Fat Freddy’s Drop exhibition captures whānau, kai and sound

Wednesday, 31 December 2025

It’s the Ans Westra photos in Fat Freddy’s Drop Based On A True Story, the 20th Anniversary Exhibition at Wellington Museum that still get me. Founding saxophonist Warren Maxwell (Trinity Roots, Little Bushman) smoking up a toothsome BBQ, by the seaside at their studio in Lyall Bay, Wellington, where the momentous album that scored Aotearoa’s summer two decades ago was made, setting the blueprint for the Wellington sound and its collaborative culture.

Band members, including weapon trombonist-gyrater Joe Lindsay, playing hacky sack on one of their many sell-out tours. In Germany besotted fans would lean out of windows, and chase them down the street: “We love ze Freddy’s.” And most of all, Mu, the gentle giant, giving his cherished daughter Mia a shoulder ride, while smooth soul singer Dallas Tamaira strums his guitar. All in Westra’s evocative black-and-white palette.

Interviewing Chris Faiumu, the Drop’s producer and godfather over the years, his aroha for Mia and his wife Nicole Duckworth — fiercely independent Freddy’s canny manager — was palpable.

Wellington Museum curator Ian Wards captures the importance of whānau, and whānau and kaimoana, through his exhibition. Indeed, it is a Fat Freddy’s Drop leitmotif, from kai on Based on a True Story’s cover art, via tracks like Boondigga’s Pull the Catch, to fish and chip shop-set music video Wandering Eye.

As Mu once told me: “It’s a real family thing. Focus your fellowship with each other around the meal. You know we consider ourselves a family. I mean we piss each other off for sure, occasionally. It’s not always good, but it’s mostly good. You’ve gotta conduct yourself in that sort of way if you want to have any longevity in your relationships and the way you make music. Food’s quite a simple thing, but it’s really quite important to sit down and eat together.”

Wearing a bright red Herbs t-shirt, Mu enthused about the other enduring groups that characterised the Wellington sound glory days — as the exhibition records — particularly Trinity Roots. Mu said one of the things that makes him proud about Freddy’s— a Polynesian fusion of reggae, funk, dub, jazz and soul — is how it sounds distinctly from Aotearoa. “Yeah, what we have over here as a sound is attractive to a lot of the markets over there, and that’s why they get excited about what Freddy’s do.”

Music was about doing what Mu wanted, in the way he wanted to do it, with Freddy’s self-managing. New Zealand and Europe tours continue to sell out, including in 2026. Berlin remains the group’s second home. “Berlin’s very special, very progressive. Munich’s quite straight, but Berlin’s progressive in all areas: music, food, lifestyle, and it’s where we started everything.”

Mu was many things. A number eight who captured the Wellington Under-21 First XV. An audio-engineering student on the West Coast, where he first honed his skills on his beloved Akai MPC sampler. A Waiouru soldier who abseiled out of a helicopter and blew up a tank. A producer and humble mentor for many musicians, such as Ladi6 and Deva Mahal. An affable and earthy guy who had the time of day for acquaintances around town. After his untimely passing this year, there was grief at his wake at Meow Nui. But the stronger feeling was pride in his legacy. “Mu was a magnificent man,” Wards says.

In 2026, musicians inspired by Fat Freddy’s Drop and continuing Wellington’s musical legacy will play at Wellington Museum public programmes.

Based On A True Story, the 20th Anniversary Exhibition, is showing at Wellington Museum until March 8, 2026.