A couple of years ago I have been travelling through New Zealand. Pretty soon I came in contact with the country’s music in bars and clubs and I was immediately falling for it. The style of music in New Zealand is very divers, but the music styles I liked the most were Drum ‘n Bass, Dub, Rootz and Reggae. That made me decide to write down some information here of the bands and artists I got to know during the time I was there. Most of the artists perform in New Zealand and in Australia, but some of them also release CD’s and perform in Europe and the United States.
I was delighted to see some of them perform live, such as The Black Seeds and Shapeshifter. I’m waiting for the day when I can see the other bands and artists when they walk on stage in the neighborhood or at least in a considerable range, because travelling to New Zealand is not something I will do very often.
Read on if you want to know more about the music in New Zealand, with pictures, videos, information and links to their website.
Salmonella Dub
Genre: Drum ’n Bass, Dub, Reggae, Rootz
Salmonella Dub is a Drum ‘n Bass, Dub, Reggae, Rootz band from Kaikoura, New Zealand. The band started in 1992 with Andrew Penman, David Deakins and Mark Tyler. They are touring mainly in New Zealand, Australia and the UK.
In 2007 Tiki Taane, their front man left the band to start a solo career. Read more about him below.
Since the start of the band they produced 8 studio albums and 8 singles, where of ‘Heal Me’ is the latest. ‘Heal Me’ and ‘One Drop East’ were released internationally.
Salmonella Dub is definitely the band I would like to see perform live. Probably I would have to go to the UK for that, since they haven’t been in the Netherlands so far.
Some good songs:
- Love Sunshine And Happiness (Heal Me) 2007
- Dancehall Girl (One Drop East) 2004
- Push On Thru (Inside The Dub Plates) 2001
- Problems (Inside The Dub Plates) 2001
- Love Your Ways (Inside The Dub Plates) 2001
- Johnny (Killer Vision) 1999
- Drifting (Killer Vision) 1999
- For The Love Of It (Killer Vision) 1999
The Black Seeds
Genre: Fusion, Dub, Funk, Afro beat, Soul
The Black Seeds, founded in 1998, is a Fusion, Dub, Funk, Afro beat, Soul band from Wellington, New Zeeland. Besides New Zealand and Australia they are also performing live in Europe.
I was happy to see them live at Lowlands 2 years ago and their music is very relaxing. It’s good to listen to and remembers me of the relaxing way of life in New Zealand.
The current members consist of Barnaby Weir, Mike Fabulous, Daniel Weetman, Lee Prebble, Jarney Murphy, Tim Jarray, Andrew Christiansen, Jabin Ward and Nigel Patterson.
Since they started they released 5 studio albums:
- Keep On Pushing L.P (2001)
- On The Sun (2003)
- Into the Dojo (2006)
- Solid Ground (2008)
- Pushed (2003) (Remix album)
Bic Runga
Genre: Pop, Folk
Briolette Kah Bic Runga, born in Christchurch, is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. She debuted on number one in the New Zealand charts and became quickly famous in Australia, the UK and Ireland. Her music is mainly focused on pop and folk.
Her best known songs are with no doubt ‘Sway’ from 1997 and ‘Birds’ from 2005. Sway can be heard in the Hollywood movie ‘American Pie’. She mainly sings and writes relaxing pop songs and since her debut 3 studio albums were released: ‘Drive’ in 1997, ‘Beautiful Collision’ in 2002 and ‘Birds’ in 2005.
In the Netherlands not many people may know her, although she performed in the ‘Melkweg’ in Amsterdam.
Singles up till now:
- Say After Me (Birds) 2006
- Winning Arrow (Birds) 2005
- Listening For The Weather (Beautiful Collision) 2003
- Something Good (Beautiful Collision) 2002
- Get Some Sleep (Beautiful Collision) 2002
- Sorry (Drive) 1999
- Good Morning Baby (Single Only) 1999
- Hey (Drive) 1998
- Roll Into One (Drive) 1997
- Suddenly Strange (Drive) 1997
- Sway (Drive) 1997
- Bursting Through (Drive) 1996
- Drive (Drive) 1996
Shapeshifter
Genre: Drum ’n Bass, Dub, Soul
Shapeshifter is a live Drum ’n Bass act from New Zealand. Founded in 1999 and since then won a fair amount of prizes nationally as well as internationally.
I saw them performing live in ‘Paard van Troje’ in The Hague and although there was a small crowd (they started at 1:30am) the performance was more than good. Their music differs a lot between the albums and the live performances. On the albums they sound very polished, while live they act as a real drum ‘n bass band.
The band consists of Nick Robinson, Sam Trevethick, Devin Abrams, Redford Grenell and P Digsss. Till now they released 4 albums, of which I personally like ‘Soulstice’ the most.
Singles (and good songs) till now:
- Dutchies (The System Is A Vampire)
- Electric Dream (Soulstice)
- One (Soulstice)
- Bring Change (Soulstice)
- Long White Cloud (Riddim Wise LP)
- When I Return (Riddim Wise LP)
- Been Missing (Riddim Wise LP)
- Move With Me (Realtime)
- Tapestry (Realtime)
- Realtime (Realtime)
Ladyhawke
Genre: New Age, Indie Rock
Phillipa "Pip" Brown, born in Masterton, in the region of Wellington, New Zealand, is a singer-songwriter. She started in 2005 and she released one album that carries her own name. It won various prizes. Best known songs: ‘My Delirium’ and ‘Paris Is Burning’. Her style is between New Age and Indie Rock.
I haven’t seen her perform live yet, but if I have the possibility I will.
Fat Freddy’s Drop
Genre: Dub, Reggae, Rootz, Jazz, Soul
Fat Freddy’s Drop is a seven-headed formation from Wellington, New Zealand. Their style is Dub, Reggae, Rootz, Jazz and Soul and they started in 1990.
Currently they consist of Joe Dukie (Dallas Tamaira, vocals), Tony Chang (Toby Laing, trumpet), Chopper Reedz (Scott Towers, saxophone), Jetlag Johnson (Tehimana Kerr, guitar), Dobie Blaze (Iain Gordon, keyboards), DJ Fitchie (Chris Faiumu, MPC) and Hopepa (Joe Lindsay, trombone).
They toured in Europe several times, but unfortunately I haven’t seen them yet. Until now they released two studio albums: ‘Based On A True Story’, their debut from 2005, and ‘Dr. Boondigga And The Big BW’ from 2009.
Good songs:
- Pull The Catch (2008)
- The Camel (2008)
- Wandering Eye (2005)
Kora
Genre: Reggae, Rock, Dub, Rootz
Kora is a Reggae, Rock, Dub and Rootz band originally from Whakatane, New Zealand. Four musical brothers from the Kora family, Laughton, Francis, Stuart and Brad, started a band together in 1990 under the name Auntie Beatrice. They won the national Rockquest high school band competition in 1991 and 3 years after the East Coast region Battle of the Bands, where which they obtained a record contract at Tangata Records.
Currently the band consists of 5 members, Dan McGruer joined later. They released one studio album so far with the name ‘Kora’.
Rhombus
Genre: Dub, Reggae, Rootz, Drum ’n Bass
Rhombus is a band from Wellington, New Zealand, founded in 2001. Their style lies between Dub, Reggae, Roots and Drum ‘n Bass.
They consist of Simon Rycroft, Thomas Voyce, Koa Williams, Raashi Malik, Lisa Tomlins, MC Antsman, MC Mana, Darren Mathiassen and Stephen Gallagher. They are mainly known of their support work with acts as Shapeshifter, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Salmonella Dub and Kora.
Two studio albums are known: ‘Bass Player’ from 2002 and ‘Future Reference’ from 2005.
Tiki
Genre: Dub, Drum ‘n Bass, Electronica, Acoustic
Tiki Taane, born in Christchurch, is a New Zealand musician. For years he was the front man of Salmonella Dub until he left the band in 2007 to start a solo career. His style consists of the following genres: Dub, Drum ‘n Bass, Electronica and Acoustic.
His debut album ‘Past, Present, Future’ was released on the 22nd of October 2007 and debuted at number 9 in the charts. The first single of that album ‘Always On My Mind’ was released in 2008. His second album ‘Flux’ came out this year.
Shihad
Genre: Rock, Industrial Rock
Shihad, also known as Pacifier, is a rock band from Wellington, New Zealand. They started in 1991. They create heavy rock music, let’s say Metal.
The name of the band was inspired of the stories from the books of Frank Herbert’s Dune. During the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the band decided to change their name, since it sounded very much like the Arabic word ‘Jihad’. A couple of years later, however, they decided to pick up the current name again.
Shihad is pretty much known all over the world. They are not well known, but they are good. The members consist of Jon Toogood (vocals and guitar), Phil Knight (guitar, synthesizer and backing vocals), Karl Kippenberger (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Tom Larkin (drums, backing vocals and samplers).
In the meantime they released eight studio albums, of which ‘Beautiful Machine’ from 2008 is the most recent. The albums were accompanied by a large number of singles.
The bands and artists described above are off course a little pick from the wide musical scene New Zealand has to offer, but these are the ones that remember me of a fantastic time in New Zealand. Since nothing is more relaxing than listening to good music while travelling around the country.
If you are looking for an internet radio channel which plays a lot of music from New Zealand, then check out Kiwi Radio.
Do you want a good collection of songs from New Zealand covering the bands described above, then check out the album ‘Check Dub Conspiracy - Various Artists’.