Driven by growling guitars and vocals to match, the new single from Wellington-based artist Voodoo Bloo – ‘MMA’ – proves a hectic introduction to this young talent.
The moniker of songwriter and musician Rory McDonald, Voodoo Bloo and their new music comes to punk rock fans with urgency and excitement powering it throughout.
‘MMA’ bounds along with catchy melody, Voodoo Bloo channeling influences as wide ranging from System Of A Down to Neutral Milk Hotel and Car Seat Headrest in bringing this debut effort to life.
Recorded at PlasticGrooveHQ in Wellington before being mixed and mastered at Hammerhead Studios with Niel De Jong (Alien Weaponry), ‘MMA’ stems from personal experience, according to the artist.
“This song is about that one drunk friend or even just an intoxicated asshole you meet when out in town on substance-driven adventures. The characters you sometimes meet teach you great lessons about what an ego is and how, when inhibitions slip, you can see a person’s true personality come out. And it’s not always pretty.” Voodoo Bloo
Though Voodoo Bloo is a new project, for McDonald, music has been a large part of his life for some years now. Forming hard rock group Lucifer Gunne in 2017 brought the 15 year old McDonald to wider attention in New Zealand, while the band’s single release ‘Energenetic’ made its way to Australian ears not long after, generating praise of its own.
With this current lockdown situation preventing shows from taking place for many, if not all, artists in Australia and in New Zealand, plans are in the works for moving into Voodoo Bloo’s next phase once we all are able to pour back into venues to enjoy live music once more. Until then, more music is on the way.