Harmonic Resonators

H A R M O N I C - PRESENTING -

RESONATORS

THE HARMONIC RESONATORS started out as a family jam and are now taking Aotearoa by storm. Plenty caught up with frontman Jeremy Hantler to hear about crowd-funding their new album, embracing Te Reo, and Making Yodelling Great Again TM . WORDS ANDY TAYLOR IMAGES SUPPLIED

The holy grail of many a recording artist in the age of social media is ‘going viral’. It’s proven to be a one-way ticket to a recording contract for some, and a blessed release from the day job for others. But in the deafening cacophony that is the online world in 2020, how does an up and coming country slash folk outfit cut through the noise and make a splash? Well, if you’re the Bay’s Harmonic Resonators, you release a couple of relatively low budget, high energy versions of some classic Māori waiata with a country twist – and watch it go ballistic.

Thousands have watched their Facebook videos, hundreds have left glowing comments, and the band have gone from a weekend family outing to being in high demand throughout the country. They’ve played at Tūrangawaewae Marae for the Māori King, they’ve gigged in Australia, and they’ve had so many requests for shows that they can’t keep up. It’s a far cry from squabbling over harmonies in the back of a Honda Accord. “I reckon I came out of the womb singing,” says Jeremy Hantler over a beer in Tauranga. “Our family were down at the country music club pretty much every Friday night really. My Dad had been in a band for many years and only gave it up to spend more time at home with the family – but then my parents joined a country music club and that was it. We all played and sang as a family, Dad played guitar, and Mum chose the songs and even made us matching outfits.” Hantler has an infectious laugh and the ease of someone used to being onstage, but he also has the down to earth engagement that belies his day job as a teacher. He may be the band’s front man, but he’s just one of the family at heart. “We all played and sang as a family, Dad played guitar, and Mum chose the songs and even made us matching outfits.”

“We did all sorts – funerals, parties, country music shows – and everywhere we went we were always singing harmonies in the car and arguing about who sang which part! Ah the awesome acoustics of a Honda Accord. It worked fine for a long time but then my brother’s voice broke, and then my voice broke – and we had to do a bit of rearranging of who sang what!”

“So yeah it’s fair to say I grew up with country music. But then I got out of country, studied jazz and Māori music, and came back to country about three years ago. When I moved to Tauranga, I really just started up the band as an excuse to get the family together to play; we started doing Sunday arvo pub gigs to pay for the gas and it just grew from there.”

There were a few personnel changes, but within a year the Harmonic Resonators had settled into a line-up and a groove all of their own. “Dad plays guitar, Mum sings the bangers at the end of the show, my best friend – we went to school together and were best men at each other’s weddings – is on ukulele, his Mum plays bass, and on lead guitar we have a young fulla from the country music club just to keep us from being too square.

The early Resonators gigs became something of a must-see for those in the know. Kiwi-country versions of Lorde and Adele tunes followed by singalong classics, exceptional musicianship ripping through barnstorming belters, and, um, yodelling.

“Contrary to what you may think, yodelling at the pub went down a treat.”

“Contrary to what you may think,” Hantler laughs, “yodelling at the pub went down a treat – I’m gonna get a hat that says Make Yodelling Great Again – and we were kinda playing pop stuff but giving it the country twist and people seemed to really like it. The school I was teaching at had a lot of Māori students and I worked with the kapa haka group, and one of the songs we did there was Tauranga Moana. I thought that this was a really cool song that could be a great local singalong – I really never thought so much about it or the fact that it was a Māori song.

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We’ve translated a couple of country songs into Te Reo, but mainly we just ‘countrified’ Māori waiata, and it seems to be a really good fit, both from our side as performers and the reception we get. Tauranga Moana just struck a chord with people - and to be honest I’m not sure what it actually is that people like so much! The family buzz, the surprising Te Reo Māori fluency, or just that we all look like we’re having a good time jamming – and once we put a version on Facebook everything snowballed from there. I got asked to play ANZAC day at a lot of local marae and I did a few solo, but soon realised it’s really the family band sound that makes the magic. The band got invited to play Waitangi gigs, and then Matariki gigs, then Christmas gigs and as much as we’d love to take every gig that comes our way, we also have day jobs.”

With criss-crossing the country in a Ford Transit full-time out of the question, the Resonators decided that the best way to get their music out to the masses was to record. But in the era of Everyone’s Got Talent! TV shows and shrinking record sales, the long and involved process of securing a record label seemed like too much rigmarole. Instead they took a more Kiwi, DIY approach.

“We recorded the album at Red Room studios in Puhoi, and paid the money to get it properly tracked and mastered by Chris at KOG studio. The music was way too special to cut corners on that bit,” Hantler says, “and then did some crowd-funding to get it out there. Because we did it ourselves, we asked people to pre-buy the album to pay for the printing and had 700 snapped up for Christmas – which was a really amazing result, but brought problems of its own! My wife (“Mrs Resonator”) and my Mum (“The Matriarch”) did all the postage and packaging. That was a mammoth task, but we got there.” The album, Waiata Ngahau, is a neat encapsulation of the band and also something of a celebration – it’s all there, with a great ‘live’ production sound and an assured confidence brought together by a bunch of musicians who know exactly what they are doing. The title – Waiata Ngahau – is fitting, meaning that the songs are uplifting, and spirited, and yet it almost ended up being called something else entirely. “Doing Māori songs has given us some great exposure, but that’s not why we do them. I really love those songs.”

“I had a few ideas for a title - like Me Waiata Tātou - but they had macrons in them, and I knew that this was going to be problematic for iTunes – the software sometimes doesn’t recognise macrons and we didn’t want people to love the music and then not be able to even find it! And equally we didn’t want to drop the macron because that is misspelling the word. But then my mate Steve from Parkby Projects who was doing our CD design couldn’t remember the name that I’d given him and he said, “Was it Waiata Ngahau?” And I said, “ah . . . yeah sure. Yeah that’s totally what it was!”

Which brings us to the question of what is a seemingly all-Pākehā country band doing with an album called Waiata Ngahau and performing songs in Te Reo Māori. It’s a family affair: the full Resonators lineup.

“I think people realise it’s not a token thing,” Hantler says. “I’m not gonna lie, doing Māori songs has given us some great exposure, but that’s not why we do them. I really love those songs. I’ve been going to parties where we’ve been singing them for yonks and as a music teacher I’ve been singing them with kids for ages. I understand that some people might see it from the outside and think it’s strange, but if you come along to one of our gigs you’ll see the reactions we get and it all seems to make sense. The support has been overwhelmingly positive and that’s given us the confidence to keep doing what we’re doing. I think things are changing a bit in schools now, but we have to remember that we’re not far along from when parents would complain if their kids were taught Māori songs. So even if we’re just helping to move that journey on a little bit we’re happy.” And what is next on the Harmonic Resonators journey? Having conquered Facebook, and with one successful album down; where to now? “We have to remember that we’re not far along from when parents would complain if their kids were taught Māori songs. So even if

“I’d really like to make a kids album,” says Hantler. “We get so much feedback from people about how kids love our music and we see loads of videos with kids singing along, but most of our music is not in kids’ keys, so we’d like to record some songs that they can really rip in to! Probably some old school songs, probably some Māori songs, but definitely songs that sound like they’re ‘from here’. I got to travel a bit recently and really noticed how many other cultures have really distinctive forms of folk music, songs that everyone from that place knows and can burst into at the drop of a hat. You can instantly think of Irish music, Scottish music, Balkan music, Swedish music; pretty much everywhere has something. It got me thinking ‘where are our heritage songs?’ So I’d kinda like to do something that would be a gateway to people attaching themselves to, and resonating with, music that specifically sounds like it’s from here. And I think we could do it – I reckon in some ways we’re the folkiest folk band in the country!” we’re just helping to move that journey on a little bit, we’re happy.”

They’re definitely helping us to figure out what ‘New Zealand folk music’ could be, they’re Making Yodelling Great Again, and they’re putting on brilliant shows worthy of the standing ovations they receive. You’re hopefully going to be hearing a lot more of The Harmonic Resonators in the Bay of Plenty.