NZMM Day 12 – Static Era

It’s a new week, and a good time for a shift: Today’s band, Static Era, is one I’d never heard of until I began this blogging project. They're also quite different from the others I've posted about so far.

Nearly a week and a half ago, I wrote about Tweeting out asking for suggestions for Kiwi artists to include. I got a reply from @EmmaGmusic who, in addition to expressing her own passion for music, mentioned that it seemed odd to promote Kiwi music for just one month. I explained that I’d never promoted New Zealand Music Month and, anyway, the challenge of doing a post a day was too good to resist.

It turned out that Emma G is the singer in Static Era. Her passion for music made me curious about her and the band. Emma G also teaches music and is a youth worker. That sold it for me: I knew I’d include the band in these posts.

In addition to Emma G, Static Era is made up of guitarist Chris Yong, drummer Dave Rhodes and bassist Victor Pesch. The band originally formed in late 2010, and adopted the current name in 2012.

The video at top is “Nobody’s Toy”, their most recent single from their second EP, Dare To Fail. The EP was released in October 2013, and supported by a North Island tour. I particularly like “Nobody’s Toy”.

Their debut EP The Start was released in May 2012, a month after their single, “So Sore” (below) was featured on the Rock FM’s Off The Record.



I’ll admit there are a lot of unusual things about this post—starting with me promoting a harder rock band than I ever have before. But, though I’m primarily a pop fan, I like good music, and the genre isn’t really that important. I like the band’s sound, musicality and vocals, of course, but they also have some really strong lyrics, too

And there’s more. Emma G herself has a compelling story: A health condition that has challenged her with twenty-three surgeries, including ten brain surgeries. And yet, she still does all she does. Her story and her perseverance is quite inspiring, I think.

The band has also posted on their Static Era YouTube Channel a series of vlogs. I’ve watched several so far, and they make them seem more human, sure, but they’re also interesting in their own right.

To wrap up this post, I’m including the first single from the Dare To Fail EP, “Fire Away” (below).

It’s fun discovering artists I never knew about, and like the first post in this series, this sort of fell into my lap via Twitter. Sharing is really what this blog series is all about.