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Finally today — an eight-man band from New Zealand is the focus of our Global Hit. It’s called Fat Freddy’s Drop. Corey Takahashi caught up with them in Los Angeles.
The first thing you notice about Fat Freddy’s Drop, is that there’s no “Fat Freddy.” There is a big Samoan, some Maori members, and New Zealanders of various other origins. So it’s a large mix. But Fat Freddy’s Drop is a pretty lean operation. These artists own the label that puts out their music. And that means they have total control over how they sound. If they want to make a song that’s more than 10-minutes long, like they do on their new album, they go ahead and do it. This crowd — at The Roxy on LA’s Sunset Strip — is more than happy to indulge them.
“And though my people may not be many / we are ready for the storm to come / and though my people may not be many / we are ready to be strong as one …”
Fat Freddy's Drop musicians (left to right), Iain "Dobie Blaze" Gordon, Joe "Ho Pepa" Lindsay, and Chris "Fitchie" Faiumu. Photo by Corey Takahashi
They start the night with a reggae-flavored song called “The Raft.” It’s about an epic journey, and Fat Freddy’s Drop faced one of their own, right before this show in Los Angeles. Band members Joe Lindsay and Chris Faiumu describe what happened as they were driving down from the Bay Area by bus.
“I think we were about 200 miles out of San Francisco when we see some sparks flying out the back of the bus. We pull the bus over, try to figure out what that was. We thought maybe we had a flat tire or something. We all piled out the bus and go around the back and the trailer’s completely gone.”
“We found our instruments upside-down, and the trailer upside-down in a big ditch, and we had to climb inside the roof of it. The trailer had big holes in it. It looked like someone had taken a can-opener to it.”
“We came out whole, and no one was hurt. We’re very thankful for that.”
Chris “Fitchie” Faiumu: “That’s rock-and-roll, man.”
Joe “Ho Pepa” Lindsay: “That’s rock-and-roll, yeah.”
Their sound — though — that’s not exactly rock-and-roll to most people. It’s more of a musical gumbo by way of Wellington, New Zealand.
Consider the song “Shiverman,” which references a comic-book character and overlays brass on techno.
Joe “Ho Pepa” Lindsay: “Halfway through the song, the techno kind of evolves into this crazy kind of circus-ska kind of thing. And there we lay it up, brass-upon-brass, tuba, euphonium, trombone, lots of saxes, and just created this big wall of brass.” “Building up the tension, and building it, and building it, and building it–for like, you know, ten minutes almost of building this tension, and then it just releases into this big brassy ska thing that inevitably raises the roof. Yeah, it’s one of my….”
Chris “Fitchie” Faiumu: “It’s doesn’t make sense, but it works out well.”
[Joe "Ho Pepa" Lindsay: "It does. It makes perfect sense to us."
Their recent, sold-out concerts on the West Coast proved that it made perfect sense, to their new-found American fans. New Zealand's Fat Feddy's Drop is planning to be back in the US this coming spring.
For The World, I'm Corey Takahashi, Los Angeles.
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MARCO WERMAN: Finally today, an eight-man band from New Zealand is the focus of our Global Hit. It's called Fat Freddy's Drop. Corey Takahashi caught up with them in Los Angeles.
COREY TAKAHASHI: The first thing you notice about Fat Freddy's Drop is that there's no "Fat Freddy." There is a big Samoan, some Maori members, and New Zealanders of various other origins. So it's a large mix. But Fat Freddy's Drop is a pretty lean operation. These artists own the label that puts out their music, and that means they have total control over how they sound. If they want to make a song that's more than ten minutes long, like they do on their new album, they go ahead and do it. This crowd at The Roxy on L.A.'s Sunset Strip is more than happy to indulge them.
FAT FREDDY'S DROP: [Playing "The Raft"]
TAKAHASHI: They start the night with a reggae-flavored song called “The Raft.” It’s about an epic journey, and Fat Freddy’s Drop faced one of their own, right before this show. Band members Joe Lindsay and Chris Faiumu describe what happened as they were driving down from the Bay Area by bus.
JOE LINDSAY: I think we were about 200 miles out of San Francisco when we see some sparks flying out the back of the bus. We pull the bus over to try to figure out what that was. We thought maybe we had a flat tire or something. We all piled out the bus and go around the back and the trailer’s completely gone. We found our instruments upside down, and the trailer upside down in a big ditch and the trailer had big holes in it. It looked like someone had taken a can opener to it. We came out whole, and no one was hurt. We’re very thankful for that.
FITCHIE FAIUMU: It’s rock and roll, man.
LINDSAY: It’s rock and roll, yeah.
TAKAHASHI: Their sound though that’s not exactly rock and roll to most people. It’s more of a musical gumbo by way of Wellington, New Zealand. Consider this song “Shiverman,” which references a comic book character and lays live brass over techno.
FAT FREDDY: [Plays "Shiverman"]
.
LINDSAY: Halfway through the song, the techno kind of evolves into this crazy kind of circus skaw kind of thing, but in there we lay it up, brass upon brass, tuba, and lots of saxes, and just created this big wall of brass and Luke [PH] vocals and kind of building up the tension, and building it, and building it, and building it for like ten minutes almost, you know, of building this tension. I mean, it just releases into this big brassy skaw thing that inevitably raises the roof. You know, it’s one of my …
FAIUMU: It’s doesn’t make sense, but it works out well.
LINDSAY: It does. It makes perfect sense to us.
TAKAHASHI: Their recent sold out concerts on the West Coast proved it made sense to new-found American fans. New Zealand’s Fat Feddy’s Drop is planning to be back in the U.S. this coming spring. For The World, I’m Corey Takahashi, Los Angeles.
WERMAN: That’s all for us today. From the Nan and Bill Harris Studios at WGBH, I’m Marco Werman. Thanks for being with us.
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