Whose who: TZU brings a dark history to Geelong.
By Cherie Donnellan
HIP HOP band TZU wanted to produce more prolific music than singing about “being in the club”, frontman Pip Norman joked.
The band’s latest album Millions of Moments features stories loosely based around Australia’s “dark past”, Norman said.
“I nerded out reading colonial Australian history.”
Norman, known to fans as Countbounce, declared the country’s “convoluted and dark past” was inspirational when penning the songs.
“We’ve just released our new single Beautiful which is a ghost story.
“It gave us a chance to write something with more gristle,” Norman asserted.
“I don’t really spend much time in clubs,” he laughed.
Norman joked that in the 10 years TZU have been on the hip hop scene the band were notorious for “doing weird s**t”.
“We’re a little bit off-centre and we always break the rules.”
He admitted the band’s fanbase often changed because every album was very different despite remaining in the same genre.
“I think we feel pressure to do something that’s actually going to be reliable,” Norman laughed.
“When you do something different, people are going to talk about how different it is, not how much they like it.”
Norman said TZU were excited to perform at Queenscliff Music Festival for the first time.
“I’ve never been before, even as a punter.”
But playing at music festivals was something TZU had a wealth of experience in, Norman told the Independent.
“When you play at a festival you definitely have to be prepared,” he asserted.
“You’ve got to tailor-make the set and do quick changes and play snappy songs.”
Norman admitted it was sometimes easier to play a festival than a live gig.
“Everyone’s already charged and in the zone (at festivals) so you can just come in and blast it.”
Daoist Lao Tzu was the band’s namesake, with the members deciding Tzu’s principles about the “flow of life, nature and energy” matched the nature of “music making”.
“Rapping and hip hop sounded like Tzu’s ideas so it became our name. It just seemed natural,” Norman said.
He joked his stage name Countbounce made him “part comic superhero and part normal guy from Northcote”.
“I was DJing at a friend’s party and he wanted a name. We came up with a bunch of ridiculous names and this one stuck.
“But, hey, it’s cool. It’s like ‘I’m Countbounce’,” he said in a mellowed tone.
