Latest news with #TheWaroftheRohirrim
The Herald Scotland
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
'We headlined The Shire - not many bands can say that'
They've had four number one singles in their native New Zealand - not bad for a group that started busking on the streets. Guitarist Ben O'Leary, sitting alongside bassist Sam Thomson tells The Herald: "It started just with Matt and Shaan, who are the other two in the band. Read More: "Matt's the drummer and Shaan's the singer and also the sax player (Drax being a portmanteau of drums and sax) and they just started busking on just the streets of Wellington doing jazz. "Sam was living with them at the time and he started busking and it was just the three of them playing other people's music for a while, playing pop tunes as a saxophone trio. "They decided they wanted to start writing their own music and wanted someone to play chords, I was just kind of milling around and, well, I knew a few chords." Sam jumps in: "He's learned a few since then too, which is cool." Drax Project performing live (Image: Ashlea Caygill) Ben laughs: "We actually stopped busking when I joined, I think they didn't want to split the profits with me." 'Woke Up Late' was first released in 2017, going six times platinum in New Zealand as it reached number one. It caught global attention though when a version was released featuring the American singer and actress Hailee Steinfeld, going top 30 on the U.S pop chart and racking up hundreds of millions of streams. Sam says: "It was a pretty crazy situation. I mean, the song started off in Ben's bedroom. "We listened to it, were like, 'oh, this is like a good song' but we hadn't really thought too much about it. "It's definitely taken us to some places that, at the time that it was written, we would never have expected. It's been an awesome ride." Ben adds: "It was a slow burn, though. "We'd been around for about four or five years as the four of us, we'd had a bit of recognition in New Zealand and then 'Woke Up Late' was just getting cranked on the radio for six months. "We opened for Ed Sheeran maybe five months after we released that song, we had three nights opening for him in Auckland in front of 40,000 people." New Zealand is famous for many things: Maori culture, the All Blacks, Manuka honey and, of course, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Thanks to that franchise, Drax Project have a pretty unique claim to fame. Ben says: "We were fortunate enough to be involved in a small part of the latest film, The War of the Rohirrim. "It's pretty random how it came about. Some friends of ours who have done some music videos for us were really heavily involved in the making of that film and they asked us to do a demo for one of the songs, kind of just as a proof of concept like three, four years ago now. "We kind of did that and forgot about it. Drax Project (Image: Ashlea Caygill) "Maybe August last year or something, they got in touch: 'Hey, so we actually really like the demo and want to put it in the film. Can you guys do it in the next week?'. "Being from New Zealand we're all massive Lord of the Rings fans. Matt, our drummer, particularly could probably quote every film verbatim and he's actually got some off-screen lines in the new film. "The premiere was in Hobbiton, New Zealand, and we played there. Andy Serkis was there, and it was pretty crazy to meet him. "We headlined The Shire, which is what we like to tell people now. Not many bands can say they've headlined The Shire." The group have played massive support slots in Glasgow before, but it's a headline show in a tiny venue which stands out the most. Ben says: "Just before Covid we did our own show at this place called Broadcast. "It was downstairs in this little dingy spot, and honestly we quote that as a favourite show. "I remember we got there, we went early to see the support bands, and the stairs to that venue were ridiculously steep, and I kind of stumbled down into it, all the crowd are around the perimeter and we're kind of just in the middle, standing there like, 'what do we do?'. "We got on stage and the roof was really small, I kept standing on cables, and they'd pull out, so I'd have to put them back in. "So we weren't expecting a great gig. "But... the energy! Everyone was just absolutely up for it, and knew heaps of the lyrics, and was singing along, going crazy. It was honestly, one of our top five gigs ever in that little room. So we can't wait to come back to Scotland, and King Tut's looks like a really dope venue, really iconic." Sam adds: "Glasgow goes hard, we're definitely pumped. "We really try to go as hard as we can and if the crowd is up for that, and then gives that back, it's just really fun." Drax Project will be at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut on May 20. Tickets are available here.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Release Date Alert: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM Sets 2027 Debut
It's time for the countdown to the hunt to begin. The hunt for Gollum, that is. We finally have a release date for our next big The Lord of the Rings movie. The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will release in theaters on December 17, 2027. This, of course, continues the glorious tradition of The Lord of the Rings movies releasing in December. Every The Lord of the Rings movie to date, including the recent The War of the Rohirrim, has released in December—and now The Hunt for Gollum will pick up that torch. A beautiful legacy, if you ask us. But what do we know about The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, other than its release date? For starters, the movie is in good hands. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, the original team behind The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogy movies, are back in a producing capacity. Andy Serkis, who is well entrenched in The Lord of the Rings world and knows Gollum better than anyone, will both direct and star in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. Walsh and Boyens will write the screenplay alongside Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou. We loved what this team did on The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, so we're very excited to see what's in store. Additionally, when The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum and its release date finally arrives, can we expect to see any other familiar faces? It sounds like the answer might be yes. Although we don't have official confirmation, Ian McKellen has teased a fairly likely return to the big screen as the wizard Gandalf in The Hunt for Gollum. We would, of course, feel delighted to see him. RELATED ARTICLE Philippa Boyens Talks the Future of THE LORD OF THE RINGS Movies and Naming a Tolkien Character in THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM Although The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum was originally slated to release in 2026, we totally understand that an undertaking like returning to Middle-earth requires many efforts. We can't wait to hear more about The Hunt for Gollum as its release approaches. Get ready, Gollum, we have our eyes out for you.
