Nacho Libre wrestling thing … well, it’s a long story,’ he laughs. In the few months since the song was released, it has done well, and the video has gone on to be nominated for awards, winning the band devoted audiences in Japan and Indonesia when they toured there last year. Boom! Boom! Deluxe regularly plays Auckland as well as the large retro festivals around Aotearoa. But, while the band is experiencing success in many other countries, Dunken says they are the biggest unknown band in New Zealand. ‘We’ve got some gigs in Australia and America coming up, but, to try and get a gig in somewhere like the Power Station or something like that, it probably wouldn’t be worth us doing it because I doubt we could fill it.’ GIGGING WITH TYPE 1
Being a musician with type 1 diabetes means Dunken has had to teach himself how to adjust routines and put in coping systems in order to deal with the inconsistencies of living with the condition. On the day of a gig, he has to enforce strict rest time on a body and brain that would rather not be kept still. This can be a challenge when being hit by the ‘dawn phenomenon’, a natural rise in blood glucose in the early hours, as it has him ‘jumping out of bed like a lunatic at six and ready to kind of kill people’. This energy, boosted by ADHD, lasts long enough for him to do his daily business, whether it be band or Aikido, until he burns out around 4pm. So, when he has a gig, Dunken says he’ll make himself relax most of the day in order to save energy and make it through the upcoming night’s high-energy performance. ‘We do a three-hour show,’ he says, ‘and the following day my metabolism is through the roof so I burn off more sugar. But
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DIABETES WELLNESS | Autumn 2025
SUGAR Now here’s a story ‘bout a murky past, hot an’ hard an’ livin’ fast! Well I used to think life was a gas, ‘till I was let down by my pancreas Well it’s Saturday night an’ I just got paid, but I’m doin’ chores aint got no maid Jab myself five times a day, don’t mean I don’t need a roll in the hay. Under 4, over 8, I barely make it out the gate Don’t matter I’m diabetic, don’t get no sugar from you! Aches an’ pains, failing sight, don’t mean I aint still got some fight, Chocolate bourbon (that aint no typo), it’s a damn fine way to kill a hypo! Now my HbA, is AOK, we can play the night away, Don’t matter I’m diabetic, don’t get no sugar from you! What don’t kill us surely grows us? Though I take more tablets than ol’ Moses, Highs and lows freeze the brain, or is it just me talkin’ sh*t again? Now my HbA, is AOK, we can play the night away, Don’t matter I’m diabetic, don’t get no sugar from you!
then I might get a day where I’m just doing video editing for our YouTube channel or something, and I’m sitting down and my metabolism is going the other way.’ Dunken says it’s all about coping with the inconsistencies of living with type 1, which he sings about in ‘Sugar’, which you can find on
Youtube or the band’s website: Under 4, over 8, I barely make it out the gate Don’t matter I’m diabetic, don’t get no sugar from you! boomboomdeluxe.com aikidoauckland.co.nz
