Guano C’s Message To Himself On New Project ‘BOY TOY’: “Be Less Shit”

Western Sydney producer, engineer, rapper and singer Guano C is boisterous in the most honest, provoking and admirable way. Without a moment of hesitation, he spares his audience the niceties of “easy” listening. Every story Guano tells is a jagged pill that’s hard to swallow – take note of its vehemence and it’s lodged into your memory for days. From his raspy yelps and punky growls to his honeyed crooning and undeviating punchlines, you can’t help but yearn to know more.

On his recent project release BOY TOY, Guano details the push and pull of wanting to be a better person, someone he recognises in his reflection, someone that emerges from the piss and shit of life with a crystalline conscience; saved, cleansed of impurity. As crushingly gruelling some of BOY TOY’s subject matter is, it’s rooted in deep introspection over Guano’s own behaviour, cultivated in a way that makes you morally question whether you should sing along or not. But instead of shaming himself into being a faceless enigma, Guano C tackles his biggest demons head on; sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses. BOY TOY is a sonic encapsulation of the journey this far.

“The project's name was originally going to be called either Teen Spirit or Girl Dinner and is about being an object, a play thing, if you will. A morsel of flesh,” he said.

“Thrown around into all kinds of terribly lovely little scenarios and making them seem as honest as possible; fun as they are soulless, the entire project is fairly self-deprecating with enough confidence it can almost be mistaken as flexing,”

“Overall, it’s telling the story of a love, a dream, a mentality, an addiction or whatever – I guess that’s really more up to you.”

Entirely written, recorded and mixed by Guano himself, local heavyweight producers L U N A and emjaysoul lay the sonic foundations of the project; a bed of support that instructs Guano not to hold back. In this track-by-track, Guano C takes us through the highest highs and deepest lows of BOY TOY.

PAYDAY (with L U N A)

PAYDAY is an in your face punky, punchy and bordering on ironic commentary on the expectations and living standards of a modern day Westie. The beat was sent to me by L U N A after profuse begging and pleading for a taste of his production in the late hours of the night with the title guano_punk_demo. The song found its final form soon after. 

In its rawest form, the song is about working inconsistently for barely liveable pay in a progressively worsening economy, hoping something in life will change all while only really craving a baddie exhibiting clear BPD symptoms, some low quality marijuana, and of course a bag full of money. The song is rooted in a deep resentment for the main subjects of rap and hedonism in general.

OD (with L U N A) 

This song follows PAYDAY into a deeper, more vivid experience of drug use and nights out with a bad crowd and following a pretty woman into terrible life choices. Also produced by L U N A (who is an actual legend and killer engineer and producer), it is another fairly simple track sonically. It’s punchy but this time with a more poppy vibe holding it together. It's really all a deep cope about how horribly unemployable being a “rapper” has made me and how, just like everyone and everything, I resent what I’ve become.

HVY MTL

This song is a sort of acceptance that I am completely knowingly steering myself into a bad direction, but not minding because I guess it’s nice to feel alive.

I originally made this beat towards the start of the pandemic. I was trying to find a niche between rock and trap-rap which I hadn’t really heard. I then heard of a rap duo called Paris Texas after the release of their debut single (of the same name as my silly little beat) and almost instantly felt like a culture vulture and left it in my laptop for about a year until it broke and I lost the majority of my music. I did manage to salvage the original file and record what you hear now.

Not super fond of this one but every white girl I've shown it to seems to think it’s exceptional. I suspect it’s something to do with the 808s being very loud and/or something to do with deep systemic internalised misogyny. Beats me. 

YEAYEA

This is the first track on the project where I show some real humanity and vulnerability, trying to make sense of the last few tracks of debauchery, and realising I really hold none of the cards in these situations as much as I’d like to pretend I do –  these beautiful floozies really got me in a headlock. My baby's dragging me down and yet here I am, defenceless and ready for the ride. I produced this long ago and have no idea where the original track file is.

SWANSEA (with L U N A)

This is the sort of “come to Jesus” moment on the project which comes with the realisation that no one is doing anything to me besides me and I am in fact the one wasting these pretty ladies' time by pretending otherwise. Like maybe it’s better to love people instead of fucking them???

It’s also about the deep romanticising and yearning for something real without feeling capable of fully committing to anything genuine. Shout out to L U N A again for the production on this one. I wish I could take more credit for that man's work but gosh darn does he make it easy.

The Blues

My least favourite song on the project. I made this at a fairly turbulent time in life (I had just watched Narcos and was getting into yearning) and I currently cringe at the majority of it. I recall being the passenger princess of a local rapper Donny D, certified sick cunt and at the time ONLY other rapper I knew in real life, singing vague lyrics over the unmixed beat on our way to a BBQ – things were so simple back then.

I was young, dumb and hoping someday to gain the strength to swear off all substances and leave toxic women to their own devices. My, oh my, how we’ve grown. I only ended up putting it out because I showed it to emjaysoul in a park and he did his little emjay dance he tends to do when he hears a song he likes. The song is about leaving behind excuses and embracing that I am who I am.

CANT TELL ME NOTHING (still trip)

This song is about deep regression and accepting that at some point we’re all still figuring things out and although it takes time and is hard, it’s okay to try to have fun during the process and seek a cheeky escape from time to time. And if you can’t understand why, you’re in no place to tell me how to live. 

This whole song came about in a time where I was questioning a lot of my influences and dynamics. It formed out of the realisation that I didn't quite care that REALISTICALLY I will not make it in music and am kinda destined to be a 30-something burn out without future job prospects. Every time I perform this track I get weird side eyes from producers for the line “stay broke like producers” because at the time of its creation I self identified just as a producer. It includes some lovely backing vocals from the incredibly talented Konnie Malith.

 Mister Magic (with emjaysoul) 

And with that we seamlessly transition into Mister Magic. This track is the manifestation of the consequences of the last 15 minutes of music and trying to get my feet back on the ground, getting sober, and accepting that the urges will always be there, which doesn’t help. Funky times call for funky music. This one came together fairly quickly – emjay put it in our shared Google Drive one day without really saying anything and I absolutely lost my shit. The lyrics were written, as many of my songs are, in my Gmail drafts.

By Your Side

emjay showed me this beat in Ashfield Park where we had first met many years before during a freak kiting accident, and my, oh my, did I eat it right up. He didn’t like the beat because of how old it was (he is a known ageist) but I recorded it and held onto it until his father dropped a verse over it (which washed me so terribly) so I put it on Soundcloud for 15 people to hear. The track’s about being aware of who is “by your side” and how you (and those around you) are the product of (you and) those around you. Overall message: be less shit.