November 19 2008
Chatting with The Checks
posted by Steven Shaw at 2:44 pm
The Checks — Masonic Tavern, Devonport, this Friday
After hitting the big stages over the past few years with the likes of R.E.M., The Hives, Oasis and Muse, North Shore rock band The Checks are playing their favourite stage — this Friday at their old stomping ground, the Masonic Tavern in Devonport. “We played our first gig there,” says Jake Moore, drummer in The Checks, “two sets of covers, the same songs twice, singing to our little girlfriends and stuff.”
We asked Jake what he thinks about the future of this landmark venue. Some background here — the Masonic Tavern’s owner has asked for permission to redevelop the iconic site into apartments and a cafe — a move that brought swift opposition from the Masonic Friendly Society, who presented a 1400 signature petition to the North Shore City Council in September.
“It’ll always be somewhere we go past and say ‘that was the Masonic’,” says Jake. “I guess that’s just what happens, eh? We were gifted a practice room by the North Harbour club a few years ago, before we moved to England, it was a big warehouse in Takapuna behind the mall. It was like a sanctuary for us and our friends, we could just set up and have the odd party. Now we drive past and there are apartments there. There are apartments everywhere man.”
Jake says that as a venue, the Masonic is just the right sort of size. “If you’re getting 300 to 400 people coming to see you at the Masonic, it’s going to be real loud and sweaty. We’ve played some of our most rowdy shows there.”
“It’s so much louder and stuff — you’re not getting that bigger venue sensation of the P.A. at side of stage driving the sound out into the audience — in a small place like that all the amps are just cranking right in your face, and you’re in the audience’s face.”
At the same time, he says, the big tours are a total luxury. “The tours with Muse and others have been like big luxury cruises. You’re on this big massive production with people helping you — it’s cruise mode, you’ve just got to make sure that when you get up there you have your wits about you because there’s so many people watching.”
Now safely back from their OE in London, where they completed their debut album, 2007’s Hunting Whales, Jake says The Checks are plotting their next move. “We have a few things in the mix towards an independent release — so yes, we are working towards another album. We’re cooking on a few ideas of what we want to do.”
Video: The Checks — “There Is A Field”