Bio

Fat Freddy’s Drop is internationally regarded as one of the world’s finest live draws. The band has navigated its way from the incubator of sunshine reggae through a colour-saturated field of soul psychedelia before swerving onto a desolate Detroit superhighway at night. This euphoric vibe demands to be heard live, a potent mixture of jazz virtuosity and diaphragm-wrecking digital sonics.

These influences have not only been formed by the band’s individual predilections, but also experiences on the road. Fat Freddy’s appearance at Detroit’s Movement festival in 2006 was a watershed moment for the band. The hi-tek soul movement stoked producer DJ Mu’s love of analog techno, balancing and fusing vocalist Dallas Tamaira’s adoration of soul and reggae with the band’s collective passion for Jazz, Rhythm & Blues, Rock, Disco, House, Post Punk and Balearic oddities.

 
NEW ALBUM DROP

Fat Freddy’s Drop hit the ground running in 2024 with new studio album ‘SLO MO’, a bass-heavy blast of nine new songs. Recorded from sunup to sundown at BAYS Studio, this is the band's sixth studio album. Freddy’s beatmaker, Fitchie describes the heady mix as “Afro rhythmic soul music, an exploration of Black music from Polynesia”.

The full length album dropped first on double vinyl on 25 October, opening the door for ‘SLO MO’ to be experienced as a body of work curated as Freddys intended, on a format the band has always championed. CD & digital release out now.

THE BAND

Fat Freddy’s Drop : DJ Fitchie aka Chris Faiumu – MPC, Live Mix, Producer, Joe Dukie aka Dallas Tamaira - Vocals & Guitar, Chopper Reeds aka Scott Towers - Saxophone, Tony Chang aka Toby Laing – Trumpet, Kuki Blaze aka Iain Gordon – Keyboard & Synths, Hopepa aka Joe Lindsay - Trombone, Tuba  MC Slave aka Mark Williams – MC and Conway Jeune - Guitar.

HOW WE GOT HERE

Since forming in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand in 1999, Freddys potent live energy and soul fire has built a loyal audience of Fred Heads. The band regularly tour Europe and UK, making the trip twice in 2024 with both summer and winter drops.

The band marked the tenth anniversary of their seminal 'Blackbird' album in 2023 with the release of ‘Blackbird Returns’ featuring re-rubs and re-dubs from producer friends around the world. These included Jazzanova, Marcus Worgull, Kid Fonque, Nightmares on Wax and locals Kings and Christoph El Truento & Lucky Lance.

Highlights on the UK/EU 2023 tour included Apollo, London, L’Olympia in Paris, Waldbuhne Berlin and Galway International Arts Festival.

The 2022 tour across Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, The Netherlands, Ireland, Germany and UK as well as acclaimed summer festivals in Barcelona, Madrid and Aix-les-Bains were poignant re-connections, wowing audiences who held their tickets tight for over two years after the impact of Covid-19 and local border closures forced Freddys to step out of the rush in March 2020. The 2022 tour year ended with two big shows in Australia, sold out headliners at Sydney Opera House Forecourt and Melbourne International Jazz Festival.

During 2020 - 2022, with heaps of time on home soil on Aotearoa, Freddys crafted ‘WAIRUNGA’ and ‘LOCK-IN’ live concert albums both recorded and filmed sans audiences.

On ‘WAIRUNGA’ Freddys juggernaut dug deep, debuting five songs and revisiting two classics. The cosmic boil up of Afro-acid beats, hot buttered soul, righteous reggae, subterranean bass and twisted up melodies was captured in an outdoor performance with wild weather elements playing an important creative role.

The ‘LOCK-IN’ jam session, singing eight songs of hope, was recorded at the iconic Michael Fowlers Centre in 2020. Both ‘LOCK-IN’ and ‘WAIRUNGA’ recordings got a monster mix by DJ MU at BAYS studio, and final mastering by Bo Kondren at Calyx Mastering in Berlin. The album releases were accompanied by concert films that revelled in the music in the making process, and these were released free to fans worldwide on Freddys YouTube.

Freddy's classic studio album releases span from 'Special Edition Part 1', 'BAYS', ‘Blackbird’, ‘Dr Boondigga’ and the Big BW’ to the iconic ‘Based On A True Story’ that remains a favourite with fans to this day. Most of the album tracks were shaped on tour with live audiences. Songs such as Blackbird and Shiverman evolved live at headlines shows and at festivals such as WOMAD UK, SONAR, Bestival, Lowlands, DEMF, Pukkelpop, Glastonbury, The Big Chill and Roskilde. If a song made it on a record it was because it had been road-tested beyond all endurance. More recent releases 'Special Edition Part 1', 'BAYS', and 'SLO MO' are studio based production, with Freddys relishing having their own space to work.

At last count Fat Freddy’s Drop have delivered over 1000 shows in their career. Stand alone concerts from the early tours are Zitadelle and Columbiahalle in Berlin, Alexandra Palace and Brixton Academy in London, Vega, Copenhagen, The Coliseum, Lisbon, Sydney Opera House,  Le Zenith, Paris and Henry Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles on a rare tour to America.

Fat Freddy’s Drop may have been around since the early Noughties, but they are truly the most modern of institutions. Independently controlled underground music that has sold in excess of three quarters of a million albums. Yet they are that rare thing: artists that don’t live or die on their last record’s sales. They are a clarion call of hope for the talented few looking for another way. Fat Freddy’s Drop show that it can indeed, be done.

Fat Freddy’s Drop Album Releases
‘Live at the Matterhorn’ E.P. (2001) – x1 Platinum
‘Based on a True Story’ (2005) – x11 Platinum
‘Dr. Boondigga & The Big BW’ (2009) - x2 Platinum
‘Live at Roundhouse’ (2010)
‘Blackbird’ (2013) - x2 Platinum
‘BAYS’ (2015) - x2 Platinum
Special Edition Part 1’ (2019)
‘LOCK-IN’ (2020)
‘WAIRUNGA’ (2021)
‘Blackbird Returns’ remix album (2023)
'SLO MO' (2024)

And a stash of limited edition vinyl singles and remixes including ‘Midnight Marauders’ 12” 2002, ‘HOPE’ 10” 2003 ‘Wandering Eye’ single 2005 - x6 Platinum and The Raft’ 7” single - 2010 x1 Gold, ‘HOPE’ remaster 12” 2017.

Fat Freddy’s Drop Milestones

Sold in excess of 500,000 albums

‘Based On A True Story’ spent 108 weeks consecutively in the Top 40, the most weeks in the NZ Album.

RIANZ New Zealand Music Awards
Best Group, People’s Choice Award, Based on a True Story’ Album of the Year, Best Aotearoa Roots Album (2005)

People’s Choice Award (2006)

‘Based on a True Story’ Highest Selling NZ Album Award (2006)

Nominated Best Group, People’s Choice Award (2009)

‘Dr Boondigga & The Big BW’ Best Aotearoa Roots Album Award. Nominated Album of the Year, Best Cover (2009)

Nominated Design, Best Engineer, Best Producer (2009)

Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards

‘Blackbird’ Best Aotearoa Roots Album Award, Best Cover Award. Nominated Album of the Year, Best Producer, Best Group (2013)

‘Blackbird’ - Deluxe Edition Nominated Highest-selling NZ Album (Top 5) (2014)

Nominated Best Group (2016)

‘BAYS’ (2016) Nominated Album of the Year, Highest-selling NZ Album (Top 5), Best Aotearoa Roots Album

International Achievement Award (2016)

Plus

Based On A True Story, voted Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Album of the Year (2005)