Glam Adelaide’s Jonathan Matthews caught up with young New Zealand Maori singer-songwriter TEEKS (Te Karehana Gardiner-Toi) who is performing here for one show only at this year’s WOMADelaide festival. He is a true artist and one that absolutely commands attention from the moment you hear him sing, with his super cultured and classic sounding soulful modern electronic soundscapes.
J: You’re coming over here for WOMADelaide all the way over from New Zealand.
T: I am yes, from Auckland – New Zealand. I’m based in Auckland, I live here. I spend the majority of my time here but I have family all over the country so I’m constantly back and forth.
J: Tell us how you feel about the upcoming trip to Australia for WOMADelaide
T: This will be my first time to WOMADelaide. I’ve heard a lot about the festival. They have WOMAD over here in New Zealand which I’m doing as well but it’s a global festival of arts and culture and music and all my muso friends who have played the festival there have said it’s one of their favorite festivals just because of the vibe and how well they are looked after so I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve never been to Adelaide either so it will be cool to see what it’s like!
J: Do you have any plans to do anything else while over here in Adelaide, apart from WOMADelaide
T: Nah not really, it’s gonna be quite a short trip because I need to come back for some other stuff on at the same time but I think I’m there for a couple of days so I guess I’m just gonna do the festival and hopefully get to check it out and spend some time watching other artists. Not too much strange outside of the festival. I’m not too sure.
J: Tell us a little bit about your sound and how it was you discovered it
T: My music is very vocal driven and quite minimal in terms of musicality because I’m a singer and I write songs from my voice. I grew up listening to a lot of my dad’s music; he was a huge Bob Marley fan as well as Elvis Presley and Stevie Wonder. Also because I’m Maori and my culture in music and performance is such a fundamental part of who we are, since I was young I’ve always been surrounded by it in my environments, singing, performing and learning songs / performing on stage has always been kind of normal when all my friends get together to hang, it was just a big part of who we are, I’ve always been musically inclined and I think it’s given me a good ear for formalities. I usually just sit in my bedroom with my guitar and strum some chords, definitely rooted in soul music.
J: Will you be dropping any new tracks at your WOMADelaide performance
T: I’m definitely going to be singing a few new tunes. I have only released an EP which has 4 songs. I’m going to play some new stuff I haven’t actually played live yet before. I’m very excited to play them. It will be me and my band, we’re keen to come!
J: What’s next for you and your music
T: At the moment I am working on my first full length album so that’s kind of been my main focus for the past couple of months and the months coming up as well, all through March and April I’m just going to keep growing ideas and getting my songs down to start piecing this album together when it eventually comes to life. I’m hoping to do definitely release it this year. I don’t have a date planned and I’m just going to let it happen organically, I don’t want to rush anything. I have a rough idea, but I don’t want to take too long.
J: Can we expect a world tour in the next couple of years
T: Yeah for sure, for me anyway at least, what I find the most joy in in terms of having music as a career is when I’m able to take my songs on stage. I definitely want to perform as much as I can in general so when the album is ready to be released I am totally keen to do some touring. I will definitely be coming to Australia and then I will travel all over. I was in London last year and did a couple of shows which were awesome. When the album is ready I will start thinking about what my next moves are. A tour is definitely happening!
J: If you could collaborate with any artist in the world who would it be and why
T: I’m a big fan of so many people and such a wide range of music, but I think Frank Ocean because he is a genius and brilliant at arranging songs.
Don’t miss TEEKS performing on the final night of this years WOMADelaide music festival!
More News
