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After years of hard work, the band The Boondocks is ready to crowdfund their new album, Don’t Let Them See You Cry.
Since forming in 2022, The Boondocks have been described as ‘one of the country’s most exciting rock bands’.
Made up of Āwhitu locals Scott Parker on bass and vocals, and Branden Pritchard on drums.
Despite both being pupils at the same school, it was not until they left that they began playing together.
“I’d always wanted to play live, however, the lockdowns prevented that for a few years, and then my band broke up. I was pretty bummed out when that band stopped. I was tired of waiting around for something to happen, and thought I may as well just get on with it and make it work. So I think I just flicked Branden a message asking if he wanted to have a jam, which he was keen to do.”
After a few practice runs, they felt ready for the real thing, and in their first year together, they gave 30 performances, which were described as crazy.
In the beginning, Parker admitted to feeling anxious about performing in front of a live audience and relied on Prichard’s experience and confidence to help support him in those early days.
Producer Scott Seabright, who had worked with artists like Troy Kingi, Stan Walker, and The Chills, recorded and produced the band’s tracks, and is described as the best when it comes to helping make music.
The album is a mix of ‘high-energy and upbeat, to foreboding and brooding’, and the songs explore themes that many people generally avoid talking about.
“The title of the album <ITALICS>Don’t Let Them See You Cry is really about toxic levels of self-preservation, which I think is a pretty harsh thing a lot of folks put themselves through.
“It comes from our song ‘Mr Feel Good’, which is a song about someone having a meltdown trying to keep themselves together. The songs are often about frustration, with a bit of a satire tone to it. But some of the tracks like ‘The Hills’, and ‘Minnie Dean’ have a much darker and brooding feel to them”, Parker said.
The crowdfunding campaign will take six weeks to complete, and the album needs to sell 150 copies and make just under $5,000 for it to be a success. The goal is for the crowdfunder to fund the entire cost of vinyl pressing the album, which will be done by Holiday Records.
A tour including Hamilton, Taupo, Tauranga, Christchurch, and Auckland has been scheduled to help promote it.
“We have just done a similar small tour back in May for our single ‘Bear With Me’, and that was a lot of fun. Tours are stressful and require a lot of planning and money.
“However, after the album, I think we’re going to get right back on the studio. I don’t want to say too much, but I feel confident that The Boondocks is gonna do some cool stuff in 2026,” Parker said.
