Tahuna Breaks

Tahuna Breaks is a band from New Zealand that was formed in Auckland in January 2005. The band is named after Tahuna Street where they had their first jam. Their musical style incorporates elements of reggae, soul and electro funk music.

About

Tahuna Breaks began as an instrumental band in 2005. The idea originated at Deschlers Bar on Auckland’s High Street when members were watching a funk band perform. The original line-up consisted of Marty Greentree (guitar/bass), Tim Gemmell (drums), James Winkle (bass/guitar) and Kelsey Serjeant (tenor sax). The band began gigging at a local bar playing four or five original songs, and improvised further songs when the bar manager requested they play longer for their fee. Marty Greentree came up with a new song idea with lyrics and, after its first performance, friends in the crowd suggested that the band should involve more of Greentree singing as opposed to instrumentals. The band demoed three songs with the Rock Factory in 2005, one of which 'Crisis Situation' received airplay via Jason Kerrison’s show on Kiwi FM.

The band continued to write songs in a storage shed in Auckland during 2006 and recorded their first album with Andrew Buckton at Studio 203. ‘Reflections’ ^[1] contained a range of styles from funk, rock, soul, dub to drum and bass. In order to play the songs on the album live, the band recruited Tim Baker on keys and Tom Charleson on guitar. The band commenced its first national tour during 2007 and continued experimenting with its live sound. Before the recording of the second album, the band had grown to eight members with the addition of Jonny McClean on alto sax / percussion and Adam Fuhr on keys.

The second album ‘Black, Brown & White’ ^[2] was recorded with Lee Prebble at The Surgery in Wellington in late 2008. It utilised the skills of its new members to create a bigger sound. Greentree drew on a wide range of experiences in writing the lyrics to the songs, including his upbringing in a Mormon family, experiences in the New Zealand Police, his renowned reputation for partying and his family life as the father of three children.

Released in 2009, the band encountered controversy when the second single ‘Giddy Up’ was released. The animated video, directed and illustrated by Leah Morgan and produced by Fish N Clips,^[3] was initially banned from YouTube and, as a publicity stunt, was placed on youporn.

Elsewhere called Black Brown & White "beautifully crafted, well written", "but... too much of something-for-everyone."^[4]

The band changed its approach to song writing for their third album Shadow Light',^[5] released 2013. Chief songwriter, Greentree, captured and refined ideas on a home-recording setup, in contrast to the two previous albums where ideas that were generated in the band’s storage shed were recorded for the first time in a studio environment. Greentree commented that “this has led to a more focused sound that the band has refined from the lessons learnt touring”. UK-based artists, Crazy P, produced the album, assisting the band with its goal of shifting to a more electro funk sound.

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