Earning Their Keep

After the critical and commercial success of their fifth album Delta last year, New Zealand's Shapeshifter have been touring non-stop to promote it throughout their homeland and Australia. Now the band are set for a lengthy international tour starting in Europe in April that also includes dates in the US and Canada, both firsts for a band that's played together almost 14 years.

“It's always really, really nerve-wracking but at the same time it's the most rewarding,” founding member and synth player Devin Abrams admits of touring new places. “You go to places and pretty much your audience hardly knows you so you've got to really earn that crowd straight off the bat.

“In Australasia and Europe, people know our music so well that it's a party straightaway. In new places you've got to work your arse off to get that crowd engaged, and it's really rewarding when you pull it off.”

While the prospect of playing to unfamiliar faces might be nerve-wracking, Abrams says the five-piece are excited to get back to Australia to build up extra confidence for the North American tour.

“I'm probably most excited about Perth to be honest, it's probably our biggest crowd in Australia. To be able to get over 2000 people every time we play there now is just huge so we're always really excited to play there, and obviously stoked to give Adelaide and Byron Bay a gig 'cause we missed them out on our album tour so hopefully there will be some happy campers there.”

Currently the band are putting the finishing touches on a new EP, which they made with New Zealand production duo The Upbeats. Apart from their own success, the pair are known by fans for their work mixing Shapeshifter's last album. Abrams says this time round, the duo is on an equal playing field with the band in terms of creative input.

“The writing process didn't really change at all,”Abrams says. “But we definitely had to let go a little bit when we brought them onboard and let their opinions percolate and have value so it was definitely different but I really enjoyed it. In fact, we enjoyed it so much we pretty much said to them straightaway we want to do another album together so we really enjoyed working with them.”

And for those looking for a little more to chew on, a new LP is also on the cards. “We'll drop this EP in September but then we're straight back into the studio [to] start writing the next album and bring The Upbeats onboard again to help us.”