The Dead Zephyrs keep it groovy

ROCKING: Masterton blues rock band The Dead Zephyrs, Alex Fafeita (left), Ryan Coles and Chris Parkinson.

Whether hosting a radio show at primary school, jamming together at college, or recording an album, music is a life-long "obsession" for The Dead Zephyrs.

The Masterton three-piece have been playing together since early this year, and have recorded their first EP, The Dead Zephyrs. The band is a reincarnation of Roumengoux, formed by frontman Ryan Coles in 2014, with Chris Parkinson and Alex Fafeita replacing the previous bassist and drummer.

Members' musical connections go back years - to Masterton Intermediate, where Parkinson and Fafeita did a radio show together. "We'd play everything from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers to Savage, and it would broadcast over the playground," Fafeita said. He and Coles also "go way back", having been in the same music class at Wairarapa College.

As the Dead Zephyrs, the band has adopted a style dubbed "blues punk" - a mix of American blues, psychedelic rock, "pub rock" and 1970s punk.

They are mostly influenced by the music of previous generations, such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Muddy Waters, The Ramones and Led Zeppelin, as well as 1990s heavy rock and the progressive metal of Tool and Dream Theater.

"Basically, we like anything groovy," Coles said. "We've gone for a sound which is loud, brash and in-your-face - something that people can instantly recognise on the radio."

Unlike some of their musical forefathers, the band explores some sinister themes - with songs titled Daddy Drinks Because You Cry, and others about Native American folklore and the nature of mortality.

"I wrote one in hospital waiting for my daughter to be born, and thinking about life and death together in one place," Coles said. "Babies were born in one room, while someone was dying down the corridor."

The band recorded their five-track EP at Tsunami Studios in Levin in February. It is available on iTunes and SoundCloud.