Following a breakthrough year in 2020 resulting in a nomination for Best Independent Hip Hop Album / EP at the 2021 AIR Awards, Sydney duo St. Christoph & Shaade released their sophomore EP titled No Pressure on 12th November 2021.
With world-class production, No Pressure has been delicately crafted for a cohesive listening experience that’ll make you slam the repeat button. No Pressure consists of 5 tracks, including recently released tracks Pressin’ and Sippin’ featuring Brisbane young gun iiiConic, supported by tastemakers nationally and internationally.
We caught in touch with the duo to learn more about the EP came about, and more. Read our chat, below.
St. Christoph & Shaade Interview
Aditya – Hey guys! Glad to have you for the interview. How has your 2021 been?
St. Christoph & Shaade – Oh man it’s been such a crazy year! We’ve been riding the rollercoaster like everyone else but we’re very grateful to have been able to make and put music out. Having some time to put our second EP out has really been a blessing.
Aditya – ‘No Pressure’ EP sounds Jubilant! It’s a 5-track marvel. Could you run us through the creative process of the EP?
St. Christoph & Shaade – For us it was really just approaching the songs and being true to each song in the session. We’re both usually in the room to create the first demo with all the music and hooks and then we build on ita ll from there. Just making sure we have a great idea. We started a lot of these ideas whilst we were finishing off the first EP. So It’s nearly taken 12 months to really finesse this selection of songs. Having that amount of time definitely gave us time to make a cohesive body of work and sonically really dive in and give everything the depth and attention these deserve instead of trying to chase what’s hot and finish things. It ended up being a really collaborative process though, working with songwriters, other singers, crazy artists, musicians. Everything had its place.
Aditya – Among all the tracks, ‘First Time’ really caught my attention. Are there any insights you’d like to share?
St. Christoph & Shaade – First time really was a track which came together very naturally. We were both in the studio with Meeks throwing ideas around. ST Christoph had already just finished the beat and were writing hooks and ideas. I was pretty sold on “First Time” as a concept. Like who doesn’t want things to feel like the first time?
Aditya – Which is your favourite track on the EP and why?
St. Christoph & Shaade – Hahah this is the million dollar question. TBH it changes all the time. Can’t seem to let go and You’re ready are my two favourites. Ironically both aren’t singles. I like a good underdog. The best songs on albums/ projects are always the B sides. Let’s artists just be artists. Thats whats great about making a body or work over releasing singles.
Aditya – Could you share some info on the collaborators involved in the EP?
St. Christoph & Shaade – Oh man so many of my favourite people. Let’s see… Sergiio who is an absolute beast of a human. He was in the middle of finishing a project with Jam and Lewis, I think it was Charlie Wilson stuff and literally sent his parts the week we were mixing. Daniel March and Scott Teu on cant seem was just amazing energy to have in the studio. Meeks on first time was just so natural and easy. I literally could go on with every song. The baseline collaboration at the heart of everything though is with St Christoph and I, the songwriting and production collaboration. Without either of us the project just wouldn’t be as special because we both push each other to places we are uncomfortable but amazing.
Aditya – You guys have been nominated for the Best HipHop Album/EP at the Air Awards, how do you feel about that?
St. Christoph & Shaade – It’s great to be popping up on people’s radar. For years we both made music which was catered to a specific agenda or niche or “engineered” to be successful. This project is just making the music that we love and want to make, and hoping people like it as much as we do. So it’s actually really great and humbling for people to be listening and noticing.
Aditya – I’d like to know more about your upbringing in music, influences and more.
St. Christoph & Shaade – Well I grew up on hip hop and RNB. like 90s 2000s stuff thats burnt into my DNA so naturally, when making music to feed back into the things we love and want to hear. All i wanted to do growing up is to be a pharrell or a timbaland. Someone that is a producer, artist, songwriter, everything. Thats why our approach is so collaborative. We just wanna make music, doesn’t matter who sings it, who contributes. It just has to be great.
Aditya – Being in a duo, conflict of interest is bound to happen. How do you deal with that?
St. Christoph & Shaade – Haha we def have collaborative spats. I mentioned earlier though the conflict is what drives the collaboration. We end up pushing each other to places neither of us would actually go. I think that’s where the magic is for us. At the same time though we do share the love of throwback stuff so its a win win.
Aditya – Australia is literally an island, what’s the music scene in Australia like?
St. Christoph & Shaade – “Swimming with talent?” haha after travelling the world I realised there is literally no difference in talent from me and anyone in the world. Legit that’s not lip service that’s just fact. I’ve got so many Australian friends who are killing in LA or wherever they are for the simple fact that they moved and live there. Some of the biggest songs and producers in the world are Australian, Masked Wolf, Kid Laroi, Zac and Finatik, Kahalid etc etc Location isnt an indication of talent, Location is just a challenge for opportunity. Streaming, social media, etc tec all help with that. Ideally borders open we’d be on the move but it’s great to be able to reach people from our island home. For me if you are talented and you make good shit that’s all that matters. When was the last time you listened to and artist purely because of where they came from?
Aditya – Lastly, what are you looking forward to in 2022?
St. Christoph & Shaade – Being able to take some time to make more music. Developing our live show and to be able to play shows. Reaching more people with our music!
