Timely release for Lazy Fifty’s latest

Adrian Athy’s Lazy Fifty has released a war-time love song, “One Last Time”. Picture supplied

The release of Lazy Fifty’s new single “One Last Time” with its universal themes of love and loss in times of war was timely as New Zealanders remembered our Anzac soldiers this week.

The song starts with a haunting slide guitar introduction.

It tells the story of a young soldier, who could be of any generation, going to war.  The song starts with the words,  “Wipe your tears away, don’t you be afraid” and continues with the feel of a narrative diary. It ends with,  “And as I lay I close my eyes. I see your face smiling one last time”.

“One Last Time” is a love story, but also acknowledges the “generations that went away to war thinking it was going to be fun, but as it turned out it wasn’t”, says composer Adrian Athy.

This is the second song inspired by our war heroes that Adrian has written.

“Cassino”, a folk song about the Kiwis who fought at the World War 2 battle of Cassino came first.  “ I wanted to start creating our own folk history, to take pride in our NZ history,” Adrian said.

“One Last Time” is the third single off Lazy Fifty’s upcoming EP “Neighbour of the Beast”. The new EP is the second collaboration between Adrian and producer Greg Haver.

“It was great to revisit the world of Lazy Fifty again after previously working on their 2021: A LAZY ODYSSEY album,” Haver says.

“It’s always encouraging to see a band refresh and continue on their musical journey, a path that Adrian constantly treads in his desire to expand his virtuosity and push the boundaries of the genre.”

Original Kiwi rock band Lazy Fifty has been Adrian’s brainchild for 12 years. He is a prolific songwriter and composes all Lazy Fifty’s music.

“Neighbour of the Beast” is the Adrian Athy show, with a bit of Greg Haver thrown in. Adrian wrote all the songs, sang lead and backing vocals and played lead, rhythm and bass guitar. In addition to producing the album Greg also performed drums and percussion, bringing a huge sound with the help of his vintage Lydwig kit and Zildjian “crash of doom” cymbal.

“Neighbour of the Beast” was recorded at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios.

The name Lazy Fifty comes from the saying of an old friend. When he asked you for a ‘lazy twenty’ (dollars), you knew you’d never see the money again. That was a long time ago and their friend is no longer with us. In memory of him, and allowing for inflation, they are now Lazy Fifty.

Adrian Athy and his wife and band manager Kerry are bound for the UK, where he is hoping to work full-time as a musician.