The Butlers making waves at music festival
A group of Christchurch lads have cancelled their New Year’s Eve plans after getting the call to perform at this year’s Rhythm and Vines festival.
The Butlers are a Sumner-based band and have been performing together for less than a year. When organisers of the popular festival in Gisborne asked if they would perform, there was no question.
‘‘They asked me to talk to the boys and ring back if we wanted to do it, but I just said straight away, ‘we’re doing it’,’’ bass guitarist Jordan Kennedy said.
‘‘It was a pretty overwhelming call, we definitely didn’t expect it.’’
The band started a little over a year ago with guitarist and singer Walt Robberds, 20, and drummer George Berry, 20, ‘‘cruising around doing some really jazzy stuff’’ at cafes and bars around Sumner, Kennedy said.
More people took notice once they started performing original tunes. Bradley King, 28, was brought on to play lead guitar and ‘‘when they really wanted to make some noise’’ they brought on Kennedy, 20. The last member was the mysterious Stingy Holligan, a master of the saxophone.
‘‘We came together about 10 months ago and started doing bigger gigs, opening for bands in Dunedin. We decided to record a really rough EP, just in our garage,’’ Kennedy said.
The Halfway House EP was released in mid-2017 on iTunes and Spotify. Their biggest hit, Are You Sure, has been played more than 100,000 times on Spotify.
‘‘For what it was and the quality, it did really well, we were happy with it,’’ Kennedy said.
The boys went on tour with their EP, visiting Queenstown, Christchurch and Wellington.
‘‘Wellington has a really good buzz, everyone loves live music and up and coming bands.’’
Their new album, Frederick’s Friends, was recorded at Orange Studios in Woolston and will be launched at Wunderbar on Friday night. They released their latest single, Full Noise, last Friday with a music video filmed in Sumner.
‘‘Frederick (Freddy) is one of our best friends and a Sumner legend, everyone knows him here and overseas. He did the intro for the album and the songs are all about his friends,’’ Kennedy said.
The band will stay in Gisborne for the entire three-day Rhythm and Vines festival, playing on the Discovery Stage on December 29.
‘‘We’re playing a full original set for about an hour. The exposure is priceless really, you can’t buy 30,000 people at a festival.’’ Kennedy said.
‘‘There is nothing really better than going up and down New Zealand and playing music for people who want to hear it. Seeing the people who turn up having such a sick time, listening to us play, it’s awesome.’’
"The exposure is priceless really, you can't buy 30,000 people at a festival."
Jordan Kennedy, The Butlers