NZ Musician Magazine | April/May 2007 | Fresh Talent: The Hot Grits

Since 2002 The Hot Grits have been making a name for themselves in Auckland and parts of the lower North Island as fine purveyors of the psychedelic afro-beat, big band sound. Always focusing on the rougher side of soul/funk music, The Hot Grits were recently recognised as finalists in the MTV Kickstart competition, surely a sign of bigger and better things to come.

I spoke to the band's singer Barnie to get a better idea of what is happening with this Auckland-based funk phenomenon. "We're influenced by a lot of southern soul music from America, artists like the The Meters and Rufus Thomas, but at the same time we listen to a lot of 1960s afro-beat music from West Africa."

The Hot Grits originally started out as a funk covers band and slowly took on board other influences from afro beat to classic psychedelic music, eventually molding it into their own sound and style. "We aren't as smooth and candy coated as the other soul/funk bands that are getting known in Auckland and NZ at the moment.

The Hot Grits are primarily a live gigging band and we try to capture that blistering raw old school funk 45 sound in our recordings and live performances," explains Barnie. Since formation, the Hot Grits have gigged heavily in Auckland at venues like the Khuja lounge and toured around the country, performing
in Taupo, Wellington, Napier, the Coromandel and Nelson.

When I spoke to Barnie the band had just been through some slight changes in the line-up - which is to be expected when you have an 11-
or 12-piece band.

Present members are: Barnie Duncan (vocals); Nick Wood (percussion); Marlon Lobo (bass); Marc Johnstone (keyboards); Elitia Clark (vocals); Trygve Wakenshaw (percussion); Martin Sutcliffe (guitar); Alistair Deverick (drums); Jim A'Hara (trombone); Glen Cossey (saxophone); Ben McNicoll (saxophone); Andrew Watts (trumpet) and Hugh Harlow (live sound).

The Hot Grits' debut release 'The Championship Sounds EP' arrived late last year on their own imprint Championship Sounds, distributed via Border Music. They are currently working on a follow-up EP which they hope will allow them to really capture that classic '60s/'70s funk soul recording style and move forward onto the next phase in their musical journey.