As good as it gets ‘Playing is like oxygen’
The Feelers look back at 30 years of touring. Cira Olivier talks to drummer Hamish Gee.
You take a lot for granted in your early 20s and, ironically, I think we put more energy into our shows now that we’re in our mid to late 40s.
HAMISH GEE remembers the first time he heard the band he was in on the radio like it was yesterday. He was driving his mates — the guys from Op Shop, who were Acoustic Fungi at the time — to one of their gigs in Christchurch in the 90s.
“This is you,” they say, and they sit in silence while it plays. “S*** . . . that’s awesome,” he remembers one of them saying.
He grinned and nodded, impressed with the work they had done.
The Feelers formed in Christchurch in 1993 and their first album, Supersystem, went to number one in New Zealand in 1998.
Some of the many accolades they have claimed over the years include five Aotearoa NZ Music Awards and three APRA most played song of the year awards.
Now, with nearly 30 years in the game, the father of two says a lot has changed in how they do things, including the extra passion they bring to their shows.
“You take a lot for granted in your early 20s and, ironically, I think we put more energy into our shows now that we’re in our mid to late 40s.”
Now, the band has hit the road on their first tour in nearly two years.
It is a celebratory tour marking 21 years since their hit-album Communicate was released and they’ll be playing some songs crowds haven’t heard live in two decades, he says.
They will play in Mount Maunganui on July 22. The gig was the first of the 17-stop tour to sell out.
Gee, the band’s drummer, says the area is one they love and they have a lot of fond memories here.
The last time they played here was last summer at the First We Eat festival alongside Sir Dave Dobbyn.
“We’ve been anticipating this, wondering if we’ll ever play again.”
The band toured just about every summer but hasn’t been able to properly tour for a couple of years.
“It’s been a struggle mentally for us . . . Playing is like oxygen for us, we didn’t realise how much until we were able to do a show on New Year’s Eve.”
This past summer they did three shows and the summer before just a handful.
“It’s been terrible,” he says. Performing is “like our medicine”.
Questions about whether they would ever play again started reeling through their minds as it wasn’t financially feasible to play shows to fewer than 100 people.
“We’re more grateful every year that passes because we’re not young any more,” he says. This feeling will be heightened because it was “so scary” for a while.
When they could play again, they realised it was the anniversary year of their favourite album, Communicate, and the perfect time to play songs that hadn’t been played in 20 years.
“It’s going quite well, it’s like riding a bike.” As well as the “touristy punters”, Gee is excited to be playing for the veteran fans, some of which they know by name, who will all be able to boogie along to songs they know including five singles from this album.
GEE CREDITS The Feelers’ longevity to their “fantastic” fans. On one occasion, Gee and vocalist James Reid did a duet on a stage set up on the back of a truck on a farm for a combined 100th birthday for a fan turning 40 and her aunt turning 60.
Another woman who had been at the front of the crowds in concerts since the beginning had the pair play at her 70th.
He looks back to when the album was released on CD and remembers heading to Australia as young musicians filming the videos for Astronaut, Communicate, As Good As It Gets and Fishing for Lisa.
By the time it came to the fifth single, Anniversary, the video budget was cut and they ended up filming Gee’s favourite video.
“We spent what money was put in by the record company and NZ on Air and set up cameras around our manager’s yard, bought a whole lot of kegs, and had a party and filmed it.
“We’re playing on the deck and a couplehundred of our mates are just getting trolleyed and having a dance.”
These days though, you won’t find a drop of alcohol while touring or on stage
— an idea of Gee’s.
“Sometimes I regret that because you feel like a beer or two for the nerves, but we decided that we play so much better when it’s a dry zone on stage and for the entire tour.”
He gets nervous, but they’re good nerves, he says.
Gee says the shows are a real workout and sometimes leave them “sore as hell”.
“I keep on telling myself prior to each gig that I don’t need to go 300 per cent, just play nicely, play well, play in time.
“As soon as I go out there, the adrenaline kicks in and I’m thrashing things as much as I can, as hard as
I can. I’ve set the bar already and I can’t lower it, so I’m stuck for an hour and a half,” he laughs.
The band is also hoping to drop their new album, Reimagined ,by Christmas, which is their greatest hits reimagined. It will include different versions of hit songs with percussions, pianos, and string sections.
It’s being mixed by Chris Sheldon who mixed their Communicate album.
While it’s been more than two decades since Communicate was released, remembering their old songs is like riding a bike. The band has been in the studio a couple of times and Gee said the songs came back quickly.
“We realised we should have been playing these songs for the last 21 years.”
The songs he’s looking forward to playing include Just Like You with a tune he describes as sounding “like nothing else”.
The other is the “epic ballad”, Accidental Love. He says he and fellow band member James Reid have been scratching their heads over why they haven’t played it all these years.
“It’s been so long . . . I think we’re all going to feed off each other; the band and audience are going to have the time of their life.”
“There are so many nice songs on there that we’re really looking forward to playing again, and some of them may even stick around.”