Just 12 months after the success of their first album “Burning Fuse”, Tim Stewart and Nick Atkinson have come up with something special for their second Hopetoun Brown album. They've pulled in dynamite guests and they've splashed more time in the studio than ever before.
You might nod to the fat swing of Lawrence Arabia drummer Al Deverick or you can sigh hearing the soaring backing vocals of Marlon Williams. This album is peppered with star turns from some of Hopetouns closest collaborators. Tami Neilson and Tim Stewart co-wrote the first single Hate I Don't Love You and the two hottest brass players in the country, Finn Scholes and Kingsley Melhuish, have added new depths to the already stonking arrangements. Delaney Davidson's drummer Joe McCallum brings his sizzling high-hats and bouncing cowbells while Aldous Harding joins the party for a few shouts on one of the tracks expertly engineered by Lyttelton recording prodigy Ben Edwards. You'll hear Atkinson on the piano and Scholes on the Vibes and the organ. Stewart's tonsils are now highly polished after hundreds of gigs up and down the nation and the glue that holds this act together, a bass clarinet, of all instruments, beguiles with it's unique tone. Funk to the hip hop influences, bathe in the harmony of trumpets, have your ears pinned back by huge trombones and tubas and bounce all night as three different drummers vie for your shake time on this brand new record Look So Good.
Look So Good tour dates:
OCT 28th Auckland - Wine Cellar with special guests: Tami Neilson, Finn Scholes, Dave Khan and Darryn Harkness
OCT 29th Auckland - Wine Cellar with special guests: Priya Sami, Reb Fountain, Kingsley Melhuish, Dave Khan, Darryn Harkness and Callum Passells
NOV 4th Paeroa - The Refinery
NOV 5th Coromandel - Hauraki House Theatre
NOV 9th Golden Bay - Mussel Inn
NOV 10th Hokitika - The Fire House
NOV 11th Wairau Valley - Dharma Bums Club
NOV 12th Wellington - Caroline
NOV 13th Hastings - City Art Gallery - Sunday afternoon Nov 13th
NOV 13th Napier - private house concert - Sunday evening Nov 13th
NOV 18th Hamilton - Nivara Lounge
NOV 19th Rotorua - Rotorua Museum
NOV 20th Martinborough - Toast Martinborough
Go to Hopetoun Brown's facebook for ticketing info and playing times