Lazuli evolves from winter jams
Playing “soulful funky folk with deep global roots”, a new band called Lazuli makes its public debut tomorrow night (12 December) at the Brigand.
Lazuli is made up of experienced musicians Tina Bridgman, (guitar and vocals), Sam Hopley (piano, guitar and vocals), Purple (bass) and Dale Westerink (drums).
“We worked out that between us we’ve played in 32 different bands in about a dozen countries and appeared on 23 albums,” said Tina.
“I was in a Dunedin band called Seaweed Candle with Dale in about 1989,” said Purple. “Now I’m lucky enough to be living in the Bay and enjoying the relaxed and genuine people here.”
The band evolved after Dale, Purple, Sam and Tina jammed together through last winter and realised there was plenty of good chemistry among them.
“We’d start with a structure and then we’d start to play off each other,” explained Purple. “Someone would take off and the rest would follow. We’ll be looking to play off the energy of the audience at our gigs in similar ways. It’s really refreshing in the fact that we can approach a piece of music in a new way every time we play it. Dale might start a song off with a reggae kind of beat, but another night the song might be much jazzier.”
Explaining the motivation behind Lazuli’s formation and the thrill of playing live gigs, Tina said, “This band is about being true to the musicality in ourselves, but for me it’s also about freedom of spirit. If one little part of me can inspire people to know that they can do anything, I’ll be pleased. It’s got to be fun too, of course.”
Lazuli – named after the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli, often associated with awareness and insight – will play about 80 per cent original material, but Sam warns gig-goers to keep an ear out for the band’s highly original fusion of Fever and Dark Side of the Moon.
Neil Wilson
