Where to start… Hey, everyone!

Kingston from the Sad Italians here. So, earlier in the year – during the first lockdown to be precise – fellow Rutherford College student Carson and I entered a songwriting competition run by Play It Strange. Basically, any student attending any West Auckland school could send in some form of an original song, for the opportunity to record it professionally at Parachute Studios. That was a pretty big deal to us because the likes of home-grown artists Six60 and Stan Walker have recorded several of their own hits there.

We had a few submissions in mind. It wasn’t until the day before the comp’s end that we made a final decision. We went with our song, Trojan Legs which wasn’t initially our most vouched for choice. I guess it was the right one though because we ended up being one of the finalists. When the news came, it took a moment for us to register what we’d just read but it didn’t take long for the eruption of excitement and bro-shakes to come.

July sixth arrived and there we were, standing in the same studio Stan Walker recorded his own most recent single, Bigger. About to record our own. The deal was 10 hours in the studio to get an entire song tracked! That was daunting at first because we had a lot to get through; bass, guitar, drums, lead vocals, harmonies, extra percussive elements, keyboard. Thankfully, we were assigned the superfly engineer, Christian Tjandrawinata. He got us through it safe and sound. Frankly, I’m surprised he made it out alive having to deal with us for that long. I think we really bonded that day.

Anyway, it was surreal at first. Being a new band, I almost felt out of place. The artists that had come up here, the standard of equipment, it was all quite foreign. Nonetheless, it proved to be an awesome opportunity and we made the most of it. To have what would become our first official release get professional treatment, we’re really thankful to Parachute and Play It Strange for seeing something in our music to push it to be properly done. If you’re interested in seeing the process, watch this “making of” video on the Sad Italians’ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOOvTZSGlMI

We wrote the demo at the beginning of 2020. It’s actually about a fellow Rutherford student… figure that out if you want. We took a lot of inspiration from the Red Hot Chili Peppers for this one. So, if you’re looking for something a bit different to groove to, we’d really appreciate you checking it out. Forgive the plug but if you like what you hear when you hear it, then why don’t you share it? That’s the greatest thing you can do in order for us to be able to continue bringing the goods home. It’s on Spotify, Google Play, Apple, YouTube anywhere that suits you basically.

If you’re reading this you’re likely part of our immediate community and coming up with that local support would be amazing. We’ve had a great deal of feedback and support already so we can’t go without thanking those people.

A particular thanks to Mrs. Taula, mostly for putting up with our probably infuriating lack of absence in her music room, thanks to our parents for the same and more, and all those who’ve listened already…Rock on!