...And suddenly it was August. I think I shut my eyes to blink on New Years Day 2004 and when I opened them again it was already August. Time has really flown by this year. So what is a person to do on these dismal days of Winter? You could wrap yourself in every blanket you own and stay in bed all Winter. (Oh we wish!) But working out how every character on Days Of Our Lives (sorry for any of you soap addicts out there) is related to each other is hardly a challenge. So here I am with something to keep your brains and minds occupied.

The 2004 b-Net Awards are coming up next month (September 10 at the Bruce Mason Centre, Auckland). So why not place a few votes for your favourite artists? I know you are thinking that this is far from a tough task, clicking on the options you pick and voting. But after taking a look at the finalists this year, your mind will not know where to begin.

Who would you pick between Sola Rosa and the Video Kid for the Best Downbeat Release catergory? Or would Deja Voodoo, Fat Freddys Drop or TrinityRoots take out the award for Best Live Act? And this is not even the full list of finalists for the two catergories so far. You still have the Best Pop Release, Rock Release, Hip Hop Release and Electronic Release awards. The Most Promising New Act, Best NZ Remix, Best Compilation and Best Unreleased Song catergories. And no one said I am done yet!

The Best Song catergory includes songs from SJD (From A To B Or Not To Be), The Brunettes (Polyester Meets Acetate), The Mint Chicks (Post No Bills) and more. The Best Album award includes Shapeshifter, Mareko and Concord Dawn albums. And the one I am really waiting for, The Best Video award. The finalists for that are the Misfits Of Science, Dimmer, Baitercell and Timmy Schumacher, the Mint Chicks and Soane. Voting closes on Friday 27 August at 5pm and you can vote online at www.b-net.co.nz.

And an extra for you experts out there. Lets get technical. And I mean that literally. The finalists for the technical catergories in the Vodafone NZ Music Awards have been announced. This year there have been three catergories named, and once again, the talent is up to such a high standard, it is difficult to pick a winner. So I challenge you to choose your picks for these:

Best Cover Art On Album
- Ben Sciascia for Supergroove's Postage
- Kevin Soh, Simon Oossterdijk and Jay Sandler for Dimmer's You've Got To Hear The Music
- Matt Barnes and Aaron McKirdy for Fur Patrol's Collider
- Tana Mitchell for Phoenix Foundation's Horsepower

Best Engineer
- Chris Van De Geer for Carly Binding's Passenger
- Clint Murphy for Opshop's You Are Here
- Dr. Lee Prebble for Phoenix Foundation's Horsepower

Best Producer
- Chris Van De Geer and Andrew Maclaren for Carly Binding's Passenger
- Murray Fisher for Goodshirt's Fiji Baby
- Nic McGowan for Paselode's The Taming Of The Wasps
- Paddy Free and Ticky Taane for Salmonella Dub's One Drop East
- P-Money for Scribe's Crusader

The winners will be announced and the awards will be presented at the Vodafone NZ Music finalists announcement on August 25. Finalists for the main awards will be announced at the same function. NZ Music Awards Spokesperson Adam Holt says "It's important for technical experts to be recognised." And so they should be. Good on them for the awesome job they have done.

So now that I have left you pondering away, I do wish, not only the talented people in the industry, but also you keen supporters good luck in trying pick out the winners.I honestly have no idea on who will win, but I know that they are certainly all winners in my eyes!

Janise

1) Who are your favourite New Zealand musicians/bands?
Steve: Luke Hurley
Paul: Bressa Creeting Cake, Headless Chickens, Split Enz, Unity Pacific, Masters of Metal, Fat Freddy's Drop, Missing Teeth, Evil Priest
Rik: Shihad, Grand Cantral Band, Katchafire, Finn Bros.
Simon: 8 Foot Sativa
Tom: Graveyard Rumble, Evil Priest, Missing Teeth
Sandy: One Million Dollars, Katchafire, Dawn Raid, Pacifier, Missing Teeth, Split Enz, unity Pacific

2) Who would you most like to support live?
Steve: UB 40
Paul: Fat Freddy's Drop, Katchafire, Blink 182
Rik: Katchafire, Fat Freddies Drop
Simon: Slayer
Tom: Slackers
Sandy: all of the above

3) What is the strangest thing that has happened to you while playing on tour?
Steve: Talking to a bag lady at 6am who helped me figure out where I was staying after being lost for 5 hours in shorts & T-shirt in the middle of winter in Dunedin...
Paul: having a dude play along to a brand new song of ours he can't ever heard the lyrics of before. he picked it up after two verses...
Rik: Seeing two dudes eat glass at the "Kings Arms"
Simon: Playing in the Band for the first time live
Tom: Getting a free feed of vegan pasta at the Grand Hotel in Helensville. They didn't digest properly and I ended up pulling a full noodle out of my ass whilst taking a shit. I made the mistake of sharing this with the boys and have been known as 'noodles' ever since.
Sandy: Getting a Mohawk

4) Where do you see The Managers in 5 years?
Steve: England
Paul: Touring internationally and producing albums, going strong
Rik: Successful Music Career in Australia, Europe
Simon: On the cover of Rolling Stone
Tom: Deaf
Sandy: Having a drink at a tropical beach after 6 months european tour

5) What advice would you give other budding musicians/bands?
Steve: Remember peoples names
Paul: Be true to what music you want to write and play; i.e. don't write for an audience or genre just to please people or get in on a scene; don't be afraid of taking risks musically, avoid cliches, get involved in all aspects of the industry to open doors to other avenues of income
Rik: Focus on tempo & groove rather than the notes and aim always for a strong relationship with the band, working as a unit; keep smiling on stage...
Simon: Work hard & enjoy yourself
Tom: Clip-on mikes for horns are fucking cool
Sandy: (answer got lost in transcript)

Arbidday, the four piece band hailing from the small town of Whakatane, have been together since September 2003 and between then and now have played a range of gigs all over the North Island with an ever growing list of NZ acts.

Their sound can be described as emo-core with undertones of punk, but in the earlier days were known to play straight up punk. They have enjoyed watching and learning from all the bands they have played with since they formed. At the moment Arbidday have just finished writing a whole heap of new songs, and plan to travel around a bit for the remainder of the year to play more gigs and hopefully do some proper recordings.

The members of the band Cristy McKelvey (guitar, backing vox), Lanae Eruera (Drums, backing vox), Chloe Taylor (Bass, Backing vox) and Sasha Tindale (Lead vocals) all take part in writing the songs and usually start with a guitar riff from someone in the band, then add the rest.

To other musicians thinking of starting up a band for any reason at all, we say GO FOR IT! It really is damn fun, and you get to meet a whole lot of other like-minded musicians and playing live would have to be one of the best feelings ever! Also to people that organize gigs/shows... Thanks... you guys are the best! You keep the scene turning.

For any more info on Arbidday, please visit www.arbidday.cjb.net where we have news about our upcoming events and a whole stack of photos! Some live recordings are being worked on to put up on the site soon.

And remember....... If you're going to LIVE it........ LIVE IT!!!

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