The Vine interview: Daddy G of Massive Attack, March 2010

An interview with Massive Attack for The Vine ahead of their Australian tour in March 2010.

Grant Marshall and Robert Del Naja of Massive AttackAs chief trip-hop genre-definers, Massive Attack exist in 2010 as production duo Robert del Naja [stage name: 3D] and Grant Marshall [Daddy G], who work alongside co-producers, session musicians, and guest vocalists to skilfully mesh elements of electronica, hip-hop, drum-and-bass and house. Following the February release of their highly anticipated – and frequently postponed – fifth album, Heligoland, Massive Attack are touring Australia for the first time since 2003.

On the eve of their performance at Perth’s Kings Park, Andrew McMillen connected with Daddy G [pictured above left] to discuss controversial artwork, digital downloading, and Massive Attack’s two appearances in Triple J’s Hottest 100 Of All Time.

Full interview at The Vine, published March 18, 2010.

I didn’t realise it until after the fact, but this was my ‘biggest’ interview thus far, when considered in terms of Massive Attack’s widely celebrated career and lasting impact on contemporary music. Thereby pushing Neil Strauss to #2.

The interview was conducted from the back seat of a friend’s car on a sunny Friday afternoon.. only because I couldn’t attain a quiet place to record our conversation elsewhere at the office. The interview had been rescheduled five times in 10 days, and was originally supposed to be with Robert del Naja / 3D. Oh well.

On a personal note, it was rewarding to tip Grant off about Massive Attack’s presence in triple j’s Hottest 100 Of All Time, and how their songs ‘Unfinished Sympathy‘ and ‘Teardrop‘ were the only tracks in the countdown to feature female vocals. The scoop was significant enough to warrant a news story the day before publication. Juicy. Props to my friend Josh Donellan for raising it when I crowdsourced potential interview questions via Facebook in early March.

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