Udro
About Udro from Auckland
What began as Christmas present became a band. The story of Udro is more a tale of unexpected evolution than a focused beginning. Gene Bennett and Heath Watson having just become mates in 2000 began playing together on their own original songs just for fun. They got on like a house on fire, Their sarcastic, anachistic sense of humour ensured never a dull moment and the writting and vocal styles of each complemented the other. Both being songwriters and needing a vehicle for their unused stuff. (Bennett with sucessful band Rubicon, Watson with Random.) This was a match made in creative heavan. After a year of getting together when schedules allowed the lads had enough songs for a 9 track e.p.of original material. It was decided that these should be recorded with the upshot of being a perfect Christmas present for family and friends ’Gene and heaths’ "batter up" was the result. Both agree this was the most efficient, fun and speedy project they have been involved in to date. All instrument and vocal tracks were recorded in 24hrs. (Watson still finishing ’Xmas burns’ at 2am on Christmas day!) Because of this’ 1 take wonder’ approach both Bennett and Watson songs had a really honest and rather quaintly unpollished feel to them.(their lastest effort the full album ’inperfectionisim’ has taken 2 years, more about that later) But both agreed they had somthing pretty good going on together. Reactions to the e.p and a couple of live duo shows were possitive. Now it was time to start writing and recording with a more methodical duo focussed approach. Spittoon This time the boys decided to take a more track based aproach. These songs never had more that 7-8 tracks but this time included bass lines and a snare. Being the first project to feture songs specifically written for the duo as a whole. Stand out tracks included ’Fail safe’ and ’Whoa be tide’. The finished results were exciting and a few more acoustic gigs followed. They needed to do an album. Imperfectionisim began in December 2005. A box full of percussion equipment was borrowed from Belmont Intermediate and tracks were layed over pre recoreded acoustic guitar guide tracks. Gene had just finished a isolation booth and the super quiet results allowed as many as 120 tracks per song. This approach along with a new Mac and up to 5 takes per song ensured mixing was a trial to say the least. Drums appeared courtesy of Jonny Corker which were recorded over 2 days at his beach house. Towards the end of the basic mixing process it was obvious the duo was no longer and a band would be needed to compliment the new sound. Jonny Corker put his hand up for bass as he was already playing drums for Dutchess. Drummers were casually auditioned until Shannon Slade showed up at the practice room. After half an hour they new she was the girl. A hard hitter and a natural beat machine Elliot added some much needed nuts. A basic set was fomulated from the new album and rehersals began. Due to sickness, 2 weddings and a solo album for Jonnny progress was slow. Once the band was ready to gig Jonny was finding it harder to be available full time as he was putting together a band to tour his own album and going overseas in early 2008. It was decided that they would need somone more full time. An old mate from mainly guitars Matt Short was gived a demo and showed up for a jam . He had played with Bolbox Rex and is presently in Vietnam War and Sola Rosa. Matt added a more fun and aggressive bottom end to the band and Udro was sounding as good as ever. Kiwi FM put complain on the playlist over dec, jan, feb and march 2008 and the band recieved good feedback from program director Andrew Fagan. Keep a look out for Udro playing near you soon in 2009.
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