Myspace – Fat Freddy’s Drop

With bands like Salmonella Dub, The Black Seeds and International Observer all calling the country home, it seems there are now as many people producing dub in New Zealand as there are hunting hobbit or bun geeing off glaciers. Fat Freddy’s Drop are the supergroup of that scene and the blend of digital dub rhythms, soulful ballads, sun-flecked brass and plaintive vocals that comprise Based On A True Story are the perfect way to dip your toes into the warm musical waves currently rippling in the South Pacific.  

Fat Freddy’s Drop are a seven-piece musical collective from Wellington, New Zealand, whose unique fusion of digital dub and Polynesian soul has established them as the most successful home-grown group in NZ history 2005 international debut album Based On A True Story sold over a 100,000 copies in NZ (population 4 million) alone.

And it’s not just New Zealanders who have warmed to the band: esteemed taste maker Charlie Gillett has championed the band and declared vocalist Joe Dukie as the best soul singer currently working while Based On A True Story won the Worldwide Album Of The Year at the Radio 1 Gilles Peterson Worldwide Music Awards 2005 (as voted for by fans that tune in to his BBC show). 2006 found the band embarking on a major European tour; this included selling out the Brixton Academy, winning the only encore at Barcelona’s Scanner Festival and playing triumphantly at festivals in Portugal, Berlin and Paris.

Named after the cat in The Furry Freak Brothers cartoons that inspired so many stoned chuckles, FFD grew out of a loose collective of Wellington musicians experimenting with reggae, dub, funk, jazz, soul and club rhythms alongside a desire to connect with Maori and Polynesian roots. From this scene arose such noted bands as Wai, Trinity Roots and The Black Seeds. FFD rose to be scene leaders through their imaginative gift for melody, shifting rhythms and vocalist Joe Dukie’s soulful, questioning vocal.

FFD maintain playing live is their true forte and their concerts have won them a loyal following – the rich, slow building grooves, fat layers of brass (trumpet-trombone-saxophone), good vibes and unique South Pacific identity creates a special flavour: across two-to-three hour live marathons Fat Freddys create a sonic unity between band and audience.

What’s great about live performance, says band producer Fitchie, “is that it belongs to those in the audience on that night, it’s a one off experience. Taken courtesy BBC Awards
Here I put together two their most famous singles Roady and The Wandering Eye, taken from the Album: Based on a True Story

Roady

Fat Freddy’s Drop

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