12 September 2023 - 0 Comments

K M T P is the musical project of Keria Paterson (Te Arawa, Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāi Tahu, they/them), a musician and songwriter currently based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Before starting K M T P, Paterson spent the majority of their time behind the drum kit, performing in groups like Polyester, Dirty Pixels and more recently Dead Famous People.

Their debut EP was made by curating jangly guitars, melodic casio keyboards and earnest storytelling. In the three years since K M T P have cranked it up, letting listeners lose themselves in smooth layers of distortion and fuzz, all the while keeping sincere songwriting firmly at the core.

From its palm muted chug intro to its crisp fuzzy coda, First Date delivers a healthy dose of poignant nostalgia. The track showcases Paterson's devastatingly direct songwriting, the heavy-heartbeat soundtrack to losing direction, finding love, and figuring yourself out.

"I wrote First Date as a conceptual song about the awkwardness that often comes from a first date," says Patterson. "At the time I wrote it, I had a few close friends who were dating, and I remember just talking about the whole experience and how feelings of awkwardness came up a lot.

"I think this track is definitely the most ‘pop’ sounding song on the album, and I took inspiration from a lot of indie tracks that I was listening to at the time. Recording this song with Peter was a great time, just adding onto the already positive experience I was having at the time of tracking. I remember the vocals being a bit tricky to track for this song, as the vocal melody was in my lower range. It took us a while for me to get warmed up, but then we ripped into vocal tracking and I couldn’t be happier with how it sounds."

First Date is accompanied by a music video made by Ezra Simons (The Phoenix Foundation, Erny Belle, Muroki) made with help by NZ on Air Music. Shot entirely on 16mm film, the music video perfectly captures a 90's Pt Chev pop punk aesthetic. "Naturally, Ezra was the first person I spoke to, having completed many amazing music video shoots on motion picture film," say Paterson. "He really made the whole process as simple as possible, and put my mind to ease in regards to the whole process of “shooting film.”

"First Date was another 'band hangout' style video (similar to K M T P's 2:45 (Getting Old)), so it was nice to have all the band mates relaxing and chilling. The weather was superb, so it was just a stellar day overall. A highlight of the day was also shooting at the park on the roundabout, even though it gave us all bad motion sickness! The resulting shots looked super sick though! I'm super stoked, the video turned out better than I could have hoped!

First Date is the third single from K M T P's debut album With Love, K M T P, available on Limited Edition Vinyl LP and Digitally on September 28 via Sunreturn. With Love, K M T P was recorded at Jonathan Pearce’s (The Beths) studio by Peter Ruddell (Wax Chattels, Sulfate, D.C. Maxwell), and mastered by James Goldsmith (Beastwars, Mermaidens, DARTZ).

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K M T P - First Date

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Photo Credit: Frances Carter

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