or friends of bands. there are not too many bands that i would give a mention for the sake of mentioning. or name dropping for name drops sake.
however. there are two bands of friends in new zealand that i find worthy enough to mention. besides a lil bias thoughts ofcourse!
First up, a band lead by a good friend and you could say instigator of my stupid gear obsession in a direct/indirect way. Atlanta Fall lead up by front man cum song writer, fellow Malaysian Jim Yong. A four piece pop rock outfit emerging from the depths of Auckland, New Zealand, with a seemingly fresh and aggressive sick puppy love style of writing citing influences of paramore and underoath yet trying to melt the ladies hearts. I managed to get along to a few gigs, putting the countless raw demos i’ve heard of from the band out of my head, and managed to get some decent shots of the band in the process.
atlanta fall were just beginning to nail a consistent good live sound when i last heard them, i even had the chance to sit down and do some microphone shoot outs to best suit the vocals for the band mix. Jim Yong the ex-gear whore currently captures the ladies imaginations with a Shure Beta57 in his pack. Thats right, a beta57, not a 58.
atlanta fall is due to release an ep in the next month or so, from the two tracks i’ve heard, it may very well shoot them up to pop-rock stardom!
the other band to mention is, Tokyo Keys who call them self a huge wall of synth is quite apt with the amount of synths and backing tracks they use. I had the privilege to mix the band at their first non-parachute live show. If i was a punter that night, i would have thought these guys were famous and i’ve been living under a rock! Their show was amongst the favorite sound gigs i’ve done. Simply amazing, setting up the stage for them was bit of a headache however! Their demos on myspace, a boy who fell and runaways in the night are my most played songs for two weeks running. have a listen and be a fan!
a shot i took from said gig. these guys truly know how to write songs that stick to your head! with plans to be the coldplay of new zealand, they have even imported a gearwhorewannabe/genius from nowhere! Paul Jackson from Oswaldtwistle plays a Nord Lead 2, Korg SV-1, other misc Korg synths and pedals as well! also seen in the picture is a yamaha cp-70 belonging to front man Jordan Westrupp (yet another tech/musical whizz).
