The Eighth Note is 8 quick Questions with Wellington Musicians. A chance for us to catch up with people & see what they’re up to, or introduce you to a new musician/band and their music. Up next is are Search For Yeti.
Who are you? Tell us a bit about your music:
Kia Ora! We’re Search For Yeti, a Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington trio. More specifically we are:
– Sean Barker (drums/ samples/vocals)
– Luke Marlow (vocals/guitars), and
– Vince Waide (bass/Moog bass pedals/guitar/ vocals).
We draw from probably way too many disparate influences, such as indie-folk, new wave, alt-country, electronica, post-rock, brit-pop, and shoegaze, to try and create a sound that achieves the difficult feat of being hugely atmospheric and diverse while also being hook laden and sounding like a band.
What have you been working on lately? Any new tracks or albums on the way?
Funny you should ask… We’ve just released the second single from upcoming debut album! Whereas our first single Red was atmospheric and moody, the new single What You Mean To Me is us having fun, bringing a smile to the face with a short sharp shot of power pop. With the release of the single we’ve also just started up a Pledge Me campaign to help fund the recording of the rest of the album. We’re about halfway through the recording but it’s a pretty expensive process making and pressing an album to an international standard! We reckon there’s some great rewards and even better music so if anyone would like to extend some koha our way we will love you forever.
Where is the best place people can follow you & find your music?
We’re on Spotify and Apple Music, but if you sneak over to Bandcamp that’s probably the best spot as you’ll find some really good early recordings there too.
What were the 3 most influential albums to you growing up?
Sean: Definitely Maybe – Oasis.
Luke: Siamese Dream – Smashing Pumpkins.
Vince: Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd.
Which other Wellington musician (s) would you most like to work with?
There’s so much incredible talent out there! We had Charley Davenport who’s an incredible cello player on our first single, and we’re so looking forward to getting him on a few more tracks. And we’re blessed to have the incredible Toby Lloyd from Tiny Triumph Recordings studio producing our album, who’s not only an incredible producer but also an insanely good multi-instrumentalist. Also, we’d love to play with the saxophone playing tree!
What is your favourite Wellington venue to play in?
That’s impossible to answer! They all have their unique characteristics. Valhalla always has a fantastic stage and sound, Moon has a great atmosphere, San Fran is utterly iconic, Vogelmorn has a beautiful intimate vibe, and Meow is a collective band favourite.
In your song-writing or composing (or the band’s song-writing) how do the compositions and songs take shape?
We all write and, within that, we all write in different ways and even sometimes co-write, so there’s so many different possibilities. But the cool thing is no matter the song, once we work it up as a band it just becomes a Search For Yeti song.
Where/when is your next gig?
We’re celebrating the single’s release with a mini-tour of the bottom of the North Island alongside Auckland jangle-pop masters ‘Cowboy Dan’. We can’t wait to see you there:
– Thursday 18th April: Moon, Wellington
– Friday 19th April: The Stomach, Palmerston North
– Saturday 20th April: Porridge Watson, Whanganui
