Jemma: How would you describe Coda Conduct to someone who had never heard your music before?

Sally: “Fully sick hey.”

Erica: The buzzwords are: energetic, witty, tongue-in-cheek hip hop.

J: So, Canberra girls! What’s your favourite memory from Canby as a child? 

S: Favourite childhood memory is a big ask… I have great memories of running through all the sprinklers on the Red Hill Reserve golf course with my Dad and getting yelled at by the golfers.

J: When did you two meet? Was it a love of music that brought you together?

S: Yes and no.  Growing up in Canberra we’d kind of crossed paths, but we were a year apart at school and that pretty much dictates your friendship groups growing up!

E: The first time we hung out properly was when travelling in India – we went on a trip with some mutual friends. And while we were there we decided to start rapping, and we’ve been doing it ever since. J: How did 'Coda Conduct' come about? (Ps. Love the name!) 

S: It came about out of desperation!  We were booked to play a gig and they needed something to put on the poster. E: We’d been trying to come up with rapper names, and one of Sally’s ideas for herself was ‘Coda’.  I was like, “Huh?  As in, ‘Coda Conduct?”.  And that was what we ended up with! S: We originally intended to change it, but it’s us now! J: Were you always in to hip hop? If so, who were your early influences? E: We both grew up on Australian music. I was initially very into bands like The Offspring, The Cat Empire… Then I discovered Hilltop Hoods, Muph & Plutonic, Thundamentals and Drapht.

S: Early influences for me were definitely Australians too – it was the first time I’d heard someone using an Australian accent to rap with, and I suddenly found it accessible.  But after getting hooked I think we both started re-visiting UK and US hip hop and being able to see that with new eyes. J: It’s been quite a ride since you were first discovered, what has been the single most incredible moment of the journey so far? 

S:  I think it would have to be the Canberra launch of our EP, Butter Side Up, at Transit Bar earlier this year.

E: Yeah.  Seeing 250 friends, family and total strangers pack out a venue with huge grins on their faces was incredible.  I think that’s the first time we realised just how many people we had behind us.

J: It must have been pretty special playing GTM in your hometown, what was that experience like? 

E: Yeah, pretty incredible!  It’s a massive stage, and we love running around, so the performance was great.  It was crazy having people in the front row know the words, and then getting to stand side stage and watch Hermitude and Sticky Fingers and a heap of other great acts.

S: We had to play the after-party at midnight, so we had twelve hours in between shows, we were pretty exhausted by the end of it. J: How much touring have you guys done since Coda Conduct took off? Have you got a favourite aspect of touring? And a least favourite? S: Yeah, it’s pretty crazy.  We’d never played an interstate show before this year, but in the last eight months we’ve played in Melbourne five times.  I guess the best part about touring is just playing the shows. And the worst part is spending all our money.

E:  We have a few traditions.  We always forget toothbrushes – that’s a tradition. Sally always gets the window seat, I get the aisle, and our DJ is stuck in the middle. J: Have there been any specific crowds (city/town-wise) that have been particularly receptive to your unique brand of hip hop? S: Canberra’s always our favourite. But we’ve had a Sydney crowd that printed pictures of our faces and wore them as masks, that was fun. J: Seems like you’re spending a lot of time in Sydney these days, what do you get up to in Sydney apart from Coda Conduct business?  E:  Things are pretty hectic - I’m a full-time uni student, and I work a few days a week as a barista to pay the bills. S: I work four days a week as a bartender, and then two days a week as a publicist for a music festival.

E: We also run a radio show every week on FBi radio. So life is busy! J: Do you get the chance to come home much? 

E:  I guess that’s another of our favourite things about touring – we’re always home for gigs!  I think we’re pretty much back in Canberra ever few weeks.

J: The Queanbeyan Rap. Haha - I can almost see you two sitting around and pulling that one together. Did you cop much flack from QBYN punters denying the blatant truth of their (basic) ACT heritage? 

S: It totally wasn’t like that!  Matt (from Matt and Alex) asked us to do a weather rap, and then after we agreed he told us we had to do it on Queanbeyan. So we had this tricky line to walk of living up to expectations, and being a bit cheeky, and not actually making the entire town hate us!

E: The initial response from Queanbeyan was actually really positive – Riverside Plaza were so excited they got a mention, and we had heaps of good feedback.  Then there was this crazy ‘RAP DUO SLAMS QUEANBEYAN’ article on the front page of the Canberra Times, and things went a bit weird… Some serious feuds happened on our Facebook page.

J: Aaaaaaaand did the Queanbeyan mayor ever end up composing his own rap in response?

E: Yep!  With a Queanbeyan group called Macho Duck.  I’ll say no more – just look it up.

J: What most excites you about playing to a hometown crowd? 

S: People treat us like celebrities!  Haha, we’re totally not celebrities.  But it’s awesome when people know our lyrics.

J: What can punters expect from Coda Conduct leading in to the future?

E: Keep your ears peeled for some brand new music!