Uncovering Canberra music videos buried deep on YouTube
We have unearthed Snoop Dogg’s first (and only) feature in the Canberra hip hop scene, the first recorded use of the vocoder live in Canberra and the precursor to The Chats, Dune Rats and Skeggs deadpan vocals.
Canberra artists have always been punching above their weight when it comes to music visuals but some of these classics may have passed you by...until now. Long lost is the masses of YouTube uploads and page scroll obscurity we have dug deep into the archives to find some of Canberra’s most prolific, notorious or underrated clips.
As with every work of art there is always a story behind it so we scoured the internet history books and blogs to find out how it all came about. These clips are still largely shrouded in mystery so please get it touch if you have any further insights or you have some classics we should see.
Third Strike - 2AM
Released in 2009 this club anthem was filmed in the pits of the now closed nightspot Academy. Not long after it’s release the group went their separate ways so 2am was never ‘officially’ released. TEY was one of the members of Third Strike and came to Canberra from Ghana after his diplomatic parents were stationed here. He went on to his own solo career, dropping the Triple Threat mixtape in 2011. Director Jay Hall brough some stunning production value to the table is a classic 2000 era clip.
Third Strike were formally know as BStarz and famously received 4 stars on the Riot Act’s unearthed reviews. - https://the-riotact.com/unearthed-review-bstarz/35523
Big Dave ft Snoop - The Original
Big Dave was a true veterain of the Canberra scene in the early 2010’s. He turned to hip hop after doing time in prison and then made his way up through the battle rap ranks. Talking with Channel V he explained the collab came about after a conversation with a US based producer who said he might be able to get Snoop on a track. He sent some beats and thought he’d never hear of it again but back came a verse from the west coast OG on Christmas morning. A Dee Oh Double Gee Christmas miracle.
Young & Restless - Satan
Arguably the local band with the most promise at the time Young & Restless were the most hype gig going. Formed in 2005 they had a whirlwind run winning Unearthed festival slots and eventually the first Unearthed J Award in 2007. By 2009 they were no more. Satan was their first single but Police Police saw them regulars on Triple J and sparked huge tours through Japan. Shout out to Ross Paxman, friend of the flats and class of 2003 CHS alumni.
Los Capitanes - Scar (Missy Higgins Cover)
What’s the next best thing to the Super Bowl half-time show? half-time live entertainment at the Assassins v Richter City roller derby bout of course. Los Capitanes became the sound of the Australian Roller derby season in 2011 after the release of this epic cover and music video. Check out some BTS pic we found on the Los Capitanes facebook page.
SLUCE - On The Grass
Not sure what to say about this one except that they were way ahead of their time. Clearly an early influence to the likes of The Chats, Dune Rats and Skeggs with the deadpan aussie punk style. This video is a deep cut for Canberra music fans. Lets get it up to 200 views.
Ken Davies - Smile
Finally some gold from 1988 sit back and enjoy this groundbreaking performance of ‘high energy’ dance music.This is potentially the first ever recorded live EDM show in Canberra in what looks like Garema Pl. Ken Davies was a pioneer of electronic music in Australia and particularly the vocoder which was developed in the 1960’s to encrypt speech during WWII. Now used as the ‘robot voice’ by many artists like Kraftwerk and Daft Punk.
If you have any clips stashed away that you think should be uncovered please let us know on Instagram or Facebook.
All videos can be found on the Canberra Uncovered Playlist
