Don’t you just love those songs that make you smile involuntarily, actually listen to the lyrics and appraise the musicianship, and get you up dancing every time you hear them (even if you’re in your living room!). Songs like that are rare, but rock four-piece Doppler has found the magic ingredients.
“It’s hard to sum up our sound in one word or phrase”, says bassist Daniel Wilson, and indeed it is. Doppler has discovered the key to rock longevity- their sound is complex and varying; from emotive acoustic guitar with Clapton-esque electric on “Underlie” to raw, powerful and dance inducing “Blue Diamond Eyes”. Their latest success is the new summer-anthem “Oblivion”, recorded at legendary York Street studios, and produced and engineered by ‘Hook’ from 48 May. The single has been written to perfection, with edgy harmonies, complex rhythms, layered loud guitars and strong, driven vocals.
The men behind the music are Adam and Daniel Wilson, Matt Gorman and Simon Christensen. Vocalist Adam and guitarist Matt began playing together in 2005, and formed The Last, a predominantly covers band. Unfortunately The Last was not to last- it split in mid 2005, and a few months later Doppler was born. Adam says of the split: “I’m always drawn to music like Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters and after playing it for several years I realised that I could create my own, and add my own style to it.” Adam and Matt roped in Adam’s brother Daniel, a singer in several Canterbury based covers bands with a penchant for rhythmic driving bass lines. They were accompanied by drummer Simon, who already had tasted fame with originals Christchurch band Picture. Simon recalls: “We all came from different music backgrounds, but we all wanted to produce rock. And not just pop-rock like other bands were doing at the time. We wanted inventive, talented and powerful rock!”