Music / Reviews
Review: Katchafire, The Fleece
My little kiwi heart was warmed toasty on Friday night by Aotearoa/New Zealand roots legends, Katchafire, as they swept the crowd off their feet with their stomping, sweaty roots sound and familiar tunes. It was a match made in heaven.
It says on their website they’re an eight-piece collective but a few members of the band seemed to be missing, although I didn’t have my counting hat on. The band is centred around the Bell family – lead guitarist Grenville Bell and his two sons Logan and Jordan – who began jamming together in the late ’90s and never stopped, collecting musicians around them and eventually producing four studio albums alongside steady touring across Australasia and beyond. It was such a treat to hear their heartfelt roots on this side of the world, with its echoes of New Zealand’s wild coastlines, summertime festival scene and surfing all rolled up into a nice big joint, smoked by a friendly local wearing an oversized woolly jumper.
It brought up a few homesick tears for me and, sitting down to dissect the experience I feel aware that it will be impossible to be objective, as someone who grew up listening to their music. Their sound is a mashup of classic roots reggae with modern dancehall and a bit of cheesy pop. The tunes are sweet and soulful and almost every song played at Friday’s gig was a sing-a-long with the crowd. Catchy Getaway and Frisk Me Down were highlights for me – I particularly love the ease at which Katchafire highlights poignant social issues with lyrics such as “don’t frisk me down, because of my brown skin” set against sweetly crafted roots.
The vocals could have been louder, but apart from this the show was powerful, exuberant and impossible not to dance to, enjoyed by a generous and engaged audience. Katchafire genuinely just really love to play music and this came across throughout the show, something I sensed the audience respected and appreciated. Katchafire believe “reggae music keeps the doctor away” and they prescribed a little something for us listeners:
“Reggae music in the morning keeps your head right, reggae music in the evening keeps your soul tight; reggae music, music!”
Thanks for the take-home message, Katchafire, it sounds pretty good to me.