New Zealand music is an inspiration for a band of brothers from Ngāpuhi who’ve spent years playing music in Australia. They’re planning to bring their own music back home and hoping for the same success Māori are having in the New Zealand music scene.
“Our music now is definitely a mix of Indi rock, soulful rock electric sound and obviously, growing up, all the music back home like RnB. The soul is a huge part of our roots,” Brandford Fisher says.
“Basically Coterie’s this word we stumbled upon in our early days and we gelled with it pretty instantly because it’s defined as a small group of people or a click that shares a common interest and passion. You know we’re brothers and the name Coterie felt really fitting,” Joshua says.
Influenced by their musical parents it was only natural for the brothers to pursue music - Tyler on lead vocals, Joshua on piano, Brandford on bass and Conrad on guitar,
“So we were born in Auckland, Papakura, and we’re from Tauranga and it’s crazy that we moved over here because there’s no place like home. We moved to Australia over 15-years ago and we have spent the majority of our life in Perth,” Tyler says.
“We grew up pretty much like most lads or most of our people with a rugby ball or a guitar and it’s basically from our dad or our parents, who were both travelling musos, which is actually how we ended up on the west coast in Aussie,” Conrad says.
Coterie have 40,000 followers on TikTok. Most of their inspiration comes from New Zealand bands.
“When you grow up or spend a lot of time outside New Zealand, to see New Zealand bands really killing it, it does a lot for you. Everywhere, LAB, six60, that does a lot, so love those boys,” Tyler says.
The boys are missing their grandmother, who happens to be in Auckland.
“Nan, she moved over here just after us to be with us but about eight weeks ago, she went over for one week and she’s been stuck there since. She’s not complaining though,” Tyler says.
“To be honest she’s probably having the best time of her life,” Brandford says.
Once the borders open the brothers are planning a trip home.