We’re pumped to announce that Sally & Erica will be hosting next year’s triple j Breakfast.

After three excellent years, our mates Ben & Liam will finish up at triple j on Friday 1 November, having decided to take up an opportunity in their hometown of Adelaide. Tune in all this week and next as we say a very fond farewell to the boys. [Ed note: yes, they really are as nice IRL as they seem].

Looking back on their time at the j’s, Ben & Liam say, “Waking up at 4am is far from ideal but when you love what you do it’s easy. We’ve had an absolute blast at triple j. Never in our wildest dreams did we think two dweebs doing community radio in Adelaide would get a crack at a gig like this. Thanks for waking up with us, listening to our shit talk and sharing your stories, we’ll be forever grateful. The last three years are something we’ll never forget.”

WATCH ‘We cheat at cricket’ feat. Ben, Liam, Sally and Erica

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Breakfast with champions

Speaking about their career as Sally & Erica to date, Erica says “It all came from music…We’re music nerds through and through.” They got their on-air start hosting FBi Radio's hip hop show, and soon found themselves delivering a weekly hip hop segment on triple j Breakfast with Matt & Alex.

It wasn’t long before the pair became regular voices on triple j, filling in on Breakfast, Drive, Good Nights, The Hip Hop Show, House Party and Summer Arvos. Then in 2018, Sally & Erica took over Weekend Arvos, where they’ve brought you new music and priceless talk-back for the last two years. Some of their favourite topics include: ‘What did your parents turn your bedroom into after you moved out?’, ‘What inanimate object did you play in the school play?’ (Erica was a bench) and, of course, ‘Do you wash below your knee?’, which people still routinely try and fight them on.

Their curiosity doesn’t stop there, and their years on Weekend Arvos have also given them the chance to dig deeper - you may have heard them talking to an RAF lawyer about the rules of international outer-space warfare, or to a young scientist using funnel-web spider venom to treat melanoma. It’s an inquisitiveness they reckon they share with the triple j audience: “We're constantly blown away by how funny, smart, compassionate and often straight cooked triple j listeners are,” says Sally. “They never cease to entertain and amaze us and we can't wait to spend our mornings with a couple of million music-obsessed mates.”

DOG ACTS: Have more than their fair share house Sally has been telling her mate Lindsay that how he leases out the spare room in his share house is a Dog Act.

Sally describes their favourite humour as the kind “where everybody’s in on the joke but everyone pretends they’re not joking.” They both look forward to bringing everyone along for the ride, and becoming even better mates with the cheeky, big-hearted and music-loving triple j audience. “We love making radio that makes you feel like you're just chatting with your friends. We're really pumped to get your stories, discover new stuff together, nerd out about music, and talk about the real shit and the dumb shit. Think Oprah Winfrey meets Flight of The Conchords.”

When Erica met Sally

Both Sally and Erica grew up in Canberra and lived in the same postcode, about a km away from each other, without realising it at the time. They were also both listening along to triple j. “Seriously, though,” says Erica. “I always thought it was so cool because my older cousin would go on road trips and listen to triple j and her family was ‘the cool family’; there’s always those cousins who are way cooler and if you don’t have those cousins, you are those cousins. So we’d go camping with them and their whole family would pump triple j.”

Meanwhile, at Sally’s house, her Dad’s birthday would always fall on a day just after the Hottest 100: “He’d always get the pre-order copy of the Hottest 100 compilation, like a little cut-out saying ‘You’ll get it when it comes out’. So we have every year’s copy of the Hottest 100 CD and I grew up thinking triple j was just something my Dad listened to and like, not that cool. Until I realised, ‘oh actually, now all my friends listen to it- and it’s pretty sick!’”

Sally Coleman and Erica Mallett went to the same school - but were a year apart and nearly never met. They met properly whilst travelling around India with some mutual friends, just after Erica finished school. “And that’s pretty much where we decided to be a rap duo,” remembers Sally. They went on to form hip hop duo Coda Conduct - funnily enough, the first time Sally and Erica ever came into the triple j studios was when they were our Unearthed Feature Artists back in 2015.

As artists, Coda Conduct have performed at Groovin The Moo, Spilt Milk and Listen Out, as well as appeared on stage with Hilltop Hoods at Splendour in the Grass. After signing to Elefant Traks earlier this year, they’re getting ready to release their second EP, Other People's Problems. Between them, Sally and Erica also have a wealth of music knowledge, with their combined experience covering everything from music licensing, publishing and label management to marketing, PR, festivals and booking live shows.

Erica adds “We both grew up with triple j and have so many great memories of singalongs in the car, Hottest 100 backyard parties and moshpit moments. It's such a trip to be part of the next chapter.”

Foresight is 2020

In case you’re already wondering who they’ll be voting for in the next Hottest 100, they’ve kind of, sort of got a rough idea. (But both admit that they’re likely to go for the old ‘panic vote’ when the time comes). “I get overwhelmed with how many songs I’ve shortlisted and get paralysed with fear!” says Erica “I know Kaiit, Nerve, Mallrat, Stormzy and Luca Brasi are on my list. I’ve locked in FIDLAR’s ‘By Myself’. But yeah I’ll definitely be tossing some coins to get it done the night before.”

Sally adds “I’ve been obsessed with Thelma Plum’s album since it dropped so I’ll have trouble choosing which song is my favourite off that. Definitely A.O.K by Adrian Eagle. Dominic Fike, Horrorshow, Sampa the Great, Montaigne… OK now I’m panicking about this shortlist already.”

Catch them bringing you their dirty lower legs and the best new music on Breakfast 2020.