EP Review: Testify

Triggar Happy is the reinvention of Regan Tucker, from traditional Country artist into an exponent of the Country/Hip-Hop scene, under the guidance of Auckland’s Royalty Music Group. Growing up on a farm in Otorohanga exposed a young Triggar Happy to the Country stylings of artists like Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, and George Strait. However, Hip-Hop also infiltrated his burgeoning musical tastes, in the shape of artists like Boyz II Men, MC Hammer, and Vanilla Ice. That combination of influences inspired the music on Testify, Triggar Happy’s debut EP.

The three tracks on Testify are well produced, with a fat, tight low end, and crystal clear vocals. It’s probably a Country music thing, but I struggle with hearing a Kiwi vocalist affect such a strong “Southern USA” accent, it would have been interesting to hear the Kiwi accent one finds in his brief self-promotional videos on YouTube.

The title track is first up, a finger-picked acoustic guitar underpinning Testify‘s vocal delivery. It’s a song largely about resilience and perseverance, with the occasional crowd-rousing line such as “I’m a country boy, I’m going to make some noise, if you’re a country boy, come on and make some noise like me” (sorry country girls, you’ll have to stay quiet on this one).

Cowboy Power is next up, a statement of intent in fairly stereotypical Hip-Hop fashion, following the well-tested formula of announcing how much better the artist is than their contemporaries, leaving the listener in no doubt that Triggar Happy is an unchallenged maverick of the scene. Conversely, final track In My Head leans much more into the Country stylings, with the mournful lyrics describing a blown-up truck, being rained on, and being left by his baby all in the first stanza! A very Western-esque whistle smokes its way through the vocals of the chorus, lending credence to the cowboy vibe.

Triggar Happy has plans to take his music to the home of Country music in the USA, where he’ll no doubt be very well received…watch this space.