Kiwi soul singer Teeks AKA Te Karehana Gardiner-Toi.
By Craig Cooper
Editor
The extraordinary thing about Te Karehana Gardiner-Toi's voice is that it is coming out of a 23-year-old.
Te Karehana goes by the name Teeks.
He may be one of those people that has an old soul, certainly his voice has a soulful maturity that belies his age.
Many musicians around his age are operating in the hip hop or pop arena, where computers are more important than, say, getting your drummer to practice on time.
Teeks though, has chose a musical genre where the music is played by real people, and the voice takes centre stage.
Soul.
There are parallels with other Kiwi musicians like Marlon Williams, who at 26 has a slightly similar voice. Williams though, is shining within the country/folk genre.
Both young men, if you didn't know their age, could pass for singers generations older, with voices traditionally regarded as being shaped by hard living, loving and drinking.
Teeks grew up in Northland, speaking te reo, and playing in a reggae band at Rockquest.
His parents have great, classic musical taste, and the Teeks has absorbed that, it's obvious.
Elvis. Bob Marley. Stevie Wonder.
There's a hint of Elvis in Teeks style - classic Elvis, not 1970s Elvis.
The video for If Only, has a 1950s patina.
Soft pinks, greys and blues with classic cars, whitewall tyres, and boulevards.
But with a kiwi twist - Norfolk pines stand in for palm trees, and that's Napier's Marine Parade.
At some point you expect Teeks to front a big band, hair slicked back with Brylcreem, a retro chrome microphone in hand.
It's been a while since Northland has produced a performer of musical note.
In Bream Bay, there's a teenage metal band Alien Weaponry that is at the start of what looks like a long career if they choose to stick with it.
They infuse Te Reo with brutal riffs and have a great mentor in Shihad's Tom Larkin, who is recognised as an astute producer and musician.
Then there is the Norty North hip-hop collective, it can't be too long before someone breaks out as a national or even international star?
If we look back, who are the Northland mentors who could offer some advice to the newcomers?
Dargaville's Mark Williams now fronts the band Dragon after a successful rock/pop solo career.
Teeks may have more in common with the R&B stylings of Matty J Ruys, whose recording career began in the mid 1990s and was still going well into the 2010s. Ruys has segued into the label, management and talent side of the music business, and has had a hand in identifying talent like Brooke Fraser.
It's not a long list though, which is surprising in some ways, because Northland is potentially a fertile ground for up and coming singer/songwriters, if they can find their voice, and confidence to perform.
Talent is one thing, the courage to stand up and perform is another.
Which is why new kids like Teeks are more than just artists, they are immediately role models for the next generation, because they are saying, "it can be done, you can do it".
Which deserves a well done, no matter how long or successful Teeks' music career turns out to be.
The worker logged 437 hours in five weeks - all of which was unpaid.