Entering the music scene in 1995 as the youngest member of the R&B group Taylah Made, Traffik displayed a skill and passion that were well beyond his age. Under the tutelage of Australia’s pioneer of urban radio and club events, DJC, Traffik would attend the late-night “Jammin” sessions at PBS FM to soak up the knowledge of groundbreaking Funk, Hip-Hop, and R&B recordings, study songwriting and production, and learn the importance of recognising history’s great contributors to all genres—that which is truly necessary to be recognized as great oneself.
In 2010, Traffik became the first Australian artist to collaborate with a member of P Funk, Quazedelic (Bootsy Collins, Snoop Dogg), and receive the salute from George “Dr. Funkenstein” Clinton himself. Traffik is set to turn heads with the release of his debut record, The Signs, an album that’s been ten years in the making and is set to be released to the world in September 2024.
Allow the soulful funk of Traffik’s “Snakes & Ladders” to whisk you to a magical land of deep grooves. Miraculously, the band creates these danceable moments while keeping the arrangement simple. A slapping bass line drives the instrumentation as heaven-sent falsettos cascade down the infectious drum pattern. Where this song really shines is the stunning vocal performance. Not to discredit the two-stepping tempos, but the dynamics of these vocals aid in the head-nodding anthem just as much as drum patterns. The vocals coil around the unpredictable funk to give the song a honed feeling while evoking the freedom of classic disco records. Traffik’s “Snakes & Ladders” is an ode to the funk’s history while keeping a toe in the modern soul landscape for a single that becomes more irresistible with each listen.
“The core band consists of Drummer Graeme Pogson, Bassist Evan Tweedie, Guitarist/Mix Engineer Simon Russell, and myself,” explains Traffik. “We composed and produced the music for “Snakes & Ladders” at Graeme’s studio (“Stanktuary 2” or “S2,” for short) some time ago. The bed tracks of each song from my forthcoming debut LP, The Signs, have been recorded with the band in the same room and played all the way through in one non-stop take. There’s been no editing of the original takes whatsoever.” Traffik continues, “I’ve always been intrigued by/with uptempo ‘party’ tunes where the lyrics revolve around a serious topic. I’ve encountered some evil characters over the years. This song is deeply meaningful to me as it’s the first time I’ve spoken on certain things.”
