Party time

The eight members of tahuna Breaks love getting the crowd pumping. Photo / Juliette Ramshaw

Finding a rehearsal space to accommodate a group as large and as energetic as Tahuna Breaks isn't easy.

The band have been pumping out their own brand of roots reggae, funk and soul since 2005, when practice sessions began at Tahuna Street in Auckland - hence the name. From there, it's grown into a larger-than-life eight-piece that's moved from rehearsing in a garage in Onehunga, to way out west in Piha, then back into the CBD. Today you'll find them jamming after hours in co-founder and drummer Tim Gemmell's Khyber Pass office, crowded between photocopiers and stacks of A4 paper. It seems an unlikely source of musical inspiration but the band are firm believers of the philosophy it's not where you jam, it's how you jam.

"We just love to entertain people, essentially that's what music is about," says singer Marty Greentree. "People work hard Monday to Friday and on Saturday they just want to cut loose. We're the same. We'll give it 100 per cent every time."

Tahuna Breaks has toured endlessly since the release of their second album Black Brown & White last year. And with lively gigs at major festivals such as Matakana's Highlife and this year's Big Day Out, the band are on a roll.

"It's been a fast and crazy summer, we just seem to be pushing it and on the go the whole time," says Greentree. "But it feels quite natural now. I think the thing we've improved most on over the last five years is our live performance."

Adds Gemmel: "But basically when we're on stage, it's a bit of a party. We just want to get people up and going for it. And that's exactly what Tahuna Breaks have in mind for their next big gig at the Splore festival next weekend.

Splore 2010 is being held at Tapapakanga Regional Park, Firth of Thames, February 19-21.