Talking Stranger Days with Mako Road
Words by Liam Stretch. Images provided.
Stalwarts of the summer soundtrack and stage Mako Road is back making music with the release of the Stranger Days album. Days before it hit the airwaves and ahead of their nationwide tour, Liam Stretch had a chat with bandmember Connor McElrich.
The indie-rock four boy band comprises CJ on bass and back-up vocals, Robbie on drums and back-up vocals also, Rhian on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, and Connor who ‘talks shit on the microphone and lead guitar’, “because, in today’s modern society, you’ve got to be a musician and a comedian all in one,” Connor says.
“I’m working on that second part. Sometimes it goes awry,” Connor laughs.
They had their musical formation at university in Ōtautahi Christchurch and have just released their most extensive collected works since The Green Superintendent a couple of years back.
Released digitally and on vinyl on 30 July, Stranger Days is set to have an eight location Kiwi tour kicking off with a sold-out show at Auckland’s iconic PowerStation come 12 August.
Lead guitarist Connor McElrich says that the band which has roots in Garage has taken a different approach with this album, and they have steered towards the psychedelic genre, with the live tour audience in mind.
“It’s got a more minor key to it. It’s more sombre. We just wanted to lean more heavily into the psychedelic route. It’s a hell of a lot of fun to play live. That’s one of the main focuses – how can we create the best experience for our audience. We’re not thinking of the audience as people who will sit at home and listen to music with their earbuds in. We’re thinking about those who want to experience it, and psychedelic, I think is most lovely to experience.”
He says the music will be supported by the best light show they’ve ever done and that it’s ‘fully complementary’ to the psychedelic nature of the music.
It’s been a long time between beers since we’ve had some tunes from the band, and they put this down to life and Covid getting in the way. In order to get rid of these everyday distractions, the band went on a retreat. The boys packed up their bags and headed to the Waikato.
“We went just outside of Tūrangi. We had a view of the lake and a paddock out the front with all these sheep. We were out in the wops. I feel like it is so important to do that.”
Connor says the boys are stoked to be hitting the road with a supportive crew and have fond memories of their last tour; he says that playing live is what motivates the band and recalls playing in the Coromandel at Coroglen as a pivotal moment.
“I just remember being on stage and we were looking out and playing an outro, some in the audience just had their arms outstretched, like ‘give it to me. It’s not often you really hone into the audience and how they receive your music. It was at that moment when I had a realisation of ‘fuck, I love doing this. Even though sometimes it gets tough, just witnessing that reaction to our music gives you the energy to really make the most of it.”
When asked what the plans are beyond the tour, the boys were hoping to get overseas and have their fingers crossed that the Australian leg of the tour in September will go ahead, which is, of course, dependent on the Trans-Tasman bubble.
Once again, New Zealand fans are amongst the luckiest in the world, and we can catch Mako Road at two shows in Auckland, and individual shows in Wellington, Napier, Hamilton, Tauranga, Christchurch, and Dunedin.