The 2017 Taite Music Prize takes place tonight, Tuesday April 18th at an invite only event at the Civic Theatre's Wintergarden in Auckland City. Check out all the info concerning this year's Taite Music Prize HERE.

We had the chance to flick nominee's LEISURE a few questions ahead of the award. 

How does it feel to be nominated for the Taite Prize? 

It feels great. It sounds cliche to say that it's nice to even be nominated, but it really is a cool feeling to be included among other really strong bodies of work. 

When, where and how long did it take you to record LEISURE? 

The record was made over the course of a year and a bit, mostly in AirBnb holiday homes we'd hire in 5 day bursts across Muriwai, Piha, Whangamata and one in Kaipara Flats where we stayed in a 2 bedroom solar powered log cabin with a private lake for $140 a night - pretty good, split between 5 of us! The initial experience of coming together and making music without any pressure of a classic studio space was something none of us had any deeper experience with,  and our creations are certainly a product of our environment and subconscious vibrations each place had. 

You’re up against some strong competition, if the prize doesn’t go your way who would you like to see win? 

It's a super strong list, to the point it's hard to single out any artist that would be more deserving than the other. I guess we're all in a similar boat of being thrown into competition side by side, where the work wasn't created with the intention to rival anything. I feel like this nomination list is more of a celebration for great bodies of works that we're all individually proud of, which is something to slow down and raise a bottle to.

What was the most challenging aspect with the recording?  

Overdoing things can be a mad curse - we had early demos that had all the charm and vulnerability wrapped into them that going back and over-producing at a later date became hugely unsuccessful - it taught us to release all the creative heat at in the moment.  'First thought, best thought' type of headspace. It's our ethos to keep everything as unchallenging as possible where we can. 

Following the Taite Prize, what are your plans for 2017? 

A blue Powerade, cheeseburger and an Uber (in no particular order). For 2017 we're on a wave of new songs that we're really excited about and will release another full length record before the year is out.