OCTOBER 2023 ISSUE
A sneaky peek of just some of what is in the October 2023 issue – OUT NOW!
Dallas Tamaira
New Zealand, to the average 20th century northern hemisphere dweller, once meant lamb chops, Richard Hadlee’s incredibly accurate bowling and the All Blacks beating all-comers at rugby, all the time. Since the millennium, while said All Blacks have generally continued to teach the rest of the world how best to chase an egg-shaped ball around, you might say it’s been more a Lord Of The Rings thing for most of us. Oh, and then, of course, there’s been Fat Freddy’s Drop.
The Wellington-based, seven-piece reggae, soul, funk, blues and occasionally techno influenced outfit has not only spent the last 20 years putting albums at the top of their own national charts but have toured the UK and Europe pretty much every year since about 2005, along the way earning themselves an international reputation as one of the most successful and adored live acts around. So, on hearing the group’s distinguished and soulful lead vocalist, Dallas Tamaira, had chosen 2023 to be the year he would return attention to his long abandoned solo career – he cut his first EP, Better Than Change, back in 1999, even before FFD formed – the questions ‘Why now?’ and ‘Why wait this long?’ were sitting right at the top of my list…
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Creation Rebel
To describe Creation Rebel’s new album Hostile Environment – named after former Home Secretary Theresa May’s impoverished and shameful vision regarding UK immigration – as being long overdue goes way beyond understatement. That’s because it’s been more than 40 years since Lows And Highs and yet from the moment that Swiftly ([The Right One] rumbles from out of the speakers, there’s still no mistaking them for anyone else.
“Live” dub bands always were a rare commodity, especially now that we’re living in an era when so much dub music is made on a laptop or by people who aren’t musicians. Today’s Creation Rebel are the real deal however, and their comeback album – mixed and produced as always by Adrian Sherwood, and featuring a select group of guest musicians – is a haunting reaffirmation of their powers.
“We enjoyed what was happening when we were doing it and so we wanted to do it again,” says guitarist “Crucial” Tony Philips…
Incognito
‘Tis indeed a wondrous age. In the same week that Dallas Tamaira chats live to us from eleven-and-a-half thousand miles away [and 11 hours into the future, time-zone-wise] in New Zealand, Incognito leader Blue Maunick is grinning at me via Zoom from Mauritius, the land of his birth, ready to talk about the band’s new album Into You, due later this month. He’s supposed to be on holiday, taking a much-needed breather before the album’s release kicks everything off again in the run-up to Christmas, but in typical Bluey style, his first reaction to confirmation of the trip was to see if he could extend the opportunity and film a video to the album’s title song [which involved flying vocalist Cherry V out there too]. And, of course, he’s talking to me now at half-ten at night, local time, when he should really be relaxing instead.
But that’s Bluey all over: never happier than when spotting a chance to create something new, build a fresh foundation or open up an untrodden path to a possibility he only just thought of. It’s this restlessness that keeps him running, determinedly setting aside health complications like he just hasn’t time to waste on such irrelevant nonsense…
Lizzie Berchie
WHO WOULD PLAY YOU IN THE BIOPIC OF YOUR LIFE?
I would pick Marsai Martin. I think she’s a great actress and she’s also part of the glasses gang.
IF YOU HAD TO GIVE UP BEING A MUSICIAN TOMORROW, WHAT WOULD YOU END UP DOING?
I would love to go into film and acting. I used to act when I was a child and really enjoyed it. I think it would still cater to my creative side in a way that’s similar to music.
EVER BEEN IN FEAR FOR YOUR LIFE?
I was stalked at my gym, and I was paranoid for weeks. I am now back at a public gym and so much more comfortable [and stronger so I’ll fight the next person who tries me! Lol].
