The D4 in their heyday. Photo: supplied
Early 2000s Kiwi rock legends the D4 are hitting the road for their first shows in five years, "as fiery as ever".
"I guess time flies, but we're all feeling pretty fit," singer and guitarist Jimmy Christmas told RNZ's Music 101 on Saturday.
The night before, the D4 played the Harvest Festival in Blenheim, the first date of nine in a tour that'll take them to Wellington, Dunedin, Auckland, Mt Maunganui, Napier, Lyttelton and Raglan on tour in March 2023.
The reunion's come about to promote the vinyl reissue of their 2001 debut, 6Twenty, which included hits like 'Party' and 'Ladies Man', and a cover of Kiwi punk classic 'Mysterex', originally by the Scavengers.
"People been asking us about, you know, with the vinyl resurgence, people wanted to have that record on vinyl," said Christmas.
"It was only a limited edition done back in the day. So we were kicking that around and then it became evident that it was coming up for its 21st birthday and perhaps that might be a good thing, and we had some really good friends and fans involved at the record company Warners, and JB Hi-Fi and stuff like that.
"People started coming in and saying, hey, should we do this thing? And that makes sense to put a tour around it."
Dion Lunadon, the band's other vocalist-guitarist, is based in New York these days. Once back in Aotearoa, the band got rehearsing and Christmas said it was "pretty evident" by the time of a small warm-up show ahead of the tour, the chemistry was still there.
"The understanding has never left and we're as fiery as ever."
But two decades on from 6Twenty and 18 years since their second and final studio record, 2005's Out of My Head, the fire now comes from a different place.
"Well, I think you just have to manage your parts a little bit, you know, your body parts. And we pay attention to, you know, our tools of trade. You know, like me and Dion, we're pretty serious about warming up our vocals and things like that. We want to be as good as we can be, so we're taking the time to do that.
"I mean, the energy on stage is real up there and what's different now is, we always had intention, you know, approached it with fierce intent. But motivations is kind of different now, you know, like, we don't have anything to prove to anybody. And we know that people that are coming to see us are wanting to celebrate with us. We're just very grateful for the opportunity to do something like this.
"So I think that we're approaching it with that sort of, you know, love and intensity and fire, like it just feels a very unique opportunity….
"It was five years ago we [last] played together, and who knows if we're gonna play together again?"
Tickets to the rest of the D4's shows are available here.
- 3 March - Harvest Festival, Blenheim
- 4 March - San Fran, Wellington
- 10 March - Loons, Lyttelton
- 11 March - Dive, Dunedin
- 17 March - Kaipara Tavern, Helensville
- 18 March - Powerstation, Auckland
- 25 March - Totara St. Mount Maunganui
- 26 March - The Cabana, Napier
- 1 April - The Yot Club, Raglan
