Interview with Tunes of I

December is almost upon us and that means the season of summer music festivals, winery tours and new sounds for the backyard barbecue. An early contender for a party favourite is Get Up, the new single by Wellington dub rockers Tunes of I. They’re hitting the road on November 27, when they’ll play the Festival of Lights in New Plymouth. Their schedule, which stretches through to Summer Stein in Christchurch on February, also includes four support slots with one of the  capital’s most loved sons, Fat Freddy’s Drop. Mike Alexander from Muzic.net.nz caught up with Tunes of I bass player Makura Tomoana, and here’s what went down:

How many friends does it take to make up Tunes of I and how did you originally meet up?

There are currently six members, all friends, in Tunes of I: Makura Tomoana (backing vocals and bass), Conway Jeune (vocals and guitar), Luther Hunt (drums and backing vocals), Jules Blewman (lead guitar), Kaito Walley (trombone) and Bryn van Vliet (saxophone, backing vocals and keyboards). We all met at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington. The band was originally started by Mudz Chadwick, the original drummer, but we have since parted ways and he is now a teacher.

Your name is an acronym of TOI, the Maori word for knowledge, skill, excellence, origin and mastery.  Do you try to encapsulate all of these things?

Yes, definitely. We always strive to deliver  in whatever we do and music just so happens to fall within those confines as well. 

Tell me about the inspiration behind your new single Get Up.

Most of the lyrical content was written by Luther Hunt and was meant as a pick me up song. Like, in a crazy world where stuff might be getting you down, you just gotta push through, get up and dance.
Musically, the sounds of motown, soul and funk inspired this tune. It actually went through a couple of styles but we felt this was the best, most accurate way to portray the awesome feelings of songs in those particular genres. More specifically we looked at Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and more currently New Zealand’s Lord Echo for inspiration.

It was recorded at Surgery Studios where you also recorded your debut album Restless. What involvement did the legendary Lee Prebble have?

Lee’s awesome and we’ve loved working with him over the years. His knowledge and scope for all things live is awesome and he definitely had a ton of input. Obviously Lee is a sound engineer, so he recorded Get Up and helped us get to that vintage, old school feel. Lee is also great with the composition side of things as well, like maybe halving choruses/verses or adding/subtracting a couple bars from the bridge, etc. He’s also an invaluable resource when there’s a deadlock on a decision we need to make and more likely than not his input will influence the final outcome. 

That record was produced by Barnaby Weir.  Have any of you ever been invited to join is revolving door group Fly My Pretties?

Naa not yet … (waiting by the phone Barney haha).

If there was a party at your place, what kind of music would you be listening to?

Either something by Daft Punk or Tool. Everyone loves Tool.

You have a hectic summer touring schedule including support slots for Fat Freddy’s Drop, who have just dropped a new album.  Who introduced you?

We were introduced to them through our agent Adam Findlay who works at Eccles Entertainment. Adam has been helping us for the past couple of years with shows and management and managed to get us a couple of slots with Fat Freddy’s. We are super excited to be playing with the dudes.

Is there another album in the pipeline?

There’s more to be had from us and we’re definitely cooking something up. At this point we’re just keeping things close to the chest as we’re starting to work on something pretty big. However, the Get Up single release and tour are our focus right now.