Meet Baynk, the Kiwi Behind a Surefire Banger of the Southern Hemisphere Summer

The story on Baynk, aka Jock Nowell-Usticke, goes that the New Zealand kid puts a song up on Soundcloud in early 2015 while travelling around Europe.

He loses his laptop, goes surfing for a week and returns to find the track going bonkers. Next he’s on the Laneway Festival line-up and getting emails from music industry people wanting to talk.

With a funky tropical bounce and horns, “Could You” is a good track but the video could be even better.

Shot in a house in the south of France, it features a young guy getting his party on that’s part Tom Cruise in Risky Business and a whole lot of “holy shit, I’m hanging out in a really nice house in Nice. Turn up the stereo!”

Watch the video below and read a short interview with Jock.

Noisey: Is the house hired out for music videos and porn shoots?
Jock Nowell-Usticke: It’s a friends place so I sincerely hope not, it definitely has a porno vibe to the place and they’re trying to pay off the mortgage so I will suggest they expand into a more X-rated market.

Did the two Mum’s come with it?
Haha. All part of the package. One of them gave birth to me so I guess I came with her? The other’s a childhood friend of hers. They’re both slightly mad.

The guy dancing could only come from Australia or NZ. I don’t think someone from the Northern Hemisphere would be able to pull that off.
Kit is NZ through and through. I befriended him at university as we both studied the same course but he was a lot smarter, so I needed his answers. It’s also funny to watch him dance so I guess I stuck with him.

So you fell into this music thing? How much of the ‘lost laptop while on surfing trip’ is true?
None of it. I can’t surf for shit. My laptop was stolen by cleaning ladies on a flight from Stockholm to Warsaw. I was so devastated; it had a truckload of new music I hadn’t backed up (I’m actually stupid). Some part of me hopes that one of the cleaning ladies finds my lost music, releases it under her own name (DJ Spray & Wipe) and gets really big. That would be epic.

You are playing Laneway. Have you been before? What it’s like that you are now on the lineup?
Yes, I went last year and it was ridiculous. Rustie, Flylo, Jungle and Banks all played and are some of my favourites. I saw Lorde in the crowd and contemplated asking her to do some vocals for me but then I remembered she’s quite high profile and I am but a lowly peasant.

I still can’t believe it, hearing Flume’s music was probably the reason I started making beats now I’m on the same roster as him. Somebody pinch me

Is “Could You” going to be the song for Friday night rooftop and balcony pre-drinks in Auckland this summer?
Pre-drinks, post-drinks and then those drinks you have at 10am to try beat the hangover.

Baynk is appearing at Auckland Laneway Festival Feb 1.