Shocking and Stunning are a two-piece band from Wellington. They are playing this Wednesday at SFBH as part of their weekly Wednesday showcase of new bands with cheap drink specials, too. UTR caught up with Shocking and Stunning to find out what they're all about and what to expect from their live show come Wednesday.
How did the band start?
A few years ago I bought a synth. Sam plays drums. We had a few jams, played a couple of shows. A little later both moved up to Wellington, bought more gear, kept jamming, played a few more shows.
How long have you been together?
Making music since 2008 I guess. Did an online EP last year, but only started playing live regularly this year.
Describe your sound?
Synths/Sampler/Drums + distortion, much delay/reverb, lots of feedback. Our formula is repeat and build, repeat and build, repeat and build (then start over again). Big droning bass lines, ambient textures underneath, Sam's frantic drumming over the top.
Describe your influences and / or inspiration:
We're both into genres like Drone, Noise, Post-Rock, (Boris, Godspeed you! Black Emperor, Sunn O))), Fuck Buttons etc), music which is loud, raw and can pull the listener into a bit of an intense, trance-like state. We're into music which pushes the barrier with repetition and length, and constantly builds in intensity. We also love groups with phenomenal textures, like Boards of Canada.
We have these influences in our head when we play, but seeing we make sound with synths/samplers/drums and write all of our pieces by jamming without a great deal of intent we end up not really sounding too much like the above.
What are you working on at the moment?
A little two track EP we're gonna put online sometime soon. Working on some new pieces, and generally trying to make our band sound cooler.
What are the future plans for you guys?
Release more EP's, play more shows and collaborate with a bunch of different musicians. We wanna get a mean live set down, and try and develop our own sound a little more.
A little down the line do some touring and release something a little more substantial.
What can we expect from the live show, and why should we come see you on Wednesday?
If all goes well we'll be playing pretty fucking loud. Big droning bass, repetitious synth lines, Sam's beats are gonna build and build and build. Hopefully you'll get a little lost in the sound.
We're gonna have some new material and maybe even a shuffle-up with the live musicians, so it's gonna be a little different than our usual set.
Why are you excited about playing with the other bands?
It's great putting on shows with acts who contrast musically, yet still form decent, rounded gigs. We often play with guitar-driven rock acts, which works surprisingly well. We're excited this time to do a show with acts who are a little more electronic and atmospheric.
The state of the Wellington music scene is:
Shit's pretty good. Good venues/good organizers/good bands. Generally just a bunch of decent people who are enthusiastic about putting on shows and making awesome stuff happen in the scene. Every other week I'm discovering some amazing new local band.
Favourite Wellington bands?
Uhhmm… There are a bunch of amazing acts in Wellington who are all doing their own thing really fucking well. We've been lucky enough to play with a few of them over the last few months (The Lost Boys, Brockaflowersaurus-Rex, Polter, The Boxcar Rattle, High Class Hobo Society).
