Tahuna Breaks | |
|---|---|
| Genres | Funk/Dance |
| Years active | 2005 (2005)–2016 (2016) |
| Members | Marty Greentree – Vocals/guitar Jonny McClean – ...Saxophone/percussion/synth Jimi Winkle – Guitar Adam Fuhr – ...Keyboards/synth/talkbox Tim Gillon – Bass/backing vocals Jono Sawyer – Drums |
| Past members | Tim Gemmell Tom Charleson Kelsey Serjeant Joe Rowley Liz Herron Nick Taylor Tim Baker |
| Website | www |
Tahuna Breaks was a band fromNew Zealand that formed inAuckland in January 2005. The band was named after Tahuna Street where they had their firstjam. Their musical style incorporated elements ofreggae,soul andelectro funk music.
Tahuna Breaks began as aninstrumental band in 2005. The idea originated at Deschlers Bar on Auckland's High Street when some of its members-to-be were watching afunk band perform. The original line-up consisted of Marty Greentree (guitar/bass), Tim Gemmell (drums), Jimi Winkle (bass/guitar) and Kelsey Serjeant (tenor sax). The band began gigging at a local bar playing four or five original songs, andimprovised further songs when the bar manager requested they play longer for their fee. Marty Greentree came up with a new song idea with lyrics and, after its first performance, friends in the crowd suggested that the band should incorporate more of Greentree's singing as opposed to pure instrumentals. The banddemoed three songs with the Rock Factory in 2005, one of which, 'Crisis Situation', received airplay via Jason Kerrison's show onKiwi FM.
The band continued to write songs in a storage shed in Auckland during 2006 and recorded their first album with Andrew Buckton at Studio 203. 'Reflections'[1] contained a range of styles from funk,rock, soul,dub todrum and bass. In order to play the songs on the album live, the band recruited Tim Baker on keyboards and Tom Charleson on guitar. The band commenced its first national tour during 2007 and continued experimenting with its live sound. Before the recording of its second album, the band had grown to eight members with the addition of Jonny McClean onalto sax/percussion and Adam Fuhr on keyboards.
The band's second album 'Black, Brown & White'[2] was recorded withLee Prebble at The Surgery inWellington in late 2008. It utilised the skills of the new members to create a bigger sound. Greentree drew on a wide range of experiences in writing the lyrics to the songs, including his upbringing in aMormon family, experiences in theNew Zealand Police, his renowned reputation for partying and his family life as the father of three children.
'Black, Brown & White' was released in 2009. Controversy arose when theanimatedmusic video for the second single from the album, 'Giddy Up', was released: directed and illustrated byLeah Morgan and produced by Fish N Clips, the video featured a highly stylised sperm as the pinball in a whimsically sexualpinball machine. The video was initially banned from YouTube and then, as a publicity stunt and protest, was uploaded to Youporn. It has since been reinstated to YouTube, and can also be seen on Vimeo.[3]
New Zealand-basedonline magazineElsewhere saidBlack Brown & White was "beautifully crafted, well written" and "thoroughly enjoyable all round", but with the reservation that it was "too much of something-for-everyone."[4]
The band changed its approach to songwriting for its third album 'Shadow Light',[5] released in 2013. Chief songwriter Greentree captured and refined ideas on ahome-recording setup, in contrast to the two previous albums where ideas that were generated in the band's storage shed were recorded for the first time in astudio environment. Greentree commented that "this has led to a more focused sound that the band has refined from the lessons learnt touring". UK-based artistsCrazy P produced the album, assisting the band with its goal of shifting to a more electro funk sound.
In 2015, the band fulfilled a long-held ambition by playing atGlastonbury Festival.[6]
Tahuna Breaks announced its breakup in early 2016.[7] Tahuna Breaks played its last gig to a sell-out crowd at The Studio, Auckland, on 14 May 2016.[8]
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