FAT FREDDY’S DROP

Drop It Like It’s Hot

Genre-juggling Kiwi reggae/dub exponents Fat Freddy’s Drop support neo-soul sensation Erykah Badu at Belvoir Amphitheatre this Saturday, February 25. Saxophonist Scott ‘Chopper Reedz’ Towers talks to TRAVIS JOHNSON about the benefits and drawbacks of breaking all the rules.

The thing about Fat Freddie’s Drop is, what they are changes depending on where you’re standing.
To someone outside the reggae and dub world, they sound like a pretty decent progressive, roots influenced outfit. To those familiar with the genre boundaries that the group delight in riding roughshod over, they’re a bit more problematic. Chopper Reedz chalks it up to being from New Zealand.
“I think probably the biggest thing about it is that we don’t have a local thing that dictates to us what we can or can’t do,” he explains. “If we were a band coming up from Jamaica or America or even parts of Europe - I’m thinking particularly France and Germany - our pretty loose limbed approach to reggae and dub-influenced music would probably raise quite a few eyebrows. We’ve had that from time to time in Europe, where people have gone, ‘You guys aren’t a real reggae band’. But then, we never considered ourselves a real reggae band - that’s not what we set out to do. So, being able to develop our sound in New Zealand, where you can just experiment and mash together has been really, really good for us.”
But he is also adamant that their haphazard approach to genre is what has given them so much success, both at home and in the lucrative European market. “That’s actually the number one thing, for the people who are coming to shows to see us to be ready to go along for that ride, that’s a critical part of how the band is set up, and our approach - how we think about music. We don’t really like to be particularly constrained or traditional in our approach, so the ability to change things up at the flick of a switch is really important to us.”
That success, though, has led to a fairly constant touring schedule - they played more than 40 gigs in 2011, a good proportion of them in Europe - something that Reedz admits they’ve still not yet quite gotten the hang of.
“There’s a lot of rehearsal beforehand,” he says. “Because we like to go over on these tours with some new material, a new approach, some new arrangements, so right up until we go we’re still rehearsing and writing and jamming and coming up with new music. Then the last day or two is mad frenzy of trying to find where you left your passport, working out what clothes to take, and hang out with loved ones - and inevitably none of those things you get to do to the extent that you’d like. You’d think we’d be better at it than we are. The secret is just to be light on your feet and prepared for change.”
But even the constant crisis that is being on the road can’t dampen their enthusiasm for the gig. “We’re really, really excited about doing these shows with Erykah Badu, touring in the summer and enjoying the sunshine here.”