Words by Maddy Howell | Photo by Paul Harries
Since he first began turning heads with 2021 album Cheaper Than Therapy, Tyronne Hill has asserted himself as a dominant, transgressive force in the modern alternative space.
Playing guitar in local pop-punk bands as a teenager whilst being raised on the hip-hop classics blasting from the speakers of his family and friends, the 32-year-old had always felt a little different. Drawn to the heavier, angrier sides of rock and metal regardless of how much name-calling it encouraged from his peers, his career has been marked by a fearless collision of rap’s aggressive energy with the raw power of rock. A fusion founded not just as an artistic choice, but out of necessity – since Hill began creating under the moniker of Kid Bookie, the Londoner has tasked himself with delivering the truest expression of his identity.
In a world often devoid of honesty, Kid Bookie’s latest album, Songs For The Living // Songs For The Dead, marks the culmination of a journey that’s been as tumultuous as it has been triumphant. Honing his vision and embracing the chaotic energy of his influences whilst adding his own deeply personal, emotional weight, it’s a rollercoaster of emotions - rage, heartbreak, hope, and despair.
From finding himself under the mentorship of Corey Taylor as a young artist to fearlessly establishing his genre-blurring style, Kid Bookie has evolved into something ferociously unique. With Songs For The Living // Songs For The Dead now unleashed into the world, we sat down with Hill to dive into the making of the album, his unapologetic embrace of vulnerability, and the ethos’s that bind everything he creates.
To understand this album, we have to look at how you were first drawn to the rock and metal scene. With everyone around you into grime and hip-hop when you were teenagers, what was it about rock that was impossible for you to stay away from?
Kid Bookie - “When I was younger, rap was never an interest to me, I found it shit and boring. I was in a pop-punk band called New Connections when I was 11 years old, and in England, that’s the age where you go into secondary school. Being that young and impressionable, and going to schools in South London where the rock kids aren't in abundance… It's weird. At that age, you don't really know what scenes are, you just exist as a byproduct of the shit you listen to and what you see on the TV. You emulate that, so it was a massive culture shock going to school because no one was into what I liked. You get called ‘skater boy’ when you’ve got your skateboard on you, and you start realizing that you feel uncool… But you don't really know why. School took me away from the path of being myself, but in a way, it aided it too. Later down the line, both my rock and rap influences would form a massive part of my trajectory.”
When you accepted that you wouldn’t be happy unless you were making rock music, and began embracing your music heading in that direction, did it feel as though that was where you were always supposed to be?
Kid Bookie - “Really, the catalyst was doing ‘Stuck In My Ways’ with Corey Taylor five years ago. Instantly, the culture that I love just took to me, even though I was different. There were people who thought that with a name like Kid Bookie I must be the new Lil Pump or Lil Yachty, so I had to get over that, but I didn't give a fuck. I'm quite aware that not everyone is going to like you, and I'm okay with being disliked. Winning people over is the best.
Ultimately, from then, it prevailed in the way it needed to. I hate to say the word ‘fate’, because I don’t think that the stars always align for you, but I do think if you work in a way which aids your trajectory… The cards will fall into place. Embracing rock music was huge, because it's in my heart. I am rock ‘n’ roll, it flows straight from my bones. Rock isn't defined by what some cunt in an office thinks.”
Coming out of 2022 EP Mass Hysteria, when you first started mapping out what this record was going to look like, what did that vision consist of?
Kid Bookie - “The first inkling of what I do was probably before Mass Hysteria, when I did Cheaper Than Therapy. That was my canvas where I threw together my idea of what modern rock could be. After that, Mass Hysteria was weird because I didn't write any of the music on it. That's normally something I'm so instrumental in, so I have a weird attachment to that project. It was Billy Martin [Good Charlotte]’s first time mixing and making a project, so it was somewhat of a gamble. I don't think that music represents what my music is, because it's someone else's ideas with me fulfilling them. That's not to say it’s a bad project, I just don't have the attachment to it. It's a taste of what was to come, and people liked it, but the album had to be different in a lot of ways.”
Once you got the ball rolling with ideas, were you surprised with where things were headed at all? Because there are some moments on this record that feel a little further out from what we’ve heard from you before…
Kid Bookie - “It's probably more shocking to others than it is to me, because I have been doing these things all the time, I just haven't put it out yet. I'm quite a theatrical rapper, but I'm in a scene where there are all these massive hooks all the time. I might not be seen in the same echelon as those artists, even if I'm putting out massive anthems like ‘AI’. I'm rapping my ass off like a motherfucker though, and you're not gonna get anyone else doing that. There's a fine line in the relationship between rap and rock, and it can either be very corny or very good. I try to study the music I love, and I think it's important to realize what you’re a part of. I don't really struggle to make nuanced music that's authentic to me, because it is me.”
‘Purgatory’ and ‘Nothing To Believe In’ feel like two of the most raw, honest songs you’ve ever put out. Was that vulnerability something you wanted to fully embrace this time around?
Kid Bookie - “Weirdly, my friend said to me that ‘Nothing To Believe In’ is a boomer song. That made me never want to listen to it again! It's become the black sheep of the album for me, but I listened to it the other day, and I was like, ‘Man, this is really good!’
‘Purgatory’ is the rawest song I've ever written though, because it's so true to me. When I wrote it a year ago, I was going through it, and a year later I’m going through that same thing again. It's no longer a cathartic release of my pain, it's now a reminder of the pain that I'm being served. It’s a consistent reminder that you have to be better. It's weird how that can happen because that song was written via heartbreak, and I’m ending the cycle of the album with more heartbreak. Sometimes I don't know if I can write my own future somehow… Maybe I need to be more aware of the magic in writing. If that's the truth, maybe I need to start writing some more positive sentiments for myself!”
There are moments of hope on this record, but there are also acknowledgements of just how bleak it can get. In a scene where artists often sugarcoat their messages, is it important for you to say it how it is, even if that does include accepting that sometimes things are hopeless?
Kid Bookie - “I’m known for being the most pessimistic cynic, because the world is not always the pretty place that it can be painted to be. However, I'm a firm believer that we're just here for the moment. We are the orgasms that exist because our parents decided to fuck, and I didn't choose this, but I am here. I have a duty to try and be kind and reciprocate things that will help foster a better planet. Ultimately, I want to change the world. The more you put those sentiments into people's heads, they start to adopt them, and all of a sudden - you've got a chain ethos.”
‘Songs For The Living // Songs For The Dead’ is also an album in the truest sense, and the flow of the tracks is stunning. Did you put a lot of thought into how the album would flow from one track to the next?
Kid Bookie - “Absolutely, and every decision was made for a reason. This album is the first impression of me for a lot of people, but they’ll learn that’s a consistent theme in all of my projects. It's important to show that I'm not clean cut. I don't need to be shown in a clean-cut way, and I never want to deliver an album that doesn't have a piece of my identity in it. A massive part of my identity is broken glass, and I'm an imperfect picture. I am shattered, I am broken, but you can still look at me and find the beauty. Why try to be something I'm not? Why aim for a level of perfection that no one will ever reach? An album is a massive platform to be vulnerable and human, and the journey of the record shows that.”
In terms of the extra hands that went into creating the record, the list of collaborators that played a part in bringing this to life is a dream team. From Good Charlotte’s Billy Martin to Skindred’s Mikey Demus, how integral was it to have a team of people behind this who truly understood the vision?
Kid Bookie - “This was one of the first times my hands haven’t entirely covered the cake. I let everyone dig their hands in and add new ingredients because music is a collaborative process. You have to leave your ego at the door when you make a song, because it's not about you anymore. It's about the sonics and how they affect everything that's happening around you. I work very closely with the same people though because vision is important. Adding sight to something that nobody can see takes risks and an understanding, so you need to have that trust.
Billy produced Mass Hysteria, and I've been working for him for five years. It was nice to go in the studio, pick up a guitar, and just make some pop-punk. I love pop-punk, and it's something I’ve always made in small variations, but never a full track. I was able to go into each part of my inspiration and put a concentrated version of what I do on wax, and that’s thanks to the team of people I worked with. Often the most successful albums are solid in their sound, but my sound is so big. I am a student of the game, I am a learner, and hopefully that comes out in my music.”
When we’re talking about not only collaborators, but friends, we have to mention Corey and his family. How has his guidance and friendship helped you become the artist you have over the years?
Kid Bookie - “I always say that Corey is the catalyst to my life changing, because he's indirectly affected everybody around me. Some of those people he's affected are the reason I get to do arena tours with I Prevail or stand onstage and do ‘Break Stuff’ with Limp Bizkit at Wembley. He's my brother, I love him. I love Alicia, I love Griffin, and I fucking love Michelle Kerr. She was so influential in making sure that I was noticed, and I hope she rests in peace.
The family that they have introduced me to is life changing. I'm from South London. I'm from the gutter where Lee Rigby had his head decapitated by extremists. I don't have much, but I have a penny, a dream, and a little bit of piss in the wind. People have aided that piss, and now I’m able to piss all over the fucking globe. Corey is my brother, and I love him more than these silly words could ever say.”
When we look at everything you’ve accomplished on this album, it’s obviously transgressive, but perhaps more importantly - it’s deeply authentic. How integral is it for you to make sure that you’re always ticking both of those boxes with what you create?
Kid Bookie - “That's become the subconscious ethos of everything I do. I won't make any music if I don't actually believe it, and I don't want to do it if I can't capture the essence in my own voice. It's not just about putting something on wax and sticking it on Spotify for a month-long popularity spike. Sure, you might get your magazine covers and your festival slots… But that doesn’t matter to me. For some people that may be enough, and honestly, who am I to tell people if their authenticity is linear to mine? For me though, it’s about fucking around and doing what I love.”
Looking towards the future of this project, having had the chance to push the boundaries and hone your abilities as a musician, are you feeling even more confident about the possibilities ahead for Kid Bookie?
Kid Bookie - “I put the album out, and by the end of the day it was #2 in the UK Rock Charts, and #15 overall. That held out for the whole day, only for Linkin Park to climb back up again and start bringing me down the ranks. Honestly, that's a feat in itself. There aren’t many people who get to say that they’re swinging it with Linkin Park. That's given me an insight into what I need to be doing. I've gone through a lot of changes, and there are a lot of changes I still have to go through, but I'm ready for it. It's scary, I'm hurt, I’m sad, and sometimes I'm happy. I'm the full spectrum of the human condition, but I’m learning how to tackle it. I'm excited, because the only thing you can do is succeed or fail. I have failed many times before, and I'm not scared of it.”
