page_title: Billy TK
section_title: Early work
hierarchical_section_title: Billy TK / Early work
caption_attribution_description: English: 1/ All users of this image are required to attribute this work to "Nambassa Trust and Peter Terry" and the url: " http://www.nambassa.com " is to accompany all use. 2/ Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor. 3/ For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Statement by Nambassa Trust and Peter Terry
context_page_description: Billy TK is a Māori musician, guitarist, vocalist and singer songwriter.
context_section_description: As a child, Billy TK lived in Bunnythorpe, a small town outside of Palmerston North, New Zealand. His surname of Te Kahika was abbreviated to 'TK' by Pakeha teachers. He was inspired to learn guitar by listening to construction workers working on nearby hydroelectric dams. He began playing guitar at an early age, and was surrounded by talented young musicians during his family's frequent visits to Ratana Pā, who helped fulfill his lust for improving his skills on his instrument. He played gigs for friends and family during his high school years, and once he had finished school, he set to build his own band. The result of this was The Sinners with Ted Cash on drums, Sonny Ratana on bass, Harold Hine on rhythm guitar and lead vocalist Theo Swanson. The band played at 21st birthday parties and the like until being invited to play at Rickies nightclub in Palmerston North and other venues around the Manawatu. The Sinners were one of the first New Zealand bands to utilise distortion and similar guitar effects, and these effects would become a staple of Billy's guitar sound.
  It was around this time, in the mid-1960s, that Billy TK's friend, Ara Mete, gave Billy a gift — his first fuzz box and treble booster. Billy quickly took it to an electrical shop in Palmerston North, where he had copies of both made. Billy was hooked on the sound, and his obsession for guitar effects only received more grounding once the Jimi Hendrix album Are You Experienced? hit the airwaves in New Zealand, and Billy quickly made The Sinners learn all the tracks on the album.
caption: Billy TK on stage at Nambassa in 1981.
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