Saurian make music that matches their name: hard rock. Critic Te Ārohi managed to catch up with the band in the midst of their current tour.
Saurian is Karl (guitar/vocals), Cameron (guitar), Logan (bass), and Hamish (drums). Saurian have been a band since 2015, starting with Karl and Hamish who have been playing music together since high school. They’ve had some lineup changes since, with Cameron joining about five years ago and Logan within the last year. The whole group contributes to the songwriting process, which often arises from their jam seshes, whether that be in rehearsals or during their live gigs. Karl usually provides the lyrics.
The guys draw inspiration from different heavy-hitting rock musicians and genres from the last forty years. From the ‘80s, Queen and Alice Cooper; to ‘90s punk, Rancid and Pennywise; to legendary turn-of-the-millennium bands, such as Green Day, Nirvana, and the Foo Fighters. Karl explained that “for me, it’s a lot of the darkness and 80s rock a lot of the time.”
Saurian are the only local band with a song dedicated to the legendary Blue Boy ice cream truck. Titled ‘Ice Cream Man’, the track is a head-banger and a guaranteed yell-along in their live gigs, featuring an image of Blue Boy as its single art. The image actually followed the inception of the song with the bassist at the time, Sol, snapping an opportune pic after hearing the ice cream’s rallying call. The song came about after being encored multiple times, with the band running out of songs to play. “I decided that I’d play something that I thought sounded absolutely horrific,” said Karl. “I just wanted to go home and I told Sol to scream some nonsense that he came up with at band practice and that was ‘Ice Cream Man’. Now we play it at every show.”
The natural next question was, what ice cream would you go for if you were at Blue Boy at this moment? Hamish gave the correct answer of a frosty freeze with sherbet, saying it's “always a classic.” Cameron said, “Anything choc-dipped,” also citing orange choc chip as a favorite in opposition to Karl’s answer of mint choc chip. Logan’s response was chocolate or cookies and cream.
Saurian are currently in the midst of their ‘Small Scale Tour’, playing four shows across the South Island throughout April and May. Though they played their Dunedin date at The Crown two weekends ago, there are still shows to come in Christchurch and Queenstown. The band are looking forward to sharing their music in some new locations as well as using the shows to get fans ready for new material they’ll be releasing later this year. It’s also a bit of a launchpad for a larger scale tour with Logan sharing that, if this tour is successful, “we are hoping to consider a more extended New Zealand tour going up the North Island a bit [and] working our way back down.”
You can keep up with Saurian by following them on their socials, including their website saurianband.com. Their music is available to stream on all major music platforms and they have merch available on at their live shows and online.