MADDY TAYLOR & CAE HEKE of TAHINI BIKINI: Pretty Self-Sufficient
An interview by Tim Gruar.
It’s time for some spicy funk with attitude!
This December, Pōneke’s Cuba Street precinct is hosting a brand new festival. GREAT SOUNDS GREAT is a one-day multi-venue event spanning across five venues, jam-packed with indie music including 20 of Aotearoa’s best acts. This includes heavy psych duo Earth Tongue, electric groove merchants Glass Vaults, Folk Mistress Nadia Reid, electric popster kids Imugi 이무기, loud merchants Na Noise, digital wizards Memory Foam, indie specialists Hans Pucket, an exciting new project from Kane Strang called Office Dog, Occult Doomsters Earth Tongue alongside many more exciting acts – including local band Tahini Bikini.
Ahead of the festival I had the opportunity to talk to Tahini Bikini about writing and dreaming in the current climate and rehearsing in a doctor’s studio…
Is that really true? I ask. “Sure is”, they giggle down the line. It’s band practice night and Madeline ‘Maddy’ Lucy Taylor (guitars, piano, vocals) and Cae Te Wheoro Heke (bass) have got me on speaker phone at their ‘new’ rehearsal and recording space, ‘The Mox-Box’, in Hataitai, Poneke. “We’re planning on expanding it. We have a mixing room, space to crash, rehearsal room, etc.”
It’s definitely a step up from their previous location, where they tell me the band rehearsed in the foyer/waiting room of a GP’s surgery. “Ironic, huh? We were in a Doctor’s surgery – when covid was rife. In the foyer. No patients to entertain. Ha ha. There for 3 weeks. I guess it was the safest place we could find. (We) definitely wrote a lot. After that we were at the Vogelmorn Hall, and now Haitaitai.”
Tahini Bikini also includes Lukas Jury (guitar), Chev Fraser (trumpet/keys), Barney Johnson (drums), guitarist Alex Scott-Billing (or sometimes guitarist James Phizacklea) and Rachel Andie on Sax. The band’s sound is big, ballsy funk with a dark, punkish edge. Inspiration comes from their collective interest in blues, jazz and hip-hop, with many of the songs coming from the pen of Maddy Taylor, spruced up by former band member and their producer Alex Coffey (guitar/keys). “Barney listens to ‘Kurum’, ‘Krumbn’, ‘Krumbahim’”. Khruangbin? “Yeah, them”. “…which informs our funky sound, too. Lukas likes Hip-Hop.” It’s a meld and blend, they say.
They grew from humble beginnings throwing backyard parties, then more formal events at local bars. They battled setbacks yet still delivered a raft of singles and now an eight track album. “Fever Dream” is a special blend of neosoul, ‘salad-funk’, rock, disco and a dollop of hot hip-hop sound sauce, inspired by music from all over Aotearoa.
Maddy says online that “to me, this is a culmination of the experiences and changes we’ve all gone through together as friends and bandmates over the last two years.” She says it’s proof of what you can create in spite of setbacks and barriers. The title track is about heartbreak, love, drugs, anxiety, and passion – “the usual stuff”, Cae and Maddy agree.
It also features bangers like ‘Life’s a Beach’. The song has some darker themes like anxiety and frustration, themes that came out of Lockdown writing session. Maddy says that’s still relatable for many. For her it has hints of the band’s stumbling career, interrupted by the past few years. The angst of trying to get somewhere, being set back by unknown greater forces. Having to reset and rethink.
Maddy and Lukas have been instrumental (pardon the pun) in the orchestration of this band’s fortunes to date.
Maddy had been writing music overseas for some time but was really shy about working with others. She was keen to join a band so on her return to Aotearoa she started checking out the local scene.
It was early 2020 when she went to a bar in Courtney Place. And while she was waiting in line for the bathroom, she started up a conversation about music with the guy in front of her. “I was talking to Lukas and we hit it off. I’d had some music and songs but nothing really serious, to speak of. We found out we were both musicians, so arranged a bit of a jam.” She laughs “It’s funny because Lukas was recording every one of those sessions. I cringe sometimes, yeah. First time we played together we wrote “Flakey” (which became their first single). I had a friend, Alex Coffey, who I’d met in Melbourne. He’d just come back so he hooked up for a jam, too. Cae and I worked together, Barney was in high school, Chev (trumpet) was the last to join. We’ve recruited through friends, flatmates, etc. Rope everyone in! And now we are a 6 piece.”
And the name? “Alex and I mucking about in the supermarket. We were going through names. His girlfriend Liberty suggested ‘Tahini Bikini’. We all went ‘Nah!’ not that one. We tried others but it just stuck anyway.” Thanks, Liberty!
Like many bands, lockdown was a particularly harsh time for this fledgling act, who was just starting to get some traction around the motu, playing gigs and getting noticed. Maddy says that it was a time that really challenged her. “I mean, could we really commit ourselves to music when all the opportunities to play had just evaporated.” It was, she says, a fertile time for song writing and that’s where she and her bandmates focussed their efforts. “Now we have a huge backlog of songs to finish and get out there.” She means recording. Many of their earlier efforts were recorded in Coffey’s tiny bedroom studio and mixed there. With the new ‘Moxbox’ rehearsal space they have the opportunity to really get into it. A fair portion of the band’s songs come from Maddy initially and then are worked up by the band. It’s a very collaborative process, Cae says.
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One of their early releases is ‘Crocodile Tears’, which is held up by Barney Johnson’s funky drums and Cae Te Wheoro Heke’s super-driven bassline. “This was an early track we’d done together, even before we were an official unit, Chev ended up playing some trumpet, and got recruited in, too. It’s all about those disingenuous people that say one thing but really don’t mean it. Yeah, it was based on a few people I’ve known. Ex’s and such. You know. We all know them,” she laughs. Maddy says she was going out with someone who was charming at first, but then later turned out to be a “massive creep” with a real narcissistic personality. She called it ‘Crocodile Tears’ as a comment on people that pretend to be remorseful for their actions but never really take full responsibility. “Yeah. It’d be funny how fake they were – if I wasn’t so heartbroken and cut up at the time, I’d laugh.” The song is also advice about trusting your gut on someone. If they don’t feel right, then trust that. You are likely to be right.
The band are, at this stage “pretty self-sufficient”. Maddy and Cae do most of the illustration/graphic design, posters and stuff, although the album’s art was this time by Gina Kiel, who is known around town for her striking murals and display art. Maddy manages the band. They remain independent, unsigned to date. But that could change any day now… They make, record and produce everything themselves. The epitome of good old Kiwi No.8 ingenuity – with a super funky twist.
Tahini Bikini are playing as part of the upcoming GREAT SOUNDS GREAT one-day multi-venue festival in Pōneke Wellington being held in San Fran, Meow, Valhalla, Rogue & Vagabond and Bedlam & Squalor on the 10th December. Tickets are on sale NOW via UTR, but get in quick as this is sure to be a sell out!
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