The legendary Australian Hip-Hop crew Brethren are one of the conerstones of the aussie hip-hop scene. Internationally acclaimed for their trail blazing ways, toured all over Australia and played on the same stages as Run DMC, Michael Franti, Blackalicious and many more.... so, just what is their story?


Introduction:


The Hip-Hop crew Brethren are a two man team of Mistery [Matthew Peet] & Wizdm [Claude Rodriguez]. Both individuals are verterens of the hip-hop scene in their own right. Mistery is one of the most renowned graffiti writers in Australia, a crucial member of internationally recognized graff crews Bounty Hunterz & 21st Century. He is also a b-boy who teaches breakdancing to hundreds of kids and started the breaking team Magic Villians, he is also a key meber of the Sony ....

Wizdm is no slouch either, an awarded expert of "popping" [one of the elements of b-boying], accomplished drummer and sort after producer.


The Beginning:

To get the picture of this crew's story, we have to got back to around 1988. The scene is Heavenly Taste Pizza in Sydney where Mistery, a young white Sydney inner-city kid who is a member of the Superstars Graffiti crew, is working. A young Chilean guy who had grown up in Adelaide and is a great drummer/percussionist and a fledgling producer comes in for a pizza. They ended up hitting it off, discussing their mutual passions; Hip-Hop, B-Boying and spirituality. Both realized that they had something to bring to the table, and "Brethren Inc" was born.


Immediately they started performing at local youth centres and festivals and were getting little exposure.

In the early 90's Def Wish Cast were doing great things for the fledging aussie hip-hop scene and it was through their old friend and DWC member Sereck that Brethren recieved their first big break into the scene. Through this they got great exposure at Kinselas Jams known as TTTP put together by Scott Wolf and Code Blue of then Sound Unlimited ?


It was from these beginnings that the boys started developing the live shows they are known for today. By constantly performing on a regular basis at underground gigs and by doing workshops at local community centres such as Redfern, Bankstown, St Ives, Campbelltown and Marrickville, they gathered a loyal following and a lot of respect from the hip-hop community.

Wizdm states their motives plainly; "We feel that giving something positive back to the community is very important to us because when we were young there was nothing like what we have now, youth centres and under age shows etc... we want to show young people what they are capable of."


The Rise:


In those early days all Brethren had was a desire to perform whenever & wherever possible. The local music industry on a whole was not really interested in hip-hop and rock and roll was the main choice of the average music listener. For the boys there were no long term dreams of fame and fortune, they did what they did for the love of the art and the affinty with the culture. After performing alongside most fellow australian acts and a few big name international artists they recorded their first four song demo on cassette in 1992. The recording was very popular and was circulated quickly throughout the grassroots industry. It was from this recording that Brethren landed a deal with a new record label interested in supporting local indepentant artists; "MDS" a subsidiary of Mushroom Records released their ground breaking "Big Brother" E.P. in 1994.

Mistery explains some suprise support they recieved back then "The classic old show "Simon Townsend’s Wonderworld" came to the party for us in the form of offering to make us a free music video for the track "Cruisin'", looking back now it's pretty funny, but back then it was huge!" The video went on to screen on the show and got rotation on ABC's Rage, Channel V & Chamnnel 31. It was a crucial part of a locally produced production "Spooky Tricks" that was sold all over the world and got Brethren international admirers.

MDS then released their widely acclaimed maxi-single "Slingshot" in 1995. Sadly the label went the way of the buffalo but that didn't stop Brethren appearing on shows such as channel V’s Soup Kitchen, Jabba's, SBS's Alchemy and in the SBS documentary "Basic Equipement".

Wizdm also found the time, in 1996, to record his first solo album that he funded, recorded & produced entirely himself. Titled "Words of Wizdm" the independedent release got glowing reviews with all underground hip-hop critics and listeners alike. 

The boys have also featured on numerous compilations and been guest artists on many albums, here's a look at the highlights: "MY MY", "Home Brews 2", "Basic Equipement", "Hip-hop A Place Of Peace", "4 Elements" and "Culture of Kings 2".

Brethren have also performed at countless festivals such as Glebe festival, Marrickville festival, Granville festival, Burwood festival, Blackstump Music festival, A.G.M.F., Sonfest, The Big Day Out and Livid.


In 2000 the Brethren boys teamed up with the small independent record label Mustard Records and launched a compilation project "In Da Midst". Over 18 tracks from emerging artists from australia and New Zealand, Wizdm produced a third of the project that went on to sell well over 1500 units by word of mouth alone. The project coincided with a national tour that saw Brethren team up with acclaimed U.S. hip-hop artist "Vex Da Vortex" from the group BoogieMonsters plus many other artists featured on the compilation. The tour packed out venues all over the east coast of Australia, from The Lounge night club in Melbourne, to the Nexus youth centre on the Gold Coast and all stops in between.


The Most Original Australian Hip-Hop Project Ever Concieved:


Since the In Da Midst tour Brethren have been hard at work on their first ever full length album. The epic project is called "Beyond Underground" and has taken the boys 3 years to complete. Produced entirely by Wizdm the album includes guest appearences by some of Australia's greatest hip-hop artsits; Morganics, Sereck, Sleeping Monk, Hoodsta, Mass Mc and Dj’s Nic Toth, Diggz, Flagrant and Nino Brown just to name a few.

Mistery introduces the album like this: "It's a concept album, with every track depicting a part of an original sci- fi story we have written. The concept and feel of the album is inspired by some of our favourite films such as "Juorney To The Centre Of The Earth", "War Of The Worlds", "The Crow", "Sleepy Hollow" and "The Matrix"..." Wizdm expands by adding "Musicly the album is moody, pretty dark at times but also very driven and energetic... I usually sample innovative music which I listen to, this time I drew alot inspiration from such artists as Henry Mancini, David Bowie, Danny Elfman, Peter Nero, Hans Zimmer and E.L.O."

The album is being released with a limited edition full size comic book that tells the story of the album, the entire comic book was written & illustrated by Mistery. It has taken over one year to do the research for the exacting artwork and that tie all the themes in the "Beyond Underground" album together.  

The first single from the album is a pulsating hip-hop anthem entitled "Intercepta" and the video clip is an ode to one of the classic stories that has inspired much of the album; "Mad Max". The very fast paced clip includes footage of Mad Max replica cars, the original stuntmen from the film performing in the cars, guest appearences from DJ Flagrant and Nil Void.The music video has been featureon an internationally released documentary "Back to the Max" that is a look into Mad Max fanatics from all over the world.