As part of the ‘Don’t Wait Up’ tour, Tuka is back playing in Sydney again – this time with a slightly different version of his live show. The recently released Alive Death Time Eternal is a reworking of last year’s album Life Death Time Eternal, so Alex Pye picked Tuka’s brain on what went into the new recording.

Tuka explains that his followers asked for the new Live reworking, mimicking the acoustic-style versions he released after his 2012 record Feedback Loop. After getting requests on a weekly basis, he eventually decided it was time to listen!

“There’s something about people watching you perform live. Not only in a venue, but live, because you get the authenticity of what the song is all about and a lot of the time that doesn’t translate in a video clip as well as it does with just some dude with a guitar or a piano doing a song. So I feel like people connect to it. I would normally never do it, but people were keen for it, so I thought I’d do it.”

The whole reworking of the record was created in one day, aiming to get away from hip-hop stereotypes and to include different instruments and arrangements. Some of this has extended into the current tour, which has a live band. The set is tighter now, Tuka says, giving him more confidence this time around.

Looking forward, his work with Thundamentals will probably be taking up more of his time, but solo Tuka won’t disappear completely.

“In the foreseeable future I can’t see a lot of Tuka stuff happening… but I’m not putting the Tuka stuff down. It’s a good outlet for me, it really helps me shape my songwriting, because when you’re in a band, you fit in a cog or a matching, but when you’re doing a solo thing, you are the machine. So you expand your tool set.”

Both projects feed off each other in reality. Tuka sees it as a test, to make it through the busy periods and come out at the other end better at what he does.

Listen to the full interview above.

What: Tuka + Ecca Vandal + Alphamama
When: 8pm, Friday 8 April 2016
Where: Manning Bar, Manning Road, University of Sydney.
How much: $30 + bf here