Raphaella sat down pre-show with Sofia Machray and her band to chat about big sounds, how to write a setlist, and their favourite two song show.
The big A0 poster for Sofia Machray had been sitting on the wall outside Turoa Lodge Pub for a couple weeks, getting me psyched for the sounds they’d bring to our little corner of Ohakune. As has been my experience of living and working in Ohakune this winter, everything feels like we’re still on holiday. So when Sofia and her band rolled through, I was happy as Larry to have a sweet, casual little interview with them in the upstairs makeshift green room.
Sofia’s project started out as a solo one, but around the middle of last year, she hinted about hitting somewhat of a wall with the sound. She described it like hearing spaces within her songs where she imagined there could be drums and bass lines to be. And once she’d imagined a song fleshed out like that, the idea became a necessity. And so, the soundhouse was formed with Anna on drums, Robbie on guitar and Devon on bass with a multitude of new opportunities to explore and fresh sounds to discover. It was agreed by all members that with a full band, bigger sounds can be created, and songs can be injected with grandiosity.
To start things off we chatted venues. As this was pre-show, Turoa Lodge was exempt from the ranking (but surely it will take the cake now).They all paid homage to Caroline Bar (Rest In Peace) but had recently been enjoying Valhalla as a sweet musical corner of Welly. However, Anna chimed in with a different take –
Anna: I think my weird favourite one was magic gardens at the soundshell, we did an acoustic set and it was cool because there were little kids dancing at the front and you never get to see kids at these venues – it was like aw look at them in their little tutus!
Sofia: That was a special moment. There are so many different versions of this project, that [show] was just us three, so Anna goes on the Cajon (box drum) and I go on my acoustic guitar. So, it’s this very stripped back, still a full sound but yeah very stripped back.
I also wanted to ask about the process of making a setlist. What goes where? How do you decide?
Sofia: We more or less start and end with the same two songs, this first song Jazz School is very like attention grabbing with these huge chugs at the start - so it’s very much demanding attention from the crowd straight away because it’s like [here’s some] noise!
Robbie: It always feels wrong if we don’t close with Haze as well.
Sofia: Yeah Haze is very euphoric, kind of coming in a circle like we’re saying goodbye, it feels full, so we always end on that one. Actually, at Magic Gardens we got cut off on that one because the lady was like – you have no more time!
Robbie: Nah I reckon it was because we were swearing in the song beforehand!
Oh, they must have been like – ‘Children in tutus! What were you thinking!’
Robbie: We were so guttered, felt so empty inside. It was funny though like our favourite set we played like two songs.
Later when the night got underway and the band jumped on stage, I had the pleasure of hearing those two songs at the beginning and end, and oh man they were right! The whole pub was pulled straight in from the get-go, and by the end of the set the dancing, moving crowd were adoring the bliss of ‘Haze’. Speaking of, @Sofiamachray could you please put that track on Spotify or something? Please and thank you. Anyway, I can say with certainty that Sofia and the band brought some definite joy to the Lodge and I’ll definitely be chasing down their next show to be serenaded by those tunes again.
We rounded out our little green room interview with a chat about the New Zealand music industry on the whole, and specifically, the experience of being a female-led band in a largely male-dominated environment.
Sofia: I think it’s a good time at the moment, I think people are realizing it’s been an issue and acknowledging that. But also, obviously you see the Bay Dreams line up and you get really mad. [I] saw someone recreated the line-up with female musicians, and there’s so much female talent out there! So, things like that frustrate me, but I feel like in Wellington especially people recognise that.
Robbie: Being a straight white dude in the music industry, it’s important to be active in promoting women in the industry and stepping back and being like nah this isn’t my place right now.
Sofia: Like, there have been male fronted bands who have said to us, no you should be headlining [too].
We chatted for a while about all this, and I noted how much more often these important topics came up in conversation these days. It was the sensation of inertia that felt good, like these issues might not be as immovable as I first thought. Anna noted this too in the big names we were seeing emerge and thrive -
Anna: I was talking to a friend the other day and we noticed how most of the top artists in New Zealand at the moment; Benee, The Beths, Miss June, they’re all female fronted, which is really cool to see. Particularly compared to a few years ago.
After a lovely green room hang, and an absolutely banging set, the rest of the gig was spent having a boogie and bop to Zozo, a treat to end the night. Catch Sofia Machray and the band play in Dunedin and Welly later this month at Valhalla!
All Images by Raphaella Holder-Monk
Sofia Machray by Raphaella Holder-Monk
