What can we expect to see from Mama Tilly over the next year?
Lisa: Wrecked hotel rooms, scandalous media attention, tonnes of groupies - you know, the usual lot for a rockstar. Nah seriously? Touring, music vids, festival gigs - skys the limit man!
Ila: National Tour, NEW MATERIAL, video, Website.
Who would you most like to support live?
Lisa: So hard to pick just one ... OpShop or The Mint Chicks. Mainly coz they're crazy awesome live.
Ila: Hollie Smith
What can you never leave home without?
Lisa: my car keys – I’d be locked outta my house otherwise.
Ila: A bra.
How do you describe Mama Tilly’s music?
Lisa:
What you'd get if you chucked the grandaddys of blues jazz & swing and the hot mammas of soul, punk & rock into a padded room and lost the key :)
Ila: Eclectic
Mahinarangi: Raw energy, daring.
What is the best part of being a musician?
Lisa: The emotional connection you get with other musos, the music, your instrument and the audience - when it's on, there's no other feeling like it. The adoring fans aren't too bad either lol.
Ila: expressing your self.
How did you come up with the name Mama Tilly?
George: From a movie, the mother on it was called ‘Mama Tilly’ she was all about love and caring n stuff.
What is the best gig you have ever performed at, and why?
Lisa:
I'd have to say the Creekfest. Mainly because I was blown away by the size of the stage, the rig, the hundreds of people and the fact that we were so different to every act that came on before or after us, so we stuck out :)
Ila: Creekfest, massive stage wicked sound loudest gig.
Mahinarangi: Superunknowns at the Garden Club, Wellington – biggest crowd, fun and we put it on ourselves!
What rumour would you like to start about Mama Tilly?
Group: "We're all a bunch of raging lesbians"…
Mama Tilly is Lauren 'Loz' King, Lisa 'Lis' Tagaloa, Georgina 'Georgie' Swan-Hay, Mahinarangi Maika and Eileen 'Ila' Scott.
Our Vision:
"To use our colourful quirkiness & social conscience to create music that's unpredictable and brings soul to the world"
Mama Tilly is sophistication and wild with two fingers up to conformity, doing away with clichés and about to make their mark on the Wellington music scene.
After a recent change in line up, the band now consists of original members Georgina Swan-Hay (Drums) and Lisa Tagaloa (Bass, vocals) who studied together at Whitireia Music School. Singer/songwriter Mahinarangi Maika (Vocals), New Zealand School of Music graduate Ila Scott (Keys, vocals) and newest member Mitch Harty (guitar) consolidate the synergy of Mama Tilly.
Expanding on the influences and cultural flavours of each individual, good luck trying to pigeonhole Mama Tilly into one set style. Fusing lush vocal harmonies with soundscapes ranging from tender blues and raucous punk to swinging jazz and reggae grooves; “Music is the soul of what we do and the reason we connected. We create by feel, not to fit into the confines of any given genre.”