No one is a bigger fan of Shapeshifter – in profile or enthusiasm – than former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern. She gave copies of two of the group’s albums to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on their 2018 visit to New Zealand.
Launching Labour’s 2020 re-election campaign, the rousing end to her speech segued into the band’s Stars and it played again when she took the stage on election night. And in every interview that required the sometime DJ to make some recommendations, Shapeshifter was always mentioned.
So, when the Listener approached her about picking her favourite tracks of Shapeshifter’s quarter century, she was understandably keen. “I would hate to pass up the chance to support Shapeshifter as they reach such an incredible milestone.”
Ardern’s top five
When I Return
(from 2004 album Riddim Wise)
It was roughly 2004 when I saw Shapeshifter play for the first time in Dunedin. They had not long released the video for When I Return when they toured. I knew their music, but there was nothing like seeing them live. They were incredible.
Monarch
(From Delta, 2013)
I remember watching Shapeshifter perform Monarch at Homegrown in Wellington – P Digsss with his arms outstretched towards the audience while everyone cheered and danced. Delta was such an incredible album, it was hard to imagine them repeating it. And then not long after, they released Stars with amazing tracks like Eternal.
One
(from Soulstice, 2006)
When Clarke and I first met, we bonded over Shapeshifter. I loved their music, and it turned out they had recorded The System is a Vampire at his flat – a framed copy of their album was hanging on his wall. To have Sam and a few other past and present members at our wedding felt like a full-circle moment.
Stars
(from 2016′s Stars)
When I became leader of the Labour Party I was asked what all-important song I wanted to choose for a major event. It was simple: Stars. I will forever love the energy of this track.
In colour
(from Delta)
In December 2020, I stood side of stage while Shapeshifter played this song to a crowd of thousands of people on the Coromandel. There was such joy in the crowd and relief – we were in the middle of a pandemic and yet in that moment, New Zealand was able to celebrate the end of a hard year, together. It was an incredible thing to watch, and I still think about it every time I hear In Colour play. Thank you to the Shapie boys – for not only being incredible musicians who have shaped memories and moments for so many of us, but for being wonderful people.
Finding their own rhythm
As electronic dance music group Shapeshifter celebrate a quarter century, the band talk to Karl Puschmann about its pioneering past and future.
When “drum and bass” emerged from the UK’s frantic “jungle” electronic dance music scene of the late 90s, it sounded like it had arrived through a rip in the time/space continuum. With its eerie, floating chords, delay-ridden effects, strange spacey sounds and the monstrous bass and rolling drum grooves that gave it its name, drum and bass sounded like nothing that had come before. It sounded like the future.
Decades on, it is no longer the audio equivalent of a DeLorean equipped with a flux capacitor. Its sound, once so futuristic and alien, is now everyday, appearing in films, ads, political campaigns (see opposite) and even pop songs. Even so, the genre continues to push forward and soundtrack the future. It has no time for the past.
“That’s right,” agrees Shapeshifter founding member and multi-instrumentalist Sam Trevethick when the Listener calls to discuss the 25th anniversary of Aotearoa’s beloved d ‘n’ b institution.
“I think part of our survival – for lack of a better word – has been that we don’t look back. We don’t go, ‘What’s worked for us previously?’, or get caught up in moments that have gone well. We’re always trying to reinvent, do something new or take the next step.”
This mindset explains why the five-piece has ignored milestones that lesser groups celebrate. As a genre, nostalgia is anathema.
“There’s been a few that have come and gone without too much of a thought,” he jokes. “There’s 10 years and then 20 sort of came and went. We’ve just spent our whole career looking forward and constantly refreshing our perspective. We haven’t taken the time to look back.”
Twenty-five years, however, was too big for even the future-facing Shapeshifter to ignore. They had to press pause and reflect on their roots, and their position today as the elder statesmen. Indeed, they’re one of the few acts that transcend genre. They’re capable of selling out arenas, headlining festivals and pulling a multigenerational fanbase.
“When it was suggested, my first reaction was, ‘I don’t know … It makes us sound a bit old,’ Trevethick laughs. “But I’ve enjoyed taking the time to dwell on our history, the things we’ve achieved and the experiences we’ve had. It’s been nice to have some appreciation of that. To be 25 years down the track does feel quite buzzy.”
Six of Shapeshifter’s eight albums hit the NZ top 10, four reached platinum status, and two – 2009′s The System is a Vampire and 2013′s Delta – claimed the No 1 spot. The band’s popularity shows no sign of waning: last effort Rituals, in 2021, climbed to No 6.
They’ve also collected two handfuls of New Zealand Music Awards, including Tui for Best Album (Soulstice) and Best Live Act in 2006, earned a global audience and performed at countless festivals, including Glastonbury.
It all started in a little rehearsal room in Christchurch in 1999, when jazz school students bonded after a life-changing gig by legendary UK drum and bass DJ Grooverider. Trevethick still remembers the energy of those early rehearsals.
“It was totally magical,” he recalls. “When we started this, everything got thrown out the window. It was like a shock. We were making music that felt so fresh and addictive and hypnotic. It was consuming. There was nothing else. It felt so right.”
What separated Shapeshifter from other drum and bass exponents – which, then and now, consist mainly of DJs – was that they were a true live act. Members Nick Robinson and Trevethick would handle synths and samplers, Devin Abrams oscillated between synths, sax or trumpet, and drummer Redford Grenell delivered the genre’s rolling breakbeats. Vocalist P Digsss joined in 2003.
“We had two really key tools,” Trevethick says. “One was Redford, who could play absolutely anything with a feel and style that was undeniable. The other was the Korg MS-20 synthesiser, which made the dark and heavy sound. Those two things were the foundation and then we added the more musical things on top. It was in contrast to what was happening in drum and bass, which was heavy bass and breaks sampling.
“What made Shapeshifter so special was this contrast.”
Audiences immediately latched on in ways that took even them by surprise.
“Our third show we played at the Dux de Lux [in Christchurch] with probably 100 people in the audience,” he recalls. “We had this moment where we looked at each other and were like, ‘Holy shit! What’s happening?’ The energy we felt was explosive. In those early days, it just felt incredible.”
That feeling acts as both their barometer and harbinger of success. When it goes, says Trevethick, so will Shapeshifter. “It’s been amazing, the shows are selling out and everything but that’s not a marker for us. The marker is, ‘Do we enjoy it? Do we feel like we are still worthy of people’s attention? Are we doing something that we believe in?’ That’s the marker for whether we keep going.
“We’ve been pretty clear with each other that if it ever gets to the stage where we feel we’re doing it because it’s a money thing or we don’t know what else to do, then it’s time to put it away. We haven’t got to that point. It still seems far off. I suppose it’ll be obvious when that time comes.”
They’ve already survived two potential band fatalities – the first in 2009 when Grenell, the driving force behind their live sound, left.
“Without him, the band wouldn’t have happened,” says Trevethick. “He wrote our unique blueprint. We’d always had this ace card and it was gone. It was really scary. But we found our way through and learnt a lot.”
Five years later, another founding member, Abrams, left to focus on his atmospheric solo project, Pacific Heights.
“That was a long time coming. He was a key part of the band, so it was challenging. But we were honest with ourselves and said, ‘What are we doing here? Do we believe in this and want to keep going?’. The answer was yes, and that was that.”
For their celebratory tour, they’re relearning songs they haven’t played since those early days and reissuing their eight albums on vinyl. But even while looking back, Trevethick has found a way to get back to the future.
“I’ve been in this game a long time, and many times thought there’s nothing more to say. But then I’ve been surprised when we’re writing. Drum and bass is limited in terms of tempo, which is a massive restriction, but we’re still hearing fresh things.”
Then he smiles and says, “There are still places to be explored.”
Tour dates: Christchurch Town Hall, June 14; TSB Arena, Wellington, June 27; Globox Arena, Hamilton, June 28; Auckland Town Hall June 29.
