Tiki Taane Photo: Brutus
At 46, Tiki Taane (Ngāti Maniapoto) feels like he's "got his crap together".
The Kiwi musician and producer – who lives in the Bay of Plenty with his family – credits CBD oil and moderation with helping to balance him out.
"Everything that goes up must come down and you've gotta be really aware of that," Tiki tells Music 101's Charlotte Ryan.
He chose six favourite tracks that he's mixed and produced for The Mixtape.
After leaving school at 15, Tiki's first contribution to the Christchurch music scene was playing punk music to "sweaty, hairy dudes".
It didn't take him long to figure out, though, that the person making the most money at gigs was the sound engineer.
After some guidance from Dave Wernham – "one of the most bad-ass live sound engineers in New Zealand"– Tiki was mixing local bands five nights a week by the time he was 18.
From Christchurch's underground outdoor rave scene, he "springboarded" into global touring with dub band Salmonella Dub and drum-and-bass band Shapeshifter.
"I was constantly on the road, constantly [around] drugs and alcohol, all the temptations… and I went really hard into that.
"When I was 30 and I found out I was gonna be a dad it rocked my world and I thought I've really gotta sort my shit out."
Although Tiki grew up with an "amazing whānau", he says as the youngest child and only son, he was often left to his own devices.
"I probably had abandonment issues, all that kind of stuff. I went looking for my people I found them on the streets."
Tiki feels lucky that whoever he was hanging out with, he always had "the music thing going on".
"As a kid, I used to listen to the radio with a piece of paper and a pen and I'd draw what I'd listened to. Looking back now, [I was drawing] waveforms… so I had a curiosity about how does that work… how come [a song] makes me feel energetic or sad or happy?
Music is made up of vibration and frequency, he says, but there's also a spiritual aspect to what makes one take "stick out" when you're recording in a music studio.
"Something happens, the molecules change in the room and the microphones pick it up… [A special take] affects people in a different way."
Tiki's music studio is booked out eight to ten months in advance by people chasing this magic.
Sound engineering is the work he does most often now, but he also works on feature film scores and of course, spends time with his family and dogs.
"The only bummer is my kind of stuff kind of goes zhhhhuuuu… down the list."
Tiki says he has no interest in writing songs with the commercial appeal of his 2008 hit 'Always on my Mind'.
"I always loved that song, loved singing it and am so proud and very thankful and amazed that it did what it did but I'm not that kind of artist… Usually kicking back against what you'd expect is my kind of vibe. It comes from that whole punk thing, I think. I've got one foot in this punk underground thing and one in the mainstream, as well. I'm aware of the balancing act of it."
He's drawn to making music that's more challenging and artistic.
"I like to kind of go 'how can I make this something really unique to Aotearoa and especially to Maori, but kind of cut across the scene I'm dabbling in, which is bassy."
After 'Always on my Mind', Tiki released a drum-and-bass album called Flux which contained no radio singles.
He's at peace with accepting "a really big figure" for licensing 'Always on my Mind' for a BNZ ad campaign.
"My whole life I've been quite anti this, quit anti that, quite punk and here I am licensing my music to a bank ... But then I thought I'm an independent artist, I brokered this deal myself, I clipped the ticket 100 percent… hell, yeah. That's a win."
The punk side of Tiki's personality came to the fore at a 2011 Tauranga show when he was arrested for 'disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence' after playing the NWA track 'F--- tha Police' while police were present. (The charge was later dropped).
"The police walked in and they were standing there… I didnt like the vibe. So we dropped into NWA's 'F--- tha Police' … then I went into 'Sound of Da Police' by KRS-One. Then I think I sang 'I Shot the Sheriff' so I was just throwing out all those ones, right. Cheeky yeah, but not illegal and totally fine, but the police really didn't like it."
Tiki says one police officer, in particular, told him to get off stage and accused him of trying to incite violence.
"I was like 'were there any problems? was anyone being violent?' And no one was… he just wanted to arrest me."
After Tiki was marched out of the venue in handcuffs, some in the crowd did revolt and there were 16 further arrests that night.
"The whole thing was just ridiculous and it was all because of this one cop who got really offended and it really hurt his ego. And he wanted to teach me a lesson but it backfired."
As a musician who's performed at protests and spoken out against injustice, Tiki says he got a lot of pressure to attend the anti-vaccine mandate protests in Wellington last February.
In 2021, he'd declined to join fellow New Zealand musicians in the government's Covid-19 vaccination campaign Tō Uru Raumati, Have Yours?.
The next year, after discussion with whānau, kaumatua and fellow musicians, Tiki decided it was best not to perform in support of those opposing the vaccine, either.
"Every protest I've ever performed at and kaupapa I've ever supported, I've always had a group of people who were solid that I could connect with and get the rundown of what it's about. But for some reason, it just didnt quite happen… people were saying 'it's the people, it's the people' and I was like yeah, but there's a lot of different factions here ... Destinys Church – not feeling that. Not feeling those guys over there… it was kind of like too many red flags."
It was a tricky time, Tiki says, and he received hateful messages from people on both sides of the argument.
"I understand people are hurting, it was tough there for a while. But I just held out and went 'you know what, I'm just gonna sit here in my own space. I support you guys, go for it, but I'm not gonna come down'."
"It's each to their own. Number one, you've gotta look after your health, your well-being and your whanau. And whatever that means to you, go for it. But you gotta respect everybody else's decisions, too."
Tiki Taane played:
Katchafire - 'Whaingaroa'
"Katchafire is one of the hardest-working bands this country has ever had. One of the tightest, most solid reggae bands we have. I'm always big-upping them and think they should get more accolades for what they do."
Six60 - 'Forever'
Unlike the rest of the crowd, Tiki wasn't impressed when he first saw Dunedin band Six60 play at the Powerstation.
The next time, performing a packed-out set at the Homegrown Music Festival, they'd stepped up a lot.
"They've got something and you can't deny it and [people love them. I just feel blessed to be part of that puzzle at the very beginning and would love to do some more stuff with them in the future."
Ria Hall - 'They Come Marching'
Ria Hall is an incredible singer and mana wahine, Tiki says, and whenever they share a stage he gets imposter syndrome.
"This song had such a great story, the drum beat's great… and her vocals, she's just on point."
L.A.B - 'In the Air' (Tiki Taane In the Dub Remix)
Tiki is friends with the members of Bay of Plenty reggae band L.A.B and knew their 2019 track would be a big hit as soon as he heard it.
Moana and the Tribe - 'A.E.IO.U' (Tiki Taane Remake)
'Shout out to Moana who is a mana wahine hard, she is the boss lady hard.'
