Genesis Owusu is Defying Definition

Photo: Bec Parsons. Interview: Zac Bayly

Genesis Owusu is—wait, where have you been and why do I need to tell you who Genesis Owusu is?

He has too many well-known accomplishments to list, so I’m not even gonna try. Don’t ask me. I won’t do it. I’m not going to tell you, for example, that his debut album Smiling With No Teeth won him, like, one million ARIAs (and a bunch of other awards) that same year, or that he was included in sexy Mr President Obama’s music picks for 2021, and I definitely don’t need to remind you that the audience at one of his gigs earlier this year danced so hard that they actually caved in the floor of Sydney’s Enmore Theatre. I’m not going to tell you that or all the other things he’s achieved so quit badgering me. Anyway, seriously, how is he doing so well? Has he, like, done a deal with the devil or is he just super insanely talented? I don’t remember doing any deals with him, so…

Mr Genesis! How are you?
I’m not bad, how are you?

I’m good! Do you know who this is?
Yes, it’s Zac! It’s been a while. You wrote the first real article about me.

I actually completely forgot about that! God, you’re a nice guy. But unfortunately, things have not been going too well for you since then.
[Laughs] Yeah, it’s tough.

It’s difficult to see you struggling so much.
Yeah, you know, you gotta get by…

Did you just get back from Europe yesterday?
I think like two days ago maybe… Time is like a void right now. I have no idea how long I’ve been awake or when I should sleep. Jet lag is brutal.

When I got back I couldn’t work out where jet lag started and long Covid finished. Have you had it yet?
I have, I have, in December. It was actually like a much-needed break. I take what I can get!

Well, seeing all the things you did last year, I’m guessing you haven’t had too many holidays.
Nah, but life is a holiday. It’s a dream!

Do you like being busy?
It’s like half-half. I feel like I’m naturally a person who can do nothing for an insane amount of time. I just do nothing for however long. But at the same time, I know that it’s really good to be busy. It’s a great thing. And it means that great things are happening and are yet to happen. So, I’m trying to grab all the cool opportunities I can and make the best out of it, but yeah, sometimes it can be a lot, for sure.

You’re pretty famous right now!
I can walk into places without getting recognised. I’m cherishing that!

Are you still living in Canberra?
Yeah, I’m in Canberra.

Surely you can go somewhere else now?
[Laughs] Yeah, I guess I can… I live here officially but I think I’ve been out of Canberra for a lot longer than I’ve been in Canberra this year, just with travelling. As far as the government knows, I live here!

Is there a really distinct music scene in Canberra or are you an anomaly or… Do you know what I mean?
I know what you mean. I feel like in Canberra there’s a lot of very talented artists but I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a ‘scene’. It definitely lacks industry. But I feel like that’s one of its strengths. All the really talented artists here are really doing their own thing.

They’re not being shaped by a scene, you mean?
Yeah, exactly. Everyone’s just doing their own thing.

It’s not like Perth with that scene having a distinct sound. There’s not an expectation of how you’d sound.
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Like Perth you can really hear that sound or Western Sydney you can hear that sound but in Canberra it just sounds like that individual’s music.

Maybe there’ll be a lot of young ‘you’s coming out of Canberra one day!
[Laughs] Well, imitation is the highest form of flattery.

I feel like you’d be a hard one to imitate— it’s hard to pin down your sound. If someone asked me to write what your music is like I’d find it very hard.
Yeah, I feel that. A lot of people have tried to pin down the sound. I like reading people’s articles about where they think this or that sound comes from and-

You like watching them struggle.
Yeah! [Laughs] No, no… Sometimes they’re pinning major influences on me that I’ve never heard of in my life. It’s really fun, because then I get to go and listen to those people and be like, ‘Oh yeah, I can see why they mentioned this one.’ It’s cool. But it’s something that’s not meant for definition.

Are you consciously trying to create something that feels like you haven’t heard it before—is that the goal?
I’m just creating stuff that feels true to me. And for the listener, I guess I want to create an experience they haven’t heard before. I don’t try to impose any kind of… Like, when I make music I don’t make it necessarily to make the audience feel this one specific way generally, but if a person listens to my music and feels confused then I’m like ‘Yeah, I’ve done my job.’ Confused, scared, out of their element… That’s really cool to me. And then for them to slowly ease into it.

That’s how you know you’re creating something original, right?
Yeah. Yeah. I think so.

There was one interview I read where someone asked your music influences and you said Jet Set Radio Future—the video game from 2002—which I completely forgot existed.
You know about it?

Yeah, I played it when I was a kid!
Same, same. Yeah, that’s 100% my biggest influence.

I’m trying to remember the music in it and thinking about that game I’m not like, ‘Oh yeah, Genesis Owusu…’
[Laughs] I think that’s the coolest part about it. When I think about that game and the music in it, it feels very undefined and kind of, er… I don’t want to say ‘random’ but it’s all over the place in the best kind of way.

Are you a big video game person?
Uh, yeah! I stopped playing games for a long time but I’ve gotten back into it. Xbox sent me an Xbox with my face on it.

What! Are you joking?
[Laughing] No, well, they sent me an Xbox with the album cover on it, but the album cover’s my face, so I’ve just got this Xbox with my face on it. It’s so ridiculous and great! I’ve been playing a lot of Xbox.

It reminds me of this time I went to a very famous musician’s house for an interview and they just had gilded gold framed glamour pictures of themselves around the house.
That’s amazing. I gotta get on that level. Starting with the Xbox.

With Smiling With No Teeth going so insane last year… Did you kind of expect it was going to go gangbusters? I’m guessing you have to have a certain amount of confidence in a record to put it out there, but were you thinking, ‘This is going to change the game.’
Yeah, um… I knew that it was good, by my standards. I had no idea whether it would be accepted in Australia. I think me and the whole band during the creation were very well aware that this could go nowhere, because I personally haven’t seen an album like that get validated, in the Australian music scene especially. I did think that if this got out of Australia it would find some people that it resonated with, but I hadn’t been out of Australia yet, so it was a gamble. I was very conscious of the fact that this could fall flat on its face. But creating the music to me felt so good that regardless, I wanted to put it out.

Yeah, when I think about what I expect to go well in Australia, it’s like four-piece white boys making nice indie rock music, you know?
Yeah, I know what you mean. But to be able to have it validated on the level that it was validated… I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect that kind of fanfare. So, it’s been cool. It was shocking in the best way.

What was the most insane moment or reaction or thing that happened? If you google your name there’s so many random crazy accomplishments, like ‘Obama’s playlist’ or ‘played this and this late-night show… ’
It’s just generally been the compounding of all these things in such a short space of time that’s crazy. I think it was literally two weeks ago I performed in a Lithuanian prison, and so many of the people were screaming the lyrics of my songs back at me, and I was thinking, ‘What the fuck am I doing here? Why do they even know who I am?’ I mean, even the Obama thing, I still to this day don’t know who showed him my music… And no one warns you beforehand—I just saw it on Instagram like everyone else. I woke up to my phone being crazy. It’s still weird that people are really fucking with what I’m doing.

So, what are some day-to-day perks of this type of success that someone like me wouldn’t know about?
[Laughs] Um… Hmm. Like everyday life things?

Yeah. Like, ‘Yeah, I get a free subscription to the Financial Times’ or something.
I’m not sure if… People probably know this, but it’s weird—I haven’t really bought anything in the last year.

Photo by Dougal Gorman

They’re just sending stuff.
I’ve just been living off gifts. Like this Xbox, for example. I was picking out an outfit the other day and I realised I hadn’t chosen any of it.

Someone sent you this jacket, someone sent you these pants…
Yeah, yeah. I didn’t really realise that my wardrobe was involuntary. I don’t know what else…

Have you been at a restaurant and someone’s sent you a bottle of wine?
Actually, one of the first dates with my girlfriend, we went to a restaurant and we sat down, and the waiter handed us these menus and said, ‘Mr Genesis it’s a pleasure to serve you.’

[Laughing] That’s a bit flirty!
It was one of the best things that can happen on a first date. [Laughs] That was a good moment.

This interview is for Monster Children’s Splendour paper. Do you remember your first Splendour experience?
I do because it was my only Splendour in the Grass experience. We played this set in a tent to what I think was the most people I’d seen in my life. It was insane. It was fun. We stayed in the Red Bull house and they were doing crazy courses for musicians— crazy courses like for breath control and they’d have swimmers come in to teach you how to hold your breath properly.

So, in one of those action movies where the bad guys are firing into the lake and the hero is holding their breath under the water for a crazy amount of time, you can do that now if you need to.
Yes. I’m classically trained in holding my breath.

So, what are your tips for the people reading this, who are potentially currently at the festival?
I’m not gonna lie to you—I am the worst person to ask that question. Because in regard to festival experiences, I am so spoilt. The first five festivals I went to ever was as an artist, so my perception of festivals when I first went as a punter was so skewed. Like, ‘Damn, this is awful.’ [Laughs] It’s hot, stinky, I have to pay for my drinks… Where’s the shade and the drinks and where’s the free massages and… Like, they give you massages backstage. There’s your perk!

So, your advice is ‘bring your own masseuse’.
My advice is: make some great music and get on the lineup. Come back as an artist!