Manawatū band ‘stoked’ to open for The Feelers

Palmerston North band Ripple Effect open for The Feelers in Wellington on Thursday night. Band members from, left, Christian Perry, Hana Tamatea and Sage Tucker.

Jacob Wilson/Stuff

Palmerston North band Ripple Effect open for The Feelers in Wellington on Thursday night. Band members from, left, Christian Perry, Hana Tamatea and Sage Tucker.

A Manawatū reggae band are counting their blessings after being invited to open for New Zealand rock veterans The Feelers.

The five-piece Ripple Effect will take to the stage at San Fran on Thursday night for the Wellington leg of the NZ Communicate 21st Anniversary Tour.

Vocalist and percussionist Hana Tamatea said the band were excited to be heading down to Wellington to meet new people and play a great show.

“This is an awesome opportunity to be asked by Aotearoa legends if we’d like to open for their Wellington leg of the tour.

“We are stoked to represent Palmerston North and the Manawatū.”

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Ripple Effect, a combination of Kiwi reggae with traces of rock, R&B, and technical jazz, was founded in 2016 by Sage Tucker while studying for the New Zealand Diploma in Creativity at UCOL.

Since leaving the contemporary music course that bought them together, the five band members, Christian Perry, Sage Tucker, Leon Tama, Hana Tamatea and Jayden Thompson, have forged a career in music. Their song Sway has reached almost 500,000 listens on Spotify.

The band have been together for over five years and are continuing to keep the momentum, having recently opened for New Zealand Reggae veterans Katchafire on May 20 after the gig had been pushed back four times due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Doors open at San Fran at 7.30pm Thursday. The Feelers play at The Royal in Palmerston North on Friday night. Tickets available online at eventfinda.