Sora Shima, while not officially releasing an album have released a stunning set of songs, available as an EP. Find out all about this up and coming Hamilton band.
Check them out here
Been around since?
Gavin: 2006.
Rob: April 06.
Jason: Gavin and I met at a Christmas party late 2005 and started jamming early 2006, but we didn't really function as a proper band until Rob and Adam were onboard - which was about this time last year.
Current line up?
Gavin: J-Lo, Roberdale, Analogue, Vaginator.
Rob: GJAR.
Jason: Rob plays bass and is CEO. Gavin plays drums and sometimes likes to blow a nice big... clarinet. Adam and I play guitar among other stuff.
Where are you based?
Gavin: Hamilslum.
Rob: Tronville.
Jason: Hamilhole.
Musical history? What were you listening to back in high school?
Gavin: Acker Bilk. In third form I played clarinet for the Burnside High School Orchestra for two weeks - until they realised I was lip/finger syncing.
Rob: Pavement, Happy Mondays, Spacemen3, Charlatans, Spiritualized, Jesus and Mary Chain, Dino Jr etc...
Jason: Oh, gone are the days long before the internet/MP3s when you had to hire out CDs from the public library to discover new music! I was into everything back then but hardcore punk, metal/noisecore and early drum 'n bass were my biggies.
What are you currently listening to?
Gavin: Aphex Twin, Royksopp, Proper Dos, Mayhem, Augustus Pablo, John Schofield, Parliament, Pixies, Bad Brains, Chemical Brothers, The Cure, Dry & Heavy, Jurassic 5, Nina Simone, Brian Eno, KMFDM, Joy Division, Dub Syndicate, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Disateradio, Sigur Ros, Leftfield, Massive Attack, H.D.U. Team Sleep, Sonic Youth, Chick Corea, Bill Bruford, Mars Volta, Deftones, Mogwai, Mr.Scruff, Cat Power, Tim Dog, Lemon Jelly, NIN, Photek, Prefuse 73, Ice Cube, Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age, Bomb the Bass, Slipknot, Herbie Hancock, Shapeshifter, Tack Head, Tool, Public Enemy, Tosca, Sly & Robbie, U.N.K.L.E., Skeptics, M.S.U., Ween, Underworld, Richard Devine, Ulrich Schnauss, Tricky, Thievery Corporation, Stereolab, Squarepusher, Regurgitator, Spiderbait, Jakob etc…
Rob: Do Make Say Think / Explosions in the Sky.
Jason: Mogwai. Always Mogwai. And the Glitterhouse Records anniversary compilation and some other stuff. I miss my record player...
Adam: Liam Finn - Second Chance.
The state of music in NZ is..?
Gavin: Prolific – too many christians though.
Rob: On top pretty grim, underneath alive and kicking.
Jason: Ooh a serious question deserves serious answer... Boring, unchallenging, watered down wallpaper music still lines the pockets of selfish corporates who see music purely as a business rather than an art form - while the underground scene keeps churning exciting new bands over to little or no wider recognition. Same as always, then?
Adam: Yaddah yaddah it's actually fine.
What’s your favorite place to play?
Gavin: Anywhere that has a rully good sound engineer, P.A, loads o’ lovely people, and lashings of Tequila & Mexican tripping weed – ole – just like church really.
Rob: Kings Arms was cool, and is legendary.
Jason: Haha we haven't played enough places to really form an opinion yet. We all enjoy the Yellow Submarine in Hamilton though. We always feel welcomed there.
Adam: I liked Platform01 the best.
What was your favorite show?
Gavin: Supporting The Mint Chicks @ the Yellow Sub.
Rob: The Mint Chicks support at Yellow Sub, Hamilton.
Jason: Supporting the Mint Chicks at the Yellow Submarine recently. The sound was ace as.
Adam: Sex Inspectors.
What is your recording process?
Gavin: Load up on peanut butter n’ jam sammages – let the juju flow.
Rob: Pretty std thus far.
Jason: We originally tried going the "proper" route via recording the drums first to an electronic clicktrack, then layering everything from there. But it just doesn't work for us because we need to be face-to-face to feed off each other. So now we just record as much as we can live in the studio before adding stuff in. Personally I think sitting alone in another room with your guitar and a pair of headphones just feels too disconnected. Recording live captures the moment better.
Adam: Live.
What's been your best recording experience?
Gavin: Recording Here Be Dragons @ Wintec with the Brad – He’s an awesome bloke I’ll tell you.
Rob: Wintec w/ Brad.
Adam: Our last one, where everything worked all nice like.
What’s been your worst recording experience?
Gavin: Having spent the better part of two days in the Studio with a music student – who then accidentally deletes the session before making any backups.
Rob: Fucking around on an Mbox getting nowhere.
Jason: We spent more than a day recording at Wintec in Hamilton, only to find out the systems were to be purged! All of our files were deleted following a failed attempt to enter the building via a dodgy keycard. Waste of time. Bloody keycards.
Adam: Our first one where nothing work all nice like.
Favorite radio show/station?
Gavin: Contact FM – The Acid Flashback Show with Jayden & the Pete Dawson Eperience.
Rob: Contact FM, Hamilton.
Jason: Contact FM, and (PLUG) we love Benjii Jackson's Bored Housewife Show on Fleet FM. Check it!
The Future holds…?
Gavin: Loads more syncopatedelectronictechtonic masonicmantronic batter.
Rob: Finish album #1, lots of gigs.
Jason: More tunes, releases and more out-of-town shows - stay grounded and keep honing our craft. Or we could get tatts, wear eyeliner, do adverts for the Warehouse and get people to vote for us on MySpace to support the Veronicas on tour. Nah, that would be way too "False". AHEM.
This is album no.?
Rob: Demo #1.
Jason: 0.5 cuz it's barely even an EP let alone an LP!
Adam: 1.
Where did you record it and who with?
Rob: With Hook @ Dudley Studios, Hamilton.
Jason: Recorded at Dudley Studios in Hamilton with Hook "of 48May fame". Hah! We could only afford one day in the studio so we tried to squeeze out live takes of all of the songs we had. The 3 that made it onto the EP are probably the most successful takes. We didn't have the finances or time to mix/master properly so we "attempted" the task ourselves - and it sounds bloody rough. But if anything that adds rather than detracts from the result.
Adam: At Dudley with Hook from 38may.
What’s the (for lack of a better word) theme behind this album i.e. what space where you in when you developed the songs: what were you influenced by: what were you wanting to portray (if anything): etc?
Gavin: Homoeroticism – "Spinetingler" - nuf said.
Rob: Hope + joy + despair + getting on it = the spirit of Sora Shima.
Jason: We're really into the quiet lulls VS wall of sound thing. But still, there's no conscious concept or overall message we're trying to portray. Hopefully people can take what they want away from the songs and build their own meanings - not having vocals means that the songs are pretty open-ended. Who the hell are we kidding though? We just selfishly make and play the kind of music we like to - without a real audience in mind.
Adam: Trying to portray teenage angst, innit.
Are you happy with the album?
Rob: It’s a good demo.
Jason: Considering time/money restraints, fuck yeah! Ofcourse there are lots of things we would redo or change if we had the time and technology. Spinetingler is a great starting point for us though. The next one should be huge.
Adam: Yeah but nah but yeah but nah but...
What tours have you got planned to accompany the album?
Rob: Dates in New Plymouth November 30, Auckland TBC,
Hamilton December 8. Just done 2 in Wellington.
Jason: Nothing specific like an "EP Release Tour" or anything - we're no quite that organised. Anyone can download it for free anyway so there's no real need to tour it. But soon we'll be heading out to play Auckland, Hamilton and New Plymouth with fellow H-towners the Shrugs, Deadly Deaths and MC Stormstrooper - very much looking forward to that.
Adam: What album?
Any overseas excursions planned?
Gavin: Ooh I’d love to do Japan.
Rob: Not yet, hope so in 08.
Jason: Japan we're gonna come down on you like fucking Godzilla! We wish... Actually, Aussie would be great if we had offers and help to organise things. Most of us are married with kids and fulltime jobs so basically all the planets have to be in alignment. We're keen as, though. Someone hook us up please!
Adam: Yes (No).
Anything else you’d like to let the people of UTR know?
Gavin: I love too much.
Rob: Jennifer Aniston’s got great legs!
Jason: Yeah... fuck "post-rock"! and religion..! and MTVemo! and Bush! and...
