New Zealand born Opiuo has gained a reputation for never playing the same set twice as be brings the bounce and bass to audiences all over the world.
Growing from DJ to producer to live performer, Opiuo has been expanding the live musical experience for his fans culminating this year with a performance at the legendary Red Rocks venue in Colorado with a 21-piece orchestra.
He joins Music 101 to share some tracks that were influential to him growing up and share a taste of his exciting new live album.
Opiuo Photo: Screamy
Supergroove - You Freak Me
“I was on the top of a staircase at a venue in Golden Bay, I think it was the River Inn. My parents had gone there and I was probably ten or twelve or so. Overlooking this show I had never seen or heard anything like it. Changed my life. I’d never seen sound do that to people the crowd were going absolutely crazy.”
Beastie Boys - Groove Holmes
“This album for me was in my parent’s collection and when I discovered it, it changed my life. I still listen to this album multiple times a year to this day.”
Bad Company UK - The Nine (2000)
“I was always collecting music and electronic music was becoming more and more my thing. Then I started getting the opportunity to open a few stages at local festivals. Then I entered Rumble in the Jungle a DJ competition when I moved to Wellington, which I won. Drum and Bass came in to my life about that time.”
Chris Carter - Walkie Talkie (2005)
“Chris Carter was making some of the really tight funky breaks music that started to transition me away from the really dirty drum and bass sounding bass lines and into the more funky stuff. I was starting to need confidence about going in that direction with the music I was making and this is the stuff that really got me there.”
Tipper - Ken Oath
“I was starting to dabble in the slower tempos. I went to a festival and I saw him play, I think it was 2008. Before this album came out. He played this set during the afternoon and there were probably only fifty people behind this massive dance floor and I was like ‘No way, someone is doing this thing’. It was existing and I was kind of already starting to make it, but once again it was about confidence to do a different thing. It got me so excited and I just dived right in and the next year my first EP came out.”
Opiuo and the Syzygy Ochestra - Movement 1
“Red Rocks in Colorado is the best venue I’ve ever played at. I got offered to headline it which was a moment for me, a kid from a small town somewhere, it was huge for me. I spent a few weeks thinking about how I could do it and then I called my manager and said I wanted to do an orchestra. I spent months trying to figure out how to do it. I wanted to put in music I had previously released and I wanted to rework stuff that people were familiar with but take it in a completely new direction. It snowed in the morning. It was zero degrees when we were playing. It was an insane magical experience. It could have gone completely wrong at any second.”
Artist: Supergroove
Song: You Freak Me
Composer: Supergroove
Album: Traction
Label: BMG/Sony
Artist: Beastie Boys
Song: Groove Holmes
Composer: Beastie Boys, Mark Nishita
Album: Check your Head
Label: Capitol
Artist: Bad Company
Song: The Nine
Composer: DJ Fresh, J. Maldini
Album: Inside The Machine
Label: DC Recordings
Artist: Chris Carter
Song: Walkie Talkie
Composer: C. carter
Album: single
Label: Record Records
Artist: Tipper
Song: ken Oath
Composer: D. Tipper
Album: Wobble Factor
Label: Tipper Music
Artist: Opiuo (feat Syzyrgy Orchestra)
Song: Movement 1
Composer: O. Davey-Wraight
Album: Opuio x Syzyrgy Orchestra Live at Red Rocks
Label: Slurp Music
