Local band making its international mark

30 August 2019

A band of budding artists right here in Palmerston North are breaking into the international market with one of their latest recordings which has been picked up by a producer in New York.

The Wake Up, is a local band made up of three members, Caleb Hickmott; the drummer and song writer, Laura McGaffin; lead singer and Christopher Jordan; the band’s guitarist. Caleb and Christopher met while competing in The X Factor, New Zealand in 2015 and later met Laura while studying at UCOL’s Manawatū Campus.

Caleb, who is currently completing his New Zealand Diploma in Creativity (Music) at UCOL, has been more than positive about where the band’s music is leading them.

“After picking up a song from a previous UCOL music grad, Adam Lee, we worked to create a cover of it. While we were working on this song, a producer and music engineer in New York, Mike Dwyer, who runs a studio called The Bunker, contacted us. At first I thought it was too good to be true, but now here we are.”

The track the band were working on at the time, which is called “Worthy”, has since been recorded at the UCOL Manawatū Campus and is currently with Dwyer in New York for mixing, mastering and producing.

“We are so excited for this opportunity, the fact that an international producer who has worked with big names like Shawn Mendez and The Lumineers wants to work with us, and even approached us before we could approach him, is a huge encouragement to us in such a crucial stage of development. A year ago we were at a crossroad as a band, unsure of what our future held, and now we are stronger than ever.”

The band has since been approached by a production company in Wellington to create music videos. The Wake Up produce new material every month and can be found on most major music platforms including Spotify and Google Play, more information on music.net.nz .

ENDS

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