Heavyweight soul providers Fat Freddy’s Drop are about to take flight once again with the worldwide release of new album Blackbird on 24th June 2013. Blackbird is the third full-length release from the New Zealand band and will see Fat Freddy’s Drop exceed half-a-million album sales worldwide, the result of playing over 800 shows in their career-to-date, clocking up 412 appearances in Europe, 27 Australian Tours and over 300 shows in their homeland.

Fat Freddy’s Drop celebrate a decade of European touring by releasing Blackbird in East London. The already sold-out show at Village Underground attracted over 4,000 hopeful ticket ballot entries in just 24 hours for only 500 lucky spots.

Featuring nine tracks, Blackbird was written and recorded at Bays, the band’s own studio, which was one of the last vinyl pressing plants in New Zealand and then an apostolic church. Fitchie says, “What you hear on the album is the sound of Bays; the room itself, the vibe of the place and the performance we can get out of the band in there.”

“Blackbird is truer to FFD’s musical philosophy than anything else we’ve done”, says Chopper Reeds. “The song structures are open and unruly – just like our live shows – whilst we’ve pushed ourselves to deliver rich and deeply layered arrangements that showcase Joe Dukie’s exceptional voice. We feel totally at home melding together this unholy mix of disco, rootsy dub, blues, soul and electronic funk – it’s what we do.”

Fat Freddy’s Drop have released two studio albums, “Based On A True Story” (2005) and “Dr Boondigga & The Big BW” (2009), two live albums, “Live At The Matterhorn” (2001) and “Live At Roundhouse” (2010) and a stash of limited edition vinyl singles, including the now legendary “Midnight Marauders” and “Hope For A Generation”.