Shapeshifter's Unreal Timing

It has been the fast lane all the way for Christchurch's Shapeshifter, who first came into the national spotlight supporting Salmonella Dub's extensive Killervision tour just last year. Now with the release of their debut album 'Real Time' and a stronger than ever live following, times are looking prosperous for these drum'n'bass players.

"Before that tour we probably only had five or six gigs," says keyboardist and horn player Nick Robinson, sitting at Kog Transmission headquarters with fellow Shapeshifter Redford Grenell (drums, percussion and samples). The bFM's Private Function in 2000, where they were on the bill alongside Shihad and Salmonella Dub, was the first major event the four-piece played at: "It was like 'Are we meant to be here?'," says Nick.

All the more impressive when you find out that Shapeshifter formed in 1999. As Nick explains, the band started as a casual affair: "Devon (Abrams - keyboards, saxophones) and Redford got the idea first and then asked me, so it was just the trio to start with and we didn't take it that seriously. We just got in a room with our instruments, and a few keyboards going 'waaaeeeeee' and then we just starting thinking 'Oh, this is cool' and no-one else was doing it".

Sam Trevethick (guitar, samples, percussion) was last on board. He had been jamming with the other three and playing at their gigs since early on, and "... added another element to it" says Nick.

Two years down the track and drum'n'bass is the staple for a core group of punters in Christchurch, with the scene building around Shapeshifter, the Fabel producers (check out their recent drum'n'bass compilation 'Deep Needs') and a handful of DJs. Outside their hometown Shapeshifter have impressed alternative radio - they hit their fifth consecutive week (at the time of writing) at No 1 on the radioscope alternative charts with Tapestry, the gorgeous closing track on 'Real Time'.

In September Shapeshifter approached Kog Transmissions with their debut CD looking for a deal to help them release it. They found one and were quickly signed to Kog's drum'n'bass imprint, Low Profile. The CD was released in November.

Live shows indicate that Auckland is now in their pocket, Galatos (capacity 400) packed on the Friday night of the album release party. It's in this live atmosphere that Shapeshifter win their fans. On the Killervision tour they took audiences by surprise and gained rave reviews. They are still on form in 2001 with an energetic show that far surpasses your Joe Average drum'n'bass DJ. With the four there in the flesh, it's the raw energy and mayhem of drum'n'bass personified - and damn, they're having fun with it. As Nick says, the live shows attract a diverse crowd.

"I reckon we get a few band people. You know, people who like to see bands.

"We've played in little towns before and people who are into, say metal and stuff, come up and say 'Wow.' They don't even know anything about drum'n'bass and say 'That was awesome!'. They love it. It's probably a good way to bring drum'n'bass to people who don't like the whole DJ thing."
But sights were always set higher than performing stomping live sets across New Zealand, and in 2000 Shapeshifter released their first EP 'DNA', recorded on and off over six months of that year.

"The album's the ultimate goal, isn't it?" says Nick. "So that was always our aim, but we had to release something, and that's what 'DNA' was."
The EP sold out its 1,000 print run, which Nick humbly suggests was "quite good" in comparison to the other unadvertised EPs that came out that year. The money that finally came through from EP sales (distributed through Virgin Records) went straight towards building the band's 'home studio'- a put together IBM which they run Logic Audio software on.

With new technology on hand, 'Real Time' was recorded over a more compact time frame than its predecessor. Shapeshifter spent two months compiling around 12 or 13 rough sketches on the computer in a rented room in Christchurch, then brought in local producer Kaps, from Fabel, to piece it together.

"He's a young guy, and he's going to be huge." says Redford.

Nick agrees: "He's only about 19 and he's incredible."

They worked on translating their live set into the studio environment. "We had to mix the two together," says Nick. "So it's full of live elements, but it's hopefully got the standard of produced drum'n'bass. But realistically, you can't play drum'n'bass as well as it can be produced on computers."
On the international scene, New Zealand produced drum'n'bass is still playing catch-up.

"We've got dubplates of the album arriving today, and that's a wicked start in New Zealand, if you've got dubplates of your music," says Nick.
Local production still has a long way to go, as Redford explains: "New Zealand is so slow for producers to actually start making drum'n'bass. The guys in the UK were doing it years and years ago and it's only in the last couple of years New Zealanders have started to delve into drum'n'bass producing."

Shapeshifter aren't pausing to catch their breath, with a live EP and album number two on the agenda for next year. Travel might also be on the agenda and Shapeshifter have itchy feet.

"I think we owe it to England," says Redford, "because they, sort of, made up drum'n'bass music. I'd love to go back and show how much we respect the music and stuff. Play our version of it."

There will be two vinyl releases from Shapeshifter in the UK before the 'Real Time' release next year, says Kog's Chris Chetland, who has popped his head in the door during the interview.

Chris explains that any international release may require a slight name tweak: "Oh yeah, there are eight Shapeshifters in the world ... no, no, sorry, four we found - there are eight Nomads."

And the other hitch, as Nick explains: "The scary thing is, one of the Shapeshifters has an album out called 'DNA', but I think they're sort of folky."