Influenced as much by fresh Vogels toast, indoor cricket, eighties glam rock stage costumes and just the right amount of hermitism as they are informed by Jamaican dub, Memphis funk, Detroit techno and the timeless musical traditions of folk and Bluegrass, Jeremy Terror Snake Glenn and Dylan Downie Wolf Jones are The Upbeats, an internationally renowned New Zealand based d&b production outfit turned DJ duo who just arent like the others.
Abstracting inspiration for their production name from Lee Scratch Perry’s 1976 release The Upsetters: Super Ape back in the watershed year of 1998, The Upbeats (otherwise known as the Big Skeleton) have cut a unique and unclassifiable figure on the global d&b circuit since formally emerging back in 2001.
What sets them apart from the rest of the pack is their character and influences as artists and individuals. Self-depreciating in humor and iconoclastic in approach, The Upbeats unique 21st century urban pub rock breakbeat fueled sound injects just the right dose of fluro, sweatbands, mullets and midi-triggered live reese basslines into d&b’s often formulaic, faceless nature.
Don’t get it twisted though. They might seem like the Kiwi d&b version of Flight of The Conchords, but with a catalog of releases on scene leading labels like Bad Taste, BC Presents, Virus Recordings, Project Human, Soul:R and Subtitles, and a touring history that has taken in most of New Zealand, Australia, Europe and North America, it’s safe to say The Upbeats are anything but New Zealand’s fourth most popular comedy-folk duo.
