Fat Freddy's Drop is a New Zealand seven-piece band from Wellington, whose musical style has been characterised as any combination of dub, reggae, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, and techno.

The group gained international recognition in 2003 after their single "Midnight Marauders" was re-distributed by record labels and DJs in Germany.

He and two friends, trumpeter Toby Laing and vocalist Dallas Tamaira, occasionally played improvised jam sessions at his seaside home.

[5] That same year, Faiumu founded the independent music label The Drop with the help of his partner Nicole, and money from private investors.

The Drop's first release was Dallas Tamaira's solo project, the five-track EP Better Than Change,[6] followed by a single performed by the group named "Hope".

[7] Each blotter — individual dose — of that type of LSD, popular in Wellington at that time, had the image of Fat Freddy's Cat (from Gilbert Shelton's comic strip The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers) printed on it.

These sessions led to four new members joining Fat Freddy's Drop: Warren Maxwell on tenor and alto saxophone, Tehimana Kerr on guitar, Iain Gordon on keyboards, and Joe Lindsay on trombone.

Gordon was also a member of the band Ebb which in 2001 performed an audiovisual concert and released an EP titled Plush Bomb, with Fat Freddy's Drop playing in support.

[11] Maxwell and Joe Lindsay, who make up the horn section of Fat Freddy's Drop,[12] were students at the Conservatorium of Music in Wellington in the mid-1990s.

[14] The now-seven-member Fat Freddy's Drop, sometimes calling themselves the "seven-headed soul monster",[7] continued to play live at clubs and festivals.

[5] An established group from Kaikōura named Salmonella Dub—who one member described as the "forerunner for Fat Freddys"—provided the band opportunities to play in front of larger crowds in New Zealand and neighbouring Australia.

[6] The third single, released by The Drop in 2002, "Midnight Marauders" became their first step towards international recognition when a copy was taken to German record label Sonar Kollektiv by a producer.

[22] That year, Sonar and affiliated label Best Seven re-released the single in Germany, and European DJ group Jazzanova used the track in several mixes.

[24] Sonar label manager Matthias Bohmbach said he was surprised when one-thousand copies of "Midnight Marauders" sold at a show in Germany.

[6] Replacing Faiumu's MPC sampler on the album—and in some live shows afterwards—were drummer Riki Gooch and bassist Rio Hemopo, who together with Fat Freddy's Drop saxophonist Warren Maxwell make up the band TrinityRoots.

[28] The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand's (RIANZ) sales chart listed Based on a True Story as one of the top 40 selling albums for more than two years after its release,[29][30] and has since been certified nine-times platinum, denoting shipments of 135,000 copies.

[32] Like Live at the Matterhorn, the album was given no formal promotion or marketing; its popularity largely due to the band's reputation in New Zealand.

[46] The only previous time the band had played in the United States was a single performance at the Detroit Electronic Music festival in 2004.

[9] In early 2013, the band revealed a new album was in the works, and eventually the first single, Silver and Gold was released as a vinyl and free online download.

The band went on a national tour of Australia in late August/early September where they appeared at the Splendour in the Grass festival, and will head to Europe for a string of dates immediately after.

[53] Widening the sphere of influence which colours their music the new album features more electronic flavour in Wheels and Cortina Motors, which seems like a true evolution, and more soulful moments in Makkan where Dallas already resides.

Songs featured on the band's albums and singles are versions that have been refined over years of playing them in the studio, live in Wellington, and on tour abroad.

[14] Describing the band, National Public Radio host Guy Raz said, "Take the swagger of Jamaican dub, throw in a little Memphis soul and send it halfway down the globe, and what comes back?

Faiumu is a first-generation Samoan New Zealander, Tamaira, Gordon and Kerr are Māori, and the remaining members are descended from European immigrants.