Fly My Pretties - Live at Bats

Often times finding music from other parts of the world is difficult, but it is made much easier when you have friends who have traveled and lived in wonderful places. One such friend of mine has been nice enough to share with me a few favorites from New Zealand. The second of these acts (first being The Phoenix Foundation) is Fly My Pretties from Wellington, NZ. They are fronted by the Black Seeds' Barnaby Weir and he is backed by anywhere from 8-18 of his musical friends. Musicians from other NZ bands join in the merriment, while Mr. Weir takes song-writing credit for most of the tunes they perform. Fly My Pretties is not your typical band who practice, record an album, tour, write new songs then repeat. On the contrary, Fly My Pretties pretty much just tour and play live. With this great melting-pot of talent, it comes as no great surprise that the music is eclectic; from folk, funk, reggae, rock, to soul. Each song takes on a life of its own, yet sounds distinctly like it could only come from Fly My Pretties.
The debut live recording release Live at Bats was recorded over 5 sell-out shows at Bat Theatre in Wellington. It's somewhat surprising that with 5 shows recorded the album is only an hour long. There is probably some great material sitting on tapes in a basement somewhere in Mr. Weir's house. Luckily, what is included is a great selection showcasing the various styles and genre-hopping Fly My Pretties can accomplish on a nightly basis. While not a huge fan of reggae (because it mostly all sounds the same), their foray into the genre sounds fresh and relaxed and authentic. A couple of the tunes even sound a little bit like Pat McGee Band from way back when. The most endearing songs come as solos or intimate arrangements from Mr. Weir and are more in the folk variety. One such song "Champion" is below from the concert video...and today we're going AV with YouTube!