MNZ Interview: Shapeshifter

When Shapeshifter hit stages around Aotearoa this winter for their Soulstice 20th Anniversary Tour, they’re not just marking a milestone – they’re returning to the moment their trajectory changed. Released in 2006, Soulstice wasn’t simply their third studio album; it was the pivot point where the Christchurch collective evolved from underground live drum n bass innovators into one of the country’s defining electronic‑soul powerhouses. Its tracks have anchored their explosive shows ever since.

Anticipation for the record was huge. Fans had followed the band through the harder-edged, mostly instrumental worlds of Realtime (2001) and Riddim Wise (2004), albums revered for their futuristic musicianship and improvisational fire. But when word spread that the next release would feature a full‑time vocalist – and that the voice belonged to Paora Apera AKA P Digsss – expectations skyrocketed. Soulstice delivered. It debuted at No. 4 on the New Zealand Albums Chart, earned Gold and then Platinum certification, and produced enduring favourites like Electric Dream, Bring Change, New Day Come, and One, songs that have become woven into the country’s festival culture.

Drum ’n’ bass has long thrived in the after-hours glow of clubs – basslines rattling through dim rooms, strobe lights flickering, and the 3 a.m. thrill of a surprise drop. It’s music that follows you into dawn, ears buzzing and pulse still elevated, carrying the night with you into the day.

Which is why, given that legacy, it was slightly surreal to find Shapeshifter bassist Nick Robinson ready for an early‑morning chat about the upcoming tour and the album that reshaped their sound. 8:30 a.m. isn’t generally considered rock’n’roll, but then again, Soulstice has always been about breaking expectations.

Nick: Thank you for being so early. I’ve got 2 kids. Getting them off to school, all of that. Ha. But I don’t do much, to be honest. I just sort of get up and have a coffee…you know…ha ha!

It’s the life of a Kiwi musician, isn’t it? We all grow up. Get married or have partners. We’ve all got kids or whatever now. So, it’s like it’s that kind of time in our lives, isn’t it?

It is for sure.

I just jumped in my time-machine and flew back to 2006. Dame Sylvia Cartwright was the Governor-General; Don Brash just stood down and John Key came in as leader of the National Party and then became Prime Minister. Sione’s Wedding was the top movie. Fat Freddy’s Drop was number one on the album charts, and you guys were number four.

Oh, wow. Yeah, the Freddy’s Based On A True Story. Yeah, oh my gosh. What an album. Very inspirational. I remember we were doing a lot of touring at the time. It was my ‘take-off-from-the-plane music’. Every single plane ride. Such an amazing album. So much time’s passed, yet it doesn’t seem like that long ago.

Digsss became a ‘permanent’ member of Shapeshifter around the time of Soulstice, what can you remember about that time?

Yeah, well, it was actually about, I think it was a gig for 2000 and the New Year’s Eve of 2000 and 2001. And we were doing The Gathering (Tākaka Hill). We always had an MC. It just wasn’t a permanent fixture (in the band). And we got introduced to P Digsss by Simon Hendi (Downtown Brown), in what’s a classic DJ move, you know. He’s mixing a vocalist he knows, over music he knows, and he’s like: “You guys have got to meet!” So, it was actually Downtown’s idea. Then P Digsss got up on stage. And we expected the usual DnB thing with an MC rapping and all that. No, he’s singing! And we said: “Oh, My God! This is perfect!”

So, actually, from that moment, we had to get him. And he did gigs with us from that point. But he’d take off to other things. About 2001 he went Austria with his girlfriend for a couple of years and then came back and then recorded Been Missing on the Riddim Wise album (2004) with us. He was kind of in the band but he was untamed and wild! We couldn’t hold him down.

And then after Riddim Wise, we did more gigs. But it became clear we needed him. So, we asked again: “Do you want to be involved in this whole album (that we are planning)?” And he was keen. So, yeah, that was a magical time. We all moved back here. Prior, we were all sort of living it up in Melbourne at the time and P Digsss was living it up on whoever’s couch. And we decided to go to Kaikōura for 6 months and just do this album. So yeah, that is where he became a permanent member of Shapeshifter.

So, you rented a bach in Kaikōura. How did you end up there? Why there?

I can’t remember how we got it. I think we just looked for something to rent, and we were just sort of we wanted to go somewhere where we didn’t have any distractions. We’ve done the previous album in Melbourne… Melbourne was one of my favourite places ever, living there was great. But there was just too much going on. It was one of those places you’d go out five nights of the week. So, it was kind of hard to focus on an album and it just took a lot longer.

We thought: “Let’s go somewhere where nothing’s happening!” We just had to choose a small town. You know, coming from Christchurch, it’s just something about it like having the mountains there, and then 100 metres out from the house it goes 4km deep into the ocean. It was vibrant. Close to Wellington and close to Christchurch. We found this little bach. And it ended up being perfect. We lived next to our landlord, and he had a boat and he would constantly supply us with groper wings and crayfish and scallops. We were living with no money. I remember, just basically living. Barely enough to buy anything. So, there was no beers at the pub or anything like that. Just living off nothing. Just paying rent in this little cottage. We just sort of wanted to get away from it all and just purely focus on the albums.

Soulstice has so much more going on compared to the previous albums, which are more pure to the DnB ideal. But this one’s got little bit of everything – Jazz, funk, soul and DnB – and plenty of more conventional song structures.

A lot comes down to influence, doesn’t it? What’s surrounding you. The previous album Real Time, we did in Christchurch, when there was a monstrous DnB scene, you know? Like the internationals would come and there’d be lines around the corner – going into the (nightclub) Ministry, etc. There was a huge scene and we wanted to be part of that, even though it was hard – sometimes as a (live) band in a DJ world. But we wanted that. And then Melbourne, it was kind of similar. There was a lot of DJs coming to the city. We hung out with a lot of them. We wanted to do their stuff, their styles. That world was very insular. And we thought we just needed to be ourselves. All we had was ourselves. And moving to Kaikōura, the surroundings are so beautiful. I guess it just sort of came out. We ended up saying: “Let’s see what happens, you know”. And it came out, the music. Songs like Summer Haze reflects that. It’s so mellow and sort of lush. That song kind of epitomises the time there. This natural, beautiful sort of place. We were sort of in the middle of it. And you know, we could see the ocean from our balcony, and I think at the end of that song, if you listen right to the end, there’s the waves slapping the shore. It’s the sound of being outside. We recorded the real thing. It’s all the real deal.

For this album we could take many paths, even though we still loved DnB. It was a cool sort of awakening for us. Because we were fighting this battle to be DnB, we started realizing that maybe we’re actually not just DnB. We’re just something else.

Who were your influencers at the time? Who were you ‘competing’ with?

You know, like, DJs who were around at the time, all the DnB legends, like Calibre. I think I was listening to (Hip Hop group) Platinum Pied Pipers, with that real lush sort of flavour of the time. I had CDs back in those days, no iPod. I had 213’s album, The Hard Way, Snoop Dogg, Warren G. There was the Fat Freddy’s, of course. They’ve always been friends. I think we were influenced about how staunch they were, just doing their own thing and not caring what others thought. They would play like a 5-minute intro. And they never thought that the audience would think that was boring. You know, is the crowd going to walk away? They trusted their audience. And it worked, you know. So, they were influences, too.

I can hear some jazz on the album.

We all came from jazz. There was always that sort of feeling. We wanted it to be a bit more organic. So I played some electric bass on the track called In The Rain. We got Warren Maxwell from Trinity Roots and Fat Freddy’s to play flute – he’s known for his saxophone playing, and obviously his guitar and vocals. But his flute solo, as you can hear, is the actual monster, as it floats over the music.

Yes, it was like, yeah, that’s that was like one of the highlights of that piece.

He’s freakishly good. We also had some trumpet from Isaac Aesili in there, as well, just getting those more organic flavours.

And you brought back people like Ladi6, and KP, and Kye.

They are always pretty much family. We’ve known Ladi6 from the Christchurch days, and she still remains a close friend. We still want to do some more work with her as well. KP was part of the Sunshine Sound System with Downtown Brown. We’ve done so many gigs together. He’s always been a big part of our band, and quite often come on and jam with us. Kye was our guy. We knew them from Sydney.

As a bassist, did you approach anything you know differently this time because, you know, like DnB, it’s very strict and metronomic. And you’re from jazz, so did you want to go off and take things in a different direction. Maybe showcase, or lead, solo, any of those things?

It’s funny. In the process, we collaborate quite a lot amongst each other. Anyone could come up with a bassline, or a riff. And we’d agreed on it or try our different ideas with that. Someone might jump on the keyboard or guitar. We quite often write things together. It’s not like I’ll wait for you to come up with something. Generally, we’d sort of write stuff together. You know, bouncing off each other. And it’s kind of cool because no one precious. We just sort of we love that idea of coming up with something together. You don’t have to claim it. It’s just it’s part of being a group, you know, and it becomes something in its own right.

And P Digsss was there, too – at Kaikōura? He probably came from a ‘vocal’ point of view. Did that make a difference?

Definitely. If he’s there in the beginning stages of something he might not necessarily have anything to do with the music, but he will say when he likes it. “I’ve got something for that”, then we’d march forward. With him, it was more to do with an idea that he’s vibing on. That always makes a big difference. Then he’d go to his room with his pen, humming away and you know, working at the same time. He’s also quite a real good cook. So, he’d be like I’ve been away in the kitchen making up a fish pie or something, and humming away, working on the lyrics.

Every album has a problem child. What was yours?

Probably The Ride. I like that song now. Sometimes, you know you get an idea, but it takes you in so many directions. We had decided that this was the sound of someone coming in from the rain and putting a record on. You can hear when the needle drops. It’s almost like an unloading of someone’s mind, whereas it goes as the song moves. It’s kind of just this sort of whirlwind of sounds and intense samples that kind of leaves a worried mind, I guess. Making that was probably, like, the trickiest one.

This tour is a real roadie, from Invercargill to Dunedin, Wanaka to Christchurch, Methven to Wellington, Whanganui to New Plymouth. Will it include Kaikōura?

Sorry, no – Kaik’s not this time. But we wanted to go to the places that we usually don’t go quite as often. More than just the big city centres. And there’s opportunities to play in some real beautiful venues, like the Isaac and the TSB Theatre in New Plymouth, as well. Some sort of theatres and venues that don’t usually have our kind of music. Playing songs off Soulstice, probably most of the album. And you know, some of those songs are kind of probably not suited for a festival situation but would work in a smaller hall. Like Summer Haze. It’s going to be awesome to head out on the road and get in a van.

The 8-date Soulstice 20th Anniversary Tour takes in Invercargill, Dunedin, Wānaka, Christchurch, Methven, Wellington, Whanganui, and New Plymouth, bringing their celebrated live show to theatres and halls across Aotearoa, revisiting towns they haven’t played in years and performing at many venues for the first time.

Shapeshifter continues: “A true Kiwi roadie – exploring our beautiful country and performing for our fans, new and old – thanks to the support of Waitomo.”

Making it even more special – some of these classic venues will be seated, giving fans a chance to experience Shapeshifter like never before.