Traque (Timaru)

Traque - originally from Timaru - winners of the 1980 Battle of the Bands at the Timaru Soundshell
Paul Moffat(Guitar/Vocals), Stan Tumai (Bass/Vocals) and Paul Wilson (Drums) and Mike Hunapo (Guitar/Vocals)

Mike Hunapo has great memories of the Timaru music scene, spanning over eleven years from 1973 to 1984, after which he moved to Christchurch where he still resides.  He played with some great local musicians and teamed up and toured with well known New Zealand and overseas acts, having had success in winning the Radio Caroline Battle of the Bands in 1979 with the band Concession and again in 1980 with Traque - consisting of the same band members, Stan Tumai, Paul Moffat and Paul Wilson.  The winning prize was $500.00 and 10 hours of recording time at Christchurch's Kent House Studios in 1979 and Tandem Studios in 1980.  Sadly, only a damaged cassette tape remains in Paul's posession (Radio Caroline kept the finished reels in archives stored at Kent House, Christchurch which was destroyed by the earthquake.  Mike's saddest moment was hearing the news that Paul Wilson was tragically murdered.  An inspiring drummer with great potential and future ahead of him, he came to Paul as a schoolboy for a rehearsal when Paul was looking for a replacement drummer, and they gave him a chance which saw him excel beyond his years.  An exemption through the police was required for him to play with bands in hotels in Timaru.  Paul played in Sydney in 2011 and 2012 and jammed on a cruise ship on the Inside Passage Alaska cruise, and in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.Traque recorded during mid-December 1980 at Tandem Studios in Christchurch.  Their aim was to produce a single and possibly an album irom from later studio sessions.  For some oi the gioup it was their second studio sojourn with both Mike and the other guitarist, Paul Moffat, spent about 10 hours in the studio at Kent House when in Concession.  The studio time was the main prize won by the band at the 1979 Battle of the Bands in the Timaru Soundshell.  Traquc played a broad cross-section of music which they described as being irom jazz to reggae to chart music. "It depended on the crowd as to what we played - you can't play the same music at a cabaret as you can at a pub," according to the group's bass player, Stan Tumai, "this was the main problem for Timaru bands. "The crowd would dictate what the group played, rather than the other way round.  If a band started in Timaru playing only originals, chances are that hardly anyone would have listened to them.  For a band that was versatile though, there was plenty of work to be found."