Fat Freddy's Drop at True Colours, St James

By STEPHEN JEWELL

With a line-up including members of TrinityRoots, Ebb and The Black Seeds, Fat Freddy's Drop could be New Zealand's equivalent of a dance music supergroup.

Fat Freddy's Drop were formed by DJ Mu, aka Chris Faiumu, and vocalist Dallas Tamaira before the group's fluid ranks were bolstered by saxophonist Warryn Maxwell from TrinityRoots, trumpeter Toby Laing from the Black Seeds, Ebb's Iain Gordon on keys and trombonist Joe Lindsay.

"Initially it was just me on turntables and Dallas jamming vocals, and then Warryn and Toby got involved," says Faiumu.

"It just grew from there. We were freestyling but with vinyl, you're always playing other people's music and not enough of your own. So I got a hold of a sampler and we started writing our own songs.

"Usually I come up with a nice bassline and a nice beat and some kind of loop or sample, which I then throw at the band. They then improvise around it and after two or three outings live with a particular groove, a song starts to take shape."

Fat Freddy's Drop were originally created as a pleasant diversion from the various members' other projects but recently the group have begun to take on a life of their own.

"We've been making it up as we go so far," laughs Faiumu. "There's been no master plan except for the last six months when we said to ourselves maybe we should have a good crack at it.

"It definitely started out as a not very serious, unstructured project. Warryn had TrinityRoots, Dallas had an album on the go and I had the studio. But now it's turned into this nice, fun project."

The turning point for Tamaira and Faiumu was their single, Midnight Marauders, which, despite being a perennial Fat Freddy's live favourite, was released last year under the pair's Joe Dukie and DJ Fitchie alias.

Midnight Marauders was licensed by Berlin label Best Seven after being heard on influential British DJ Gilles Peterson's Radio One show and has since sold more than 3000 copies in Europe.

Fat Freddy's Drop have since signed to British label, Kartel, who will soon release another live highlight, Hope, on 10-inch vinyl.

Kartel is run by Charles Kirby Welch, from leading London record store Vinyl Junkies, who also helps organise Spacifics, New Zealand dance music showcases at prestigious nightclub Fabric.

A stripped-down Fat Freddy's played at last August's event but the full band will be jetting off to London the day after they play True Colours in Auckland to participate in the first of Spacific's two nights at Fabric next month, where they will be joined by the likes of Nathan Haines, Concord Dawn and MC Tali.

Fat Freddy's will base themselves in South London for most of the northern hemisphere summer and, after Fabric, will play a series of gigs in cities such as Amsterdam, Vienna and Paris.

But first up is local extravaganza True Colours.

"True Colours is a bit weird," says Faiumu. "There's just too many bands. I think our set is only going to be about 30 to 40 minutes whereas at our own shows we usually play for about 2 1/2 hours.

"But True Colours is a good thing for the kids and we have a good time playing in front of all sorts of crowds. As for our set, we're going to try and avoid doing some of the hits."

At True Colours, Fat Freddy's will be joined on stage by the Newmatics' Benny Staples, who, along with Faiumu and Tamaira, once formed another great live act, the now defunct Crackhead Experience. "We haven't been to Auckland much lately but pretty much every time we do go, Benny plays with us as a guest," says Faiumu.

"Fat Freddy's Drop is a continuation of what we used to do in the Crackheads, which broke down because Benny lived in Auckland and we lived in Wellington."

And despite Wellington being proclaimed the groove capital, the Crackhead Experience was proof that you can live in Auckland and play funky music.

"The whole Wellington thing is all media hype," says Faiumu. "But there is generally a good scene happening down here. I personally think it's stronger in Wellington than in the other main centres but a big deal has definitely been made of it."

* Saturday, May 31