Quarter Acre Lifestyle
Quarter Acre Lifestyle
We had no idea the music scene in New Zealand was so hip.
That is, until we stumbled upon Quarter Acre Lifestyle, the biggest- little- New Zealand- band- based-in-Minneapolis of which you’ve never heard.
Founded in Auckland, New Zealand by brothers Aaron and Cameron Pollock, Quarter Acre Lifestyle’s new self-titled debut features a mix of percussion-driven electronica, dark pop and enough obscure South Pacific influences that we dare not attempt to spell their names.
Audiences can catch the bi-continental fivesome throughout Minneapolis through the first half of the summer before the group sets their sites on a homecoming show at New Zealand’s Big Day Out.
We sat down with group co-founder Aaron Pollack to talk about the New Zealand mucis scene, the group’s new album and how much American coffee really really sucks. Read on…
First off, what’s the back story about the group.
Quarter Acre Lifestyle was started by me (Aaron – drums, percussion, keyboards) and my brother Cameron (bass, guitar, vocals) back in New Zealand. We’ve been playing other people’s music in mostly rock/indie guitar driven bands since teenagers, while dabbling periodically with our own music on the side. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that we really started developing a sound, and working on our own material. A year ago we decided to put this album together and do our own thing. As a rhythm section we always struggled to get our ideas considered, so we thought bugger it, we’ll do our own album.
We started rehearsing new songs, and recording older ones in the studio simultaneously. As the music progressed we added people to diversify the sound. Jack Wilcox from Minneapolis came on as a vocalist, really adding a great dimension to the sound with his voice and some of the vocal melody writing. Kristin Brown who had never been in a recording studio was next. After a chance meeting at First Ave, the next day we were in the studio, pushing her in the deep end. She’s taken to it so well. Sarah Anderson (also from Minneapolis) completes our live setup on keyboards. The band really just grew as the project did, but now it really feels like a band.
But now you’re in the states. How did you come to Minneapolis from New Zealand??
I’m a graphic designer, and I came to work in Minneapolis to further my design career. It’s a great city for design and advertising with some people working in that field who I really admire. It’s not an obvious lifestyle move from New Zealand, but as a designer looking to work among some of the best in the world it made perfect sense. I also intended to play music of course. But starting my own band and recording an album wasn’t what I was expecting to do. Cameron still lives in New Zealand and we plan to divide our time between here and there.
How would you describe the NZ music scene?
New Zealand music is the best! We’ve got an amazing amount of top quality music coming out for such a small place. It’s kind of similar to here in that people are really passionate about it, but it’s much more diverse down there. The culture is diverse and small so everyone virtually knows each other and brings their influences: England, the US, Europe, Pacific Islands, and Asia too, so it’s not so insular like it is here in the US, and it’s created an eclectic scene. Man, there’s so many bloody good New Zealand bands. There’s a great progressive break beat/ hip hop/ dub scene with a unique New Zealand flavor from groups like Che Fu, Trinity Roots, King Kapisi along with Dub outfit The Black Seeds & Fat Freddy’s Drop.
Electronica is massive with outfits like Pitch Black, Concord Dawn, Recloose.
Bic Runga is still huge in and out of New Zealand. Dimmer are awesome as are the old faithfuls like Tim and Neil Finn, who recently put Split Enz back together for a tour of Aussie. Man it’s a wicked, diverse scene, we gotta get down there!
How does the NZ scene compare to Minneapolis?
Mainly, Minneapolis feels like a guitar band town. Most weekends there’s a ton of really good bands playing that all sound the same. Sometimes I wish there was more diversity and more cross over bands mixing styles. I love Digitata, they’re fresh, Tapes n Tapes are awesome. Those bands would be received really well in New Zealand. The cool thing about Minneapolis is there’s a lot of great venues to play.
How do you think the two environments influenced this album and your sound?
With me and Cameron being the starting point for almost all the songs, it’s very rhythm driven, very percussive, and simple. Cameron still lives in New Zealand, so when he comes over to play he brings a lot of what’s cool down there. It’s almost got a bit of a South Pacific feel going on in places, even though we’re as white as sliced bread, the percussion and rhythm gives it an island flavor. The City Pages referred to the music as “Trip Popâ€, we kinda like that.
There’s also a pop/rock sensibility to some of the songs. I’m not sure if this is a Minneapolis influence more than just having played in so many rock bands over the years. It’s certainly dark in places, which I would have to say comes from these winters in Minnesota. I composed some of the tracks in a snow covered cabin in the North Woods. To be really honest though, we didn’t think too much about it. It was a really organic process, things just developed. If we heard something we liked, it stayed, if we didn’t, we trashed it.?
Is the food better in the US or NZ?
NZ. The food is way way better in New Zealand. The coffee too. I don’t know what people are thinking over here! You get coffee served in a real cup down there too. None of this paper cup stuff.
What’s your favorite track on the album?
I swing between “Tiny Patch of Sky” and “Watching Waiting.” It’s hard because they both have great vocal performances, and they both have a dynamic space to the sound. But I like all the songs for different reasons.
Well then, which single track should someone download from your site if they have one chance to hear the group?
“Tiny Patch of Sky” — It kind of has it all in terms of our sound. It was the first song we did with Kristin too. It almost didn’t make it on the album. I had it as an idea with the drums and key’s and stuff, but when Cameron put that bass line to it, and Kristin did the vocals, it was a done deal.
How was your CD release show at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis last week?
It was great. We are so grateful of Jason from the Varsity Theater for giving us the opportunity to release the CD there. It’s an awesome venue and really has it all. Great lights, great sound and atmosphere. It suited our sound really well. It was a Thursday night and we were pretty shocked at how full the place was on a School night.
Any other news or gigs coming up?
We plan to travel to New Zealand in January of ‘07 to play The Big Day Out.
It’s the South Pacific version of Lollapalooza. Me and Cameron played it once before in a previous band, so it’ll be a nice homecoming for this new band. And the Americans in the band are super keen to take the music down there.
Where can people buy the album?
CD Baby, CD Warehouse on Lake Street and Dinkytown; Electric Fetus.
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