Review: White Chapel Jak – Tuning Fork    June 12, 2021

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White Chapel Jak are a band for music obsessives. They also take care of business and make sure the partygoers get their money’s worth. Call them a Covers Band, or a Tribute Band. At the core, they are a polished, hard-working unit and they love to stretch out and jam a little.

Some look down on Tribute bands, fans and critics alike. I am of the opposite bent. I seek them out. The Beatles were covering the Girl Groups and Motown when Beatlemania peaked. The Rolling Stones considered themselves the Bo Diddley/Chuck Berry Covers band for ages.

The focus of the group is extroverted singer Bonnie Hurunui. Calls herself a Gizzy Girl. From heartland New Zealand and as down-to–earth as KFC. Powerful Rhythm and Blues and Soul voice with the emphasis on big and bold.

The other founders are Nathan Boston guitar and vocals, and Dean (the Viking) Tinning drums. Guests tonight are Brinnie Nepia bass, Dillon Rhodes keyboards and Ocean Tinning backing vocals.

Toto’s Africa and Bob Marley’s Could You be Loved are everybody’s favourites and right from the start the full-house Tuning Fork crowd are shaking it. Predominantly a Boomer crowd and the Blondes have claimed the front-of-stage as their territory.

The band is relatively new, but they opened for Alanis Morrisette in 2018. They cover Hand in my Pocket. A great Pop song is given a bit of extra R’n’B drive from the singer.

Familiar songs are mixed together and given some theatrical polish. One of the best starts with Staying Alive. The Disco swing-and-strut dances with a lead guitar Funk riff which morphs into Stevie Wonder’s Superstition. The seamless groove continues with the Chic mash-up of Everybody Dance and Good Times and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five arise with Birthday Party. A bit of Apache. Old Skool Rap. Takes a bit of talent to hold that together as a singer.

More Rap, siren sounds and Stevie Wonder guitar Funk re-forms into Play That Funky Music, White Boy. Maybe it’s the way the guitarist lays out those riffs but you hear the influence of Led Zep and Jimmy Page. Perfect Funk Rock.

Carwash is classic hard-edged R’n’B disco. Some Jazz licks included make it sparkle.

Michael Jackson’s Blame It on the Boogie and a soulful vocal performance.

Proud Mary everyone has done, but this version reminds me of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. Played fast with no frills. Guitar solo all rhythm. Out of that appears Land of a Thousand Dances. Of course, you gotta know how to Pony/ like Bony Moronie/ Mashed Potatoes/ Do the Alligator. 

Absolutely no surprise there is a nod to the Originator James Brown and I Feel Good. Doesn’t quite cut it tonight but the bass is right there on the spot. Brown is notoriously difficult to do well.

They give a trial run to some original songs tonight. Bonnie has some nervousness here. They want to transition to their own material.

Aberdeen is written around romance age fourteen. A dub bass sound and nice guitar hooks.

Everyday People. This has the signature Kiwi style of sunny, uplifting Pop Reggae. One love everyday people/ together we will rise.

Good Time and the singer shines on this one with a soulful vocal on an up-lifting Pop melody. The bass line steals this one a bit as the keyboards supplies the melody. The bottom line is great all night.

Bonnie really works the audience tonight. Splits the room in half and has singing competitions. Includes the back-of–the–room barflies.

The big ending is Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy with Another Brick in the Wall.

We don’t need no education/ We don’t need no thought control. Translated that means we need education and thought control. Funny guys those Floyds.

A big show and a great Revue-style band. There is the promise of well-crafted original material to come.

Rev Orange Peel      

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