SHAPESHIFTER 51
SHAPE OF
THINGS TO COME WORDS | Stu Cronin
How strong a reputation New Zealand’s dancefloor jungle and d&b! It was a complete was one of those moments where you have to
Shapeshifter have on Western shores I’m shift from school as it was all based around stop and go “wow” and appreciate where you
not certain but when the call went out from smashing drums, a brutally loud Korg MS20, are and how far you’ve come. We were all the
Kmag HQ about their forthcoming European synths, samples and other instruments. That most nervous we had ever been as musicians.
tour, research was done and it quickly didn’t go down too well with school and we The first half of the night we played with the
became evident that they are a real diamond dropped out in our second year.” orchestra. Then they left and we rinsed it. The
in the rough. physical reaction from the audience was over
Along with Sam, the original line-up featured the top. All our families came along. It was one
The band’s third studio album ‘Soulstice’ has Nick Robinson on bass and keyboards; of the greatest moments of my life.”
since become a fixed staple of my daily iPod Devin Abrams on synths and saxophone;
diet and is well worth tracking down. Released and Redford Grenell on drums. Much of the Hopefully that can be taken as one of the
in New Zealand in 2006, the album is about early material was instrumental with some greatest moments of his life... to date. A self
to be released in the UK. Ranging from bass vocal additions featuring fellow New Zealand confessed fan of Hospital Records and Brand
heavy dancefloor killers like ‘New Day Come’ vocalists including Ladi6 and Joe Dukie of Fat Nu Recordings it comes as little surprise that
and moody tech-stomper ‘Stryka’ to ‘80s Freddy’s Drop fame. The current line-up was Nu:Tone follows his remixes of the band’s
throwback, quick-stepper ‘Electric Dream’ cemented when the boys snapped up the vocal ‘Long White Cloud’ and ‘Bring Change’ tracks
and the lush piano meanderings of ‘One’, services of Paora Apera aka P Digsss. “We by releasing ‘One’ on his label on 2 June.
the common threads of jazz, d&b and soul met on New Year’s Eve 2001-2,” remembers Meanwhile, they are busy writing for the follow
are woven together tightly creating a warm, Sam. “We had been on tour in the north island up to ‘Soulstice’ and are itching to get in the
comforting album that wears the listener well. and had a 22 hour journey to make it to the studio after touring the album extensively.
This is clearly the product of a band on top of Gathering Festival. We were good friends
their game, having honed their skills through with Downtown Brown who started Sunshine Thankfully, though, that itch will wait until
music school, heavy touring and the two Soundsystem with Digsss. They played before after their European tour in May. “We can’t
preceding albums. us and Downtown suggested that Paora MC wait to play Shepherd’s Bush Empire. It’s a
our set. He slayed it and had a much different really famous venue and a major milestone
“We had all been playing in bands, making energy to any other vocalist we had performed for us. The response we had in London last
music for years,” keyboardist / guitarist, Sam with. We knew from that point he was the one.” time was amazing so we will be stoked to
Trevethick explains. “The only thing any of us build on that. We’re looking forward to the
wanted to do was music so we all ended up at After feeling that they had reached a plateau whole tour. It’s just a few dates this time
music school. The focus was on jazz history, in their development, the band relocated to round but we are playing Paris and Rotterdam
theory, ear training and notation. These were Melbourne in 2002 to broaden their horizons for the first time. Probably our most nerve-
helpful to know but not really leading us where and audience. Home still remains dear to their wracking gig will be Bristol as so much
we wanted to be musically. Luckily we were hearts though as Sam proves reminiscing inspiration has come from that city for us. It
all put into the same band for assessments on their return in September 2006 for an will be an honour to play there.”
and pretty quickly started getting together orchestra tour that culminated in a sell out
after hours to jam what we were actually into - show in their local town hall accompanied www.myspace.com/shapeshifterlive
Grooverider, LTJ Bukem, Roni Size, Dillinja type by the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. “It
K51_Shapeshifter.indd 51 23/4/08 14:12:44
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