1 minute read
Racing
Interview Florence Noble
Photography Damien Van Der Vlist
Advertisement
RACING are a four-piece rock & roll band from Devonport, Auckland, comprised of Izaak Houston (Drums), Ed Knowles (Vocals), Sven Pettersen (Guitar) and Dan Barrett (Bass)
Their sound is hypnotic and groovy, laced with a dance-sensibility that often extends their live sets into the A.M.
RACING’s front-man Ed Knowles talks with me, my mother & my American Airbnb guest, Ayza.
Mother: Why did you call the band Racing?
Something about the word always appealed to me. I have tried several times to weave it into lyrics. It has a nice shape and is balanced somehow. And I like the meaning of it. It’s an exciting word that feels loaded with momentum.
Ayza: I know nothing. Is this your first band?
First band was called The Checks, we were together for ten years from when we were fourteen years old. And that was a good time. We learnt how to write songs, how to perform. I couldn’t play or sing or anything at the start of it. I just liked the idea of being in a band really. But slowly learnt how to play guitar and piano, enough to write a song at least. Lyrics were always something that was more of a natural thing for me. The guys in The Checks helped me so much because they were naturally talented and already pretty competent. I was so lucky to have those guys, in a musical sense, and for them to carry me as a performer. Ayza: So when you were fourteen and you were like - ’I wanna be in a band that looks so dope’ - Who were you looking at? It was The Strokes. The first album came out when we were in the third form. The clothes, the music, the energy. I remember Sven brought their CD around to my house and we looked through the artwork, they just seemed so cool. It was the first time I thought ‘this somehow relates to a part of me I’ve never had an outlet for.’ And then it spread into The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who and The Doors and this whole web of music. Bob Dylan. Pink Floyd.
................... read more in the first issue.
