstage after they smashed it in their first ever sub zero temperature set, to talk beating Eminem, riding Zorb balls and vodka pranks…
MTV: Great set guys! Did you enjoy yourselves out there?
Jonathan: It was amazing! We've never done a show outside in the snow before and to have snowflakes coming down as we’re ripping stuff and people going crazy in freezing cold temperatures, it was amazing.
Max: I wanted to dunk my gonads in the snow at one point though!
Tarik: I did too...
Max: Did you? God dammit we should have done it!
MTV: So it was a pretty different experience performing in the snow then?
Tariq: It was very different. It was definitely easier to stay cooler!
Jonathan: (Laughs) A lot easier yeah. I've actually never worn my jacket the whole way through a show before.
Max: I was a bit scared I’d fall a**e over t*t but no one did.
MTV: And what did you make of the buzzing crowd?
Tariq: It’s Australia, we love Australia and they love us, it’s just awesome. And we're just stoked to do our last show before we go to America.
Jonathan: Yep in less than 24 hrs we're going over to the states for a 30 day tour. It's boiling hot over there so it’s going to be one extreme to the other.
Tariq: - Yep good ending, great ending.
MTV: We hear you also had a go riding a Zorb ball earlier?
Tariq: Let’s not talk about that.
Max: (Laughs) That was a nightmare. We did it, me and DJ Izm.
Tariq: Put it this way, there's no graceful way of jumping in that ball. There is nothing graceful about it. If you want to laugh at someone (points at Jonathan) get him in one of those balls!
Jonathan: All three of us were supposed to do it and these guys went before me and I opted out – that’s how uncomfortable the thing looked.
MTV: And you had a go at snowboarding too?
Tariq: Yeah. Best snow I’ve ever seen in the whole of Australia's history.
Jonathan: Yep. We've had a good dumping.
MTV: So tell us how good it felt to kick Eminem off the ARIA Charts with ‘Running On Air’
Tariq: If someone told me 15 years ago that we were even going to be in the charts I’d have been like, ‘yeah you’re lying’ or that Eminem’s in the charts with you, I’d say, ‘you’re lying.’
Jonathan: It was definitely pretty amazing. And to bump off someone in hip-hop, and not only in hip-hop, but probably the biggest artist in the game, it’s pretty awesome. We were just stoked that people, our fans, went out there and supported us.
MTV: Tell us a funny story from your recent Aussie tour…
Jonathan: We’ve got a member in our crew, we wont say who, but he likes a bit of vodka…
Tariq: He likes a bit of OUR vodka.
Max: He probably likes it a bit too much so he gets a bit loose.
Jonathan: So, for the last show in Adelaide we decided to fill the vodka bottle up with water and he was just hammering these vodka oranges the whole night.
Tariq: He didn’t notice it all night. It was quite hilarious.
MTV: So aside from plenty more pranks on your US tour, what else is coming up?
Jonathan: When we get back from the US tour we’ve got quite a few festivals happening, and lots of shows coming up and its all about getting out there. We’ve got a whole bunch of tracks that we haven’t done yet from ‘Running On Air,’ and we’re getting some new ones in the mix and touring it up.
Bliss N Eso’s new album ‘Running On Air’ is out now!
Don’t miss the rappers at 'MTV Snow Jam 2010' on MTV Australia, September 5 @ 4pm (AEST).
Meanwhile check out a sneaky peak at what’s to come in the video clip below…
Copyright : MTV Australia
