South Auckland rock and hip-hop band Valkyrie is known for its mix of moody theatrical sounds combined with powerful anthems.
But, with its new album Joyride about to be released, band members Omer Gilroy (Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Tahu) and Rebel Reid (Ngāpuhi) talked to teaomāori.news today, explaining the album's title is exactly what it is.
“Just chuck it on the radio or your Bluetooth device, hop in the car and then drive as far as you can with the gas you’ve got, with your friends in the car," Reid says. "It’s just a fun album.”
Valkyrie drops into the studio to talk all things Joyride.
Jesse Pakipaki and Joshua Dolan, along with Gilroy and Reid, make up the multi-genre sound of Joyride. The album includes a 'headbanger' rock tune called Woodstock, songs influenced by punk rock in the 90s, and features the already-released single from two weeks ago Lights Go Down.
Reid says her band is the Māori version of No Doubt, the American punk rock band fronted by well-known Grammy-award-winning artist Gwen Stefani.
On the wild side
They wrote Joyride and recorded it in the US.
“We recorded in this studio where Fleetwood Mac recorded, and we were the only Māori that had been there,” Reid says.
“We got a private tour there, which is very rare because the place is booked out,” Gilroy says. “It was just really crazy. Then we shot our [music] videos while we were there in the Californian desert.”
“This is a rocky, edgy Valkyrie that’s coming out. We’re playing with more of our wild side as Valkyrie. I think we’re over perfection; we just want to rock out and make music that feels freeing and a bit wilder,” Gilroy says.
The band has achieved some milestones already, having played at Splore Festival three times. Its debut EP went straight to the top of the NZ Heatseekers charts and it also opened for the country’s biggest band, Six60.
Joyride is due for release on November 25.
Watch the band's live performance of Lights Go Down here!
