Static Era is an Auckland-based rock band that formed in late 2010 and features a stellar lineup of musicians from incredible backgrounds, including Tadpole, Redline, Stylus and 29 Blackbirds.

Static Era has performed at Music in Parks 2013 as well as an SPCA fundraiser to benefit abadoned animals and toured with I Am Giant and Sinclarity (USA). Their EP The Start was released in 2012, and their newest single, Fire Away, from their forthcoming EP is out now.

Thanks to Emma for answering the following questions for muzic.net.nz:

Which one of your songs are you most proud of, and why?

On a commercial scale, I'm really proud of So Sore and Fire Away, because they have done really well! But on a personal level, I really like Addicted which features on our next EP Dare to Fail. I wrote it after just finishing reading Slash's autobiography - which, funnily enough, talks a lot about addiction. I used that concept, added a bit of creative license, and ended up with this "fuck you" song about an abusive - yet addictive - relationship. Haha.

What is one thing you want NZ to know about Static Era?

We're a band truly about rock n roll. About believing in yourself. About standing up and fighting back. About being a nice person, sure, but that doesn't mean you have to compromise who you are.

Where is your favourite place to relax in NZ?

When I was growing up (in Raglan), my FAVOURITE place in the world was in the branches of this old, mortonbay fig tree which was half on land, half in the sea. It was my place of absolute zen. I was really gutted to learn that the council cut it down a few years ago. So now, my place of solace is anywhere in nature. I know, how kiwi-pseudo-hippy, right? But seriously, whether it's tramping in the bush, or making sandcastles at the beach with no shoes on, THAT'S my place for relaxation. But camping? No thanks! I like proper beds and hot showers!! 

Do you have any plans for future collaborations with other musicians? Who would they be?

I don't know about the rest of the guys in the band, but I'm always keen for collaboration! I recently teamed up with a couple of American DJ's OMG and Shockwave and did a dubstep song. Totally bizaare genre to experiment with, but heaps of fun! My dream collaborations though? I'd love to do a collab with the likes of Devilskin or These Four Walls - but on an international level? Amanda Palmer, Lacuna Coil, Evanescence, Faith No More, Halestorm.... Ok, I'm just naming my favourite bands haha, but that would be epic. Immediate plans however, not yet.

What is your most embarrassing on tour/gig moment?

Thankfully, I've not had many! Though my most embarrassing was when my boyfriend at the time showed up halfway through our set, completely drunk off his face, and decided it would be a good idea to drop his trousers in the middle of the bar we were playing at. I was mortified. Suffice to say, we are no longer together.

What has been your most memorable show to date?

Music in Parks with Villainy and Rival State. It was a free gig in Albany and I was exhausted and hungover. Except the thing I always forget is my exhausted is pretty much everyone else's normal. I'm like that squirrel from Over the Hedge. Anyway, The Rock Roadies were there and giving out cans of V, and I decided to down one half an hour before we hit the stage. I don't think I've ever jumped or danced on stage more in my life. I was almost doing push ups during the instrumentals, I was so amped! Moral of the story: don't give me caffeine. 

How would you describe Static Era’s music in one sentence?

Kick ass, in-your-face, no-bullshit rock.

Where do you get your inspiration to create music from?

Musically, my band inspire me. Honestly, the riffs that Chris comes up with? He's epic! And the rhythm pairing of Victor and Dave is rad - they feed off each other well. They all have their own influences though; Dave is a huge fan of 80s rock and glam metal, Chris: Metallica/Pantera, and Victor: loads of obscure metal bands that I've never heard of hahaha. But vocally, my inspiration comes from the likes of Halestorm and Lacuna Coil. Lyrically, we're inspired by... life, I guess. I used to write a lot of songs about relationships and blah blah, but there is soooo much more to life - and us as a band! The last thing I want to be is ANOTHER female fronted band being all pretty and innocent. That's not me! 

What inspired you to start Static Era?

When I first moved to Auckland, I was doing a solo thing, hence why we were called the Emma G Band when we first started. And while I love being solo and acoustic with my guitar and pretty songs about love and heartbreak, it dawned on me that I'm not a pretty little girl - I'm bolshy, opinionated and loud!! So it made sense to have a loud, opinionated rock band to back me up!

Tell us about Static Era’s next release.

We're hitting the road in October to tour our new EP Dare to Fail and we're SO excited!!! We'll be playing Auckland and Tauranga with These Four Walls (who are, incidentally, touring as well), Hamilton with Checaine and Arkanine, Wellington and Palmerston North with All Dead Superstars and New Plymouth with Dirty Kings. Chris, Dave and I have all toured before - in our own, seperate ways, but it'll be our first tour together as a band, so we're really excited - especially to be bringing our EP to everyone! Why is it called Dare to Fail? We've all got different interpretations of the title, but my personal one is based on a Krav Maga motto: "Stare failure in the eyes, and then kick it's balls!"

Static Era is Emma G (vocals), Chris Yong (guitar), Victor Pesch (bass) and Dave Rhodes (drums).

Website Links

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Official Website
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Outward Sound Recipients Round 3 2013

Outward Sound is pleased to announce the 3rd round of grant recipients for 2013.

Seven International Music Market Development grants and one Business Development grant were awarded. The International Music Market Development grants were awarded to:

Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Aaradhna
Electric Wire Hustle
Ghost Wave
Myele Manzanza
Tiny Ruins
Eden Mulholland

Full Article

The Top Five Songs of 2013: Announcing the Finalists for the APRA Silver Scroll Award

APRA are proud to announce the top five songs in line for the 2013 APRA Silver Scroll Award:

Bird in Hand, written by Anna Coddington, performed by Anna Coddington (Mushroom Music NZ Limited).
Complicated Man, written by Cy Winstanley, performed by Tattletale Saints
Royals, written by Ella Yelich-O’Connor and Joel Little, performed by Lorde (Control / EMI Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd)
Thames Soup, written by Luke Buda, Sam Scott, Thomas Callwood, Richie Singleton, Chris O'Connor, Conrad Wedde and William Ricketts, performed by The Phoenix Foundation (Native Tongue Music Publishing)
Wake Up, written by Aaradhna Patel, Evan Short and Peter Wadams, performed by Aaradhna (Universal Music / Control / Kobalt Music Publishing)

The finalists for the 2013 APRA Maioha Award are:

E Te Iwi, written by Kimo Winiata, Keelan Ransfield, Moses Ketu and Liam Ogden, performed by Iwi.
Ruaimoko, written by Maisey Rika, Te Kahautu Maxwell, Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper and Anika Moa, performed by Maisey Rika, featuring Anika Moa.
Te Ngakau Mamae, written by Ngatapa Black and Julian Wilcox, performed by Ngatapa Black.

The finalists for the 2013 SOUNZ Contemporary Award are:

Lightbox for piano trio, composed by Karlo Margetic.
TIMEDANCE a live score for dance-film, for two violins, cello and piano, composed by Michael Norris.
Triple Concerto for piano trio and orchestra, composed by Chris Gendall.

Both the Maioha and SOUNZ awards will be presented at the APRA Silver Scroll Awards, along with the Most Performed Works awards and a very special induction into the NZ Music Hall of Fame.

The 2013 Silver Scroll Awards will be held at Vector Arena in Auckland on Tuesday 15^th October, and will be live-streamed via NZ Herald Online.

Full Article

2013 Smokefreerockquest – 25th National Final Auckland 28 September

Success in the Kiwi-music industry is the driver for this year’s eight Smokefreerockquest finalists – due to play off in the event’s 25^th national final, set for 28 September at Auckland’s Raye Freedman Centre.

There were 654 entries in New Zealand’s only nationwide, original youth music event, with winners from 23 regional finals going forward for national final selection. The regional finalists sent in DVDs of their original music and the top six bands and two solo/duos were selected in August by judges from the music industry.

The top six bands to play off at the national final are:
The Moots, Auckland Central
SundayBest, Waikato

All of a Kind, Waikato
A Bit Nigel, Rotorua
Aftershock, Rotorua
AashaWillandCullen, Christchurch

The solo/duo finalists are:
Harry Parsons, Waikato
Khona Va'aga-Gray, Manukau

Full Article

The No Problemos Take Out theaudience.co.nz August Wildcard

Following on from the record month that was July, the growth for theaudience.co.nz has continued with more record numbers being posted with the August Wildcard Funding Chart.

The month of August saw theaudience.co.nz record the most unique visits to the site in any recorded month for the site.

The number one spot on the August Wildcard Funding Chart was claimed by The No Problemos, for their track Move On. The band took out the number one spot after a very hard fought and very tight race between themselves and choice Vaughan, for his track Eat People (feat. Tom Scott & Tyna Keelan). The No Problemos described winning the Wildcard Funding as "humbling, appreciative and relieving."

"So many people have gone the extra mile to get behind us this month and its just been awesome to see," said the band. "This exposure has given us a great opportunity to promote ourselves and this grant will give us an amazing opportunity to get a professional look for our crew." You can listen to The No Problemos’ track here.

Full Article

Dates Announced For 2013 Vodafone NZ Music Awards

The dates for the 48^th annual Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards have been announced with the big night itself moving to a later slot in November.

The 2013 programme officially kicks off on October 22 with the finalists’ announcement event. November plays host to the Critics’ Choice Prize showcase event and the biggest night in Kiwi Music itself – The Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards – is on Thursday November 21.

The Awards are once again being hosted at Auckland’s Vector Arena.

The 48^th annual Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards will be broadcast on FOUR on the night.

Full Article

New Releases, Tours and Gigs

Tiki Taane & Paw Justice
Cody ChestnuTT New Zealand Shows
Fat Freddy’s Drop Summer Detour Announcement
Announcing The Acoustic Church Tour with Dragon
Billy Bragg with his full band
Bella Kalolo Announces The Time and Space National Tour and Free Download
A feast of New Zealand’s finest Death Metal acts
Rippon Open Air Festival
UK Post Punk Reggae Legends The Members To Tour NZ
Announcing Split Enz - ENZO Stranger Than Fiction
R&V Second Line Up Announcement
Like Minds - A concert for Mental Health Awareness

NZ Music News
Gig and Tour News
Artist News

New Artists

The following musicians have been added to the muzic.net.nz website in the last fortnight:

Add yourself or your band to muzic.net.nz!
Add Artist Form
Info about filling out the add artist form

New Reviews

8 Foot Sativa - The Shadow Masters Album Review
Written by Terry

Kieran Cooper - Did You Miss Me? EP Review
Written by Peter

SansArcade - Re Entry EP Review
Written by Alistar

The All Seeing Hand - Mechatronics Album Review
Written by Alistar

Thomas Oliver - Beneath The Weissenborn Album Review
Written by Sean

Supervillains (RMC) - SVRMC EP Review
Written by Chris

Shelter - Playing the Victim Single Review
Written by Peter

All of our reviews and interviews can be read here.

Tour Features

All muzic.net.nz features can be viewed here.

The next muzic.net.nz newsletter is going out on Sunday 29 September!
There are only 5 issues left for 2013!

Any NZ bands and musicians can feature in our newsletters
You can choose any newsletter date which suits you.

We can also feature record labels, venues, music stores, music websites
and anything else that has something to do with NZ music!

If you would like to feature in a muzic.net.nz newsletter, contact Lisa for further details.

Muzic.net.nz newsletters are currently sent out to over 8140 members!
With this number growing every day, featuring in our newsletter is an excellent promotional tool.

Our newsletter archives are one of the most accessed areas on the site.

If you would like to advertise in our newsletter and/or gig mail out, email Lisa.

The next muzic.net.nz gig mail out is going out on Sunday 22 September.

- The muzic.net.nz team

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