I like to walk. When I lived in North East Valley I would follow the highway into town, so I made playlists that would complement traffic noise. Now I live up a big hill at the edge of a gully, and make the hikoi through Ōtepoti’s town belt to my studio near the Octagon. It tends to be a pretty meandering walk, so I took this as an opportunity to soundtrack different sections of the commute.

Talk us through the flow of the mix, what is the ideal listening environment?

Pedestrian style, all terrain sneakers or heavy leather shoes. Frost. Maybe it’s still sunny, so you have your darkest sunglasses on. Long strong gait and a wandering attention!

To guide you on your way, a mix in three parts.

TAHI: loaded with pulses for powerwalking through the burbs.
RUA: rarked up guitar noise for all your miscellaneous bush trails and skinny stone steps.
TORU: reka percussion textures and fun production, for when those feet finally touch your favourite semi-constructed half-tiled footpaths in the city centre.

Describe the kind of music you usually gravitate towards, do you listen to the same kind of music that you make or are those things separate for you?

For live gigs I have the best time with anything in the noise, punk, or dance families. Otherwise, I listen to a lot of music that ends up trickling into HŌHĀ eventually. Waiata, mōteatea, ambient, choral arrangements, hyperpop, some metal subgenres, some jazz, some fun indie guitar shit. I do love sad folk music, but that’s yet to be HŌHĀ-relevant.

What are the touchstones that you refer back to that you think that inform your sound? (Could be an artist, an era, a place etc)

The best bands and friends in the country (Ōtepoti bands and friends). Early 1800’s colonial angst. Adris Hoyos. Valentina Magaletti. 500 year old rimu and tokoeka screeches around 9pm! None Gallery. Bell bronze, cracked up snare.

What are the touchstones that you refer back to that you think inform your aesthetic?

Kārara. My mum’s all black wardrobe when she still lived in Ōtepoti. Uniforms. Scrappy grumpy boys. Jurassic Park. Poems by Cody Rose-Clevidence. Slouchy soft masc, dark fem!

Are there broader ideas of design that are influencing you at the moment? (i.e. books you've read, architecture, a perfect mug, iconic period, fashion hero)

-All the hot and clever fibre and carving tech of our tipuna. All the ways it’s continuing today with our contemporary toi māori makers.

-There’s these records of the clothing found on bog bodies. People who were preserved in the peat bogs and swamps centuries ago, still wearing intact hand woven garments. I have a lot of screenshots of those in my phone at the moment. Probably because I have been thinking about our Irish ancestors, and Irish bog systems.

I love everything made by Being. clothes and the care in their garments.

Who would you invite to Friday beers... (living or passed, famous or non-famous)?

I Would love to chat with our tipuna Tūrākautahi rāua ko Hinekakai. My reo’s not that strong so maybe we could have a language champion like Hana O’Regan around to co-chair. I know they would bring all the Kaiapoi and story telling goodies, and Hinekakai was an amazing weaver- I’d kill to see her at work.

What's your go to performance look or formula for a look?

Sweat mitigation and keeping the limbs free. I have some basic Nike work pants that have become a hardcore gig staple. Cheeky cropped band tees never let you down either!

For our final set at Camp A Low Hum this year I spent a few hours harvesting different leaves for our mic stands, and rubbing kānuka oil and tarata gum everywhere including my hands. My palms were so resinous that I didn’t lose a single stick the whole set. That was a mean formula (gig rongoa?!).

What is your favourite item of clothing you've ever owned, or an item that you have a strong memory of?

My parents gifted me a super fine knit black woollen Nom*D kilt for my 21st. I’ve probably worn her every second or third day of my life since then. A few people have actually made patterns from it because it’s a perfect all-gender kilt form and surprisingly hard to acquire these days.

Have you got anything coming up that we can help boost/ anything else we should know?

HŌHĀ’s been an exclusively live band for 1.5 years. We’re recording at the moment, but who knows when anything will come out.

We’re playing a bunch of gigs in May and June though, including:
-Radio One Live to Air, May 24th
-Ōtepoti, June 7
-Kirikiriroa, June 13th
-Tāmaki Makaurau, June 14th!

I’m also working towards a fun install for Te Ara Ātea in Selwyn, which will be completed in June. It’s about the Canterbury grass skink, their native waterways, and their tipuna Tu-Te-Wanawana. The install mucks around with the format of riveted sizzle cymbals to produce all kinds of shivers and hisses and warnings. If you’re in Selwyn please go have a play!

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