''Based on a True Story'' is the first studio album by New Zealand group

Fat Freddy's Drop Fat Freddy's Drop is a New Zealand seven-piece band from Wellington, whose musical style has been characterised as any combination of dub, reggae, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, and techno. Originally a jam band formed in the late 1990s by mus ...

. It was recorded in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

and released on the band's own label, The Drop. ''Based on a True Story'' utilized the band's trademark dub, reggae, soul and funk influenced sound, and has been successful both in terms of sales and of critical reception. The album followed years of regular touring within New Zealand, a live album, several singles, and appearances on numerous compilation albums in New Zealand and internationally. Whilst the track listing named previously successful singles such as "Hope" and "This Room", these songs were in fact rerecorded in entirely new versions for the album. ''Based on a True Story'' has to date also spawned a highly successful single in its own right: Wandering Eye, which was awarded the prize for Best Music Video at the 2006 New Zealand Music Awards (18 October

The album made an impact internationally as well. Listeners of

Gilles Peterson Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE (; born 28 September 1964), better known as Gilles Peterson (), is a French broadcaster, DJ, and record label owner. He founded the influential labels Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud, and started his current label Brow ...

's BBC Worldwide Program voted it as Album of the Year for 2005.

Sales and recognition

The album debuted at number 1 and went gold in its first day, and so far has become the longest album by a New Zealand group/artist to stay at number 1 (10 weeks). As of June 23, 2016 the album had been in the New Zealand charts for 108 weeks and had gone 9 times Platinum, selling over 135,000 copie

In 2005, ''Based on a True Story'' won the

New Zealand Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...

for 'Album of the Year', an unusual achievement for an independent label. 'Based On A True Story' also features appearances from New Zealand musicians including

Ladi 6 Karoline Fuarose Park-Tamati (born 7 November 1982), known professionally as Ladi6, is a New Zealand recording artist of Samoan descent. She spent six months living in Berlin and touring Europe in both 2010 and 2011. Her debut album ''Time Is N ...

, P Digsss,

Hollie Smith Hollie Smith (born 17 November 1982) is a New Zealand soul singer-songwriter based in Auckland, New Zealand. Her four solo albums ''Long Player, Humour and the Misfortune of Others, Water or Gold,'' and ''Coming In From The Dark'' have all reac ...

, Rio Hemopo & Riki Gooch,

Nick Gaffaney Nick Gaffaney is a professional drummer, songwriter and singer from New Zealand, and is best known for the band Cairo Knife Fight. Career Gaffaney began his career as a session and recording artist, having played drums for Dimmer, Goldenhorse, H ...

, Chris Yeabsley &

Aaron Tokona Aaron Arana Tokona (28 October 1975 – 20 June 2020) was a New Zealand guitarist and singer. Tokona was descended from Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngāti Maniapoto. This heritage played a significant role in his upbringing through his grandparents, who ...

Track listing

Band members

*Joe Dukie (

Dallas Tamaira Dallas Tamaira or as he is better known, Joe Dukie, is the vocalist for the New Zealand group Fat Freddy's Drop. His stage name is inspired from his father Joe, also a singer, and his grandfather, a musician nicknamed Dukie after Duke Ellington. ...

) - Vocals *Tony Chang (

Toby Laing Toby is a popular, usually male, name in many English speaking countries. The name is from the Middle English vernacular form of Tobias. Tobias itself is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew טוביה ''Toviah'', which translates to ''Good i ...

) - Trumpet *Fulla Flash (

Warren Maxwell Warren D. Maxwell (born 15 December 1952) is a British retired competitive ice dancer. His partner was Janet Thompson. They are the 1977 World silver medalists. They represented Great Britain at the 1976 Winter Olympics, where they placed ...

) - Saxophone *Jetlag Johnson (

Tehi Kerr Tehi is a village and one of the 23 union councils of Talagang Tehsil,Sada Chakwal NewsTehi Chakwal District in the Punjab Province of Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a cou ...

) - Electric Guitar *Dobie Blaze (Iain Gordon) - Keyboards *DJ Fitchie (

DJ Mu A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

) - Mix *Hopepa ( Joe Lindsay) - Trombone *MC slave (mc)

External links

Review of the album by the BBC

Smokecds.com - Buy the CD
{{Authority control 2005 debut albums Fat Freddy's Drop albums