Happy Jamming

As the new year has come and gone, I find myself looking back on a prosperous 2009 and the promising future of 2010. I feel that my experiences around New Years Eve and New Years Day tend to set the theme for my upcoming year. Last year, for example, my brother Sam and I were cruising the beaches of southern Thailand by day, taking full advantage of the nightlife and kicked off the New Year in Ko Pha Ngan up "The Mountain" at one of the biggest parties in the world. Looking back, this has definitely been a wild year.

The last five months in New Zealand have been a gift and a half. The one thing I wish I could share the most with each and every one of you is the music that comes from these small but vibrant islands. My favorite band, Fat Freddys Drop, played on New Years Eve and I have absolutely no idea how I got the 31st and the 1st off work bartending at a busy bar, so I'll just chalk it up to divine intervention. In the afternoon I took off with Ryan and Kendall out to Marahau to swim in the sea, hike around the Abel Tasman National park and relax on the beach. Then we drove back a small ways to Riwaka, population 108, to see the show at the infamous Riwaka Hotel.

Two thousand people crowded into a tent for the show; it was maddness. I started up at the front of the stage but there were just too many people pushing to see that I bailed out the side for cover and a space to dance. The show was amazing, although not what I thought it would be. At most concerts you go to these days the band gets up, sings their CD and that's that. Fat Freddy's got up and just started jamming with every instrument I could think of. They are not a pump-your-fist-in-the-air-and-dance-wildly band, they are reggae, jazz, blues, funk, and soul. So instead of the maddness of years past, I sauntered slowly into the New Year with 2,000 other calm, dancing souls. Surrounded by so many of my friends, it was a magical evening indeed. I decided then and there that the theme of the 2010 would be Grace. Lord knows I need some.

Fat Freddys Drop, Roadie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29MgzHUhHws

We all made it back to Ryan's stationwagon in one piece and the three of us tried to sleep there for the night without much luck, along with numerous other stationwagons, vans, tents, and a boat coincidentally named Grace, alongside the highway. The night was cold and the morning was baking hot, in true New Zealand style weather. We packed up early and skipped into Motueka for some breakfast then headed back to Nelson. Ryan and I dropped Kendall off and then proceeded to Part 2 of our New Year adventure. It took two hours to reach the tiny town of Inangahua, located precisely in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. Inangahua means 'whitebait' in Maori, and if your eyes are wandering you'll miss the town entirely. If you're eyes are peeled for a massive 4-day drum and bass festival, you'll see the little sign and turn left down the dirt road.

The Phat Club in Nelson town is the place to go see some great music. It's small, you always have a good view and some dancing space, plus the doorguy Paddy is a good mate of mine so I usually get to skip in for free. Every year the owners put on a festival in the mountains and name it after the upcoming year, hence the name Phat 10. Tickets are $250 dollars, bring your tent or a van to sleep in, food for 4-5 days and enough clothing for intense heat, freezing cold, rain, mud and wind. As usual I was ridiculously unprepared. Since we showed up on the last day of the festival Paddy put my name on the guest list and we breezed in for free, sleep-deprived, exhausted and ready to dance. In about five minutes I found everyone I knew, including Paddy who was doing security at the bar and looked a bit rough, seeing as how he hadn't slept in three days. Beer in hand, sun shining, I run into Pernilla, my crazy Swedish friend, as the melodious voices of the Black Seeds fill the air. It couldn't have been a more perfect moment.

Black Seeds, So True: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDyUcmoIkl0

I've seen the Black Seeds three times, and they are spot on every time. Why miss good reggae when it's coming to you? After Black Seeds was Tiki Taane, former lead singer of Salmonella Dub, and then Kora, a group of brothers that only get together occasionally to play some wicked reggae and dub-step. They are absolutely amazing and were my favorite show of the day. After the reggae and dub-step the festival kicked up a notch with Drum-n-Bass!!! Lineup for the rest of the evening and into the morning was Dose, Bulletprookf with MC Tek, State of Mind with MC Woody, Concord Dawn, Klute...and then my memory goes a bit hazy. Pernilla and I had stuck together and danced almost ten hours when the freezing rain came down. I was barefoot.

Tiki, Faded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Q-oAar5DY
Kora, Burning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkRKbdUyvqo

I need to say a few things about D&B music. I didn't really ever like it until I hit New Zealand. I called it 'Angry Music'. There is something about it though, something expressive in the random sounds and how they fit together, a heavy bassline or a good break beat. What I really like though, is how you dance to it. There is a freedom moving on your own, not needing or wanting a partner. In moving the way your body sees fit to move at that moment, in the way there is no judgement, the music flows through you. If you want to pump your fist in the air, do it. If you want to dance around like a chimpanze, sweet as. If all you can manage is a worm-like finger roll, that's also ok. If you stumble or fall, all is good because now you have a new dance move. I was covered in mud, wet from the rain, sweating from the dancing and happy as ever, although I feel my Grace had gone right out the window by that point. I'm surprisingly ok with that. Have a wee listen to the music, keep an open mind and remember that it is now 2010 and that music will transform and grow as we do.

Concord Dawn, Morning Light: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TW__7lqo2E
State of Mind, Sun King: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imp0BqHBxyQ

After we could no longer stand we retreated to the bonfire to sit down, but decided sanctuary would be back at the tent, where we could still hear the music until nine a.m. I got a few hours of sleep, finally, and then Ryan showed up in the morning after crashing in his mate's tent. We left before the crowds and got back home to Nelson a few hours later. My bed has never felt so soft, nor my shower so warm. After a solid week of work we had another day of music last saturday, another Phat Club production called Summer Six. The lineup was Optimus Gryme, a dub-step DJ, Nathan Haines, mostly instrumental folk-type music, P-Money, a hip hop artist, Black Seeds, woohoo!!!, Katchafire, one of my all-time favorite bands and excellent reggae music plus I have a ridiculous crush on the lead singer, and Concord Dawn, again woohoo!!! After eight hours of dancing in the intense NZ sun I was exhausted and half-dead once more. It's these shows, this music that makes my time here amazing. Nelson would be just a little town if it weren't for the music that came here and the sun that shines. Such a perfect place for me. Here's some more music, all of it from New Zealand. I hope you take some time and listen to the samples, and maybe some more after that. If we cannot share music then we cannot grow, so I'm passing on what others have passed to me, knowing that it will do you a world of good.

Katchafire, Who You With: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf9TJ9K6I9Q
Shapeshifter, Long White Cloud: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHnMcRUQP7U
Salmonella Dub, Love Your Ways: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EntFU6BWkro Push On Thru: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHYIHqSq4JQ

Happy jamming in the New Year