Whanganui musicians Something Zesty to release 'Speed Cooking' finale online

Something Zesty, the third musical project of Whanganui musician Isaac Chamberlain, have spent the past few months releasing "Speed Cooking" videos on social media.

Chamberlain and collaborator Andrew Condon, aka Zest Lord Merlin, record and release a new song onto their Facebook page each week.

On Tuesday, the funk duo will release the Speed Cooking grand finale online, but Chamberlain said he'd had so much fun making them that a second series wouldn't be far away.

"Basically, we just meet up and jam out a few ideas, construct a beat through the video and add all the elements, and the last couple of minutes of the video is the song we've made out of it," Chamberlain said.

"They've been getting longer every episode, and we've started to add these characters and make all these little skits at the start, and the whole thing is just unravelling on us."

"With Speed Cooking, a lot of people who aren't musicians can see how the whole thing comes together. All of it is pretty much one take, but that's just how we roll."

Chamberlain, who is also the founder of Whanganui rap crew Machete Clan and rock five piece Drxnes, said Something Zesty had released "three actual singles" on Spotify to date, but the positive feedback on their video series meant Speed Cooking would now be a regular feature of the band.

"I've been jamming with Andrew for quite a while, and he was the original bassist for Drxnes. He's an absolute shredder on guitar."

"I've always had these jams that don't quite fit into Drxnes, and they're a bit too good for Machete [Clan]. The good thing with the Zest is that there are no boundaries at all. We've got a punk single, a hip hop single and a dance hall one as well."

Chamberlain said the goal for the second series of Speed Cooking would be to get a "whole bunch of other artists" to collaborate on the project, as well as to finish the band's first EP by the end of the year.

"We're keen to get a band together and get the Zest on the road."

"Speed Cooking has all been funk so far, and we've got a running joke of 'what are we going to play next?'. We pull a name out of a hat and it's always funk. It's always going to be funk."

"Hard-hitting funk is always such a good time, and as long as we can keep it fresh and fun then we'll keep pumping the videos out."

• Check out Something Zesty's "Speed Cooking" series at www.facebook.com/somethingzest

Mike Tweed
Whanganui Chronicle 20/10/20