Next up on our Aotearoa Music Month deep dives is the 2022 album Trees from Avantdale Bowling Club.
When talking about Avantdale Bowling Club, it’s impossible not to talk about their characteristic frontman and leader, Tom Scott (not the famous American saxophonist). Scott is a bit of a New Zealand icon, and over the years has had multiple projects that have been quintessentially Kiwi, namely @ Peace and Home Brew. These projects have been jazz-inspired in their beats and featured conscious and often rather political raps from Scott, which also tackled drugs, addiction and mental health, often put in terms specific to New Zealand. For this reason, I think that in many ways Scott and his work has been overlooked on an international level. New Zealand is such a small country in the scale of things, and his work is simply not relatable enough to appeal to worldwide audiences, despite its undeniable quality and lyricism which rivals some of the greatest in the world.
On top of this, like many musicians from the pre-streaming era, the group were fucked over by record representatives, and did not own the rights to some of their most successful music, in particular their debut self-titled album. They regained the rights in 2023, which they celebrated with a tour of New Zealand and a re-release of their debut album on vinyl, marketed as an 11-year edition, but it put a handbrake on potential success. The beats, courtesy of longtime friend and producer, Haz Beats, are intricate and clean and the lyrics are thought-provoking, but it hasn’t translated to the commercial success that one might expect, until recently.
Avantdale Bowling Club has once again put the collective crew of Scott and his friends back in people’s ears, in a much more jazzy form, featuring live recordings of instruments and band work, which all feature in their live performances these days, which I highly recommend getting to if you ever have a chance. With the control back in their hands, it seems they are finally getting to enjoy the success they deserve. They recently released a great doco-series discussing the details of their rise to Kiwi stardom if you’re interested. It’s called Run It Back, and came out prior to the release of their new album (under Homebrew) at the end of 2023. I think this docoseries really puts into perspective the importance this album and group have to many Kiwis, with it being so relatable and personal to our culture.
Sorry for the detour, but it’s essential to paint that picture. Anyways, Trees is the second album from this chapter of Scott’s musical journey, branded as Avantdale Bowling Club. Following on from their self-titled debut, as the name and cover suggest, the common theme running through this album is trees, more specifically weed. However, as any fan of Scott and Co’s work would expect, it’s not the typical approach to the subject and is a lot more real about the topic of consumption and the political and societal connotations that come with it.
The album comments on the policing, supply to the market and society’s view on it within New Zealand, as well as Scott’s relationship with weed. Having just narrowly failed to pass a legalisation law through a referendum in New Zealand, this album feels like a time-shot of the country’s situation, with Scott always giving his opinion concisely, but not without internal conflict.
It’s a great album and in my opinion some of the group’s best work. While their earlier work may resonate with their fans more and hold a dearer place in their heart, musically this one is tough to beat. The combination of live instruments, alongside Tom’s now more experienced and more, shall we say levelled takes on the world around him is poignant and combines for a complete and impactful album.
Below is another great video of the band performing some of the tracks from Trees in a medley, displaying their musical abilities, as well as a short film released alongside the album.
