Oztix | News | This One Time, On Bandcamp: The Taste

After our trip to Adelaide brought forth the delightful tunes of Lonelyspeck last week, I've decided to take another road less travelled this week.

So, please come with me way up the east coast to a well-known city in far north Queensland, a region all too underrepresented in its own state, much less on the national stage. Now, I actually fled FNQ — probably nobody calls it that now — as a young adult because I was convinced that the region was culturally barren. (In my defence, it sure felt that way in the mid-2000s, and I am far from the only one to have made the leap south upon realising that they didn't want to end up in the army or pursuing a career in marine science.)

But, over time, I've been proven super-wrong on that front, and bands like this make me more than happy to admit it.

The Taste — Cairns, Queensland

Depending on which of their pages you believe, Cairns funk/hip hop/big-band ensemble The Taste are either a seven-piece or a nine-piece outfit but, either way, they've been growing their reputation around the far north region for more than half a decade now. Starting out as a quartet, the group cut their teeth in pubs and venues in their home city for three years before stepping out with something solid in their debut seven-track EP Rain Or Sunshine in 2014.

They went big in 2015 with their 10-song album Reflections — which even features a collaboration with now-Melbourne-based up-and-comer Greta Stanley — and then took a step back from the studio. They've been keeping busy ever since, though, and that growth has now culminated in new single The Hands Of, a hugely groovy number that showcases the vocal delivery and dexterity of rapper Vainz, who has increasingly taken centre stage to assume de facto frontman duties over the course of their career, as well as the wider group's well-honed talent for crafting catchy tunes that effortlessly set heads a'bobbin' and hips a'thrustin'.

Along with Vainz, the current line-up consists of guitarist and founder Mitch Sullivan, vocalist/guitarist/bongo-smasher Matt Mullins, lead guitarist Moses Warusam, bassist Chris 'The Boogie Man' Oakshott, saxophonist Liam White and drummer Darren Blackman, with a rotating cast of collaborators that include back-up vocalist Miss EnV, brass-men Derek Friessen, Luke Hanlon and Andrew Martin, saxophonist 'Uncle' Dave Saun, guitarist Paul Sampson and drummer Guy Mullins.

If you couldn't tell, this is a band that's all about big love and bigger vibes, and their newest song carries all the hallmarks of an ensemble well and truly coming into their own as accomplished young musicians worthy of your attention.

Occasionally, some lyrics may read as a bit immature or inexperienced — despite their years together, this is still a relatively young group, after all (jam buddy Hanlon only just turned 21 earlier this month), so there are bound to still be some weaknesses — but the high quality of the songs they're writing in addition to their growing renown as superior live musicians in the north-east of our country make them more than worth spending a bit of time getting to know.

Besides, they'll only get better from here, and that bodes extremely well for Cairns and the tropics in general as far as shaking off the unfair assessment held by internal and external parties about its musical potential. I'm really keen to see what comes next.