Feature Friday: Taking a Picture of Odds and Ends
Everyone’s faces when gigs can resume again! From L-R: Luan, Koen, Max and Jonathan.
Cool cats, Odds and Ends, have finally released a new single, Picture, after a long hiatus of not chucking their music out for us and I’m so glad they are back on their creative grind as their tunes are fun and tell some great stories! For this reason, I am proud to say that Odds and Ends are the Feature Friday for this week. I caught up with vocalist, Koen Aldershof, from the band to have a wee chat!
Odds and Ends describe themselves as being like fruit salad - filled with juicy melodies, tasty songs and sweet harmonies. I believe this is one thing that we can all agree on. Their rock sounds really bring out the best of what the band has to offer and though they’ve been doing this for the past three years, they aren’t stopping soon and are making their comeback to rock your socks off. Grab a tea, pop them on your Spotify and have a read to find out what the guys are all about.
—
Tune in next week for another amazing local artist on Feature Friday!
—
The very thoughtful artwork for Picture, available now!
Your new single, Picture, has just come out! What can you tell me about it?
Koen: Picture isn’t musically unlike other music we’ve put out, but lyrically it goes into way more serious stuff. I remember rocking up to work one day - don’t get me wrong, my job is awesome and I love it - but I simply started feeling off, like something was wrong. I started asking myself the big questions such as “what am I doing here? Is this what I want to spend my time on? Time is limited, what is life’s worth?” and these type of tangents got me quite down. So, I called up my friend who I know lives around the corner and we had a cup of tea and she basically is this genius at letting me figure it out by myself. She is brilliant and should be a psychiatrist.
That’s the start of the song. “Oh I’ve been thinking about all of the things we said aloud.” The story develops from there but the chorus lyrics are that I still haven’t figured it out, but that’s okay. The story here is like a full circle, I started out feeling that something was wrong and I end up not knowing what it is. Bringing me back to the start.
Favourite thing to do in lockdown? [At time of publication, New Zealand is in a nationwide level 4 lockdown - the toughest restrictions]
Koen: Sadly, we are all in different bubbles. We all have very nice home setups so we can record and mix anything we want, we realise that we are very lucky to [be able to do that]! The last few lockdowns, we did a few covers of songs we love, like our cover of I Want You Back by the Jackson 5. Max recorded with pots, pans, tupperware and a wine glass instead of a drum kit for that one. Long story short, we love keeping ourselves busy. Also, I’ve been watching Parks and Recreation on Netflix and I can definitely recommend it here! My flat also loves card and board games. Sadly, I wasn’t able to score a game of Catan before the lockdown, so we’re about to make one out of cardboard - DIY all the way!
Fun in the sun!
What has been the top achievement as a band that you guys have had so far?
Koen: Mmm, that’s a tough one. I recently found out that when we released our second single, City of Sails in September 2019, it charted at #46 in the iTunes Rock Top 200, that was pretty awesome! I guess you could say that is somewhat an achievement. I mean, we’ve been at this for the last 3 years and to be honest, it’s been a very steady climb. We haven’t won any awards or whatever, we just put in the mahi and once its done, we go on. We are lucky enough to be able to gig with mates and have a good time in a safe environment, not very rock and roll, I know, but that’s what we aim for, so that’s an achievement for us!
Dream musician/s that you’d love to perform with?
Koen: Oh, there are a few. There are many, actually. But realistically, I am crossing my fingers, toes and eyes we get to support Kings of Leon on their upcoming tour over here! I have already contacted the touring agency and that little spark of hope is slowly growing into what will likely be a bush fire by the time they announce the opening act.
You can only shop at one store for the rest of your life (supermarkets are exempt!). Which store would you choose and why?
Koen: Easy. Op shops. I can’t stand branded clothing etc. where a piece of cotton gets a logo and suddenly it’s $80. You’ll find the exact same thing, if not better quality for $5 in an op shop. I have actually started buying blank t-shirts, long sleeves, crewnecks, hats, beanies and bucket hats from op shops with the idea to sell them on as merch. I’ve bought a bunch of custom “Odds and Ends” patches to sew onto the clothing and make them our merchandise products! Think about it, upcycling is a whole other ball game. I am quite excited about it! These clothes, which will likely have been made by underpaid people overseas, sometimes children, were thrown out, that’s a massive waste!
I recently read that at the moment, figures show that of the textiles manufactured each year, 12% are lost during manufacturing in the form of cutting and production waste, 75% are sent to landfill by consumers, 12% are put back in the system through donating or recycling and less than 1% are regenerated into new fibre for new clothes. I am encouraging people to go op shopping and if you like our music as well, you can recycle clothes by buying our merch, giving clothes that have been thrown out another chance. We don’t have the merch ready yet, but of course you can follow us on any social media platform and we’ll let you know when they are ready.
—
Big thanks to Koen for answering the questions and being Welcome to the Gig’s Feature Friday for this week! Love the guys’ work and it will be exciting to see their next steps within the industry. It goes to show the hard mahi is worth it.
You can follow Odds and Ends below -
Instagram
Spotify
If you would like to be considered for future Feature Fridays, please DM me on Instagram here.
*ALL photos provided by Koen.