Small-town beginnings to big sounds - The Advocators
Born and raised in the neighbouring small rural towns of Kaiwaka and Maungaturoto, Leroy and Mark have recently independently released their debut album Songs from an Endless Night. The pair have been writing and performing sporadically throughout their lives with Leroy learning chords as a child out of the back of old Hymn books and Mark picking up the guitar after seeing his mate shred a Led Zeppelin solo in high school.
Despite attending the same high school, Leroy and Mark only started playing music together years later when Leroy recruited Mark for an ambitious wedding-band project. That project quickly collapsed as they realised that they could not find enjoyment in playing faithful covers for drunken wedding goers, and so they began focusing on writing and performing their own songs.
A year and a half in the works, their debut album has a sparse, gritty, vintage sound, oscillating between bluegrass country ballads and hostile gospel stomp rock. Featuring 11 original tracks and two covers, the album's four singles include ‘Dreams’ and an abrasive cover of the Townes Van Zandt song, ‘Waitin’ Round to Die’ which have already gathered thousands of streams on Spotify, along with student radio airplay in New Zealand.
To help record the album, the duo recruited two other local talents, producer and drummer William Jackson, as well as esteemed kiwi violinist Anita Clark. Recorded last winter between bitter south- westerly squalls and cups of tea, Songs from an Endless Night came to life after five days spent in Jackson’s barn-studio out
the back of Tomarata. Leroy is the lead vocalist and plays guitar, banjo and harmonica, while Mark is on backing vocals and plays guitar and melodica. The album was mastered by Chris Chetland of Kog Studio in West Auckland.
Flirting with both cynicism and naive hope, the album explores themes of unrequited love, contempt, disillusionment, and redemption. Outside of the two covers, all songs on the album
are collaborations, mostly conceptualised by Leroy and arranged by Mark before being finished together. Leroy and Mark believe
it is this playing to each other's strengths, combined with their willingness to give open feedback that has resulted in a singular set of songs with raw emotion and meticulous attention to lyricism.
Describing the transition to becoming administrators and social media content creators to promote their album as painful, Leroy and Mark are focussing their efforts on planning their upcoming shows throughout New Zealand. Currently in the process of recruiting a rhythm section, they’re holding auditions for this soon and encourage drummers and bass players to get in touch!
The Advocators tour dates to all the hillbilly hotspots around New Zealand are set to be announced later this year. Until then, check out their album on Spotify and keep an eye on Instagram for further tour details.
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