Okay. This week I'm going to do it properly. Silly stuff first.

The rest of this week's column isn't silly at all. It's about a brilliant reggae band called 1814 who are coming to Brewers Bar next Friday.


Tim Cooper (third from left).

But last week, after promising something weird and wonderful to wrap up the column, I ran out of space. This time I'm taking no chances. It concerns vinyl. Vinyl – as in records, LPs, not bondage gear – isn't dead. In fact it seems more popular every year. JB Hi-Fi at Bayfair has a full vinyl section. And one of the people firmly supporting vinyl is Jack White, once of cult heroes The White Stripes. Jack has his own (very eccentric) record label, and puts out vinyl. But vinyl with extras...

Supporting vinyl

His latest solo album, ‘Lazaretto', is available in a vinyl edition. It has a few 'surprises” – check this, homies! One side is matt and the other side is gloss; one side plays normally, the other side plays from the inside out; both sides end in a repeating locked groove; there are hidden tracks pressed into the centre labels; the first track on side two has two different intros, depending on where you drop the needle; and when the needle hits dead wax at the end of side two, if you shine a light on the vinyl you'll see a projected hologram of a spinning angel.

And I bet you thought vinyl was old-fashioned!

Right. Enough. International travellers 1814 are coming to town and one of Tauranga's most respected guitarists has joined the band. Tim Cooper, guitarist, promoter, the man behind reggae festivals in Papamoa and Waitangi day concerts at the Mount, and general all-round good guy, is their new guitarist. They're a big band. Nine, I think, and they've been together since 2004, releasing a debut album in 2008 and taking their brand of Kiwi-flavoured reggae throughout New Zealand and Australia.

Joining 1814

Tim had come close with the band through booking them to perform at several events. He says: 'I had been involved over about six years, especially with Patu Colbert, their manager-band leader-guitarist.

He mentioned they perhaps wanted a second guitarist for some different ‘feels' they were looking at getting into. I said I was keen, and he said ‘That us then?' Like everything with Patu, when he said it, he meant it”.

Tim says it was perfect timing for him: 'I wanted to be in a band like 1814 as it gave me the chance to get back on the road to play at some of the bigger festivals around the country. And to get to play overseas more frequently”. That's exactly how it's been.

'We played in Perth at the Natural New Zealand festival last year alongside some real heavyweights.

That was one I had wanted to go to since it started and I was stoked to get there so early on.”

For now they have a fourth album coming out in the new year, with a new single released this week called ‘Perfectly Ugly', an anti-bullying song about accepting ourselves as who we are. They are playing shows around New Zealand between now and February with a gig in Sydney on Labour Weekend. Then it's a full NZ tour once the album's released and a comprehensive Australian tour and plans to hit Hawaii and the West Coast of America for the first time.

Music venues madness

In the meantime, you can catch them at Brewers Bar on Friday 10. Tickets are $25 on Eventfinder and there are a couple of support bands too. I've seen 1814 live only once; they were fantastic.

Next week: after the recent discussions in The Weekend Sun about the lack of music venues in Tauranga and how that deprives the city of many mainstream touring acts, I had an email from local guitar wiz Aaron Saxon (who can currently be seen in the duo AliceSea).

He says: 'There's heaps of acts all over the country that aren't necessarily mainstream that tour and don't come to Tauranga simply because there isn't a venue suitable”. The difference is that Aaron and others at the Mauao Performing Arts Centre are doing something. about it. The Bay's most exciting new venue is about to open. Read about it here.