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(VAGUE RECOLLECTIONS FROM DEREK... or lower down the page you can find out about The Self-Righteous Brothers) Where do you start with history? The official story has the band springing from a performance at the New Zealand National Jazz Festival in 1991, when I was invited to play a solo set of blues and dragged Grant Bullot along to join me on the harp. And maybe it's true. I know that we played Dust My Broom and No Way To Get Along together, with me on my old 1930's National guitar, and were received enthusiastically.
The band name? So we toured relentlessly, playing everywhere from the Kaponga Backgammon Club and Great Barrier Island to Auckland's Aotea Centre and a pile of festivals. That's pretty much how it continues to this day, though we do spend a little less time on the road now. In 1992 we made our first album, The Old Original Kokomo Blues, very quickly and with no budget. Not ideal circumstances, but I've seen so many bands wait around endlessly to get everything exactly right, only to split up or just end up making endless demos because they're never satisfied with what they've got. Screw that I thought. Record it, release it, and if it's not perfect do another. All the songs were trad blues. We took the same approach in 1994 with the second album, When In Rome Do Rome, recording it at a fairly new little studio in Tauranga called The Boatshed Studio, with owner/operator Nigel Masters. We didn't know then quite how much time we were destined to spend there over the next decade or so! This album resulted in the band being signed to Jayrem Records. It's all traditional blues, with a couple of the band's tunes featuring as bonus tracks. Later that year Tracie De Jong approached us about a writing/recording collaboration and we got to make our "pop" album, Stromboling, with her. Still my favourite because I love her singing. Back on our own, To Be Or What (1996) was a return to blues, but mainly our own songs, including a couple of instrumentals, which gave us the chance to stretch out a bit musically. Along the way we made a couple of videos, and won the occasional award. We have toured constantly and there have been several radio programs made about us and the odd TV appearance. Our music has also been used on various soundtracks, from soap operas to gardening shows and surfing videos. Roger retired from the band at the end of 1998, so he could spend more time with his growing family, (he is now "carving out" a name for himself as one of New Zealand's finest sculptors) and as a mark of respect for seven years together we changed the band name to just Kokomo. Also the material had for a while been veering away from straight blues towards our own songs (which I'd officially define as "blues-influenced") and having the "Blues" at the end of the name seemed to constrict people's thinking. Luckily, Nigel (from the Boatshed Studio, where we recorded When In Rome Do Rome and who had toured with us - as a keyboard player!) was between bands and came on board to play bass. We went back to his studio to record Little Heroes, which was released in July 1999.
2001 was our 10th anniversary, which we marked by releasing a limited edition CD (individually signed and numbered, 500 copies only), Blues And Beyond, featuring a few new recordings and a selection of unreleased stuff and remixes from the vaults. It's probably the best overview of the various musical strands we've followed so far. So that leaves another 5 years and one more album to cover... this page will be updated very soon to bring it up to 2006. ****************************************************************
They call it "comfort food for the ears". Though the boys rarely venture beyond the beautiful setting of Mills Reef Winery in Tauranga - where they play fairly regularly on Sunday afternoons - they are occasionally tempted further afield and have also featured at such prestigious events as the 2005 Tauranga Arts Festival. At the close of 2004 The Self-Righteous Brothers recorded their debut album at the Boatshed Studio. RustySwingFeel is an exact reflection of what they do live (having been recorded absolutely live in the studio). It contains four Bob Dylan songs, two of Nigel's, some old blues, and the usual smattering of country and other roots music. It was released on Jayrem Music in early 2005. We also list Self-Righteous Brothers gigs on the Gig Guide page. |
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I certainly remember us busking shortly afterwards in a shopping courtyard and Grant's brother Roger dropping by to jam on the bass. It felt good. An acoustic blues trio seemed like a good idea at the time so we put it all together formally as a band and, armed with 50 or so blues songs - mostly pre-war stuff, a mixture of Delta and ragtime - we set on the neverending tour that continues today. (1).jpg)
Around this time Wellington trumpeter, Sonia Trappitt, who had been playing with us live on and off for a number of years, moved to Tauranga to live with Grant (those sexy harmonica-playing lips we figure!). She recorded her first songs with us on Little Heroes and officially joined the band in 2000. She also married Grant and became .jpg)
Since some time in 2003, Derek and Nigel have been moonlighting as The Self-Righteous Brothers, playing an eclectic mixture of old blues, folk, jazz and country tunes - everything from Bessie Smith to Brian Eno, plus their own songs, either stuff that doesn't fit with Kokomo, or revisions of Kokomo tunes.
