Blackbird

Heavyweight soul providers Fat Freddy’s Drop are about to take flight once again with the worldwide release of new album Blackbird on June 21, 2013.

Blackbird is the third full-length release from the New Zealand band and will see Fat Freddy’s Drop exceed half-a-million album sales worldwide, the result of playing over 800 shows in their career to date, clocking up 412 appearances in Europe, 27 Australian Tours and over 300 shows in their homeland.

Fat Freddy’s Drop celebrate a decade of European touring by releasing Blackbird in East London. The already sold-out show at Village Underground attracted over 4,000 hopeful ticket ballot entries in just 24 hours for only 500 lucky spots.

Featuring nine tracks, Blackbird was written and recorded at Bays, the bands own studio. Situated in Wellington’s beach suburb of Lyall Bay, the building was one of the last vinyl pressing plants in NZ before being converted to an Apostolic church in the 70s.

Production maestro DJ Fitchie says, “What you hear on the album is the sound of Bays; the room itself, the vibe of the place and the performance we can get out of the band in there.”

“Blackbird is truer to FFD’s musical philosophy than anything else we’ve done”, adds saxophonist Chopper Reeds. “The song forms are unruly – just like our live shows – and we’ve really tried to craft arrangements that showcase Joe Dukie’s voice. It’s an unholy mix of disco, rootsy dub, blues, soul and electronic funk – but it’s what we love to do.”

Fat Freddy’s Drop have released two studio albums, Based On A True Story (2005) and Dr Boondigga & The Big BW (2009), two live albums, Live At The Matterhorn (2001) and Live At Roundhouse (2010) and a stash of limited edition vinyl singles, including the now legendary Midnight Marauders and Hope For A Generation.