Supergroove

Supergroove is a New Zealand funk rock music group. Their debut album Traction was released in 1994. The group disbanded in 1997 but reformed in 2007.

History

The band was founded on New Year's Eve 1989/1990, having previously been named the Low-Down Dirty Blues Band.^[1]

Supergroove's first release was the single Here Comes the Supergroove, which wasn't added to either of their original albums. Supergroove released two albums of original content - Traction, from which four singles were taken, and Backspacer, which yielded two singles. Between the two they recorded the EP Tractor, and put out an EP of remixes, GreatMixes.

They split up in 1997 over creative differences. Seven years after the group split a 'Best Of' compilation, Postage, was released.

Performance

• Saturday, 15 January 1994, Supergroove played at Mountain Rock III, Mountain Rock Music Festival.

Solo careers

Notable former members include Che Ness, aka Che Fu, now with a successful solo career, Joe Lonie, a music video producer, and Paul Russell, who moved on to start the New Zealand band Eight (who recently split), and who still studio drums with Che Fu and Brooke Fraser. Two other ex-members, Tim Stewart (trumpet) and Ben Sciascia (guitar) formed a new band in late 2005 called Svelte.^[2] Ian Jones recently joined upcoming Sydney band, Lost Valentinos on drums. Karl Steven has completed a PhD in Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy at Cambridge University and is now a member of Auckland surf-punk band The Drab Doo-Riffs.

Reunion

Despite what was widely considered to be a less than amicable break up, Supergroove supported Crowded House for the three shows of their October 2007 New Zealand tour. This reunion included Che Fu, Jo Lonie, Tim Stewart, Ben Sciascia, Ian Jones, Nick Atkinson and Karl Steven.

Supergroove continued in 2007 on a summer tour, playing alongside popular New Zealand bands such as Atlas, Elemeno P, The Feelers^[3] and were one of the headline Kiwi acts of the Big Day Out 2008 in Auckland.^[4] The band featured in the University of Otago's, the University of Canterbury's and the University of Waikato's 2008 orientation weeks.^[5][6]

Supergroove played at the Groove in the Park 2008 festival held on New Zealand's Waitangi Day (6 February), at the Western Springs in Auckland. Supergroove also played at the Homegrown ^[7] Festival in Wellington on 14 March 2009

Awards

1995 New Zealand Music Awards^[8]

• Best Group
• Album of the Year (Traction)
• Best Video (Jo Fischer & Matt Noonan – Can't Get Enough)
• Best Producer (Karl Steven & Malcolm Welsford – Traction)

1997 New Zealand Music Awards^[9]

• Best Video (Sigi Spath & Joe Lonie – If I Had My Way)
• Best Producer (Malcolm Welsford & Karl Steven - Backspacer)

Former member Che Ness, now performing as Che Fu, was named Best Male Vocalist. "Chains", which he recorded with DLT, was Single of the Year and its performers shared the Best Songwriter award.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

References

1. ↑ Chunn, Mike and Jeremy, The Mechanics of Popular Music, GP Publications, 1995.
2. ↑ Svelte website
3. ↑ The Feelers, Elemeno P, Atlas Summer Tour
4. ↑ Big Day Out Press Releases
5. ↑ "Orientation 2008". Orientation 2008 official programme. Retrieved 17 June 2013. 
6. ↑ "Supergroove events from 2008". Last.FM. Retrieved 17 June 2013. 
7. ↑ http://www.homegrown.net.nz/page/37-Line-Up+Jim-Beam-Rock-Stage
8. ↑ http://www.rianz.org.nz/awards2008/history1995.asp
9. ↑ http://www.rianz.org.nz/awards2008/history1997.asp

External links

• Supergroove Myspace Page
• Supergroove profile at Muzic.net.nz
• Svelte website