Before Mostly Jazz Funk & Soul 2023, we caught up with Fat Freddy’s Drop’s, Tony for an exclusive interview. You’ll find all of our interviews with headliners and rising talent in our programme on-site, along with info on all acts, schedules and more. Make sure to pick up yours in 2024 and check out the full interview below!

Q: You recently remastered your Live At Roundhouse album – how did it feel looking back at the 2008 show?

A lot has changed since 2008 and a lot has stayed the same. That recording is a stereo mix from front of house. No post production was performed. What you hear is exactly what we did on the nightfalls and it’s the mix you would have heard on the night. It’s an archival document. It’s a strong performance I reckon. You can hear us still developing how to play some songs that we have gone on to perform regularly over the years. It’s so cool that our long time friend and collaborator Riki Gooch is in there on drums too!

Q: Your most recent new album, Wairunga (2021), is another live album. After 202’s Lock-In (live in the studio), why did you decide to record live, outside?

Wairunga, the place, is special and important to us. We were inspired to go, where we had gathered many times before for different celebrations and occasions, and this time record there. We didn’t have a big budget to go for a few weeks and really soak up the atmosphere. The only way it could work was going all in on an ambitious outdoor recording session, in the middle of autumn as the weather got cold and stormy – and film the whole thing. In my opinion it’s our best album, the material we wrote for the session really worked well. We had tremendous good fortune managing to record and film, even as the weather arrived in the form of driving sleety rain and wind.

Q: You guys have been at this for a fair old time now – over 20 years. Do you still feel that you creatively challenge each other?

Hopefully we do, but possibly not as much as before. The fact that the group has built a strong musical culture with multiple intersections and departures provides our ability to go on composing music together.

Q: We don’t hear a huge amount about the NZ music scene here – anyone you recommend we should check out?

The international music market is a big and tangled place. Please check out Mara TK, Borrowed CS, Ladi 6, Cave Circles, Tiny Ruins, Troy Kingi, Half Hexagon … these groups will all lead you deeper into NZ music which is a complicated network of related projects.

We can’t wait to head back to Moseley Park for our 14th edition of Mostly Jazz Funk & Soul. Early Bird tickets are available now head to mostlyjazz.co.uk/tickets