Get to Know: Otis Tate. Playing Alongside Park RD, Plans of a Future EP and How ‘Memory Lane’ Came Together
Photos provided by Otis Tate, photos captured by Olive Christoffersen
Otis Tate is a rising superstar from Tāmaki Makaurau who combines real-life feels into neatly packaged tracks that will have you on the edge of your seat. We recently caught up amidst the chaos of his new single release, Memory Lane, to chat all things about the song, how he came to be as a songwriter and some unfortunate management at his first job at Subway.
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Hi Otis! Thank you for taking the time to sit down to answer some questions today. How are you doing?
Otis: I’m doing great thanks, been having a lot of fun, trying to enjoy the nice late spring early-summer type weather. A lot of beach trips lately, got to see the bioluminescence at Orewa Beach. If you don’t know what that is, to make a long story short the water at night goes glow in the dark blue! Definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. Also been working on more music, a lot more writing lately, so yeah life’s been good to me lately.
You’ve just released your incredible single, Memory Lane. Congratulations! What was the process of the song coming together? How long was the entire process?
Otis: The process was done in two parts. There was a writing phase and a recording phase. I first wrote it about two years ago while I was in my last year of Uni. I just had lyrics for the first verse come to me while I was riding the train home, then over the next week or two I fleshed out the rest of the song and was really happy with it. The recording process took about a year and a half mainly because I decided to work on all my other songs at the same time. I did a session with my drummer Jesse Schroder-Smale and bassist Ben Frisby in December 2023 - January 2024 where we laid down recordings for all my songs including Memory Lane. After that, I brought the song to my producers Tom Broome and Jacob Brown in July 2024, and we started working on the song from there. We spent a good amount of time playing around with ambient textures, guitar tones and making sure my vocals were half decent before bringing in Jackson Wilcox on keys and Ariel Kelly on backing vocals to give the song its chefs kiss.
Memory Lane is a tight, almost sort of nostalgic-feeling song (you even have the lyrics that address that in the song!). Was there a particular situation that inspired you to write it?
Otis: Yeah, so not too long before writing the song, I found out my old church I had grown up in was being demolished. It was long overdue, and it should’ve been destroyed long before, but it got me thinking about the good memories I have of that place, but also of how I struggled to leave it and when I did, how I never wanted to revisit it again. I have always struggled to adapt to changing circumstances or let go of something I don’t want to, and Memory Lane encapsulates the tug of war that goes on in my head when I know something is over with, but I desperately don’t want it to be.
How does Memory Lane differ from your previous two releases, Crazy and Bye Bye?
Otis: Memory Lane is a much more reflective and contemplative song than Crazy and Bye Bye. Those two are more reactionary songs that look outward at something or someone else and blame them for the situation they are in. Memory Lane looks more inwards at myself, but instead of placing the blame on me, it’s more about accepting a situation for what it is rather than what you want it to be.
Would you like to give the Welcome to the Gig readers a bit of a breakdown in terms of your musical background? What inspired you to get into this creative field?
Otis: I just had a lot of music around me when I was growing up. I come from a very musical family, so it was kind of like inherited into my psyche. The earliest memory I have is hearing Vertigo by U2 and being in awe of how cool rock music sounded. From there I learnt guitar, started singing, lost confidence when I hit puberty and gradually gained it back. Then I started writing lyrics to music I was creating when I was in year thirteen. I was really inspired by the simplicity of Stevie Wonder’s melodies and have been getting better at my craft ever since.
What are some things that readers (and maybe even your listeners) may find interesting about you?
Otis: Well, I started songwriting because I was bummed out about getting fired from Subway after two and a half weeks. I don’t know what happened, but the managers hated me. They didn’t even let me make a sandwich. I was down because I thought I could never be a good adult if I couldn’t keep my first job for more than two weeks so yeah, that’s how I started writing songs.
A few months ago, you got to play a show alongside Park RD and Jack Robertson. How was that for you?
Otis: It was really fun. It was just a quick acoustic set, but I still had a great time. It all came together really last minute. I didn’t get any sort of confirmation until like a couple of days before hand but I was comfortable with my songs and it all went pretty smoothly.
What has been the biggest thing that you have learnt since emerging into the New Zealand music scene?
Otis: Just to be as supportive as you can with your contemporaries. We’re all doing the thing we love the most and most of us are doing it rather broke so I like to go to as many gigs as I can and support as much cool Aotearoa music as I can.
If you could liken your music to an animal, which animal would you choose and why?
Otis: Probably a lion because I’ve got a large roaring voice I think and my music is quite a large sound, too.
Have you got any further shows on the horizon, maybe an EP or album eventually?
Otis: I don’t have a show lined up right now, but I have an EP coming out probably early next year. All going to plan, that is.
Thank you so much for your time, Otis! I truly cannot wait to hear more of your talent. Would you like to add anything else to the interview?
Otis: No nothing else thank you for this opportunity I really appreciate it.
For more Otis, check out his links below -