Kudos, connections on Baker tour

SOUL STAR: Renowned Wellington-based singer songwriter Louis Baker plays at King Street Live in Masterton tonight as part of an eight-date tour in support of his debut self-titled EP, available at iTunes and bandcamp.com.

KUDOS and "connections" are coming thick and fast for touring singer-songwriter Louis Baker, who tonight stages his latest Masterton show.

Baker chose the capital to late last month launch his tour in support of his self-titled debut EP. The 24-year-old has played dates in Auckland, New Plymouth, Kerikeri and Mt Maunganui and he completes the eight-date tour with a gig in Paekakariki tomorrow night.

"I'm pretty happy with the EP, and the tour so far. It's been awesome and full of learning experiences and connecting with people as well. A big thing for me are the connections - people genuinely connecting with the show," Baker said.

"I'm always very critical of my own work but I am really proud of the feedback about the EP, and the connections I'm privileged to be making on tour.

"That's what I strive for, that openness and genuine rapport in a live show, and I definitely strive for my art to be as true as it can be in that sense."

Baker was relishing his return to King Street Live in Masterton tonight for his penultimate performance on the tour, saying his manager and "backbone" Cushla Aston had ensured the successful release of the EP and the support shows.

He had in the past year played twice at the Masterton venue with his nine-piece Wellington band Brockaflower and a single show to date with the trio Vanilau Maxwell Baker (VMB).

"It's a great venue - wicked - and Masterton is such a really interesting place. It's just such an awesome thing for a music venue to be opened there and I have mad respect for all the people at King Street Live."

Baker, who was born and bred in Wellington, said he had been performing as a singer songwriter for about seven years. He first started learning guitar as a 12-year-old before attending Wellington Boys' College and expanding his musical experience.

Baker had early drilled guitar for five or six hours a day, he said, and won a guitar through the Play It Strange competition before leaving school and studying jazz for three years at university.

"Music has always been a massive part of my life," he said.

Last year Baker was picked to go to the prestigious Red Bull Music Academy in New York, his first international journey. The academy is held annually, plucking promising musicians from across the globe and introducing them to living musical legends.

Baker shared his time at the academy with a cadre of artists among the 120 guests including Brian Eno, Flying Lotus, James Murphy, Lee Scratch Perry, Kim Gordon, and Philip Glass.

His first solo EP is a collection of five tracks recorded in London with Breaks Co-op's Andy Lovegrove and comes in the wake of Build It, the debut Brockaflower album, which came out in late January.

He also plays in the VMB trio with King Street Live co-owner Warren Maxwell, of Trinity Roots and Little Bushman, and Mark Vanilau.

"Warren is someone I've always respected very deeply. I'd first met him in Wellington three years ago and wanted to talk his ear off and listen to what he had to say.

"I guess I wanted to get wisdom from him about what I wanted to do in music because I really looked up to him. He graciously took his time out for a stranger pretty much, and was just very generous with himself.

"I just wanted to learn from him and how he went about his career and that learning is still going on today, absolutely," Baker said.

Tickets for Louis Baker at King Street Live tonight are available at $20 each from dashtickets.co.nz, where there is also a promo code (LOUISBAKER) that gives readers $5 off a standard ticket. Door sales also will be available.

Louis Baker's self-titled debut EP is available at iTunes and bandcamp.com.