Farewell concert for Kiwi rockers Lazy Fifty

Lazy Fifty frontman Adrian Athy performing the band’s new single Devil On His Day Off. Picture supplied

Gisborne rock band Lazy Fifty will play their farewell show at The Dome this Saturday before Adrian Athy heads to England with his wife/band manager Kerry to pursue music there.

The gig, with opening act UNI-FI, will also be a chance for the two lead singers (Adrian, Lazy Fifty and Cory Garrett UNI-FI) to celebrate their birthdays. As well as being Kerry and Adrian’s leaving party, the concert will also be a launch pad for Lazy Fifty’s new single Devil on His Day Off, which comes out on Friday.

Lazy Fifty has had a revolving list of musicians over the years with Adrian being the mainstay — writing the music and playing lead guitar and vocals.

Bass player Ryan Raggett has been with the band for 12 years and was joined three years ago by Joe Carroll on rhythm guitar, and two years ago by Mike Derbyshire on drums (two years).

Playing this weekend will be Adrian, Ryan, Joe and Mike.

Adrian and Kerry are moving to the UK to take advantage of the rock scene there, where there is at least one rock festival every weekend somewhere in the UK.

“The rock market over there is huge. Even if only 10 percent of the population are into rock music, that is more than the population of NZ, so there’s lots of opportunity over there,” says Kerry.

Adrian hopes to get full-time work as a musician in the UK while he and Kerry work to set up a tour for the band who would join them there in the future.

Lazy Fifty headlined the first NZ Blues & BBQ festival in 2022. They have also played at R&V, Bay of Islands Blues Festival and Rotorua Blues Festivals multiple times over the past 10years.

On Friday they will release their new single Devil On His Day Off — a hard and fast blast of pure rock ‘n’ roll.

Devil On His Day Off is a tale of friendship between Jesus and the Devil, introducing the concept that their public personas of good versus evil are maintained to appease the human need for a hero and a villain.

On their day off Jesus and the Devil throw off their monikers, play music “the Devil’s on his day off, he’s grabbed his bass guitar, Jesus on the 7 string at the bar”, hang out together and get up to all kinds of mischief.

The song presents the devil as a “good as bugger who is sick of being cast as the bad guy” with the lyrics ‘he’s tired of faking, he’s tired of breaking, he’s tired of taking the blame all of the time’.

Described as a good old-fashioned rock song, Devil On His Day Off showcases epic guitar harmonies, enhanced with catchy lyrics and smooth vocals to deliver a modern rock anthem with a classic feel.

Music producer from Roundhead Studios Greg Haver says it was great to revisit the world of Lazy Fifty again after previously working on their 2021: A Lazy Odyssey album.

“It’s always encouraging to see a band refresh and continue on their musical journey, a path that Adrian constantly treads in his desire to expand his virtuosity and push the boundaries of the genre.”

Devil On His Day Off is the second single from Lazy Fifty’s fourth studio offering Neighbour of the Beast due for release in July 2024. Coming in the form of an EP, Neighbour of the Beast is the Adrian Athy show, with a bit of Greg Haver thrown in for good measure.

Adrian composed all of the songs and played most of the parts — lead/backing vocals, lead/rhythm guitar and bass guitar — with Greg Haver contributing drums/percussion along with production.