Miltones touching down in Chch
Do you know there are rural parts of Auckland city? If not, the lyrics of The Miltones’ Milly Tabak paint quite the picture.
Tabak, 24, lives on her family’s 10-acre farm in Whenuapai, surrounded by development, about an hour-and-a-half from Queen St. She said she couldn’t imagine writing music anywhere else.
The vocalist and guitarist spoke to The Press ahead of her band’s gig at Blue Smoke on Friday, in Woolston, Christchurch, as part of a national tour launching its latest single, Disappear.
The folk-rock band started with Tabak and Liam Pratt. The pair met through a high school music programme when she was 16 years old.
‘‘Back then we played a lot of covers, which was really boring, [and we were] playing in bars with our parents there because we weren’t legally allowed in there,’’ Tabak said. ‘‘As you get older you listen to more and more music, so now we are getting into the more bluesy stuff. I grew up on a lot of Neil Young and The Guess Who – they just blew my mind.’’
Two years ago Tabak enlisted the help of veteran musicians Tom Broome, Chris Marshall and Guy Harrison to strengthen the band’s offering. Broome had played drums for a range of Kiwi artists, from Aaradhna to Anika Moa, and Tabak said Harrison was ‘‘hot property’’ in the Auckland music scene.
‘‘We are such a massive energy on stage now. Electric, big noise and big harmonies – we get stuck in,’’ she said.
In 2017, the band took out the Taite Music best independent debut award, which came with a $2000 prize.
Tabak’s dad died when she was aged 18. She and her brothers stayed on the family farm with their mum and she converted part of it into a studio.
‘‘We actually recorded Disappear in there. We didn’t have a piano so we had to go round to friends’ places with a microphone to do some of it, but Tom engineered the track and we self-produced it,’’ she said.
‘‘Growing up, the area was super rural. People used to think it was quite far from Auckland city, but now it’s kind of joined on because of all the development. Mum gets hounded by developers all the time, and I guess it will have to happen one day, but right now it’s just great being on the farm.
‘‘I’d hate to be a musician living in an apartment block; you must feel so restricted. But I mean, kudos to those artists out there that make it work.’’
The Miltones will play at Blue Smoke on Friday, a show she said would be ‘‘alive’’.
‘‘If you like getting stuck into a show and want to see something big and fun, come along and watch,’’ she said.
Tickets are available through Under The Radar.