Music makers: Kolab (from left) are Shaun O’Kane on saxophone, vocalist Tom ‘MC SpeakEasy’ Everett, trumpet player Olly Harris, vocalist Scott Bibby and DJ/producer James Brown
Hot Kiwi hip-hop outfit Kolab are aiming to bring a slice of summer to wintry Queenstown.
The Auckland trio is on the road to fine-tune tracks from upcoming EP Standards, slotted for release in late October.
“We’ve pretty much finished all the songs but we decided to wait until the weather improves before putting anything out because our music is definitely more suited to summer,” vocalist/producer Scottie B says.
“We sound best when we are playing on a sunny deck or at a summer festival.”
Fans of Kolab will get a sneak preview of the new jazz, funk and soul-inspired material – including latest single Killin’ Time – at a one-off show at Revolver on Saturday.
Kolab’s 2008 debut album What Comes Next took just three weeks to record and they wanted a more polished effort this time, Scottie explains.
“We’ve been working on studio stuff for the past eight months and we pretty much put our live gigs on the back burner until it was finished,” he says.
“Because we all have jobs outside of Kolab we decided to use time at the weekends to get the music together and that’s why it’s taken so long.
“But although it has been a bit time consuming, it means we’ll have six tracks completed for the EP that we are really happy with.”
At Revolver, Kolab will mix original songs with some of their favourite dance music tracks.
“Unfortunately our horn section can’t make it, so three of us will basically be doing a sound system gig,” Scottie says. “We’ll DJ and MC over the top of other people’s stuff as well as our own.
“Musically, we go all over the place and we’ll be playing everything from hip-hop to drum and bass and dubstep.
“We’ll just read the crowd, see what they’re feeling and go from there.”
Now the EP is finished, fans will be seeing more Kolab gigs, Scottie insists.
“It’s been great fun in the studio but from now on it’s time to crank things back up on the live front,” he says.
Catch Kolab at Revolver on Saturday from 9pm
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