Feature: Flowz - The Flow of Wellington City
Author: Martyn Pepperell (photography by Sarah Hunter)
The music industry had already taught him a couple of lessons and Flowz knew he had to change the way he did a few things.
"There was no point making an album I knew I couldn't push myself. I also made a conscious decision that I didn't want anything to do with that [promotional] shit. I just wanted to make music. I looked all over Wellington [for management] and got pointed to Auckland. No one was keen, so I came back to Wellington."
In his thwarted hunt for a manager one person Flowz kept coming back to was Nicole Duckworth from The Drop. At that stage she was too committed to consider taking him on.
"I begged the fucking shit out of her for a year, I'm serious!" he laughs.
Flowz started recording his album, primarily with DJ Raw on production duties, meanwhile teaming up with Sarah Hunter of Transmit Ltd for publicity and Rhythmethod for distribution.
"We recorded the album on SP-1200, the old school Roland 808 drum machine and MPC 2000, with Digi001 Pro Tools that was all in Raw's garage."
With input from the likes of Joe Dukie and Savage, externally things looked good but from the inside it wasn't right.
"The record was just making me sick aye, I knew it had to be revamped. I didn't know what to do. I was in unison trying to get a manager and trying to get these people to push the album, but the album wasn't even straight."
A solution emerged after the 2006 NZ Music Awards.
"I'd never been to the NZ Music Awards before in my life... I made a big effort to get to that show because I really wanted to hook up with some people to try and get my music off the ground. Me, Sarah [Transmit] and Peter [Rhythmethod], had a meeting organised that weekend. I saw Nicole and them [Fat Freddys Drop] there and Nicole was like, 'What are you doing up here Fis?' I was like, 'I just came to watch the show and I'm up here trying to hustle me a manager'. Nicole just laughed, 'Okay, okay, come hang out with us'," he relates.
The next day Duckworth showed up to the arranged meeting, and offered to take him on. "You push and you get turned down. Then you push again and you get turned down again. Then, you push and suddenly, boom, it happens. It all just came together."
Collectively they started making decisions about what needed to happen with his project.
"There was one dude I knew could really get this album off the ground musically and that was Chong Nee. The album had all the components, but musically my lyrics were carrying it, you know? The beats weren't quite pushing the limits. I went straight to Neezy and went through everything."
Flowz spent the next nine months between Wellington and Auckland finishing his album off with Chong Nee, who provided additional production, revamped old tracks and mixed the album, followed by mastering at Kog.
"Nicole thought it would be a good idea to get a band together for me. I suppose she felt like it would really help me revamp my whole show. I thought I'd really like to try that, I'd never done rap live with a band and I had a few friends I wanted to work with I'd had in mind."
The Uso's consists of the Savalii brothers Lafaele (keyboard) and Sefo (bass), a mutual friend Des on drums and guitarist ADT.
After nine months their occasional get togethers had become once a week rehearsals and the band were getting tight. A monthly jam session at Sandwiches Nightclub in Wellington served as the opportunity for Flowz and The Uso's to prepare for two high profile performances opening for Fat Freddys Drop at Music Mountain Matakana in late February. Performances that, despite the deluging rain, were well received and hinted at some promising possibilities for Flowz after the release of 'In the Heart of the City'.
"It's been a hell of a mish' bro, but it's been choice," he reminisces. "The missions that I've been on, positive and negative, I've learnt things from all of them. I'm real blessed and I just want to keep learning, keep progressing."
