TFF

by Einstein Music Journal Post to Twitter

When I interviewed Andrew Wilson from Die! Die! Die! a few months ago we spoke briefly about the state of music in Dunedin. He had this to say, “It’s probably the best I think it’s been since I left there when I was about 18.” A few months later I met up with Andrew in Wellington and quizzed him about some bands I should check out from Dunedin. One of the bands he mentioned was Gate, the solo project of Michael Morley, vocalist and guitarist in The Dead C. Another band he mentioned was TFF, a band previously recommended to me by members of Moron Says What after Camp A Low Hum 2009.

Last week I asked TFF if they’d kindly send me a couple of songs and a bio so I could do a wee write-up on them.  The band’s drummer Rory MacMurdo sent me a rather strange email, with no bio or information of any sort about the band, and a couple of songs which he said “people could download, but only for sexual favours”. I have since done some digging around and found out a little bit about TFF, so here goes.

Influenced by post-punk and no-wave, ranging from an assortment of Justin Pearson bands, including The Locust, to the uncompromising, anti-conformist attitude of PiL, TFF chisel a noisy, hardcore punk sound with skilsaw cutting guitars slicing their way through a disjointed collision of speedy rhythms and chaotic drumming. The band was formed in 2005 by MacMurdo and Lisandru Grigorut (vocals/guitar) and later picked up Miki Treadwell (synth) and Harley Jones (bass). Like many young high school bands, they have come through Rockquest, winning the Otago Regional final in 2008.

Still in high school in 2009, the band has already released two EPs, a demo EP titled Jones and another EP of higher quality recordings called Irregardless. Currently the EPs are only available at TFF’s live shows. Their songs all have a very noisy, but somehow cohesive sound that hasn’t been witnessed in New Zealand since Die! Die! Die! released their fantastic debut album in 2005. Undoubtedly the most exciting young noise band in Dunedin, if not the entire country, TFF is taking more than just the standard punk rock elements and throwing them into songs that average two and a half minutes. Download ‘Way To Go’ and listen to the rest of the band’s music on myspace, it presents a pretty strong case.

 TFF- Way To Go: MP3

 TFF- Myspace