Interview: Tahini Bikini - Life’s a Beach
Newzician Mag sat down with Mads from Te Whanganui-a-Tara’s Tahini Bikini in the wake of their latest single release, ‘Life’s a Beach’.
Photograph by Sam Snell
How did it all start?
I’d been writing music for years but been really shy about it. I’d always wanted to be in a band. When I came back to New Zealand after a few years I met a guy called Lucas outside a bar in Courtney Place waiting for the bathroom. We discovered we were both musicians, had a jam, and then gradually added members. My friend Alex, who I met in Melbourne, had just come back to the country and he came and had a jam. It’s real cute, Lukas actually recorded every jam session we’ve had since we started. The first time we played together we wrote “Flakey” (their first release). I worked with Cae and knew Barney from high school. Chev, the trumpet player, would have been the last to join. We’re kind of a bunch of mates who love hanging out together and also jamming.
How does the writing happen?
We’ve never really set out to write a song, we’ll be practising our other music and someone will start jamming something and I go “Oh, I’ve got lyrics we can use for this” and that’s how it happens. For the first few songs I’d written heaps of the lyrics to other people’s instrumentals. Things usually just come together organically.
Where did you record ‘Life’s a Beach’?
Originally we were recording in Alex’s bedroom. Eventually we were like “Oh, this kinda sucks.” It was hard finding a practice space, at one point we would practise in a GPs office after hours in the middle of town. We’ve got a mate who is a GP and he was like “I have mates who are in a band, can they practice here?” and they said yes, which is bizarre! It was on the 8th floor of a building in town. Then we practised in a hall and after that we found these two little rooms above a real estate agents’ office in Haitaitai and we were like “This is perfect!”
‘Life’s a Beach’ has some darker themes going on - what’s the song about?
We thought it would be a good time to release this one. It’s about anxiety and all that, which pretty much everyone is feeling at the moment. It’s relatable for a lot of people. It deals with trying to get somewhere and getting set back. That’s kind of how it is at the moment.
What’s coming up in the world of Tahini Bikini?
We’re working on an album, at least 7 songs, maybe more. Hoping to get that out before summer. We might release another single, maybe. Ideally, we would love to play and be on festival lineups. Our Hastings/Gisbourne tour was cancelled, but we started the band in the middle of a pandemic, so what we have been able to achieve considering that is pretty cool.
Listen to the song on streaming platforms, or watch the video below!
