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A lot can happen in three years, but the more things change the more they stay the same for OpShop as they steady themselves for the release of sophomore album 'Second Hand Planet'.
Far from being anything negative, that of course is good news for fans of the band's 2004 debut album 'You Are Here', which achieved platinum status in New Zealand on the back of a steady stream of high rotate singles.
Songs like 'No Ordinary Thing', 'Secrets' and 'Saturated' won favour across both major and independent radio formats, quickly entering New Zealand's musical lexicon and offering the impression that these old school friends were more old school than their short time in the national (and international) spotlight may have suggested.
The old school connection was indeed the catalyst for the band's beginning, lead singer/guitarist Jason Kerrison, along with guitarists Matt Treacy and Tim Skedden all shared an appetite for music that may have had the brothers at the Christchurch Catholic Boy's School St Bede's reaching for the rosary beads or their cane - whichever was closest at hand.
It is an appetite best explained by Kerrison:
"Well we first had to steal the hall key from the caretaker who was one of the preists at the school. Then we made a copy of it and every Sunday we'd just let ourselves in and jam all day."
With school behind them the trio formed their first band Vivid together and Kerrison finessed his onstage and song writing talents with a constant regime of solo performances and touring to compliment his role with the group. Treacy laughingly recalls that Vivid felt like a Living Colour covers band. A fact that seems somewhat serendipitous when you consider that Danny Saber, who engineered Lving Colour's 'Collide0scope' album (as well as working with Bowie, U2 and The Rolling Stones to name a few), was called upon to mix 'You Are Here' in LA.
While Vivid may not have lasted, the foundations for a successful band dynamic has been well laid and the three again joined forces to form OpShop in 2002, this time with help from Bobby Kennedy on drums and expatriate Briton Ian Munro on bass.
The group clicked, signing to Siren Records in 2003 and releasing 'You Are Here' the very next year to audiences hungry for more meaningful rock socks. Industry insiders had predicted good things for the group based on their abilities individually and as a complete act, and their impact was immediate and refreshing. A total of six singles rose through the ranks of the Top Ten Rock Charts and a re-release in May 2005 introduced four new tracks, including 'Oxygen', to the band's growing fan base.
While 'You Are Here' certainly placed OpShop firmly on the topographical map of New Zealand music, the band conceds that the debut experience was not without its moments of doubt and folly.
With production and mixing based in the States, Kerrison recalls feeling isolated from the process and says that the experience was alternately frustrating and alarming - more a sign of the band's complete approach to music making and their belief in their songs than any signal that a control freak nature pervades.
Working the debut hard on tour and through publicity took its toll on OpShop and soon something had to give. Tim Skedden's family commitments led to his agonising but inevitable decision to leave the band and shortly after that Ian Munro repatriated himself with his native Britan.
The departures didn't so much create a hole as leave a giant vortex, one which could have easily swallowed the remaining members (Kerrison, Treacy and Kennedy) and spit them out somewhere on the flipside of the business. All three would agree that during the personnel changes there were times when it looked like the whole thing was derailed. Kerrison recalls being left especially vulnerable from a song writing perspective.
"It was frustrating to lose Time because he had always been by my side from a creative point of view from school right through to the production of the first album."
"When you're used to having that sounding board and that input from someone, it makes it doubly tough to move on without them. From a performance perspective we had also lost a good guitarist too. So year, it was battle."
Perserverance, as they say, pays dividends, and with songs from 'You Are Here' still finding fertile ground on commercial networks two years after release, the new four-piece OpShop was ready to once again enter the studio and lay down the tracks for 'Second Hand Planet' - the 11-track chapter two that continues a fine tradition of engagingly impassioned story telling through Kerrison's strong lyrics and the band's ability to find harmony from a chaotic collection of subject matter.
Band Members:
Jason Kerrison (vocals, guitar)
Matt Treacy (guitar)
Bobby Kennedy (drums)
Clint Harris (bass)
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