Word of mouth growing on Slipping Tongue

By MIKE MATHER in Rotorua
Forget about NZ Idol's Frank - Slipping Tongue could be the future of Rotorua music.
The four-piece rock outfit have just made it through to the New Zealand finals of the International Battle of the Bands competition, after out-performing five other top bands from around the central North Island at the regional finals in Hamilton.
The former Rotorua Lakes High School four-piece band formed in early 2002, where they won that year's school talent quest, as well as coming second overall in the Bay of Plenty Rockquest regional finals.
Since that time the band have been diligently gigging away while recording and releasing new material as time and finances permit.
Their persistence has paid off, with a growing fan base and attention from commercial radio programmers around the country.
"We honestly did not expect to be getting through," lead guitarist Rik Cookson said.
"We were as surprised as anyone, but we are stoked.
"We really were not treating it too seriously.
"We just thought of it as just another gig, another show.
"The finals are going to be a big ask though, with nine top bands from around New Zealand playing."
The New Zealand finals will be held on Friday, October 7 at Galatos in Auckland and Slipping Tongue are up against some high profile bands including Agent from Taranaki and Auckland band International Flannel.
Influenced by hard rock bands like System Of A Down and Tool, the key to success for the group has been the vocal power of their lead singer Jennie Skulander, who was described by one critic as possessing "rich strong tonality, sometimes pure as a bell, yet other times roaring with gravel in the chest".
The band themselves describe their style as "aggressive rock".
"I'd call it 'angerness'," Jennie laughs.
Slipping Tongue have released two EP's, Running For Words, and Hypocrite, with a third called Grip the Fist just having hit the shelves in music stores.
They have also opened for well-known bands like Goodshirt, Dogs On Prozac and Stardrunk and can be found playing regularly in Hamilton, Tauranga, Auckland and Rotorua.
There was no real music "scene" in Rotorua.
That and the lack of a student radio station broadcasting in the city has stunted Slipping Tongue's progress, as well as other local bands wanting to get known, Jennie said.
"It makes it hard, a real uphill thing for us," she said.
It was best to not care "that we don't really make any money out of it," Rik said.
"Yeah, the way to think of it is to treat it as a hobby and if other people are into what we play then that's a bonus," drummer Simon Power added.