The return of TrinityRoots

TrinityRoots is returning to the stage - yes that's right. Three concerts are planned: Christchurch, October 22, The Bedford; Wellington, October 23, The Opera House; and Auckland, October 29, Town Hall.

These shows will mark the first time the band has played together since 2005.

This week the band's EP (TrinityRoots/EP) and albums (True and Home, Land & Sea) were reissued with bonus material. And the CD/DVD Music Is Choice was released - comprising Sarah Hunter's hagiographic documentary feature (fresh from the Film Festival circuit) and a live CD capturing the farewell show/s.

So it is a reunion that offers rewards for renewed interest.

Or - someone needs some money? Maybe it is both. Any reunion shows tend to be about money (for someone, somewhere) - so I'm not knocking it. I'm just saying...

I also think it's an interesting prospect - and most likely to be a worthy set of shows. TrinityRoots is a band that a lot of Kiwis love/d. And, arguably, the band was capable of some positively transcendent moments (both on stage and on record) where they came as close as could be to the epitome of a version of the New Zealand sound - particularly in and of their time.

It's been interesting working through all of the material again - reconnecting (in a sense) with the band.

TrinityRoots formed in the late 1990s. I saw the band at one of its earliest gigs, a Battle of the Bands at Victoria University. Warren Maxwell played the guitar sitting down (this of course was very du jour given that Ben Harper was popular - essentially the chief proponent of the hipster soundtrack at the time). Rio Hemopo was a significant presence on bass, nodding calmly as he nudged undulating lines into place. Adding his own sweet-soul vocals to the mix. And Hemopo and drummer Riki Gooch (and in the early days Darren Mathiassen) were capable of switching instantly from a form of reggae to driving rock-influenced soul and funk; there are elements of organic drum'n'bass in the early sound.

The early shows and the debut EP showed that the band members had jazz chops, had an idea of soul and funk, were capable of rocking out - it started to shape itself into a Pacific Soul sound.

Take Little Things - there are a few different versions of the song, recorded for both the EP and again for debut long-player True, remixed by other artists also. It is a high point in the sound of TrinityRoots: a distinctive, evocative sound - at times the band's love and peace and good spiritual vibe shtick would start to feel just like that - a shtick - but Little Things is a proud moment. A song that has a fresh/timeless sound and feel.

As the momentum gathered and grew - the band moving up to headlining shows, to touring outside of Wellington, to recording an album, to opening for international acts - TrinityRoots became an important axis for versions of various movements/sub-genres. There was "the Welly sound" and "the Welly dub-roots movement", there was, eventually, sadly, BBQ Reggae.

It is probably both a good and a bad thing that TrinityRoots was an influence/spearhead/antecedent for what was to come - it's certainly not the band's fault that a lot of inferior music has been created in its wake by musicians nowhere near as talented, but some of the Trinity's own music has a (too) lazy, phoned-in feel about it. And some of the corny faux-reggae that New Zealand has produced in the last decade did, indirectly, come from bands that were inspired by the likes of TrinityRoots. They took the template and offered a weak version of it. In the end it was easy to lump in some of what TrinityRoots initially brought to the table with the scraps that were been swept up from under the table.

After a while it was hard to hear the difference between the prime cuts and the offcuts.

Well, that was my feeling with the band's music anyway. It's certainly not addressed in the interesting but very safe documentary Trinity Roots: Music Is Choice.

But there is some cool footage, and fans will dig seeing the live clips, the ideas behind the making of the music videos and some at times illuminating conversations with band members and friends (Mu from Fat Freddy's Drop, music writer Grant Smithies). The downside is that just one side is being told - a fan's perspective, a love of the group, the clean stuff, the happy rise, the kinship and camaraderie - and at times it all feels a bit too much like reverie (if not reverence) gone astray.

The second and final TrinityRoots album was Home, Land & Sea - an album I didn't care a great deal for at the time. Mostly because of the epidemic that was Wellington dub/roots by this point; because of the over-abundance of music from LOOP - all flooding the same market. And because, working in music retail at the time, the album was played constantly. It killed any interest I had in the group. But it was impossible to deny that there were - as with True and the EP - some glorious moments. Hard to care about, perhaps. But hard to suggest that it was not, for want of a word, good.

So it's been nice hearing the album again, listening to it away from the time when it was released, away from that bubble of sounds and scenes. The title track has a resplendent charm. And the build and flow of the songs is (mostly) impressive.

I'll still never quite get the feeling of elation that so many did (or do), because I think that half of the band's material was paint-by-numbers and lyrically daft. But there was most definitely some magic. And now with a new live album and the re-release of the two albums and EP, it's possible to make your own TrinityRoots best-of. Depending on how much you care about the band and its work, that best-of could be a double, or - stretching it, as it were - a triple-album. Or it could just be an EP.

But there is definitely something that TrinityRoots had. Something that the bands that followed never got close to capturing - something that would seem unlikely to have been created outside New Zealand, outside the late 1990s/early2000s. And yet it is a sound that, clearly, given the fans' response, has lasted.

And so there will be a chance to hear TrinityRoots again. To pick up the EP that was out of print. To grab the albums with some extra (live) tracks. To hear a full live CD; to watch a documentary feature that presents itself as, essentially, a giant hug for the band (and will therefore feel like a giant hug for the fans).

And there is a chance to see TrinityRoots live. Once again.

So, what did you think of this band? And what do you think of them now? Do you own the albums and still play them? Could you never get on board with the sound? Do you still have memories of the live shows? Will you line up to see them again?

I've told you what I think of TrinityRoots. And I've enjoyed getting reacquainted with (parts of) their career. I look forward to seeing another live show from the band.

Now it's your turn to share what you think of TrinityRoots. And of the news that one of New Zealand's most loved bands of recent years has re-formed.

Here's a link to an interview with Warren Maxwell.

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