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Two Kaipara-based musicians will release their debut album, Songs from an Endless Night, this week.
Leroy Brown and Mark Bruce, The Advocators, were raised in Kaiwaka and Maungaturoto, and have been writing and performing sporadically throughout their lives.
Mark will be known to some in the district through his work as an arborist, and for his support of Sustainable Kaipara helping with its food waste collection and composting scheme.
Although they attended the same high school, Mark and Leroy only started playing music together in 2019, after Leroy recruited Mark for an ambitious wedding band project.
Brown says Songs From An Endless Night is the result of their collaboration.
The album oscillates between bluegrass country ballads and gospel stomp rock, and features mainly original singles, including Dreams, Bad Girls and Elijah, as well as covers of Neil Diamond’s Solitary Man and Waitin’ Round to Die, a classic Townes Van Zandt song.
Leroy plays guitar, banjo, harmonica and lead vocals, while Mark is on guitar, backing vocals and melodica. In support are producer and drummer William Jackson and renowned violinist Anita Clark.
“We used Jackson’s shed/studio, situated in rolling Tomarata farmland, and recorded the album between wintry sou’westerly squalls and cups of tea,” Leroy says.
“We spent about 18 months working with the concept of the album and writing songs and removing those that weren’t the right fit for the vision that we had. We then went into the studio and recorded and produced the album from start to finish in five days. A lot of the songs we got the foundations of in just a couple of takes. It was very exciting to work in such a free way in the studio and to realise the album after such a long incubation.”
The Advocators will be independently releasing the album on May 15, with tour dates set to be announced for later this year.
