Hawke's Bay band Jakob celebrates 20 years in the business

Hawke's Bay-based band Jakob are celebrating 20 years. Pictured are guitarist Jeff Boyle (left), drummer Jason Johnston and bass guitarist Maurice Beckett. Photo/Supplied

A 20 year musical journey has seen Hawke's Bay based band, Jakob tour around the world, release numerous albums and gain a lengthy list of international accolades.

Since forming in 1998, guitarist Jeff Boyle, bassist Maurice Beckett, and drummer Jason Johnston have released four albums and two EP's within the post-rock niche.

Despite all their success, they still live in Hawke's Bay. They all have day jobs. Two are tradesmen, the other works in a music shop. They're family men. It's a slow burner, this band.

With this year marking their 20th anniversary, although they don't know the exact date they began, the guitarist looks back with fondness and notes that "it just feels like we've always been a band now".

He believes the secret to their longevity is the bond between them and the fact that "we still really enjoy playing music together".

"The thing is it was really organic, we had already been a band called Vaccine together back in 1995, where did a few originals and Tool covers, before doing other things and then we came together in early '98.

"So it is kind of quite ambiguous when the actual start date was so its this year so we thought we would start it at the start of the year and make it go throughout the whole year."

On January 27, the three-piece will kick off their North Island gigs at The Cabana, Napier.

"We play quite cinematic, atmospheric soundscapes, but it is very dynamic music, where there are lots of highs and lows and there are lots of emotionally charged crescendos and come-downs afterwards. Without sounding cheesy, it is a musical journey."

Boyle find it hard to pick a favourite album and song as they "are like your children, it's really hard to choose one over the other."

"I suppose my favourite album is Solace, our second to last one which we recorded in 2006, but my favourite song would Resolve from our 2014 album Sines.

This year, they hope to write some good quality, relevant music and touring for "as long - as people want to listen to it".

Over the two decades, Boyle notes that the music landscape has changed drastically.

"It's evolving and its evolving fast and its kind of hard to keep up sometimes you know but if you want to keep going as a band you need to keep evolving with the way things are and put your best foot forward."