Kerretta Put You in Your Place on ‘By the Throats’ — Song Stream

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If you fiend for heavy instrumental music, boy do we have a tip for you! New Zealand power-trio Kerretta is about to unleash an album entitled 'Saansilo' and it's a stunner. Some of our American readers might have caught the group when they toured the US in 2010' Kerreta has also supported a host of bands both here and abroad, including Jakob, Explosions In The Sky, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, and ex-Dead Moon folks Poison Arrows. At their 2010 SXSW performance, a dedicated and determined crowd braved the freak (and to be frank, quite sinister) arctic winds, that tore through the open-air venue with hurricane force, to stand transfixed (yet shivering in the night), bearing witness to the might and majesty that is the Kerretta live show.

Noisecreep is proud to present the world premiere of 'By the Throats,' a track off of 'Saansilo.' We also caught up with Kerretta bassist Will via email and got some background info on the band.

Please give us and our readers a quick rundown on the history of the band.

Kerretta is a band from Auckland, New Zealand. We have just released our new album 'Saansilo.' It is the follow-up album to our debut 'Vilayer,' which we released in 2009.

When most people think of the kind of music Kerretta performs, bands like Pelican and Explosions in the Sky come to mind. Was there any kind of scene in New Zealand for artists like yourself playing heavy instrumental music?

Listen to 'By the Throats' From Kerretta

Not so many, there is only a handful of bands along the same lines as what we are doing. NZ has a very small but healthy music scene. If you wanted, you could get to know most people pretty quickly. There are few instrumental bands but plenty of interesting heavier bands, more so in the last year or so. The record label Flying Nun is still the reigning king here as far as musical history and cultural significance...

You have massive guitar and bass tones in your recordings. How important is the gear for what you're trying to get across?

We'll use anything that helps blur the lines of how a typical three piece band may sound. Obviously no vocal is a start but the gear and effects are also play a major part helping us find new tones and interesting sonic ideas. Space and dynamics is also just as important as an effect. I think that 'Saansilo' has some great examples of that.

In the beginning of the band, did you feel any pressure to try and busy-up the arrangements since there weren't any vocals to distract people?

No never. We would sooner have a simple interesting idea that is effective....than a busy one that may be unnecessary or overblown. We really don't think about the lack vocals that much at all.

Tell us about the song we're premiering, 'By the Throats.'

It's quite a different Kerretta song in some ways. Where others have plenty of momentum this one is a song that puts you in your place, it traps you for its duration and slowly seems to force feed itself into you. Enjoy!