Moped was a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 band formed in Palmerston North

Palmerston North

Palmerston North is the main city of the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is an inland city with a population of and is the country's seventh largest city and eighth largest urban area. Palmerston North is located in the eastern Manawatu Plains near the north bank...

 by three brothers, Gareth (guitar & backing vocals), Hayden (bass and lead vocals) and Karl Shearman (drums). They played a brand of groove saturated reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 rock, with lyrics which speak of a clear Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 commitment.

Albums

Moped released two albums and one EP during their career. Their first album, Noise From the Knee Drill, was released in 2002 and their second album, Welcome to the Exodus, was released in 2005. In 2006, the band saw the release of their farewell EP and DVD titled One More March. Noise From the Knee Drill was a more rock based album, and though it was a far less polished album (than later albums) it contained songs such as "Guilt Trip" and "This Means War", which were regarded by many fans to be among Mopeds best work. Welcome to the Exodus featured more reggae based songs (but not without the rock influence) such as "Roots Down", "Will You Come" and "Sunset, Sunrise." It concludes with a moving acoustic song, "Stick to your Guns." These songs are also considered to be among their most popular.

Major Concerts

Moped was once one of New Zealand's most sought after Christian acts. They were regular performers at the Parachute Music Festival

Parachute music festival

The Parachute Music Festival is a Christian music festival held annually at Mystery Creek Events Centre, Hamilton, New Zealand.The festival is run by Parachute Music and lasts for four days and three nights. 'Parachute' is the Southern Hemisphere's largest Christian music festival, primarily...

, as well as performing at Capital Teen Convention (CTC), Youth Of The Nation Conference

Youth Of The Nation Conference

Youth Of The Nation is an annual Christian Youth Conference held in Wanganui, New Zealand. Unlike many other Christian conferences, this event is not held by one specific church or denomination...

 and SamStock.

Breakup and final tour

In early 2006, Moped announced, to the disappointment of many fans, that at the end of the year they would be breaking up. The major reason for this was that they wanted to move on to do other things. In September, they embarked on a two month tour of New Zealand to say goodbye to fans up and down the country and released the One more march EP/DVD. The tour concluded on December 1 in Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

.