Opshop

History

Opshop was formed by Invercargill born, Christchurch raised, singer/songwriter Jason Kerrison. He based himself in Auckland, writing music while at a residency in a backpacker's bar.

Growing tired of the solo shows, he invited guitarist and former school friend, Tim Skedden to join him and share the acoustic vibe that the club and its punters had come to enjoy. The following year, Kerrison met up with another old Christchurch school mate - long time drummer Bobby Kennedy - and invited him to join the new band. The band's name was GST (Goldfish Shopping Trolley), though it was soon changed to Opshop. Guitarist Matt Treacy (another Cantabrian living in Auckland) was next to join. The band then recruited a friend of Jason's he had met while studying ethnomusicology at Auckland University. English-born Ian Munro became Opshop's bass player.

During the winter of 2003, Opshop were the winners of Project NZM, a competition on ZM radio station aimed at helping small bands make it big. Project NZM saw the song Saturated being given the song airplay on the ZM network.

A demo recording of their work found its way into the hands of friends Adrien de Croy and Tracy Magan of the newly founded label Siren Records, whose acts included Goldenhorse, who liked the band's music. Siren offered Opshop an opportunity to record some of their material at York Street Studios in a 'live' demo session. The following night, Opshop played their first ever performance alongside Che-Fu and Ted Clarke at the then Leftfield Bar on the Viaduct in Auckland. In the weeks that followed, Siren approached Opshop with a deal that would provide both opportunity and artistic independence, alongside the distribution capabilities of major label Capitol/EMI.

Opshop finished their debut album You Are Here in 2004. Their first single "Nothing Can Wait" was recorded by Malcolm Welsford at York St Studios. Their fourth single "No Ordinary Thing" got to number 22 in the New Zealand charts; it was also included on the Now That's What I Call Music Volume 16.

The band went through major line-up changes: guitarist Tim Skedden had to leave the band due to family commitments and bass player Ian Munro decided to head back home to his native Britain. Munro was eventually replaced by Bobby Kennedy's former band mate Clinton Harris (Clint and Bobby had first teamed up as part of Rock Quest winning band Outer Control, whose lead singer was Pearl Runga, sister of Bic Runga. The two later joined group Gorilla Biscuit (With Aubrey Tupai and Jason Faafoi, also with Jason Kerrison on vocals.)

Jason Kerrison auditioned for television series Rock Star Supernova but was not selected for the finals. At the auditions, Tommy Lee, told him how much he loved band Snow Patrol, which inspired Jason when making 2007 album Second Hand Planet (as Kerrison said during an interview with The Rock radio station). In September 2007, Opshop supported Snow Patrol for the band's two New Zealand shows.

With the album's first single "Maybe", Opshop became the first New Zealand band to go to the #1 position on iTunes New Zealand, beating out Mika, Avril Lavigne, Beyoncé, Shakira, Justin Timberlake and Snow Patrol.

While on tour with Luke Thompson in New Zealand in 2008, the band came up with a song for each place they visited on the day of the concert. In Auckland, they forgot the words to it and made it up on the spot.

In April 2010 Opshop were voted New Zealand's favourite band by readers of EDC magazine. Single "Pins and Needles" was released on 17 April 2010, with third album Until The End Of Time following in August 2010. On 1 May 2010, Opshop became the first (and only) New Zealand band to play 10 shows in 1 day to kick off New Zealand Music Month. The band played a variety of concerts around New Zealand with the help of Air New Zealand and Grab A Seat.

In December 2013 Kerrison told newspaper The Dominion-Post that Opshop were taking a break for "at least a year, maybe two, maybe longer than that". Offshoot band The Babysitters Circus released their debut album the same month.

In 2011 Kerrison was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to music.

Featured appearances

The group have appeared on a few compilations since 2002. The following is a list of these albums that have featured tracks by the Opshop.