Throughout NZ Music Month we’ll be hearing stories from young musicians about the local songs they love the most. Today, Antagonist A.D's Sam Crocker talks about songs from Dam Native, Sommerset, Balance, Ghidrah and David Dallas.
Antagonist A.D. Photo: Ben Clement
Local hardcore/metal act Antagonist A.D. have just released their new album Haunt Me As I Roam, and are about to hit the road for the first time here in almost two years. Ahead of the shows, vocalist Sam Crocker took a moment to run through his top five New Zealand songs, from hip-hop to hardcore, that played a part in influencing his approach to music.
Dam Native – ‘Behold My Kool Style’
This is the best hip-hop song to ever come out of New Zealand. 90s hip-hop is my favourite era, so the fact New Zealand had a group that came out swinging then is wild. These guys were so true and so Māori. They weren’t trying to be American, they just took that style and made it their own. I have so much respect for it. This song was on repeat for the majority of my teenage years and I often come back to it. It's one of those songs that make you proud to be from New Zealand.
Sommerset – ‘Artless’
I grew up listening to American punk rock and hardcore. When I was younger my older siblings would pass me CDs/tapes of their friends’ bands. This was one of them for me. I could honestly say that the music of Sommerset changed my life forever and for the better. There were a few bands of this era I would associate immediately with Sommerset - Kitsch, Missing Teeth, Dayone and, even later on, The Bleeders. They all shaped and influenced me musically and as a person.
The track is musically and lyrically on the same level as anything worldwide, if not better. Fast Cars, Slow Guitars is one of my all-time favourite releases. Although this song is off an earlier release, this is one that I remember jumping off stages and screaming my lungs out too when I was 14. This video also shows a few classic NZ venues including Ellen Melville Hall which became Antagonist's stomping ground years later.
Sommerset were known for their wild live shows and busy touring schedules. They were one of the first bands from New Zealand to make a big impact in Europe and Australia, and they essentially paved the way for bands like Antagonist A.D. to be able to go there. Just the fact they went over gave me the belief that I could do that with my own band.
Balance – ‘Hardcore Is My God’
It was a really hard choice between a few bands for this one. I was toying with throwing in State of Grace, Evil Priest or DSM as well, but Balance were one of the forerunners of Auckland and New Zealand hardcore music and I think this song and the album it's from influenced me more, and also influenced the members of those bands to shape local hardcore.
This is hardcore plain and simple. The particular sound is very timely to the era it came out in. There’s nothing all too special or unique to set it apart from its international equivalents except that it was from NZ, which meant it was ours and still is ours, and that is something incredibly valuable that an impressionable young man like me jumped on and has held onto all of these years.
The members of this band individually went on to do big things globally and locally within the music scene and it was essentially the first band to take New Zealand hardcore to the global stage. Mad Respect.
Ghidrah – ‘Dragon Seeks Path’
I got this album in 1997 or '98 for a birthday from one of my sisters. I would’ve been turning 12 or 13 and it blew my mind. It still does. How crazy is that??
18 years later I can still listen to this and appreciate it. It was one of the albums and songs that made me want to be in a band. The atmosphere, the energy and the passion were all huge factors in Ghidrah. There were another few bands that I think of when I think of them - Shinkasta, Daredevil and some previously mentioned bands like Sommerset and State of Grace etc.
This was the time that New Zealand music really shaped me and it all really kicked off with this band. I went to all of the other bands after hearing this. I also have to mention that I punished the fuck out of the guys in this band. As an adult I need to apologise for that haha, but I also need to thank them. They essentially have sent me around the world playing music for the majority of my life and I don't think I would’ve headed down that path if I didn't first get Invincible Deluxe. So, mad respect and thank you.
David Dallas – ‘Take a Picture’
So this was a hard choice between ‘Caught In A Daze’ and ‘Take A Picture’ for me. Well, actually the whole Rose Tint album is one of the best things to ever come out of New Zealand and one of the best things I have ever put inside my ears.
I chose this one because the beat from Fire & Ice is wild, the flow is wild, and everything about this is untouchable. I remember hearing this thinking "this came from NZ?? This beat?? From NZ?!" Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of New Zealand hip-hop, but this album was next level slick.
It’s so relevant and topical to New Zealand and so many lyrics stood out that were unique and specific to a struggle and belief an artist must possess to take his music outside of the country. The line, "from the land of flightless birds, bout to grow really big wings," is genius.
