July 12, 2024 • 15 mins
Kiwi band Shapeshifter is showing no signs of stopping.
They’re pioneers of one of New Zealand’s most popular music genres, carving out a niche within the DnB scene.
With seven albums and four EPs, the band is celebrating 25 years of success with a tour later this year.
Nick Robinson plays the bass, synth, and the MPC for Shapeshifter, and told Jack Tame that reaching 25 years is probably the proudest thing they’ve all felt.
“We all respect each other so much as musicians and as friends, we’re all willing to flex, there’s no ego there,” he said.
“So, I think we can sort of bounce of each other and get the best results, and you know, really sort of... it’s just been so enjoyable.”
Robinson said that there’s been ups and downs throughout the 25 years they’ve been performing, but the passion and fire is still there.
“We just sort of love what we do and we, we sort of love the way we’ve done it on our, on our own terms.”
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from news Talks at b.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
OH Get you going? Does it not? It gets you going?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
The pioneers of one of New Zealand's most popular music
genres have been celebrating twenty.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Five years together.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yeah, it is the twenty fifth anniversary the formation of
shape Shifter crazy A They formed in christ Church nineteen
ninety nine and you would have to say have carved
out an incredible career since seven albums, four EPs. And
yet after twenty five years, Shape Shifter is showing no
signs of stopping, with big plans for the summer ahead.
(01:06):
Nick Robinson from shape Shifter is with us this morning.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Kilder Nick Jyodo, Well, I'm feeling good about myself after
that introduction?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Are you feeling I'm just going to say, this is
someone who has been around and enjoying your music for
all of those twenty five years? Dear, I asked, does
it does it make you feel a little bit.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I don't know, old, Yeah, it does, and you know,
like sort of building up to this twenty five year thing,
it was almost like, oh, you know.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
That is that a good look? Are we too old?
You know? Like you know, I don't feel old.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I don't think you're old. I don't think you're old.
I don't think shaf is olved. No, no, no, But
I mean that this is the thing, right, Like we're
looking at the twenty fifth anniversary and considering, you know,
what you guys have achieved over the last couple of decades.
It's it is a pretty like substantial achievement. Can you
can you distill the success for us?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Why?
Speaker 3 (02:02):
You know, why do you think we are here after
twenty five years of music still celebrating shape sifter?
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Yeah, I think ferously.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
I just reaching the twenty five years is probably the
proudest thing we've all felt the whole time, just actually
being able to stay together and remain such good friends.
And you know, we're more than friends, we're family. And
I think you know, our relationship as a band has
been what's got us through, and it's you know, we
(02:32):
all respect each other so much as musicians and as friends,
We're willing to flex. There's no ego there, so I
think we can sort of bounce off each other and
get the best results, and you know, really sort of
it's just been so enjoyable, yea. You know, there's been
ups and downs, but it's twenty five years, but I
feel like the fire inside and I look forward to
(02:55):
gigs and I really look forward to going Auy on
tour with the boys, and look forward.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
To getting in the studio.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
So I think it's just, you know, passion's still there,
and we just sort of love what we do, and
we sort of love the way we've done it on
our own terms and never tried to write hat songs
or anything, and.
Speaker 5 (03:14):
Just sort of enjoy it. And it's sort of played
out luckily.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
So for our listeners who might not be totally familiar
with every part of the shape shift the story. Can
you take us back to the genesis? Can you take
us back to nineteen ninety nine life in christ Church
and how you guys came together and started making music.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Yeah, we were at the jazz school. We met at
the jazz School in christ Church and I.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Studied right around the corner from the jazz school. What
was that pub called on the Dress Street?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Can you remember?
Speaker 5 (03:44):
You'd be thinking of the jet Set Lounge.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, the jet Set Lounge, yes.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
South London.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, many nights spent, you know, drinking
the jugs of spades and orange juice or whatever you
wanted to drink. But yeah, great times the ra But yeah,
we were all together in the jazz school and we
were put into an ensemble together, so you get put
into jazz groups, and we were actually put together and
and just sort of headed off.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
We just had such a great.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Time and we started playing all different types of music.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
And at the time in christ Church, drum and bass
was pretty getting pretty big.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
You know, there were UK drum and bassed DJ's coming
and there were lines around the corner, you know for
these acts, and we loved it.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
It was kind of like a new cutting edge music
and we.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Love that sort of jazz was was like that when
it was when it was new, you know, so we
wanted to be on the edge of what of modern music.
So we sort of you know, our drummer at the time, Redford,
had this crazy ability to play anything, like he was
just the heart behind the behind the bands. Yeah, and
(04:54):
we and we just sort of started mimicking drum and
based DJs but in a live situation. So that's how
we kind of kicked off and it and it seemed
to go down pretty well. And then in a short
sort of space of time where we're touring with Stalmanella
dub YEP and that really kicked everything off.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Isn't it amazing?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
How you know to compare those different genres of music, right,
because if you were just just to take them at
face value, a lot of people would say, well, what
does drum and bass have to do with jazz? But
actually it's you know, the kind of music you guys
have tried to make where you're pushing boundaries has a
(05:34):
lot in common with jazz. Do you think having that
that jazz background, and that not necessarily theoretical background, but
having studied music in the way that you do when
you go through jazz school, do you do you think
that that ultimately benefits your music.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I think it does in the long run, but you
have to kind of shake all that knowledge and go
back to the basics. And drum and basses are pretty simple,
repetitive music a lot of the time, but.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
You know, the nuances are in the in.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
The slight core differences within the different since and so
there's there's complication there, but it comes across pretty pretty simple.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
So you do kind of have to have to shake that,
like that sort of jazz thing where you're trying to
play as much as you can, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
But I think, you know, a lot of it was
meeting people at the Jazz School, and you know, and
I think if you like jazz, you probably like a
lot of other types of music as well. We were
never really jazz purists, but yeah, going to the school
itself is such a great environment to meet people and
you know, the future sort of musicians of New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
How do you continue to feed creativity after you've been
playing music with you know, your mates and playing playing
music with the same people for a large slab of
your life. How do you how do you keep it fresh?
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Yeah, that's that's an interesting one. We have to freshen
up a lot, you know, we have to sort of
live our own life lives as well. You know, it
can't be too focused, you know, and we've all got
our own interests, and you know, we can get away
from it and then come back and and.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
Just I think it's just all of it. It's in
our personalities.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Since we were all young, you know, we've all sort
of been really interested in writing music and getting inspired
by music that we hear as well. So I think,
you know, that's probably the main thing getting inspired by
all different types of music, and getting inspired by not
just music but by other people being successful in what
(07:43):
they do.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
You know, it's quite inspiring as well.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Yeah, so I think, yeah, just the fire is still
there to kind of prove it to ourselves.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
And also just the basic fact of listening to something, going,
oh that's cool.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
I love that, you know, that makes me feel something
that makes me feel sad, or it makes me feel
nostalgic or you know those sort of things.
Speaker 5 (08:07):
It's just it's a buzz to actually do.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
So as someone who consumes music and you know, and
loves listening to music, but doesn't have to make music
for a living, I'm really interested in this concept because
the way I listen to music now, like lots of people,
is through streaming platforms and through Spotify, right, And there's
whatever complicated algorithm behind the machine that says, oh, Jack
(08:31):
like this, therefore he'll like this, therefore he'll like this,
And it kind of feeds you a pretty steady diet.
And I you know, when you're just sitting there kind
of mindlessly listening to music, that's great. But I would
have thought that as a creative there is a little
bit of a risk if you're relying on those kind
of systems, because actually it's just it's just feeding your
(08:51):
stuff you already know and like, and it's maybe not
maybe not challenging you to be inspired or creative in
a way that you might otherwise have been.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Is that is that? Okay?
Speaker 5 (09:02):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
And I think a lot of the time it would
be a case of what record company has got the
best relationship with Spotify? Yeah, true, and pushing their artists
onto playlists, yeah, on things like that. So a lot
of it, you know, Spotify is great for listening and
(09:25):
I've got Spotify yep, and and I've been through the
same journey as you and getting feed this music.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
And what's this? This is cool? And oh that's related
to these artists and oh I never knew about all this.
This is great.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
So there is that too, But yeah, a lot of
it as well was sort of going on your own search.
And it's not just Spotify. There's other sort of you know,
platforms you.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
Can buy music, your beat ports and your things like
that that have got i.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Don't know, twenty thousand new songs coming out of day,
you know, so you can sort of go on your
own journey and find music you like like that.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
But yeah, the world is really sort of wrapped up
in a Spotify trap almost.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Yeah yeah, And but I mean, you know, when you
guys are creating, like you said, you feel inspired sometimes
like you hear something new and you go, oh, man,
that's that's cool, when it might lead you down a
path where you create something that's a little bit different
than you might have otherwise created, Like you're kind of
you're conscious of that that phenomenon, I suppose.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yeah, yeah, I think you have to sort of get inspired,
but then you can't be like I really want to
write a track like that.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah yeah, you know, yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Yeah, you know, there's so much of it.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
It's so easy to do too, because you listen to
it and you feel like a kid and you're like, oh,
I want to be like that, you know, yeah, you know,
just natural.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
So you kind of got to. But that's the thing
about getting to the studio with with people.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
No one's got the same vision in their head, and
then you're like, oh, this is like where's this going.
This isn't what I thought it was going to do.
But because I'm flexible and I trust the other guys,
you know, it's like, well this is cool, and we're
all thinking that, and all of a sudden, this, the
song or the idea is like its own yeah, living
entity that doesn't belong to any of us. It's its
(11:13):
own thing, you know. So it's kind of cool. It's
almost like magic in a way.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
So I was thinking about it before the interview. I
Reckon shape Shifter would have a good claim. I don't
know how you ever quantify this, but I Reckon shape
Shifter has a good claim to having played and headlined
more festivals in New Zealand than literally any other artist
or band ever.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I mean that it would be up there, right, I'm not.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Probably would be because I mean, yeah, the length of
time and we have been doing.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah it's the sound of summer babe.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
And so if that's the case, what would you say
is the key to a good festival? What makes a
good festival?
Speaker 5 (11:55):
Well, you could the sort of the boring side of
it that you don't think about much as the security, the.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Amount of toilets and the amount of bar people can
get to yep.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
Trying to.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
But you would be surprised, like if that, if that's
in order, you see a happy crowd, and you feel
a happy crowd if you have you play to a
crowd the tired, a little bit annoyed, you can feel
that too.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
But yeah, I think.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
A good festival is for me would be a variety
of different music so you're not just sort of listening
to the same drum and bass beat for ten hours,
you know, or something like that.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
So a good variety, yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
And just and just the festival, the people running the
festival just making it easy for people to do what
they need to do, amount of space so they're not
sort of crammed in and bumping shoulders and things like that.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
So yeah, I would say.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
And maybe maybe Clear Skies probably as the final element guys.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Yeah, although we did we did a gig Electric Avenue
in christ Church and it started rating as we played
and it was just magical.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yeah see yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Can you Okay, this is a bit of a mean question,
but can you think is there a festival that stands
out to you as being like the most disastrous festival?
And I know there's nothing on the kind of fire
festival scale, but is there is there one that you
can think of in your in your past that stands out.
Speaker 5 (13:29):
All that's in my head? Is that and the woodstock.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
I was thinking, Oh, I can't, I can't think of
one off off the back of my head.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
I mean it must be weather related, right, like if
there was a one that is kind of washed out
and everyone's a knee deep mud or something like that exactly.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
So, yeah, I think years back we were running. Yeah, yeah,
we had a we had a year where the creek
came right up and washed it away and spared one
hundred grand on a gravel road. And yeah, so we
could go on and on about whether we have Yeah,
(14:12):
weather's enemy.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
You've become like that absolute like meteorological expert for about
four months a year.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Hey, so almost out of time. But tell us about
your plans this summer. What can we expect for your
shows through summer?
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Yeah, well, we're sort of we're still vibing on this
twenty five year thing. So we've we've kind of got
going to do a couple.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
Of things, nostalgia things.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
We're playing at the Coragling Tavern on the twenty eighth
of December, and that's that's a.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Place we used to play in the early days of
all the time.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
You know, we've sort of been playing a lot of
sort of bigger venues in recent years, so this has
been really cool to go back. We did the town
Halls a few weeks ago, and so we're going to
be looking at Coragland Tavern and Black Barn and have
Locked North. We're doing that on the seventh of December.
That's a beautiful venue. Yeah, So just sort of those
(15:07):
sort of your news and and we're gonna play some
sort of the oldest stuff that we played, yeah in
our twenty five year tour, and a bit of new
stuff as well.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
And yeah, very good.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Oh can't waite.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Hey, thank you so much for your time, Nick, We
really appreciate it. Congratulations on twenty five years and here's
to twenty five more.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Exactly twenty five more. Thanks for having me. It's an
honor to be on the show.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
That is Nick Robinson from Shape Shifter celebrating twenty five years.
We've got all the details for the summer shows up
on the News Talks. He'd be website as well.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live
to News Talks. He'd be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from news Talks at b.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
OH Get you going? Does it not? It gets you going?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
The pioneers of one of New Zealand's most popular music
genres have been celebrating twenty.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Five years together.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yeah, it is the twenty fifth anniversary the formation of
shape Shifter crazy A They formed in christ Church nineteen
ninety nine and you would have to say have carved
out an incredible career since seven albums, four EPs. And
yet after twenty five years, Shape Shifter is showing no
signs of stopping, with big plans for the summer ahead.
(01:06):
Nick Robinson from shape Shifter is with us this morning.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Kilder Nick Jyodo, Well, I'm feeling good about myself after
that introduction?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Are you feeling I'm just going to say, this is
someone who has been around and enjoying your music for
all of those twenty five years? Dear, I asked, does
it does it make you feel a little bit.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I don't know, old, Yeah, it does, and you know,
like sort of building up to this twenty five year thing,
it was almost like, oh, you know.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
That is that a good look? Are we too old?
You know? Like you know, I don't feel old.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I don't think you're old. I don't think you're old.
I don't think shaf is olved. No, no, no, But
I mean that this is the thing, right, Like we're
looking at the twenty fifth anniversary and considering, you know,
what you guys have achieved over the last couple of decades.
It's it is a pretty like substantial achievement. Can you
can you distill the success for us?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Why?
Speaker 3 (02:02):
You know, why do you think we are here after
twenty five years of music still celebrating shape sifter?
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Yeah, I think ferously.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
I just reaching the twenty five years is probably the
proudest thing we've all felt the whole time, just actually
being able to stay together and remain such good friends.
And you know, we're more than friends, we're family. And
I think you know, our relationship as a band has
been what's got us through, and it's you know, we
(02:32):
all respect each other so much as musicians and as friends,
We're willing to flex. There's no ego there, so I
think we can sort of bounce off each other and
get the best results, and you know, really sort of
it's just been so enjoyable, yea. You know, there's been
ups and downs, but it's twenty five years, but I
feel like the fire inside and I look forward to
(02:55):
gigs and I really look forward to going Auy on
tour with the boys, and look forward.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
To getting in the studio.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
So I think it's just, you know, passion's still there,
and we just sort of love what we do, and
we sort of love the way we've done it on
our own terms and never tried to write hat songs
or anything, and.
Speaker 5 (03:14):
Just sort of enjoy it. And it's sort of played
out luckily.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
So for our listeners who might not be totally familiar
with every part of the shape shift the story. Can
you take us back to the genesis? Can you take
us back to nineteen ninety nine life in christ Church
and how you guys came together and started making music.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Yeah, we were at the jazz school. We met at
the jazz School in christ Church and I.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Studied right around the corner from the jazz school. What
was that pub called on the Dress Street?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Can you remember?
Speaker 5 (03:44):
You'd be thinking of the jet Set Lounge.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, the jet Set Lounge, yes.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
South London.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, many nights spent, you know, drinking
the jugs of spades and orange juice or whatever you
wanted to drink. But yeah, great times the ra But yeah,
we were all together in the jazz school and we
were put into an ensemble together, so you get put
into jazz groups, and we were actually put together and
and just sort of headed off.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
We just had such a great.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Time and we started playing all different types of music.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
And at the time in christ Church, drum and bass
was pretty getting pretty big.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
You know, there were UK drum and bassed DJ's coming
and there were lines around the corner, you know for
these acts, and we loved it.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
It was kind of like a new cutting edge music
and we.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Love that sort of jazz was was like that when
it was when it was new, you know, so we
wanted to be on the edge of what of modern music.
So we sort of you know, our drummer at the time, Redford,
had this crazy ability to play anything, like he was
just the heart behind the behind the bands. Yeah, and
(04:54):
we and we just sort of started mimicking drum and
based DJs but in a live situation. So that's how
we kind of kicked off and it and it seemed
to go down pretty well. And then in a short
sort of space of time where we're touring with Stalmanella
dub YEP and that really kicked everything off.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Isn't it amazing?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
How you know to compare those different genres of music, right,
because if you were just just to take them at
face value, a lot of people would say, well, what
does drum and bass have to do with jazz? But
actually it's you know, the kind of music you guys
have tried to make where you're pushing boundaries has a
(05:34):
lot in common with jazz. Do you think having that
that jazz background, and that not necessarily theoretical background, but
having studied music in the way that you do when
you go through jazz school, do you do you think
that that ultimately benefits your music.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I think it does in the long run, but you
have to kind of shake all that knowledge and go
back to the basics. And drum and basses are pretty simple,
repetitive music a lot of the time, but.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
You know, the nuances are in the in.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
The slight core differences within the different since and so
there's there's complication there, but it comes across pretty pretty simple.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
So you do kind of have to have to shake that,
like that sort of jazz thing where you're trying to
play as much as you can, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
But I think, you know, a lot of it was
meeting people at the Jazz School, and you know, and
I think if you like jazz, you probably like a
lot of other types of music as well. We were
never really jazz purists, but yeah, going to the school
itself is such a great environment to meet people and
you know, the future sort of musicians of New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
How do you continue to feed creativity after you've been
playing music with you know, your mates and playing playing
music with the same people for a large slab of
your life. How do you how do you keep it fresh?
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Yeah, that's that's an interesting one. We have to freshen
up a lot, you know, we have to sort of
live our own life lives as well. You know, it
can't be too focused, you know, and we've all got
our own interests, and you know, we can get away
from it and then come back and and.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
Just I think it's just all of it. It's in
our personalities.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Since we were all young, you know, we've all sort
of been really interested in writing music and getting inspired
by music that we hear as well. So I think,
you know, that's probably the main thing getting inspired by
all different types of music, and getting inspired by not
just music but by other people being successful in what
(07:43):
they do.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
You know, it's quite inspiring as well.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Yeah, so I think, yeah, just the fire is still
there to kind of prove it to ourselves.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
And also just the basic fact of listening to something, going,
oh that's cool.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
I love that, you know, that makes me feel something
that makes me feel sad, or it makes me feel
nostalgic or you know those sort of things.
Speaker 5 (08:07):
It's just it's a buzz to actually do.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
So as someone who consumes music and you know, and
loves listening to music, but doesn't have to make music
for a living, I'm really interested in this concept because
the way I listen to music now, like lots of people,
is through streaming platforms and through Spotify, right, And there's
whatever complicated algorithm behind the machine that says, oh, Jack
(08:31):
like this, therefore he'll like this, therefore he'll like this,
And it kind of feeds you a pretty steady diet.
And I you know, when you're just sitting there kind
of mindlessly listening to music, that's great. But I would
have thought that as a creative there is a little
bit of a risk if you're relying on those kind
of systems, because actually it's just it's just feeding your
(08:51):
stuff you already know and like, and it's maybe not
maybe not challenging you to be inspired or creative in
a way that you might otherwise have been.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Is that is that? Okay?
Speaker 5 (09:02):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
And I think a lot of the time it would
be a case of what record company has got the
best relationship with Spotify? Yeah, true, and pushing their artists
onto playlists, yeah, on things like that. So a lot
of it, you know, Spotify is great for listening and
(09:25):
I've got Spotify yep, and and I've been through the
same journey as you and getting feed this music.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
And what's this? This is cool? And oh that's related
to these artists and oh I never knew about all this.
This is great.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
So there is that too, But yeah, a lot of
it as well was sort of going on your own search.
And it's not just Spotify. There's other sort of you know,
platforms you.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
Can buy music, your beat ports and your things like
that that have got i.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Don't know, twenty thousand new songs coming out of day,
you know, so you can sort of go on your
own journey and find music you like like that.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
But yeah, the world is really sort of wrapped up
in a Spotify trap almost.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Yeah yeah, And but I mean, you know, when you
guys are creating, like you said, you feel inspired sometimes
like you hear something new and you go, oh, man,
that's that's cool, when it might lead you down a
path where you create something that's a little bit different
than you might have otherwise created, Like you're kind of
you're conscious of that that phenomenon, I suppose.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yeah, yeah, I think you have to sort of get inspired,
but then you can't be like I really want to
write a track like that.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah yeah, you know, yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Yeah, you know, there's so much of it.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
It's so easy to do too, because you listen to
it and you feel like a kid and you're like, oh,
I want to be like that, you know, yeah, you know,
just natural.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
So you kind of got to. But that's the thing
about getting to the studio with with people.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
No one's got the same vision in their head, and
then you're like, oh, this is like where's this going.
This isn't what I thought it was going to do.
But because I'm flexible and I trust the other guys,
you know, it's like, well this is cool, and we're
all thinking that, and all of a sudden, this, the
song or the idea is like its own yeah, living
entity that doesn't belong to any of us. It's its
(11:13):
own thing, you know. So it's kind of cool. It's
almost like magic in a way.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
So I was thinking about it before the interview. I
Reckon shape Shifter would have a good claim. I don't
know how you ever quantify this, but I Reckon shape
Shifter has a good claim to having played and headlined
more festivals in New Zealand than literally any other artist
or band ever.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I mean that it would be up there, right, I'm not.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Probably would be because I mean, yeah, the length of
time and we have been doing.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah it's the sound of summer babe.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
And so if that's the case, what would you say
is the key to a good festival? What makes a
good festival?
Speaker 5 (11:55):
Well, you could the sort of the boring side of
it that you don't think about much as the security, the.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Amount of toilets and the amount of bar people can
get to yep.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
Trying to.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
But you would be surprised, like if that, if that's
in order, you see a happy crowd, and you feel
a happy crowd if you have you play to a
crowd the tired, a little bit annoyed, you can feel
that too.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
But yeah, I think.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
A good festival is for me would be a variety
of different music so you're not just sort of listening
to the same drum and bass beat for ten hours,
you know, or something like that.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
So a good variety, yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
And just and just the festival, the people running the
festival just making it easy for people to do what
they need to do, amount of space so they're not
sort of crammed in and bumping shoulders and things like that.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
So yeah, I would say.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
And maybe maybe Clear Skies probably as the final element guys.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Yeah, although we did we did a gig Electric Avenue
in christ Church and it started rating as we played
and it was just magical.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yeah see yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Can you Okay, this is a bit of a mean question,
but can you think is there a festival that stands
out to you as being like the most disastrous festival?
And I know there's nothing on the kind of fire
festival scale, but is there is there one that you
can think of in your in your past that stands out.
Speaker 5 (13:29):
All that's in my head? Is that and the woodstock.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
I was thinking, Oh, I can't, I can't think of
one off off the back of my head.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
I mean it must be weather related, right, like if
there was a one that is kind of washed out
and everyone's a knee deep mud or something like that exactly.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
So, yeah, I think years back we were running. Yeah, yeah,
we had a we had a year where the creek
came right up and washed it away and spared one
hundred grand on a gravel road. And yeah, so we
could go on and on about whether we have Yeah,
(14:12):
weather's enemy.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
You've become like that absolute like meteorological expert for about
four months a year.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Hey, so almost out of time. But tell us about
your plans this summer. What can we expect for your
shows through summer?
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Yeah, well, we're sort of we're still vibing on this
twenty five year thing. So we've we've kind of got
going to do a couple.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
Of things, nostalgia things.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
We're playing at the Coragling Tavern on the twenty eighth
of December, and that's that's a.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Place we used to play in the early days of
all the time.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
You know, we've sort of been playing a lot of
sort of bigger venues in recent years, so this has
been really cool to go back. We did the town
Halls a few weeks ago, and so we're going to
be looking at Coragland Tavern and Black Barn and have
Locked North. We're doing that on the seventh of December.
That's a beautiful venue. Yeah, So just sort of those
(15:07):
sort of your news and and we're gonna play some
sort of the oldest stuff that we played, yeah in
our twenty five year tour, and a bit of new
stuff as well.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
And yeah, very good.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Oh can't waite.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Hey, thank you so much for your time, Nick, We
really appreciate it. Congratulations on twenty five years and here's
to twenty five more.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Exactly twenty five more. Thanks for having me. It's an
honor to be on the show.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
That is Nick Robinson from Shape Shifter celebrating twenty five years.
We've got all the details for the summer shows up
on the News Talks. He'd be website as well.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live
to News Talks. He'd be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,
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