Nominated for best Rock Album at the 2013 New Zealand Music Awards is an achievement many New Zealand bands hope to have at least once in their career.
For Auckland band, Ekko Park, it came a lot sooner than anticipated. That nominated debut album, Tomorrow Tomorrow Today was well received and saw them play a host of sold out shows, including a slot at the iconic Homegrown.
Friday 30th October will see the release of the band’s second highly anticipated follow up, Know Hope. A wave of honest and energetic rock n roll, Know Hope reminds me a little of (English rockers) Feeder’s third album, Echo Park and I mean that in a really complimentary way. Vocalist, Joe Walsh has a great soft gruffness to his style and every track of this album is accessible. Delivering a blend of undeniably catchy riffs is always a winner for me and in part what makes this album so appealing. Lyrically well-crafted, they hone the skills of a veteran band, rather than one that has been on the scene in their five short years.
Switching tempo through tracks from Surface Breaks to Hesitate and one of my favourite tracks, White Lies, is seamless and really shows off the band’s polished sound.
I’m instantly a fan of this album and their sound which isn’t a hard stretch for a Rock fan, but it’s how well you do it that can make all the difference. Ekko Park have already proved their potential and I’m excited for the future for these guys.
Make sure you support this band and buy this album, it’s a keeper for your music collection.
Ekko Park released their highly anticipated, independently released second album Know Hope in October 2015, going straight in to the Official NZ Album Chart at #13 and was the #5 Kiwi album.
2017 saw the release of the single Going Uptown which continued the bands rise and success in Europe, culminating in Ekko Park's first ever European Tour across Italy with a stop in Ireland.
2018 starts in earnest as the band welcomes new guitarist Alex Hargreaves to the team.