Leading from the front
Off the back of a single featuring Tiki Taane and focused on a much-loved chocolate bar, three Gisborne teens are set to launch a blistering, punkfuelled attack on Kiwi music. By Amberleigh Jack.
If your question is, ‘‘is punk rock dead?’’ Then Sit Down in Front may be your answer. The group is led by frontman Cory Newman, whose cerebral palsy has him belting hits from his wheelchair. Together with guitarist Jackson Clarke and drummer Ricky Noble, the Gisborne trio take the DIY, figure-it-out-on-the-fly, aspects of punk rock and run with them.
Noble and Newman are both 18 but they’ve been playing in the band together for almost six years. When they say playing, they mean it in perhaps the loosest of terms. Back then they had no drum-kit to speak of.
‘‘I think you had to use some of my mums saucepans,’’ Newman laughs to Noble about the early days.
‘‘Jack was the only one that had a working instrument. I was using a mic [from] a PlayStation.
‘‘[I had] this little pink toy amp that promptly blew up. Nobody knew what they were doing at the time. It was crazy.’’
They may know what they’re doing now, but it seems Sit Down in Front are still intent on blowing up amps.
‘‘On average I think [Clarke] blows up one a year,’’ Newman says.
It can be difficult to follow a conversation between Newman and Noble. They interrupt each other and argue over details. But it’s obvious they’re good mates and their opposing personalities seem to gel.
Noble acts shy at first, and only speaks up when he has something important to say. Newman, on the other hand, is a
‘‘I had this little pink toy amp that promptly blew up. Nobody knew what they were doing at the time. It was crazy.’’ Cory Newman
charismatic extrovert.
He talks animatedly, emphasising his point with his whole body when he’s excited. At one stage he’s talking so passionately, the front wheels of his wheelchair leave the ground momentarily.
‘‘Oops,’’ he says, before repositioning himself and starting again – just as excitedly as before.
The two are talking about touring with Jimmy Barnes in 2019. A career highlight for both of them.
‘‘We do have to give a shout out to my gran who was going nuts in the stands. She’s like 70-something and she was going nuts in the front row. It was hilarious,’’ he says. ‘‘But that’s just how much she loves her grandson and his band. It was quite funny.’’
Newman’s lean and sporting an AC/DC T-shirt and bright yellow socks. It’s a colour he loves. If he were a Wiggle, he’d be a yellow Wiggle, he later jokes.
His eyes light up when he’s talking about chaos, punk rock and, well, Pixie Caramel chocolate bars.
Sit Down in Front released their single Pixie Caramel in 2020. It received airplay on Juice TV and The Rock and the music video, featuring musician Tiki Taane, was a play off the old Pixie Caramel TV advert.
The conversation quickly turns to whether the single might boost sales.
‘‘Hint, hint Nestle,’’ he laughs, adding the band would be more than happy to talk advertising deals.
Sit Down in Front formed in 2017 when all three members were still in high school. They met each other through their parents and quickly bonded over a love of music. Newman says he wanted to be a rock star ever since seeing AC/DC live as a 12-year-old in 2015.
He doesn’t come from a musical family, but his parents always supported his rock star dream.
For Noble, that support was also there, having grown up in a family where music was a way of life.
‘‘Piano is my main instrument,’’ he says, explaining that his mother taught him as a child before he moved on to teaching himself guitar, and finally drums.
‘‘This guy is a young Dave Grohl,’’ Newman interrupts excitedly. ‘‘And just like Dave Grohl, he’s never had a drum lesson in his life.’’
It was when he started experimenting with drums that Noble met up with Clarke and started jamming together in intermediate.
‘‘Then you got the job with us,’’ chimes in Newman.
‘‘What? You got the job with me,’’ laughs Noble.
And since then Sit Down in Front hasn’t looked back. They released their third EP Fuelling my Rage in January and are hoping to get back on the touring circuit when Covid-19 restrictions allow.
With this band, touring comes with the added issue of accessibility. Most local venues have pretty decent options, they say, although navigating stairs to get on stage can be an issue.
Granted, they’ve got a workaround for those situations.
‘‘[Noble’s] dad is super strong and can pick stuff up and get anything anywhere,’’ says Newman. ‘‘Most roadies carry the gear. Ours carry the band.’’