Guest #mycarryID :: Electric Wire Hustle

by Mike, August 24, 2015

Our first in a series of guest #mycarryIDs welcomes to the carry stage Electric Wire Hustle. A New Zealand band whose sweet blend of R&B, soul and electronica has brought them acclaim from the likes of The Roots, Mos Def and Usher to name a few. Demand for their live show has seen EWH perform in 18 countries, jamming at festivals such as Glastonbury, SXSW, Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide, New York’s CMJ and The Roots Picnic.

Whilst travelling and performing, they’ve finely honed their travel and carry skills, with more than a few interesting tales collected along the way. So we slipped in during their busy schedules to chat music, carry and staying open to new adventures with band member, Taay Ninh…

1) Rad ID! But which three pieces best represent who you are? You know, you are what you carry.

Man – it’s tough to narrow it down to just three! If I had to though…

– ALLSAINTS biker jacket : Nearly all my jackets are from ALLSAINTS but this is my staple and a gift from my lady.

– Vinylize Jackson’s : Night or day, rain, hail, shine – have to have my sunnies on hand to mitigate all sides of touring and performing.

– Bronze cube necklace : This was gifted to me by my amazing friend Eve and is my good luck stage charm. Manifest!

Electric Wire Hustle

2) Hit us with a rad travel tip or tour story.

How about both?

Travel tip: It’s all about your carry-on bag. Your carry-on is what we call the life bag. Titled because if everything else goes missing – this is all you have to get by! Hard-drives, passports, controllers, travel garb, notebooks, paracetamol, serato — all of it. Never skimp on your carry-on.

Tour story: You always want the last night of tour to be large. One of my favorite endings was after a show at La Bellevilloise in Paris where we had been playing alongside Sa-Ra, Dâm-Funk and Peanut Butter Wolf. After the show, while looking for the after after party, a group of travelers invited us to a jam session in a quiet arrondissement some half an hour away. This turned out to be the site of a monthly all-night jam session that jazz musicians from in and around Paris would travel to be a part of. It took place in the open-plan hash-hazed apartment of a 60-year-old alto sax player. It was an amazing night-come-morning. I felt like we were continuing on from Dexter Gordan or something like that.

“Your carry-on is what we call the life bag. Titled because if everything else goes missing – this is all you have to get by!”

When traveling I say always stay open – you never know what you might come across.

3) What’s your favourite place on earth? Why?

Each year my little family heads away to a small bay in the Marlborough Sounds called Kaireperepe — it’s our little sanctuary and nothing else compares. You have water, beach, a good fire place and if we’re lucky a few Blue Cod to fish and cook for meals. Cell reception is limited – so it’s truly an escape from the usual everyday hustle.

“When traveling I say always stay open – you never know what you might come across.”

4) What’s jammin’ in your iPod? Besides EWH, ha!

So much at the moment – high times for good music! These albums in particular are on high rotate: Jamie XX’s ‘In Colour’, Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s ‘Multi-love’, Kendrick’s ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ and The Internet’s ‘Ego Death’.

5) What’s next for EWH?

We’ve been busy in the studio as of late finishing a new EP called Aeons. The EP comes out on August 28th via Bastard Jazz and Loop Recordings and is part of a full album by the same name. In true EWH tradition it was written and collated in many different spots around the world. It also features collaborations with two of our favourite artists (also from Aotearoa) Kimbra and Deva Mahal. The painting is by my two-year-old daughter.

6) What do you carry on?

1 MacBook Pro and North Face case
2 Vintage Monsieur de Givenchy
3 Korg LPK controller
4 EWH x Rogue Society limited edition ‘Aeons’ Gin bottle
5 ALLSAINTS Biker Jacket
6 Sennheiser HD25 headphones
7 Vinylize Jackson sunglasses
8 Leather bracelet
9 Bronze cube necklace
10 Jose Bribiesca ring
11 Joe Sheehan pounamu 45 stop
12 First ring from my beautiful wife
13 My busted up 4S
14 Penguin classic – Sun Tzu to hype me up.
15 Latest issue of Monocle
16 Wallet customized with chain
17 Muji paper document case with passport & Moleskine
18 EWH tote bag from Wonderful Noise
19 Def ‘Capital D’ cap
20 Nike Roshe Runs
21 Alchemy Equipment ‘Carry-On’ 45L (for the plane, stage and DJ booth)