A highlight for us this past week came when we got to shoot some images for Dunedin band Summer Thieves. Ths four-piece band from St Clair was formed in 2011 and just keeps going from strength to strength. They've played with Shapeshifter, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and their latest accomplishment includes collaborating with Tiki Taane on their new album.
"It was an amazing experience for us," lead singer Jake Barton explains. "Tiki Taane is the utmost respected musician in New Zealand and in all aspects: engineering, producing, playing and releasing number one tracks. He's also been a huge inspiration for me so it's a total buzz out to be playing with him."
Jake Barton is a second generation Dunedin surfer from a family of surfers.
"My dad started surfing with Graham Carse back in the day and my uncle Tim surfs, my cuzzies, my older brother Shannon and me as well, now," he smiles. "Then there are some younger Bartons – some little grommets just learning."
Jake's dad Gary was attacked by a great white shark while surfing at St Clair Beach on Christmas Day in 1968. He fought the shark off and escaped with just a grazed arm.
"He was the last person to get attacked before they put the shark nets up. He was out there with Carsey," offers Jake. "I'm glad I haven't had any problems."
Jake finished his post grad at university before forming Summer Thieves with a talented crew of musicians.
"We all come from complete different areas," he shares. "Me and Johnny, the drummer, have been in rock bands for years and we're hugely rock influenced. Then after about five years of rock we flipped it on its head and started doing hip-hop and reggae. Then Adam brings a crazy jazz influence – he plays all over the bass. About two months ago Angus joined us and he does everything from sampling, keys, percussion – he brings hip-hop to the table. So we're a big mix with everything from heavy metal to jazz to hip-hop to soul, motown – we love it all."
The latest track, which has not yet been released, includes the production touch of Tiki.
"We're stoked with it – Tiki has done some amazing production on the track and we look forward to releasing it," smiles Jake. "Tiki has really emphasised the best aspects of our music, so it hasn't changed dramatically."
"At the moment we plan to release three singles one track at a time and then drop the whole album at the end of this year or the start of next year. We are just working on artwork, but we don't yet have a name for the album," he laughs.
Want to hear more? Search for Summer Thieves at bandcamp.com or soundcloud.com and keep an eye out on iTunes for the new tracks as they are released.
See you at the beach ...
Derek
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