What’s Be Happen

Jamming in a Pandemic

We want to spread the music and the love, not the virus. So we’ve had to postpone two gigs so far. Our end of the year kanikani in December, and our Waitangi Day hit out last week. It’s such a bummer this has to happen but it is what is. All bands, performers and festival organisers are in the same situation. We are holding out for our biggest gig to date, which is Cuba Dupa in Wellington but honestly, we’re not holding our breath.

We are pretty positive people and always hanging out to jam so we decided to rehearse on Waitangi Day and set up outside the Wai Ata studio here in Paekākāriki. Told a few friends so we didn’t break any rules regarding numbers. And there were the casual walkers who stopped to listen for a bit. It was great, quite a loose jam and being outside and on the edges of QE ll park it was safe.

Halfway through ‘Pride’, a new song we’re working on, Janet our cellist/flautist dropped her instruments and filmed a snippet. The sound is pretty good considering it’s a phone and we don’t have monitors or a mixer.

Double gig with Brand New Second

While Tanira was on a mid-term break from med school in Otago, we jammed with Brand New Second Hand, a band from just down the road at Hongoeka Bay. And they’re awesome. With their own brand of reggae they immediately became our brand new favourite band. Playing to a packed house is always amazing but the night was made more special when Ray Ropata turned up to tautoko the whānau.

Big Steps

While Ray is on a break we called on another Paekākāriki local to step into some pretty big shoes. Nigel Chang joined us for our July gig and man he really stepped up and beyond. Amazing talent and a super cool dude.

Second Single Release

So excited to release our second single. Here I Go is a positive look at hitting rock bottom. We recorded it with a very minimal budget (read next door to nothing). At Audio Suite here on the Kāpiti Coast. Engineer Ross McDermott really had his work cut out for him because we recorded the tracks back to front. Tanira was off to Otago University in a couple of days and we didn’t have time to get the whole band in to record. So we went in and recorded just the vocals with guitar, keyboard and cello. No click track. This stage of White Cloud was basically live. Then we built the rest of the music around those tracks.

Here I Go and our first single White Cloud Island are on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and all digital platforms.

A Spotify link to both songs is here

Mid-summer jams.

What an amazing gig. We actually think that was our best! Thank you all so much for coming along and making it special.

Pop Up Gig at QE2 Park

We had a random pop-up gig in the Queen Elizabeth II Park. Of course it was Ray’s idea cause most of the good ideas are his. But not announcing the idea or venue until the actual day was a tactic. We didn’t know if we were allowed to just set up in a public space or if the park ranger would agree. But there wasn’t anything to worry about. The park is run by the Greater Wellington Regional Council and the ranger not only agreed but gave us access to power which meant no organising a generator. So awesome! We set up, posted the venue on facey that same day. It was the week between Christmas and New Year when people wanted a relaxed thing to do with the whanau.
It was an amazing summer’s day once that famous Wellington southerly settled down. And people turned up, picnicked, danced and were rapt they could bring their kids as usually our venues are R18.

What a cool thing to do and it may become an annual event.

White Cloud Island single release gig

It’s pretty amazing to have a single release party in our hometown of Paekākāriki. Our favourite venue, St Peters Hall sold out straight away and the hype was intense. It was the end of an even more intense year with a pandemic and lockdown. People were ready to partay! And party we did. It was kind of strategic in the sense we know the last weekend before Christmas is a great time to gig. We had actually booked the hall months earlier. But the gig being the same week as our single hit the digital platforms, was just good timing.
The video was edited together during lockdown with footage from Himiona and friends Mick Finn and Phil Greg.

The gig went off! Please checkout the video and share the aroha.