{"id":895342,"date":"2026-09-17T13:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/895342\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T13:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:20:14","slug":"briggs-swaps-rap-for-punk-with-big-noter-im-the-same-guy-with-the-same-middle-finger-australian-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/895342\/","title":{"rendered":"Briggs swaps rap for punk with Big Noter: \u2018I\u2019m the same guy with the same middle finger!\u2019 | Australian music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam Briggs has never been one for subtlety \u2013 in his lyrics, his punchlines or his activism. In person, the man has a huge presence. He speaks with deliberation, his voice resonating even without a microphone. Whether in front of a crowd of 80,000 or eight people, Briggs is comfortable being the focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t hide,\u201d he says. Not that he wants to.<\/p>\n

The Yorta-Yorta, Wurundjeri and Wemba-Wemba musician put Shepparton on the map in 2014 with his second album, Sheplife, a portrait of the town he was raised in, told through hip-hop. It almost never happened \u2013 the racist comments he copped for his debut, The Blacklist, had made him consider quitting music altogether. But Briggs has since climbed to the peak of Australian hip-hop as a solo artist and one half of AB Original; he has also launched his own record label, Bad Apples, as well as the Universal Music imprint Irruk Birruk, which both amplify First Nations voices.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

As an actor, Briggs has appeared in the ABC\u2019s Cleverman and Netflix\u2019s Boy Swallows Universe; as a comedian, he has skewered the small-minded and the racist, with one video going viral<\/a> in the lead-up to the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum. His screenwriting abilities impressed The Simpsons creator, Matt Groening, so much that he joined the writers\u2019 room on Groening\u2019s Netflix series Disenchantment.<\/p>\n

double quotation markI didn\u2019t want anyone on my record who is a dickheadAdam Briggs<\/p>\n

Now Briggs has a new project: as the lead singer of a punk band. Big Noter is a furious and raw ensemble made up of Briggs, Steve Smith on drums, Leigh Davies on guitar and Craig Strain on bass. \u201cI\u2019ve been calling it a gear shift; it\u2019s not a departure,\u201d Briggs says. \u201cI\u2019m the same guy with the same message and the same middle finger!\u201d<\/p>\n

Big Noter has the unblinking intensity of Mindsnare and a keen focus on soundscape and groove reminiscent of Rage Against the Machine (whose guitarist, Tom Morello, even brought Big Noter along on his Australian tour last year). Their debut album, Songs in the Key of Wrestling, is a sonic beatdown of chugging power chords and relentless snare.<\/p>\n

Public Enemy\u2019s Chuck D features on the track A Message from Chuck, pontificating about the regressive politics plaguing Shepparton\u2019s First Nations community over a menacing bass groove. \u201cThe power of Chuck isn\u2019t just in his rap, it\u2019s in his voice,\u201d Briggs says. \u201cHaving him explain what happens in Shepparton, it\u2019s a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe Talbot of Idles with Briggs. Photograph: Deathproof<\/p>\n

Morello provides a solo for What\u2019s Wrong With Adam, a song about mental health. When Briggs first heard the solo, he says, it felt \u201calmost like what my brain feels like when I\u2019m coming off an Efexor\u201d. The album also features Idles\u2019 Joe Talbot \u2013 \u201ca fucking beautiful human\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone on the record, I\u2019ve met,\u201d Briggs says. \u201cI didn\u2019t want anyone on my record who is a dickhead. Our values have to be intertwined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Punk and hip-hop have a few things in common: a DIY aesthetic, a strong political history and a natural aversion to authority. \u201cThey\u2019re both the voice of the voiceless,\u201d Briggs says.<\/p>\n

Punk was \u201ca staple of my childhood\u201d and represents something more to him than just a sound. \u201cIt\u2019s an effective lifestyle,\u201d he says. \u201c[Punk has] root ethics \u2013 don\u2019t be a piece of shit, be kind, lead with fucking compassion \u2026 Hip-hop<\/a> and metal and hardcore, they\u2019re all community-based. It\u2019s just about everyone having what they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

But hip-hop has always had one limitation: \u201cIt does not export well. Hip-hop is such a territorial beast \u2026 How many rappers have we exported? I\u2019m talking about really making a dent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aussie hip-hop rarely travels outside the country\u2019s borders. Punk, on the other hand, has a universality. \u201cI can go from Melbourne and roll into the Misfits Bar in Berlin and we all have an understanding of what we stand for,\u201d Briggs says.<\/p>\n

Big Noter has toured with Tom Morello, Suicidal Tendencies, Karnivool and Amyl and the Sniffers. Photograph: Deathproof<\/p>\n

Punk\u2019s aversion to antisocial behaviour, coupled with its DIY approach to all things, creates a healthy \u201caccountability culture\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mate has a punk rock bar in Shepparton called Shingo\u2019s,\u201d Briggs says. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t have a security guard, which is wild in Shepparton. But if you\u2019re a dickhead and you go to Shingo\u2019s, you\u2019re gonna feel like a dickhead. If you have a problem, you are the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

On their new album, Big Noter worked with the production legend Nick Didia, whose name appears on records by Rage Against the Machine, Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam. Outside the studio, Big Noter had a big 2025: touring with Morello, Suicidal Tendencies and Karnivool in Australia and heading to Europe with Amyl and the Sniffers. All of this before their first headline show last month.<\/p>\n

The music industry is a starkly different place to what it was when Briggs started out. \u201cWe had so many venues,\u201d he says. \u201cRadio play meant something and Spotify didn\u2019t exist. We sold actual physical CDs. I made so much money.\u201d Now, \u201cthe technology\u2019s changed. Kids will record into their phone. They\u2019ll release a thousand songs before they do a show. It was the other way around for us \u2013 we\u2019d do a thousand shows before we had enough money for a studio session.\u201d<\/p>\n

But of all the changes, Briggs points to the lack of festivals and live music opportunities in Australia as the \u201cbig one\u201d.<\/p>\n

Big Noter\u2019s debut album Songs in the Key of Wrestling<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s feeling that pinch. We\u2019ve got that brutal flight time, which means we\u2019ve got to invest in our own a bit more. It\u2019s crazy to go to Europe and see how much it was flourishing, how everyone was out and about, to come back to Australia and just see [live music] struggling. Like, what the fuck?\u201d<\/p>\n

Briggs is trying to give other artists a leg up in a difficult time, with Bad Apples \u2013 which has launched the careers of more than a dozen First Nations artists \u2013 and Irruk Birruk, which focuses on distribution, ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists can enjoy all the benefits of the streaming age.<\/p>\n

Briggs points to two Bad Apples musicians, Barkaa and Kobie Dee, as \u201ctwo of the best rappers in the country\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t do wack shit,\u201d he adds, of Bad Apples. \u201cWe just make good music. I think that\u2019s lost on a lot of people who are trying to chase trends. Everyone\u2019s trying to sign a TikTok singer. Good for them, I don\u2019t do that shit over here.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cI\u2019m not done with rap, I\u2019m never done with anything. I just like to create. That\u2019s my gratification, bro.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big Noter\u2019s debut album, Songs in the Key of Wrestling, is out on 18 September. They are performing at The Tote in Melbourne on 19 September<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adam Briggs has never been one for subtlety \u2013 in his lyrics, his punchlines or his activism. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-895342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}