Soaked Oats Drop Instrumental Single 'Driftworld' + Video

Definitely one of Aotearoa's hardest gigging bands, Soaked Oats are back with a boldly all-instrumental standalone single sporting the evocative title 'Driftworld', hot on the heels of their supremely catchy tune ‘Shuggah Doom'. Named after the self-proclaimed 'sludge-pop' group's 34 foot US tour van, the new track leads listeners on a sonic journey through space and time – a gentle ambient intro morphs into thrilling passages of psychedelic-tinged guitar melodies, in-the-pocket fuzzy riffs and driving percussion. The accompanying video shot and edited by Jake Munro lets viewers ride shotgun with the itinerant group as they roamed the US for a month and a half in their R.V., with moments meditating on late nights at lonely gas stations and endless meandering highways between shows. Currently charging hard, the group are heading to the UK's prestigious The Great Escape Festival in May, followed by an East London headline gig at Servant Jazz Quarters and more shows to be announced. Soaked Oats drummer Conor Feehly reflected on his group's van-oriented lifestyle...

“It often took a couple tries to get Driftworld going. The sudden jolt of initial movement would send everything that wasn’t weighted down flying through the interior of the vehicle, and once moving a choir of rattles coming from unknown sources would start to sing. The first few days were characterised by popped tyres on multi-lane freeways, setting the journey back hours at a time. The need to get to the next gig/city was all that really maintained any semblance of purpose in ‘Driftworld’”

Soaked Oats vocalist Oscar Mein recalled, “Originally called ‘Driftwood’, the R.V. quickly became known as the ‘Driftworld’ as whoever ended up on board - which reached its peak with 11 people for a couple weeks - lost all sorts of things including wallets, clothes, sense of time, direction, sleep, coherence, motivation, general wellbeing, all sorts. It slept 5 comfortably”.