The Heart of L.A.B.

Hearty, homegrown music is what keeps the music industry alive in New Zealand. That’s a fact. As is Kiwi custom, listening to classic homegrown musicians is a go-to for many a Kiwi playlist. The songs of Dave Dobbyn, Neil Finn, Tiki Taane or The Exponents permeate freely to the sounds of our glorious nation. Being able to drift away on a hot summer’s day with a pint of something bubbly and listening to music that allows you to soar, or climb or transport you somewhere different.

One Kiwi band that has firmly fixed themselves in the tapestry of New Zealand music is L.A.B. For those of you who haven’t heard them, their music is legendary. An eclectic mix of blues, reggae, electronics and funk all wrapped into one.

Formed in 2016 by brothers Brad and Stuart Kora (of the band, Kora), and quickly engaging the talents of lead-vocalist, Joel Shadbolt, Miharo Gregory as keyboardist, and Ara Adams-Tamatea on bass, their sound grew and grew.

They released their debut self-titled album in 2017, to critical acclaim. They’re sound and vibe truly resonated with their listeners achieving three-times Platinum status from the off-set. It even went straight to number one on the iTunes Album Charts, spending over 100 weeks in the New Zealand Top 20 Album charts. The single from the debut album, ‘Controller’ actually has become a modern NZ anthem!

From the very beginning, they’ve been hitting the ground running, playing at every big festival in New Zealand (and abroad), winning heaps of coveted prizes for their work, and growing their legions of devoted fans along the way.

With five successful albums under their belt, they’re set to release their sixth at the end of February, called L.A.B. VI.

M2 got the rad opportunity to sit down with the lead vocalist, Joel Shadlock, and talk about music, touring and dream collaborations.

Who is number one on your Spotify at the moment? Who are you listening to?

Oh man, I am listening to a lot of Freddie King, who’s an old blues guitarist from the States. He’s an incredible performer and guitarist. He’s great. He’s one of Eric Clapton’s biggest influences. The three Kings of the Blues are BB King, Freddie King and Albert King. Freddie is the performer out of the three. He’s got the swagger.

What other genres of music most appeal to you?

I’m into all sorts of stuff. I mean, I think the big thing for L.A.B. is that we explore different styles of music in our songwriting. We’ve got songs on our latest album [L.A.B. VI] that have that rock kind of feel with that blues feel mixed in.

So in the studio, do you just start with a blank canvas and then let the sound do the walking?

Yeah, the styles can go all over the place. I think this latest album has got a healthy mix of kind of soul, R&B and blues mixed with reggae.

What can you tell me about L.A.B. VI?

I guess it’s just that next chapter of L.A.B. We’re constantly experimenting with different sounds and feeling out the studio. We’ve spent a little bit longer on this album, which I think has been a necessary process. We’ve been taking little steps back from trying to write an album for a year. We took two years on this one and slowed down a bit. I guess that’s due to the amount of touring that we’ve been doing as well.

It was necessary; we just needed that space to be more creative and not have so much pressure on the band. We just spent a bit longer on the album and I think the payoff was we got to simmer on some of these songs and work on them. We got to come home from the studio and be brutally honest with ourselves about what we were putting out just because we had the time to sit on these tracks. I’m pumped for this next album. The people that we’ve shown have been blown away with the product and the sound and where we’re going in the direction of the sound of L.A.B.

It’s a nerve-wracking thing, closing it off. I reckon that’s the hardest part of this. Finishing it and we’ve been lucky to do that seven times now. It’s always rewarding when you sit back and feel proud.

Can you explain to me what your creative process is?

I experiment a lot on the guitar and as a songwriter, I would say I’m more of a collaborator in the sense of songwriting with the boys. Brad [Kora] is our drummer and producer in L.A.B., and he’s the main songwriter. Brad oversees everything creative. He harnesses that and pulls it all together and that’s how we create the songs in the studio.

So, it could be anything from me playing a guitar riff, like in ‘Take It Away’. I was just doodling on the guitar one day and he goes: ‘play that again’ and we framed something around that. He’s just got the ear for hearing those little things, and he can see the vision nearly straight away. We write in that sense. We start with a small idea in the studio, a blank canvas basically, and then we build the song in the studio together. Back in the day when we were writing the first couple of albums, we were certainly nowhere near where we are now. It was a very different process back then. Now everyone chips in. Between chord progressions and melody choices and lyrics, it all comes from us—then Ara, our bass player, and Stu, they’ve got their sound going on too. They wrote a beautiful track on this next album together called, ‘I Believe’. One take, one day. I’m stoked that it’s made the new album.

So creativity…it comes from all sorts of places. The process is never the same. The main thing with L.A.B. is it’s always done as a collective and a collaboration. Brad is one of the most hard-working artists. The amount of creativity that comes out of that man is unbelievable. He does a lot of stuff at home, but then when he comes to the studio, we’re always blown away.

What has been the best experience that you guys have had on stage?

We’ve had a lot of special experiences on stage, man. It’s been fun. I would say recently we played in Amsterdam at a place called Paradiso. It’s a very well-known venue on the European circuit. The crowd in that room was just magic, man. The Rolling Stones have played there. Nirvana too. The Sex Pistols, ACDC—the greats. The amount of musical moments that had probably happened on that stage. So it was really special to play at that venue and to have a European crowd sing back to us our songs. For the last six or seven years we haven’t had that opportunity. It was like a meeting of two cultures. After the show, the audience was coming up for photos and autographs. We signed vinyls and met people from Switzerland, Finland and all sorts of places. It was special.

Any touring plans for L.A.B. VI? I noticed guys are playing Vegas soon?

Yeah, we’re just flying in, playing, and flying out of Vegas. We’re playing a reggae festival called Holo Holo. It’ll be our second time in Vegas. The first time we played Vegas with a guy called Maoli from Hawaii. He’s done quite well on the West Coast. We’re super pumped to be going back. As well as Vegas we’re hitting a lot of the States along the West Coast.

We’re going to be dropping the album next on Friday. And then the following day we’re playing at Electric Avenue in Christchurch. Then the following week we go over to Hawaii for a couple of shows in Waikiki and Maui. Then we head to Homegrown in NZ and Blues Fest in Byron Bay. Those are two great festivals. I mean, we love playing Homegrown. It’s always been a magic show playing with all the Kiwi artists that are there. It’s a really special moment to celebrate New Zealand music. Blues Fest is our second time back there in Aussie. That festival was definitely on the bucket list when we first started as a band. This is all tied in with the album release. Hopefully, we can fit in a couple of New Zealand shows too.

What would be the piece of advice you would give to your youngest self?

Look after yourself.

I often wonder how differently things would’ve played out if I’d taken that advice when I was 21. A lot of athletes talk about it. I guess it’s all hindsight. It’s hard to know when to harness that. To look after yourself…I want to do this forever.

Who would be the person that you want to collaborate with most, living or dead?

I’d love to sit in a room with Prince. Just to see him work as a musician and a producer and a songwriter would be unbelievable because he was a weapon.

What is the best advice you have been given?

I think just follow your intuition and listen to yourself. People have been around incredibly encouraging people. I’m a doer. I do things to make myself feel better, mentally and physically. I’m in an industry where it’s hard on the body and the mind to make it a long career, you know. So many people fail regarding their health and I’m an advocate to keep myself in check.

After talking to a few musicians that are on a recovery path, whether it be sobriety, or they’re in a place where they’re trying to get longevity out of their careers. The advice I get from them is to treat yourself with love and respect. Otherwise, you’ll burn out. It’s such an unforgiving job because your body needs to get you through so much stuff. You know, you play that show on a Friday night, then you sleep for three hours, get up at 7 a.m., you hop in the van, you go to the next place, and you do it all again. It’s incredibly tiring and can be emotionally and physically draining on the body and the soul.

I look up to people like Dave Dobbyn and Neil Finn. These guys that are still doing it, man. They’re in their 60’s. Neil Finn got the phone call from Fleetwood Mac at what age? You know, it just shows you that the opportunities never stop coming in, if you just keep to your love for the music. You know, I wanna be a guy that’s an advocate looking after yourself.