1. REPTILES are an indie rock band from Melbourne. Their musical style is consistent, yet diverse and includes elements of garage rock, grunge, rock n roll, punk rock and even blues. REPTILES cite a range of influences, some of which include: The Scientists, Gun Club, The Butcher Shop and Beasts of Bourbon.

2. Reptiles / Hip-Hop Band:

What Reptiles do should be a cliché. Many bands before have claimed to draw a straight line from the roots of hip hop to the captain's star log. But few have come anywhere close. Reptiles have the emotional impact like back in the day, yet leave you feeling you've just taken one small head nod for man.
If that old adage 'you must know where you came from before you can know where you're going' is true for hip hop, then it's unsurprising that these forward thinkers have been emersed in hip hop for over two decades now.

MCs Juice 126 and Rough first met at the Bridlington World Graffiti Championships in 1988, a union that eventually saw the two form part of Graff supergroup; 'Ikonoklast'. Rough went on to rhyme with freestyle live bands before hooking up with DV8. Meanwhile in another part of town, Joseph Barnes was rocking the floorboards of his bedroom, not only with his edge-slicing record collection, but also his own iconoclastic compositions. The two met up through friends and set to work in Joseph's makeshift studio which included an old school Atari and a busted black and white TV set as a monitor. When it came time to record their debut EP, the boys called in Juice to throw down some guest vocals. Knowing they'd hit on something magic, Juice joined as full time member.
Their debut EP 'Liquid Playthings' was soon released on US independent imprint Hip Hop Recordings, winning lavish praise from the four corners of the hip hop community.
With Rough and Joseph based in London and Juice in Birmingham, the band is a show of geographical solidarity. But the band's real strength is in the different musical worlds each member brings to it. All three share a love of hip hop, but Rough has studied the songwriting skills of Patti Smith and Paul Weller, Juice is a Studio 1 reggae fanatic (but also fiends for Roy Budd and Lalo Schiffrin soundtracks), while Joseph's musical scope runs from off-key guitar gods Tool to the electronic revolution of Warp. The band's music is drenched in hip hop, but Reptiles are all about evolution.
Juice and Rough aren't afraid to touch on the real darkness of human nature. Rough's delivery is full of passionate venom, but Juice's calmer style is just as disturbing. Joseph's production and arrangements lead you by the headphones into a new world bubbling with colour and texture.


Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.