New Zealand Music Month 2020 Profiles
The Wake Up
By Bridget Herlihy.
All too often Palmerston North/Papaoeia is perceived as being a grid-like, grey provincial city in the lower North Island that is characterised by – well – its lack of character. Yet this could not be further from the truth. In fact, it is in the throws of a renaissance of sorts. An eclectic assortment of musicians and artists from an array of different sectors call Papaoeia home, contributing to the city’s bourgeoning arts community; a community that is poised to bounce back once the Covid-19 restrictions ease. And The Wake Up is one of the city’s groups that are champing at the bit to do just that.
The Wake Up’s inception five years ago was a case of being in the right place at the right time. In 2015 Caleb Hickmøtt and Chris Jordan both ventured to Auckland to compete on X Factor NZ with their respective bands. Although both bands were knocked out of the competition after a few weeks, Caleb and Chris forged a friendship during their sojourn into the realm of reality television, and returned to Papaioea with plans to start a new band, from which The Wake Up emerged.
The Wake Up has been through several incantations over the last five years. At one stage the band boasted nine members, which Hickmott confesses was a scheduling nightmare when it came to organising band practices. The band has since reformatted and now takes a more stripped back approach as a three-piece, featuring Hickmøtt on drums, Jordan on guitar and vocalist Laura McGaffin, who joined the band in 2018.
Hickmøtt, who is also the band’s principal songwriter, describes The Wake Up’s sound as being “eclectic… everything that was good and bad about the 90s and early 2000s”; a sound that is the result of the individual band members’ musical likes and dislikes. The band’s sound has been compared to the likes of Paramore and Pink, presumably due to their extremely catchy sound that is a pop-punk fusion topped off with just the right amount of attitude; a sound that is garnering The Wake Up attention and dedicated fan base. This is evident from the number of plays that the band’s songs are getting on Spotify. Each of the band’s six tracks currently available on the music streaming service have had in excess of 1000 plays each. In fact, the band’s latest single ‘Dark Horse’, which was released in the first week of March, is close to reaching an impressive 3000 plays.
In the lead-up to 2020 The Wake Up had started to gain significant traction. This included lining up a production company in Wellington to make music videos for the band, in addition to collaborating with American producer and engineer Mike Dwyer, owner of The Bunker studios in New York. The Wake Up caught Dwyer’s attention with a cover of a track called ‘Worthy’, a cover of a song written by musician Adam Lee, which they recorded at UCOL in Papaoeia. Dwyer is currently mixing and mastering the track, which is due to be released later in the year.
The Wake Up had some big plans for 2020, including the release of a long awaited EP, playing several shows in their hometown, as well as planning gigs in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. However, like many artists throughout Aotearoa, those plans have been put on hold until live music events are able to take place again – hopefully be in the near future. With live gigs on hold for the time being, Hickmott has put the downtime to good use, by putting together live footage of the band performing at Swampfest at Papaoeia’s iconic Stomach in October last year, and streaming via Facebook Live. A second online event using newly shot footage of the band while in lockdown is currently in the pipeline.
In the meantime, Hickmøtt is using this unprecedented time to write more music, and is looking to reschedule live performances soon, especially in Wellington – a favourite place to play. Keep your ears to the ground, The Wake Up are a band that is full of energy and determination, and are sure to put themselves, and their hometown, on the proverbial map.
This content is a part of our NZ Music Month coverage, celebrating old, new and upcoming Kiwi artists. Support local. Stream local. Follow local. Buy local. For more information on NZ Music Month you can visit their website.
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