Shape of things to come

It has been three years since the members of Shapeshifter last brought their mix of drum and bass, electronica, soul, jazz and rock to Dunedin. Why so long?

Well, they've been busy elsewhere: busy recording an album that went to No. 1 within hours of its release; busy touring overseas; busy finalising a deal with one of the United Kingdom's more influential dance music labels.

P Digsss, real name Paora Apera, is on the phone from Wellington (not his home, by the way - he lives at Muriwai Beach, northwest of Auckland), the singer explaining that business concerns, too, have played a part in the group's absence, which ends tonight with a concert at the Dunedin Town Hall.

"It's always tricky fitting in all the towns. In New Zealand, you have to be careful you don't tour all the time. We are trying to be strategic as possible ... we are aware of not overplaying," Apera explains the morning of the band's concert at the Wellington Town Hall last Friday.

"The size of the shows we do - look, we are playing at the town hall - means we have got to the level where we are taking a lot of people on tour and we stand to lose a lot of money."

Given the band's fourth album System Of A Vampire topped the New Zealand charts the day it was released (in November, 2009) and has now gone platinum (15,000 copies sold), the chance of the quintet's visit being a flop is as likely as them playing quietly. It's not going to happen. (Ticket sales for the band's Dunedin gig had topped 2200 by late in the week.)

The band has built on a popularity forged, initially, under the sun and lights of various summer festivals and strengthened by a string of inventive albums, including 2006 effort Soulstice, which spent more than two months in the top 20 and earned the band Album of the Year at the bNet music awards.

Apera and band-mates Sam Trevethick (guitar, synthesisers, percussion), Devin Abrams (synthesisers, saxophone), Nick Robinson (bass, keyboards) and Johnny Hooves (who last year replaced Redford Grenell on drums) have had recent reason to celebrate, securing a deal with Hospital Records, an independent label based in London and regarded as a key mover within UK dance music circles.

"It is pretty special that we've been signed by a major dance label. We are chuffed," Apera says.

"We will be their only band signing, so they are really keen to put in a big effort. We are off there in October. We've toured four or five times over there and it has been really testing, very DIY, because we hadn't found the right agent or label.

"Most of them are ... [not much good] - wanting us to change our sound so it fits some London sound. We didn't go there to pretend we were English or anything."

Hospital Records is preparing to release an album featuring remixes of tracks from System Of A Vampire as well as the original version of an album in which Apera plays a starring role, his soulful vocals at the heart of several songs, including single Dutchies, in which he hints at heavier influences.

Well, he was in metal bands for a time.

"I saw Faith No More when they came here for the Real Thing tour in 1990, I think ... I saw them last month, too ... I'm a massive fan. I'm glad you can hear that. It wasn't conscious. All sorts of influences come out.

"I'm just another instrument, really. I've been in the band longer than I haven't now,"

Apera says, pointing to the fact he joined Shapeshifter in 2003, four years after the group formed out of a Christchurch jazz school.

"I know there are a lot of old-schoolers, dinosaurs saying, `Shapeshifter were better when they were all instrumental' ... the band members believe they have got better since those days. You can't win them all. I know there was quite a bit of resistance when I first started singing.

"For the past seven years we've worked really hard, touring and living out of each others' pockets. The music writing has grown as our friendships have. When you are together in a band for a long time, you shed a lot of barriers. It can be quite a scary thing to reveal your heart and soul."

• Shapeshifter plays at the Dunedin Town Hall tonight, supported by Sunshine Soundsystem. It also plays at the Burton Open Sessions, Lake Wanaka Centre, on August 14 and 15.