Weta "Natural Compression" EP 1999

…“Steve James kind of brought it all back to being organic. He stripped a lot of the songs down to the bare bones and then we kind of dressed them up from the start again. Some of them turned out in a way we didn’t expect them to turn out… it was all for the good.” (Aaron Tokona, NZ Musician June/July 2000). James opted to record onto analogue two-inch tape over digital methods and proved a fan of capturing songs in their first takes...

…“His method of working was like, ‘What do you reckon, you want a guitar sound? Well you take the mic, you put it there, and then you turn the fucking thing up really fucking loud, and then you push record!’ He wasn’t the kind of guy to arse around too much. It was real straight up the guts and I think that’s a very English thing. We usually warm up into the track, especially for guitar takes and stuff – Gabes and I can be quite anal – but he was like ‘Yep, great, next! Yep, great, next!’ and he was really going after the first take for everything. That took a while to get used to. He was like giving us one, two, three chances, and that was it. It gave everything much more of an edge as opposed to sitting there and being to anal.” (Aaron Tokona, NZ Musician June/July 2000) The recording was mixed by Dave Baskin at Sing Sing before being sent to the UK for mastering.Geographica was released on September 15, 2000 and debuted at No.8 on the New Zealand charts. The album was distinctly more dynamic than its four-song predecessor, combining the band’s signature driving rock edge with atmospheric melodies. The NZ Herald’s Russell Baillie called it the “best local release of the year”. It subsequently gained platinum certification and earned the band Most Promising Band and Most Promising Vocalist at the 2000 New Zealand Music Awards. Eleven tracks made it on to the record including re-recordings of ‘Let It Go’ and ‘Got The Ju’ from the Natural Compression EP. Non-album tracks ‘Egg’ and ‘Time’ were used as B-side tracks on the lead single ‘Calling On’ which received significant airplay on Australian radio station Triple J. ‘Snapshot’ and ‘If I Will I Can’ were also released as radio-only singles after the album's release. Two months after the release of Geographica the band set out on a highly anticipated tour of New Zealand alongside Shihad and Fur Patrol, although the group had already discussed (at a fish and chip shop in New Plymouth) that it would be their last appearance as a band. Weta’s final show was at the Nelson Trafalgar Centre on November 25, 2000. As the rumour mill began to spin, the band cancelled their scheduled appearance at the 2001 Big Day Out. Band manager Steve Betts told Real Groove magazine (December 2000), "Officially, Weta have taken a two month break after two and a half years of hectic touring and recording schedules abroad." The band's future remains unclear … " The break would prove to be much longer than initially reported. Despite being an Australian-recorded and funded debut album, Geographica was only released in New Zealand. Following the split, its scheduled release in February 2001 was scrapped and the wound was deep for Warner Music Australia, having invested between $300,000 and $400,000 on the band. Warner A&R manager Dan Hennessy said there were no plans to release the album in Australia without a band to tour it: "It's disappointing because it's such a great record and they had such great potential but bands break up all the time in this industry." Aaron put the band's break-up down to the demands of touring and the expectations of signing to an Australian record label. "We stumbled into it and all of a sudden we were a signed act. I think we just basically wore ourselves out. We had a certain amount of pressure and I didn't think the touring would get to us, because it was always a great way to have a holiday, but it became a kind of monster. "It went from being this thing you love to something arduous,” Aaron told Scott Kara in the NZ Herald (January 2009). In the interim Aaron started a family and made a guest appearance on 'Dark Days' by Fat Freddy’s Drop. Gabriel and Tookie moved back to Melbourne and started a band called The Hot Rods, and Clinton den Heyer worked with alt-rock band Marystaple on their debut EP Reset Speed before purchasing Wellington bar Good Luck and venue San Francisco Bath House with Tim Ward. After an eight-year break, the band were announced as a replacement act for US metal band Testament at Southern Amp Festival in Christchurch on November 9, 2008. The show was followed by a three-date reunion tour through Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, as well as later appearances at the Big Day Out and Homegrown festivals. Warner Music re-released Geographica in New Zealand to coincide with the tour and the band debuted one new live song over the course of the reunion shows. A second album was also suggested though it never eventuated and the band went their separate ways again. - audioculture

trax:
1. Let It Go 2. Got The Ju 3. Where Have You Been 4. Updown
…served by Gaius & BigGray…