OdESSA (NZ Blues, Roots & Groove Festival)

OdESSA is an indie-funk/rock band based in Wellington, New Zealand. They first formed in 2002 and were active until 2009 before taking an 11 year hiatus, then reforming in 2020. They have been regarded as one of the country’s most outstanding live acts, with singer Matthew Pender named by the music press as “one of the greatest front men NZ has ever produced.”

In the four years since OdESSA have reformed they have been invited to play at the prestigious CUBA DUPA Festival and NEWTOWN FESTIVAL every year, including additional performances at the official after-parties for both events in 2024, reaffirming their status as one of the go-to
party bands doing original material in the country.

OdESSA in the 2000s played several high-profile events including the 2006 BIG DAY OUT Festival, the red carpet parade of Peter Jackson’s King Kong world premiere that same year, multiple Cuba Street Carnivals, Newtown Festivals and shared the bill on numerous occasions with such celebrated local acts as Fat Freddy’s Drop, Connan Mockasin, Flash Harry, Trinity Roots, Kora, Supergroove, Liam Finn and Golden Horse, as well as support slots on tours by international acts such as Electric Six, Hothouse Flowers and Bomfunk MCs.

OdESSA’s debut album ‘Oak Park Avenue’ was released in 2005, crashing into the top ten of the national charts and receiving critical praise, including the nationally-distributed Sunday Star Times which awarded them 4.5 out of 5 stars and heralded them as“the band that can make all
of New Zealand stand up and dance.”

The lead-single ‘Bring The Money Back’ was a ubiquitous hit that appeared in multiple television presentations, most notably on the popular series Outrageous Fortune on as many as three separate occasions, leading one writer to label it the “unofficial theme tune” of the show.