Freaky Meat 2011

In the spirit of following on from the last blog I thought I'd just spend some moments compiling a summary of the year as it was for Freaky Meat. While I'm no longer involved with the band in any official capacity (since the TFM gig) I've continued to follow their exploits and adventures this past twelve months, and i even managed to get along to seven of their gigs this year too. So here we go...
After closing out  2010 with two performances at Prana Festival, Freaky Meat promptly set about putting together another landmark year of accomplishment to further cement the bands reputation as one of New Zealand's hardest working independent bands.

Totalling things up, 2011 has seen the band play 15 regular shows which included the Titirangi Festival of Music 2011 and several private parties. They've also appeared 6 times on the radio with 3 of those appearances including live-in-the-studio performances. Most notably, a set for '31 bands in a box' on Kiwi FM during NZ music month back in May.

The official website, www.freakymeat.co.nz got a snazzy new look too.

The year also saw them busy in the studio which resulted in the release of the (digital only) "Beatspeak Melodies" E.P , "The lament of Paris" single and the bands first full length, self funded album "Delicatessen".

This was  promptly followed by the bands first Nationwide tour which included playing an additional 13 dates between the North and South Islands.

All this after Shane had major dental surgery at the start of the year.

Impressive stuff Gentlemen, and Manager Tabitha too. All the best for 2012.

Freaky Meat - Delicatessen

Following on from 2009's brilliant 'Monkey Shines ' single and the subsequent (and equally impressive) "Late night kebab" E.P from 2010 comes the first, fully self-funded album by neo-eclectic, Jazz beat fusion group Freaky Meat. 

This collection of material contains fresh studio recordings of established staples from the bands live repetoire as well as newer works that have been under development during the past two years. 

The band moves effortlessly between atmospheric narrative tracks like 'Te Henga in storm', rocking numbers like 'Sitting on the edge of your bed' and 'Zombie xmas hams' (winner of The Rock Factorys 2010 Mid winter Christmas song-writing competition) to the elegant brilliance of 'The lament of Paris' and the Jazzier 'Doors on the bus beat' featuring guest Sax by Micah Wolfe. And then, on the odd occasion, in the middle of a song, the band will totally switch gears and explore musical territories usually reserved for the sludgiest of Doom Metal albums.

Anyone who has ever seen Freaky Meat live will agree, the band are a tight force. The instrumental trio of Rod Redgrave (Bass), James Percy (Drums) and John McNab (Guitars) are an incredibly solid foundation and perfect platform for Shane Hollands' Poetry/spoken word/storytelling. Hollands often delivers his beatspeak with many hints of melody and a concise musicality that draws you in and mesmerizes you with its engaging style, substance and border-line genius qualities. Music and words interweave in a unique, satisfying and sometimes profound way. 

Not only is the subject matter often about travelling, but the well crafted music travels nicely too. Nothing feels like filler and the material has a natural flow with each piece proudly revealing its own flavours.  Worthy of note as well is that the recordings (mostly by The Rock Factory) are wonderfully organic and in many places they have a distinct, true, live feel. Only in a couple of rare places does this live "feel" slip into feeling slightly too produced, or rather, a little too polished. Not that there's anything wrong with that, at all.

This is a very strong, unique album from an extremely talented bunch of guys and if they're playing anywhere near you on their Nationwide album release tour in November i would strongly recommend you go and see the band perform these songs live. 

New Day, first blog

The last few years have been extremely full-on to the point where, for my own sanity, I've had to let a few things go. The original intention was that this would free some space up for the new things that always pop up in life and would give me more space to give to my Wife and kids.

Its early days yet but I'm _starting_ to appreciate an uncluttered form of peace and relief from the stresses and demands of what I now refer to as "previous life"

Where are things going? I'm not sure... and half the joy is not needing to.

This new period also coincides with me (temporarily) leaving "Music world" where I've been inhabiting numerous roles as diverse as Videographer, Archivist, Photographer, Band Manager (Puppet 2006-2008 and Freaky Meat 2007-2008 & 2009-2011), Gig booker, Event Coordinator, Organising Committee member (Titirangi Festival of Music 2006-2011) and lots of other roles since 2004.

Maybe this is my "Seven year itch"?