Vancouver, B.C. - HipHopCanada caught up with Swollen Members producer Rob the Viking who just wrapped up their latest Canadian tour. Rob is the man behind the music on several notable Swollen joints including "Breath (featuring Nelly Furtado)", "Bring it Home", and their latest single, "Watch This". On his way into the city Rob answered some questions to take part in the 1st annual HipHopCanada Producer's Special.

HHC: Rob The Viking, Tired? How are you doing?
I'm alright. Thanks for having me.

HHC: So what got you into producing?
From being in groups… I was in a rap group called Telepathics in high school and I was controlling what was going on with the music and the construction of the songs and what not; learning all the instruments and technical aspects of things. That's more of an engineer kind of thing but it ties into production as well. So doing shows and understanding what was going on behind everything… it kind of brought me into it.

HHC: So who brought you your first pay cheque?
The first beat I ever sold was to Madchild. I had just moved to Vancouver; I moved in with Madchild and he had heard one of the beats that I had made. He liked it and I sold it to him.

HHC: No Doubt; I was under the impression that you were born in Vancouver…
I actually grew up on an island called Gabriola, which is outside of Vancouver Island - outside of Nanaimo. I basically grew up mostly in Nanaimo and Gabriola Island and then moved to Vancouver when I was 20.

HHC: How did you link up with Swollen and the Battle Axe family?
Basically I moved in with Madchild. I was coming to Vancouver to go to Engineering school to try something different. I ended up going to the studio with Mad and making beats all the time in the house we were living at. He basically offered me a place to stay for cheap rent and I started working on beats. I started doing a lot of stuff with Battle Axe… In the studio for about 3 or 4 months straight at one point; did a whole bunch of songs and that's how it got started. I went on tour with Swollen as a DJ and things kind of picked up from there.

HHC: So what led to you becoming an official Member of Swollen?
The way we worked together and I like the focus of being in a group and touring... I'm still making beats for other artists on Battle Axe… Overall being a part of a group felt like the right thing to do and it was good to be apart of that.

HHC: You recently released a solo effort titled "Beats to Pillage and Conquer". What kind of response did you get off this and are their plans for a follow-up?
The response was good and people seemed to like it. It wasn't like an album that you would put on and listen to. It was more of a compilation of my favorite beats… beats that were already used by artists and some new beats that no one had heard. I'm definitely going to follow-up with something similar to that. Maybe a collection of beats accept with more updated music. On the first one the beats were all from 2002, 2001 and maybe even in 2000. It's going to be something more musical and I might have people rapping on certain tracks.

HHC: What kind of business role if any have you taken on with Battle Axe?
I really haven't been a major part of that end of Battle Axe. I've basically been the in-house producer and that has been my main focus.

HHC: Has the success and public fame been shocking or weird to deal with?
Yeah… I mean I've always been a camera shy kind of person but you have to get used to that. We're really thankful for what has happened. It's not really shocking… It's very gratifying when people acknowledge what you've done… Knowing that people are listening to what you are doing is very rewarding. It feels good… people have definitely taken us in.

HHC: No doubt - You've produced 7 beats on Swollen's latest release, "Heavy". On future projects are you going to have more musical contributions?
I think how it works with us is I'm kind of like the sole overseer of the music end of the whole album and I think my musical contribution to it is usually a major part… but having other producers adds some different flavor and things come from a different angle. It's good to have that within an album. So I think overall we're going to continue to have different producers and emcees on our projects… but who knows.

HHC: So what are the Swollen Members up to now?
I think what we are trying to do now is focus on touring in the US. I mean we've done a huge run of tours in Canada so I think we might take a bit of break for now. Maybe give it a year and in that time we'll work on touring in the states.

HHC: What kind of response are you guys getting from the States?
Well we just did a Mid-West tour and we had really good response from that - it was awesome. We have a fairly good underground following in the US and it's good for us to get out there and take advantage to make sure people get to see us.

HHC: A lot of people say you aren't "real" Hip-Hop or that you cater to the skater audience rather than what they perceive as traditional hip-hop. What would you say to someone who felt this way?
I would say it's not something that we targeted but more of something that happened because of the people we were and the lifestyles we led… and lead. We don't really try and make music for snowboarders or skateboarders or that culture but the music we make was embraced by that first and that's how we came up and how we came about. I don't think that's necessarily what we try and do but we make our own music and I don't really think it sounds the way traditional hip-hop would sound…

HHC: Maybe traditional wasn't the right word because who's to say what's traditional and what's not…
Yeah I know what you mean but we definitely have more of an edge to us… a bit more of a live rock… we're not rock rap or anything like that but that's just kind of the vibe that we may have. We like to have a good time when we do a show… crowd suffering and that kind of thing which I don't think generally happens to much at hip-hop shows.

HHC: Any Canadian artists (east or west) that you have been working with or plan on working with?
I'm working with my friends down at the Sweatshop Union. I'm working with this guy named Kyprios out of Vancouver. I may be doing some future things with Bishop… I'm just concentrating on Swollen stuff right now but I would definitely like to work with other people in Canada for sure.

HHC: Thank you for your time
Thanks for having me again.