Gavin continued: “We realized we couldn’t just go down and rap with a California accent and then sound like two lads from Dundee. People in the industry thought it was ridiculous. So we got to the point where it felt like all or nothing… Two years on these characters? That took talent. We made everyone believe we were the next Eminem. The scam was tricking them from a marketing standpoint.”
After signing a contract with a record label, he went from being in debt to suddenly having a lot of money in his accounts. They were stressed and paranoid about continuing the show, but became “completely addicted” to the lifestyle they portrayed.
Gavin said: “We needed to be approachable, fun, wild guys. We needed everyone to want to party with us. We felt we needed people to be with us, not against us. But we were 21, we had no idea who we really were, and we started to get hooked on these characters who were way cooler than we actually were. The plan was to get into the industry and get clean. We started to lose that. Once you’ve been playing a character for six months and had success, you start to forget who’s who. You really are. I’d see a picture of my parents and I would think, ‘I’m not their son anymore.’ We worked so hard to create these addictive characters and we became addicted to them.”
But the lies proved difficult to sustain, according to the Guardian. It took its toll on Gavin’s mental health. He drank too much and developed a stomach ulcer. This also ruined their friendship and it all came to an end when Billy left for Dundee.
The duo reunited in 2013 and released the EP. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels In addition to the documentary The Great Hip Hop Hoax.
James McAvoy directs upcoming Silibil N’ Brains biopic California Plans.