Three records and ARIA-winning Sydney hip-hop trio have delivered their best work to date: the newly released Running On Air. According to the ARIA award-winning lads – MC Bliss (Jonathan Notley), MC Esoterik (Max MacKinnon) and their trusty DJ Izm (Tarik Ejjamai) – compiling their latest effort was hard work, but extremely rewarding.

“You do feel the pressure of, ‘Oh man, we’ve had a successful record, we really should follow it up,’” says Notley of the success of the trio’s 2008 LP, Flying Colours.

“But we’ve always been really good at just turning to each other and saying, “You know what? Don’t even worry about all that. Let’s just have fun again – because that’s how Flying Colours happened.’”

Recorded at a house in the Victorian bushland, Flying Colours moves from swing rock beats (“Flying Through The City”) to acoustic singalongs (“Reflections”) and even a reworking of Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson’s “Rattlin’ Bones” (“Late One Night”).

“ The brains of the operation is Johnny,” says MacKinnon, of the trio’s relationship. “He handles so much of the side of the business that me and Tarik wouldn’t be able to handle, you know? Film clips, editing, production, deadlines… But the machine needs soul, and that’s where Tarik and I come in. It’s totally equal when it comes to the music, all intertwined as one.” According to MacKinnon, the group’s success is definitely steered by his bandmate. “If we didn’t have Johnny in the group we’d be a couple of years behind getting organised,” he laughs. “I’m just glad this record got out there finally!”