There's a lion in the road, there's a demon escaped.

With many impending dates and their third album out now, Grand Prix is racing ahead.

Ditching the racing helmets and trumpet in favour of a boys' choir and percussion, Grand Prix is shedding previous pigeonholes 'tex-mex' and 'mariachi', in favour of a more accessible alt-country/indie sound. But it's not that simple. Vocalist and guitarist Andrew McKenzie says "It's been hard to talk about it [the new album Terraplane Twilight] in the interviews that we have done because we're not quite sure ourselves about what references we should be using or not, you know?"

Over-conceptualisation of their old attire and the fact that it "wasn't actually very good for hearing what was going on," the band have abandoned their quirky look and instead embrace a quirkier sound. Fearing that "anyone thought it was sort of gimmicky; we didn't want that to shoot ourselves in the foot", they now don suits and ties and flaunt a "recorder of death".

But Grand Prix's image has matured along with their sound. Recruiting friends Luke Buda, Age Pryor and Craig Terris for the Grand Prix Boys Choir featured on the Roy Orbison ode 'A Moment In Time', was easy, McKenzie says, and adds to the diverse nature of the album.
"Age Pryor's got a room next to Brett [recorder/producer of Terraplane Twilight] in the studio village where he works, and Craig Terris, he's always around everywhere, and Brett just asked Luke Buda if he could do some as well. So it was very easy, cos everyone sort of knows eachother. All the la la la's at the end, that's all those guys. You can't really distinguish all the different voices, they've been all mixed in together to sound big."

The cavernous Car Club hall where the band recorded over nine months, could be attributed to the album's atmosphere. Add to that harmonica, glockenspiel and Farfisa organ and you have a majestic yet disparate collection of songs. The recording of 'The Devil' was plagued by vexing technical difficulties that were then exaggerated for dramatic effect in the album's press release, but this is quickly downplayed by McKenzie.

"That was just slightly weird, but I think it might've become something to use as a line, sort of thing. I mean it was a pretty bizarre night that night, but I don't think it was that big a deal... [We had] temperamental gear as well, preamps just sort of turning on and off and doing weird things. Although, it's an old hall, maybe it's haunted! Who knows. It's certainly a weird place to be if you're by yourself."

It hasn't been particularly easy riding for the racing-themed band. McKenzie speaks frustratedly of funding difficulties, the repeated pushing-back of the album release date, and journalists pigeon-holing the band.

"Those ['mariachi' and 'Tex-Mex'] are the references with the last album, and that was mainly because of the trumpet stuff, and that was definitley a mariachi type of influence. But I think that might have put some people off listening to it before they'd even heard it, because I think maybe some people hear the word 'mariachi' and think 'oh, it's probably not my cup of tea'."

Burying their humour in lyrics and doing away with the obvious, the band remain positive and quite unlike any other local act. They aim to tour the South Island and Australia later this year.