Opshop pack a message with their music

By REBECCA BARRY

As teenagers at a Catholic boys school in Christchurch, Jason Kerrison, Matt Treacy and Tim Skedden had better things to do than go to church on Sundays.

Like nicking the school hall key off the priest so they could play music.

Says Kerrison: "As a kid, finding Living Color and a whole bunch of other rock bands, you just want to rock out."

He might be a bit less rebellious now but is just as likely to take risks for his art. A recent trip to the doctor revealed the Opshop frontman could be suffering from nodules on his vocal chords, a condition he puts down to his tenacity while recording the band's debut album.

"It's been freaking me out," he says, rubbing his throat. "I've been detoxing and trying to take care of myself. I haven't had a full voice since the end of the album production last year because by the last week I had this horrendous cold. During all the vocals on the record I'm holding a hot toddy in one hand and a handkerchief in the other. In between takes I'm sniffing and snorting."

Not that there's evidence of snottiness, in either sense of the word, on You Are Here. Kerrison prefers to write about social issues than personal angst - American politics, the pace of modern life, spiritual enlightenment. The result is a poignant collection of songs suitable for the radio, the stadium and perhaps even the lecture hall.

"The reason for this intensive propaganda is to keep people from thinking ... " goes the Noam Chomsky sample on Secrets.

Thinking man's pop - or self-righteous pomp?

"It's a pretty slippery slope when you start getting into politics in music - you don't want to impose your politics on anyone else," says drummer Bobby Kennedy.

Kerrison: "At the time I was writing for the album the world was going to war and hundreds of thousands of protesters around the world were saying, 'Don't do it.' I couldn't help but feel a sense of frustration and hopelessness and defencelessness."

Opshop are not the first band to combine a social conscience with rousing songs. They've been compared to Coldplay and U2.

"I'm a huge fan of both those groups," says Kerrison. "But that doesn't mean I go out there and try and be Bono or Chris Martin."

Coldplay were deplored as miserablists and, ah, bed-wetters. What does that make you?

"There's nothing wrong with being soft from time to time," says Kennedy. "Mind you, Tim wouldn't say the same thing."

Kerrison: "No, he'd say, 'You need more salt. Harden up those arteries.' I wet my bed until I was about 9 so I'm used to it."

He laughs heartily. Whether to call themselves a rock band or otherwise is not the only bone of contention. Kerrison and Kennedy met when their bands competed at the Rockquest in high school - Kerrison's made it to the finals, Kennedy's didn't. Nevertheless, the gig gave them the opportunity to scope each other out, and they can now say with some satisfaction Opshop are "recycled" from the two. Three years ago Ian Munro joined them on bass, they secured a record deal and went into the studio with producer Brady Blade. The album was mixed in LA by Danny Saber, who had also worked on Living Color's comeback album, Collideoscope.

"We didn't go looking for him, he just turned out to be one of Brady's friends at college," says Kerrison.

"It was just serendipity, we tripped over that. It was given to us on a plate by the universe."

Blade had more heavenly gifts in store - he also worked on Brooke Fraser's album, and the singer visited them in the studio.

"She'd bring us freshly-baked cookies," says Kennedy. "She's really sweet. We became good friends and we'd seen her play, so we asked her to play piano on No Ordinary Thing. She did an amazing job. She did this Tori Amos kind of thing.

"We were sitting there going, 'This is incredible but where's it going to fit in a rock song?"'

Right about where Kerrison-the-pop-star fits in. Like Coldplay, Opshop will no doubt be revered as much for their frontman's good looks and stage presence as the fact all five members can play guitar.

"As a musician you go through a sense of osmosis - you just kind of take on what you do and then it goes through some kind of process and comes out the other end," Kerrison explains modestly. "I don't even understand the process. We're a rock band. We're a rock combo. We get played on pop radio.

"I like the idea of an op shop being a place where you can try on things and not have to feel there's a certain imposition, you can do it with the freedom of those people around you. Because you go to an op shop with your friends, right?"

Performance

* Who: Opshop

* What: Support on feelers' Playground Battle tour

* Where & when: Sideline Bar, Napier Wed May 19; Colosseum, Palmerston Nth, Thu May 20; Starlight Ballroom, Wgtn, Fri May 21; Brewers Bar, Mt Maunganui, Wed June 9; London Shed, Pakuranga, Thu June 10; Altitude, Hamilton, Fri June 12; Regent-St James, Auckland Sat June 12

* Also: Opshop's debut album You Are Here is out now.