Avantdale Bowling Club

TREES

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Listen:

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Background by /u/milk543

Tom Scott is a rapper from New Zealand who is credited with being a major force in the progression of the NZ hip hop scene. He started out with the group Home Brew, a rap group releasing music that was authentic to life in New Zealand , they released 4 albums over a 6 year span. Their first self-titled album reached top of the NZ charts in its first week, and resulted in the group winning best hip-hop album at the NZ music awards in 2012.

After Home Brew Tom Scott moved on to form another group, @.Peace. Described as a jazz influenced experimental group it pushes the boundary of being called hip hop. The band’s most successful album was their third release in 2014, @.Peace & the Plutonian Noise Symphony. It’s a jazzy psychedelic journey with solid bars along the way and is definitely worth a listen. It also reached number 3 on the NZ charts.

@.Peace ended in a bit of controversy after they released a song called “ Kill PM” which some saw as a call to violence against the Prime Minister and his family. After @.Peace Tom Scott formed the Average Rap Band and released two albums with the group. Finally Tom Scott, who was living in Melbourne at the time, decided to move back to the place where he grew up, Avondale, a suburb of Auckland, NZ. This is where he formed the group Avondale Bowling Club and released their first self–titled album in 2018. A jazz influenced rap album that Scott describes as “a self help book addressed to myself” and “a grown up version of the Home Brew disc.” Source of quotes

The reason I choose to take you through all of Tom Scott’s past groups is because his entire journey is what has led to the album TREES. Growing up in NZ getting into the rap scene, and then moving away and coming back. His whole life story is told throughout his music as well as his perspectives on life.

In Avondale Bowling Club’s first release Scott tells his life story in the intro track. Then through out the album, delves into stories about his childhood, his family, and how addiction has affected not only his life but his friends and family. Four years later Avondale Bowling Club returned with the album TREES.

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Review by /u/milk543

To me TREES was the perfect follow up to Avondale Bowling Club. Its jazz heavy instrumentals provide the perfect backing for Tom Scott as he continues to share his beliefs about the world and his growth in life’s journey and struggles despite his musical success.

The album opens with the song Trees and a conversation between Tom and his son talking about money then Tom jokingly asks him about photosynthesis. This foreshadows one of the themes of the whole album and this song, which is Tom growing weed to provide for his family and fund his music. He reflects on how his mother raised him, now that he is having a second kid. He also faces the pressures of fatherhood and reflects on his father’s role in his life and how his father’s life turned out. It has a heavenly outro that transitions into Rent 2 High.

Rent 2 High has a more spacey jazz sound than the driving pace that Trees had. In the first verse Scott takes a look at his own relationship with substances, like weed, and the effect they have on his life. Also the balance of being a father and finding an escape through substances. He starts both verses with the same line “Smoking on the shit I grew, it’s Friday, there ain’t shit to do”. In the second verse he tells a story about someone he sells weed to. He has a sympathetic view of addiction knowing it’s better not to judge someone for it. He hopes for their sake they can quit but knows the harsh truth that they probably won’t. Another poetic and jazzy sax outro takes the listener into the next song Twenty Eight.

Twenty Eight is a brighter sounding song punctuated by the piano. He speaks on the struggle in finding the best way to make money and provide for his family in today’s world. The thin profits on selling his weed, and the amount of time and energy the work day consumes. His frustrations stem from not making enough for the time he puts in and missing out on life because of it. He mentions how financial success isn’t dependent on good morals, dirty money works the same as clean.

In Flying Pigs he discusses the risks he takes selling weed trying to make money. He is paranoid about police helicopters, shady people knowing where he lives, and the concerns of his wife about the safety of his family. In his second verse he alters his voice and talks about his frustrations surrounding weed laws. How the system is set up to prevent self medicating through marijuana and keep people reliant on pharmaceuticals. How large corporations make money through unethical ways while selling weed is illegal .

Friday Night at the Liquor Store is a chaotic rhythmic journey through a Friday night at a liquor store and bar in the neighborhood. Tom raps about people’s dependence on alcohol and the experience of drinking and why people do it. Rapping about the hard working people that spend a Friday night getting drunk. The song has a way of painting the full picture as if you’re at the bar yourself.

Going Through It. In this song he tells the story of love in his life. His relationships with weed and his girl. He declares he isn’t a fiend but also is self medicating. He does it to escape himself and reflect on his mistakes. One of which resulted in his girl and him getting into a fight. He tells the story of how he dealt with it and how she offered her forgiveness. The last verse speaks on what a imperfect but realistic relationship is, something not often reflected in music, movies, or TV.

Still Feel Broke Tom Scott raps about having money, fame, and success but its not enough. He speaks on survivors’ guilt, wondering if he’s a man despite his success, and reminiscing on simpler times with friends and family. Still Feel Broke describes his emotional state and financial situation. Despite the success it isn’t enough to satisfy him and he keeps pushing.

Remember, I Really Am Asleep? Is a jazzy interlude that is centered around a conversation with his son about the sirens they hear.

Without You. A love song about marijuana. His experience smoking and growing weed. What is he to do after harvest and no longer has his plants? He raps about the promises he made to his plants as they were growing all while knowing he was going to cut them down and sell them to someone else.

Outro? Is a jazzy outro with vocals singing about standing the test of time.

Overall I felt this album was very relatable and honest. While you may not be going through the same circumstances as him, his frustrations surrounding life are shared universally. The amount of effort that goes into just getting by. How to balance addiction and vices, both your own and other peoples. Also his feelings toward marijuana prohibition are some of the same views I think a lot of people share. Beyond that the instrumentals add another layer of depth to his lyrics, and help the album flow together.

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Favorite Lyrics by /u/milk543

> “You can live your whole life on a drug you said you’d only do once”- Rents 2 High

> “While I calculate my karma, I’m just a farmer selling my ganja while Zuckerberg is selling your daughter” – Flying Pigs

> “Sitting on this rock spinning round this burning ball, worthless with no purpose but somehow worth it all” – Going Through It

> “New kicks stepping in the same shit, what did I fix” – Still Feel Broke

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Talking Points

> How does it compare to the first Avantdale Bowling Club album?

>Do you prefer this style of jazz production with instruments or jazz based sampling?

>What was your favorite song from the album?

>Are you familiar with Home Brew or @.Peace?

>Have you ever seen Tom Scott live? How was it?

>Are there any other NZ rappers that should be on our radar?