Stealing Pizza From Bob Dylan And Getting Into Rapper Mode

"Without getting too much into the specifics, our time with Obese [Records] was up with the last album so yeah, I won't disclose too much but I want to do the best by us moving forward. We're still figuring out the ins and out of this deal but, for the first time in our careers we're not contractually bound to anyone," says Nice.

"I guess we're at a point right now where we're very confident with the music we're making and the direction we want to take but being completely freed up is liberating and it's exciting. A lot has changed since we signed our first deal."

"We're very confident with the music we're making and the direction we want to take but being completely freed up is liberating and it's exciting."

In 2008, the pairing of Nick Lupi and Jimmy Nice out of Sydney's inner-west inked a record deal with Australia's fattest indie rap label before dropping their debut album Towards The Light, which was nominated for Best Urban Release at the 2008 ARIAs. Two years on the Syndicate dropped Exile, and then Sunday Gentlemen in 2013, the latter of which they regarded as their most mature release to date. That is until the new album arrives, slated for late this year, as Lupi told triple j. "At the moment, the focus is on finalising the album which we're pretty much done with and gearing up how we're going to put this out," explains Nice. "It's all pretty much ready to go, just the last final touches. The last 20% can be 80% sometimes, you know? A lot can change in these last little flourishes."

First single Know Better, produced by Styalz Fuego and dropped this April, was developed from time spent in the US. "Nick and I set out on that trip to get some inspiration. You can get to the end of an album cycle and feel a little creatively exhausted. It's almost like you have to go through a period of just living, not making music and going through the motions and then you have something to then write about. So, we forced ourselves into that zone and just went out and got some studio sessions out in LA and jumped headfirst into what was the next album but we had a lot of time alone there in some strange places."

Speaking of strange places, in Know Better, Lupi name-dropped one of the greatest ever singer-songwriters in a story that became highly publicised on the home front. Long story short — after hanging out at Bob Dylan's grandson Pablo's home recording studio in the Hollywood Hills, the Sydney rapper, suffering a bout of the munchies, dove into Bob's fridge, stealing leftover pizza.

While Spit Syndicate gets back to doing what they do best on their Know Better national tour this June, it's comical to think that over in Los Angeles, Pablo and friends found it hard to believe that these two Aussies could spit. "I think they were kinda surprised that we even rhymed," he laughed. "'You're from Australia and you rap, you dress like that?' They didn't quite believe us. As faded as we were, we kinda had something to prove so we switched into rapper mode."