Music News - Iconic NZ Rock Band Tadpole finds gold in unreleased music recorded over 15 years ago
21 November 2022 - 0 Comments
After a very long 16 year hiatus for thousands of Tadpole fans, the iconic Kiwi band is about to release a brand new, completely unheard album, out on November 25th.
We thought Tadpole’s story had ended when they decided to go their separate ways in 2006 after a successful 12 years together, but we were (gladly) wrong! 27 years after the band first formed, several Tadpole members have come together to release The Tadpole Collection (1994-2006).
Not as you might expect, an album of greatest hits, but a genuine 4 CD collection of every album they made – The Buddhafinger (2000), The Medusa (2002), Tadpole (2006), and a brand new fourth album of never-released rarities and antiquities from the band’s catalogue entitled Remains of the Day.
So, what has prompted this final hurrah? The continuing popularity of Tadpole’s videos on YouTube played a big part. An un-branded channel with grainy uploads of the many original Tadpole music videos has seen a steady trickle of die-hard fans posting about what the songs had meant to them, and memories of seeing the band play live. The steady inflow of posts was always there to remind them that the music they’d made was not forgotten, but that in itself mightn’t have brought them back together.
If it wasn’t for Karl Lock, Product Manager for JB HiFi, this new release might not have happened. Karl saw an opportunity for a vinyl re-release of The Buddhafinger – the band’s most popular (triple-platinum) album – which started the ball rolling. Tadpole secured the rights to the first two albums from their old label and decided to release not just the vinyl (out Feb 2023), but their entire back-catalogue of work, with a little cherry on the top!
Band members took a trip down memory lane and trawled through their collections of old demos, cassette tapes, and dusty CDs to put together the new album, Remains of the Day, featuring songs that were played at live shows and recorded as demos, but never made it onto an official album.
If you’ve thrown out your CD player or aren’t into the nostalgia of vinyl, don’t worry! Remains of the Day will soon be hitting your Spotify new releases list; available to stream early next year (2023). But first, mark November 25th, 2022 in your calendar to make sure you don’t miss the first album release in more than 10 years from one of our favourite scene-altering Kiwi bands of the 90's and 2000's.
And just when you thought you couldn’t handle any more excitement in one day, we’ve got even MORE good news. November 25th doesn’t only bring us 12 never heard and brilliantly remastered tracks - you can also digitally stream The Medusa album for the first time ever! Finally, all Tadpole studio albums will be available to experience on Spotify and other digital music platforms. If it wasn’t obvious, we’re pretty jazzed, and we reckon you should be too!
Formed in 1994, Tadpole’s first two albums, The Buddhafinger and The Medusa, smashed into the top 10 charts. Most Gen X and Millenial Kiwis will remember the band for their unique fusion of rock and electronica, storming the NZ music scene at the turn of the new millennium and scoring gigs year after year at pioneer music festival Big Day Out.
But the group’s legacy extended far beyond their music. Along with other iconic NZ bands like The Feelers, Fur Patrol and Stellar*; Tadpole helped to break down the barriers many artists were facing by commercial NZ radio stations, inspiring a new generation of Kiwi musicians willing to push the boundaries of Kiwi music.
The 4 CD box set, The Tadpole Collection (1994-2006) which includes the new Remains of the Day album, will retail at $34.95 from November 25th, along with the digital release of The Medusa available to stream on Spotify (along with The Buddhafinger and Tadpole self titled).
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