26 May 2023 - 0 Comments

Emerging alt-rock band Tomahawk Radio have released their first album Dreaming With A View on all streaming platforms today.

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Tomahawk Radio’s sound is a mix from different international backgrounds. The current members are Jeff Avery (Vocals, guitars and keyboards) from Canada, Luis Rodriguez from Venezuela (Guitars, synths and percussion) and local south islanders Brian Graham (Vocals, Bass) and Scott J. Mason (Drums, percussion, vocals).

While many recordings are made at Tomahawk Radio studio, Brian was all for capturing the band’s sound at Sublime Studio in the Waitaki Valley township of Kurow. It was the ideal setting to hole up and record over two weekends.

“We knew we wanted our live sound recorded properly” says Brian “We were well rehearsed and the atmosphere there was perfect for us. Steve Harrop and Tom Havard are a great team to collaborate with and they have fantastic vintage gear. We were in heaven and wanted them to mix it as well.”

“I feel we captured something special... a true representation of what we sound like live.” says Jeff “It's four people playing together for the song. I am very proud of it.”

Although the band had enough combined expertise to produce, mix and master the album themselves, they agreed to outsource the job. Sublime Studio did the mixing, then the mastering was done at the one and only Abbey Road Studios by Andy Walter.

As with the rest of the album, while Tom Havard started to mix the album at Sublime Studios, guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist Jeff Avery caught a rare virus that attacked his heart. He was emergency airlifted to Auckland Cardiovascular ICU and told that his heart would need to be replaced. While he waited for a transplant, the band, in a state of shock, carried on with the mixes.

By the time the album was mixed, a new heart had been found and Jeff was on the mend. For Avery, a professional television editor, it was a profound experience. “It was like I’d been struck by lightning… twice. Once to catch such a rare virus and then to be donated a heart so quickly. Now I’m honouring this gift by living life to the fullest.”

Strangely, this isn’t the first organ transplant experience for Tomahawk Radio. Three years ago drummer Scott Mason, a composer of music for television documentaries, had a kidney transplant. His condition was degenerative and his donor was his wife. “My wife watches me very closely, I have to behave or she threatens to take her kidney back.” Mason jokes.

“It’s great to share these songs with everybody else” says Luis “They’re all very diverse and cover the whole range of different styles like rock, funk, pop with interesting grooves. It’s like the product of a musical smoothie…”

“I've played on a lot of albums and this is one of my favourites” says Scott “It's the classic formula of 10 great songs from a time and a place. It feels like a journey.”

With all that’s gone on for this band there’s plenty of material for new songs to emerge in the future. In the meantime Tomahawk Radio will be touring to support the release of Dreaming with a View and hoping for a less dramatic year.

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