Chatchy are well worth catching

DEBUT: Six-piece Auckland roots electronic band Chatchy will play Wairarapa for the first time on Saturday night. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Auckland band Chatchy bring their brand of roots electronica to Wairarapa for the first time on Saturday.

Band leader Hamish Jellyman said the six-piece band, which comprises players from Auckland and Hamilton, will stage their regional debut at King Street Live in Masterton on Saturday night.

The debut Wairarapa performance also will feature Wellington ska band Battle-Ska Galactica as support, he said.

Jellyman and Battle-Ska leader Frankie Curac are both members of the capital city band Roseneath Centennial Ragtime Band, he said, "which is on a break but has performed in Wairarapa many times".

Chatchy features a cast of musicians who together "possess a broad and eclectic range of musical experience and influence" blending elements of reggae, electronica, drum and bass, and ska, Jellyman said.

"A Chatchy live show is the ultimate showcase of this creative collaboration, a spectacle that brings to the stage the cut-up, warped and extended versions of original songs to create epic performances that surprise and amaze," he said.

Jellyman said the band had played a round of North Island festivals over the past several months including the Mount Vibes NYE Festival, BW Campgrounds, Bastion Point Waitangi Day Festival, Auckland Music in Parks, Lincoln University Garden Party, and the Taranaki Festival of Lights.

Along the way Chatchy had shared the stage with some big hitters in New Zealand music including The Black Seeds, Six60, Katchafire, Che Fu, Savage, Blacklistt, Sons of Zion, The Feelers, Dave Dobbyn, Aaradhna, and Tomorrow People.

The group is also previous winners of York St Band Experiments and the Waihi Beach Battle of the Bands and had released a new single titled Don't Let the Rain, that comes after their debut EP Nightlife dropped in 2012, he said.

Both releases are available as a digital download, Jellyman said, and the EP as physical CD.

"We have also recently embarked on a House Party Tour in which we go and perform at peoples house parties, basically free of charge.

"This is to give back to all the fans who have given us so much love over the years."

Tickets for the King Street Live show on Saturday night cost $10 tickets from undertheradar.co.nz or $15 on the door.