Wet Denim: Jack and Joe Ledword (left), Luca Crampton and Nick Goodwin. Photo / Lucy Radman-Brown
Wet Denim: Jack and Joe Ledword (left), Luca Crampton and Nick Goodwin. Photo / Lucy Radman-Brown
Havelock North brothers Jack and Joe Ledword are set to return to Hawke’s Bay with their band Wet Denim to play Paisley Stage on November 16 and then as a supporting act for Drax Project at Black Barn on December 21.
Anyone who likes live music in Hawke’s Bay knows of Paisley Stage. While Joe has played at the live music lounge, Jack said he had been to many shows at Paisley but never performed there.
Jack said, “So, playing Paisley Stage will be so fun.”
As for the Black Barn gig with Drax Project, Jack said, “It’s a bit of a full circle moment for me and Joe. The first live shows we probably ever went to were at 7 or 8 years old, with mum and dad, where at Black Barn.”
For Jack, this is also a full circle moment from the vineyards to the stage, as he used to work on the Black Barn vineyards, including the latest harvest.
Sharing the stage with Drax Project is another full-circle moment for Wet Denim as a band, as Drax Project helped produce the band’s first EP.
“It just all sort of feels like it’s coming together, it’s all happening.”
Growing up, music has always been a part of the brothers’ lives. Their dad played drums for a band in England, and their Hawke’s Bay house was full of music.
Jack followed in his dad’s footsteps and picked up drums at 8 or 9 years old, and Joe wasn’t far behind, picking up a guitar and then the bass.
During their school years, before university, the boys both played in bands, picking up local gigs in the Hawke’s Bay music scene, with the plan always to form a band together eventually.
With a few years between them, the brothers, Jack, 24, was waiting for his brother Joe, soon to be 22, to join him in Wellington, where they both attended Massey University.
Jack said he and his brother would always be “jamming on the guitar and drums or both of us on guitar, writing songs, or just playing covers and whatnot. We just always said we’d start a band.”
Finally, everything aligned, and with another guitarist and singer on board, the indie rock/pop band Wet Denim was created.
Jack on drums and Joe on bass and vocals make up half of the band Wet Denim, with university mates Nick Goodwin, the lead singer-guitarist and Luca Crampton on guitar, synthesisers and keys.
Wet Denim to play two shows in Hawke's Bay while touring new EP album, On The Line. Photo / Lucy Radman-Brown
On a mission to start a band, the brothers started looking for potential bandmates. Luca already lived with Jack, and Joe met Nick in his first year, as they were doing the same university degree.
Joe said: “I saw him singing an open mic at the pools. This guy’s really good. I told Jack, ‘This guy can sing’ and then I messaged Nick.”
Already working on another project, Nick “wasn’t too keen to start, but then he warmed up to the idea and then came to jam; it was awesome we had so much fun”, Joe added.
Jack said it was “kind of buzzy; meeting Nick for the first time was literally just at a Wet Denim jam we had performed; I’d never met him before, and he just turned up to the practice room and started playing”.
“It’s quite funny when you think about it now because I live with him now.”
Wet Denim are currently touring their second EP album, On The Line. This emotionally charged album follows their 2022 self-titled debut, offering a powerful exploration of themes like love, acceptance, gratitude, addiction and self-perception.
The seven-track EP presents Wet Denim’s evolution, blending the band’s iconic raw live energy with its signature vocal pop sensibility.
Tickets are available for the November 16 Wet Denim’s Paisley Stage gig at Moshtix. Visit the Wet Denim website to stay up to date with all things Wet Denim.
Maddisyn Jeffares became the editor of the Hawke’s Bay community papers Hastings Leader and Napier Courier in 2023 after writing at the Hastings Leader for almost a year. She has been a reporter with NZME for almost three years and has a strong focus on what’s going on in communities, good and bad, big and small. Email news tips to her at: maddisyn.jeffares@nzme.co.nz
