Newsletter Issue #519: 07 Jul 2019
Many thanks to Jacquie Walters for providing this guest editorial:
My Dad wanted to by Bob Dylan. He saw him live in New York, a mind-blowing experience for a young kiwi. I have a photo of my Dad bare chested sitting on his motorbike with his acoustic guitar, looking every bit the roving troubador.
Dad had, and still has, a good voice and knew enough chords to play some Dylan numbers. His songwriting ability hadn’t yet emerged, that would come later in life. His highlight being named as a finalist at Tamworth.
I think I wanted
to be Bob Dylan too. Joan Baez was too wispy and waify for me. I liked Dylan’s grit and growl. My first recording was made when I was 6 years old using my Dad’s friend Charles’ mobile recording system. Charles played electric guitar in a real band
and he looked like he could be a member of Cream – seriously cool. I recorded Bob Dylan’s Dream, a song about the passage of time and the loss of friends, the regret of connections left to lapse. I’m not sure what resonated with me at 6,
but there you go.
Dylan was a furtive pleasure. Dad and I could only listen to him when Mum went out as she hated Dylan’s voice. We’d crank Blood on the Tracks up loud on the stereo and sing full-throatedly. At bedtime Dad would bring his guitar and the Joan Baez songbook as my bedtime story and we’d sing Don’t Think Twice together.
When I was a teenager Blowin’ In the Wind was my anthem. I used to sing it as I walked to and from the dining hall of the college where I was studying – a slightly lost New Zealander a long way from home in Wales on a scholarship. It summed up my 17-year-old idealism, my hopes and dreams.
Then, at 21, I started writing songs. I’d just broken off an engagement so I had plenty of heartbreak to tap into. My Dad started writing songs at the same time. He had regrets from his broken marriage to my Mum to explore and new love to celebrate. When we caught up we’d swap our latest songs, a songwriting circle of two.
We both went into the studio at around the same time for our first professional recording efforts in the early 1990's. He paid my band to do backing vocals on his album and we used the money to record our first cassette – paying for the graveyard studio shift starting at midnight and recording through the early hours.
Last year it all came full circle. I got to review a Bob Dylan concert in Christchurch via Muzic.net. I had a plus one. I took my Dad.
“Fascinating,” he said, as we both sat listening to. Dylan’s reinvented version of Don’t Think Twice and shed a tear.
Reviewing is such an honour. Sometimes it provides connection with favourite music from the past, sometimes it offers an opportunity to experience the undiscovered. It’s a task, I hope, that I approach respectfully and with heart.
And every now and then it’s a miraculous gift.
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Muzic.net.nz are currently looking for more volunteers to join our team as reviewers, interviewers and photographers. We work on a system that allows you to choose the work you are most interested in.
Applicants need to be passionate about music, able to adhere to due dates, have good communication skills and be computer literate.
We will consider anyone from anywhere, except Auckland (our Auckland team is at capacity, but please still get in touch if you are interested). If you would like the opportunity to work with us, please email [email protected].
Jacquie is a Muzic.net.nz reviewer who is also known for her stunning vocals and moving, topical song writing. Jacquie released Spaces Between Words with James Wilkinson in April 2019 - read the review here.
Lakius is an Auckland-based 3-piece Metal band. Formed from the ashes of Broken Season, Lakius solidified their line-up in late 2018. Lakius delivers an assault on the senses which is confronting, explicit, and at times, vulnerable. The lads have hit the ground running in 2019 with their first single Student of Fools, and an upcoming EP in the works.
James from Muzic.net.nz spoke to Lakius:
Tell me about the members of Lakius?
Caz - Hmmm....why? Haha, well we are pretty awesome obviously. We like to not take ourselves too seriously. Totally not into the serious looking angry type stuff. We love
what we do, and that totally reflects in the music, even if it is aggressive sounding we are having fun fun fun. Why do it if it makes you look angry and grumpy. We do however have a "must own a t-shirt whose band name you can't read" policy.
How did you come up with your band name?
Tony - Lakius is the name of our second guitarist, and cow bell player Kevin. He prefers to be completely anonymous; you won't ever see him, even on stage.
What has been the highlight for Lakius so far?
Hemi - Getting the upcoming Kaos High video finished.
Tell us about your plans for 2019/20?
Caz - Keeping up a consistent release of material, and hopefully getting a new cheese toasty maker for the rehearsal room, mines got no latch, so I have to hold it shut with my foot while I'm playing... actually.
Lakius are Tony (guitar, vocals), Hemi (drums), Caz (bass) and Kevin (synth, guitar).
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Auckland-based four-piece Dead Favours have been quick to grab the attention of the NZ music scene, and they have gone from strength to strength in a very short time. They have shared the stage with NZ acts Skinny Hobos, Decades and Bakers Eddy as well as international acts Royal Blood and Rise Against, released a steady string of incredible singles and become regular favourites on Radio Hauraki and The Rock FM.
2019 will be their best year to date; during July they will be Villainy's special guests on tour throughout New Zealand, and their debut album Misbehaviour was released on 21 June.
Paul from Muzic.net.nz spoke to the band, and here's what went down:
It looks
like busy times ahead for your all with your debut album about to be launched.
It has been quite a journey since Dead Favours formed in 2016. What can people expect
from this new album?
We’re really proud of the way the album has turned out. It’s honestly turned out better than we ever expected. There are a few heavier riff songs, a few that groooove and a couple of slower song that build up and explode.
How was it to work with Tom Larkin and how much of an influence are Shihad on the Dead Flavours' sound?
There’s no denying we’re all big Shihad fans (how can you not be), so working with Tom is always a buzz. We all grew up listening to that band so yeah it has a big influence on the sound for sure.
Tom also has an authority about him that instils confidence and gets shit done.
Once the album is released can we expect some heavy duty touring?
We’re lucky enough to be hitting the road with Villainy for their album tour in July, we’re really looking forward to that! We just finally got our own set of Shure in ear monitors ready for this tour and it’s a total game changer! So hopefully that shows in our performance!
Which NZ band most excites you at the moment?
Oh man! We are really excited to be touring with Villainy, those guys put on a hell of a show! L.A.B. is another killer genre twisting live act you’ve got to see! We all have such a mix of musical tastes within the band road trips never get old with the music we like to share with each other.
Everything in music tends to go in cycles. How do you see the health of the rock scene at the moment? It’s stronger than it's been for quite some time! It’s always seemed a bit of a struggle to get people off the couch, but it seems to have been getting better and better over the last few years!
There is a lot of focus on
mental health in the music industry and rightly so. What are your thoughts on this and if there is pressure how do you deal with it?
Yeah it's definitely a thing. Musicians and creative often put themselves under so much pressure to make something amazing or be “successful” but you can never please everyone. The most important thing to remember is do it for yourself. Write and do what makes you happy.
We often talk to our friends about post tour blues. You have such a good time going on the road with your friends, playing shows, meeting people, then you come back home to regular life and its often quite downer and you want to chase that high.
What is your favourite track on the album and why?
Oh, it changes almost daily, but personally, maybe Disposition. We barely changed a thing from when we first jammed the idea. It was one of those songs that just fell out and has a lot of space and just sounds really nice.
Dead Favours are Jared Wrennall (guitar, vocals), Charlie Smith (drums), Will Kearney (bass)
and Kyle Wetton (guitar)
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{Hobnail} have been in the New Zealand's country/folk scene for over 25 years now, and in celebration of this milestone, they're releasing a best-of album Boots and All on 28 June, as well as booting off a nationwide tour covering most of July 2019, stopping off everywhere from Golden Bay to Whanganui and Christchurch.
Muzic.net.nz's Paul T Gheist managed to get time to yarn with Rob about his most memorable show to date and reflect on changes in Aotearoa's music scene.
Out of Hobnail’s back-catalogue, which is your favourite album and why?
I'd have to say Fortune Horses; it's the one where we "grew up". Before then we were kind of searching for who we were, but Fortune Horses set the template sonically and quality-wise. I think there are some really great songs on there, and it still sounds great.
What inspired you to write the renowned song Every Single Day?
I get a little dark sometimes, and this was me trying to remind myself that despite the fact that we're all going to die some day, that there is a lot to love about life, so make the most of it.
Of the past 25 years performing live, which of your shows to date is your favourite or most memorable?
The South Country Fair in Southern Alberta, Canada. We'd driven about 10 hours from another festival in northern Saskatchewan, hadn't had a lot of sleep, and were on stage about an hour after
we arrived. There was a serious prairie thunderstorm headed our way, and we weren't sure if we'd even get to play. But we did, and the audience was amazing, then the heavens opened just after we finished. It had taken an enormous amount of effort
to get there, we were a long way from home, but there we were, living the dream. The little band that could.
What are some exciting things fans can expect of this new tour?
I hope they'll be as excited as us about hearing some songs we haven't played for a while. It's great to rediscover material in the back-catalogue. We'll be having a few guests at our Wellington show that we haven't played with for a while, so that will be a blast!
What Kiwi musicians have you recently been listening to a lot?
There has been a weird and wonderful few months where several friends released new albums. {Bill Hickman}, {Caroline Easther}, {Jeff Simmonds} and {Barry Saunders} and {Delaney Davidson} all released great albums in April/May, so they have dominated my listening.
Being the seasoned performers that you are, what’s one piece of advice you’d pass on to up-and-coming Kiwi musicians?
Love what you do. If you don't, it's not worth it. There are easier ways to make a living.
Check out Hobnail's tour dates here and catch them on the road next month!
Hobnail are Rob Joass (vocals, guitar, mandolin), Jo Moir (vocals, violin), Hamish Graham (bass, vocals)
and Caroline Easther (drums, vocals)
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Described as a band who have "musically hit the ball right out of the park" with their newest EP Rumination, Auckland five-piece {Crooked Royals} ability to craft songs with a combination of heavy and clean vocals mixed in with huge crushing riffs earned them a spot opening for London prog rock monsters Monument in Auckland earlier this year. Crooked Royals will also be supporting Polaris during their upcoming August tour in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Terry from Muzic.net.nz spoke to Crooked Royals about their latest music, international radio, what metal means to them, and much more:
Can you please tell us about your latest single Rumination and
the video that you put out for it?
Keane: Yeah, that was with Lucas, that was pretty cool. That was the last song we wrote for the EP actually.
The concept is, we’re all from different places in the world, not sure if you can tell by our accents, but uh, Lee moved here from England, I moved from Denmark, Keane moved from up north in New Zealand. The rest of us are from out of town, Connor’s the only one who’s from around here (Auckland). The rest of us on the other hand are all from different places, and when we came from those places we didn’t really fit. To mainstream England, or mainstream Denmark, so we thought we’d come and try and find people who liked the same kind of music as us, who lead the same lifestyle as us and uh, we found each other and it’s kinda cool in that sense. It’s great to have Lucas on that as well ‘cause I think he shares that, uh, narrative or concept, which is really great.
Excellent, so can you tell us what the track talks about for people who haven’t read up about it, I mean it's saying quite a bit there.
Lee: It’s a song about feeling like you don’t really fit in with a certain narrative though. I think most people can relate to it. It doesn’t have to be now, but I think at times in everybody’s life at some point where they feel they don’t fit in. I think especially if you were listening to metal at that stage, it was a big thing when I was a kid. It was a nice thing to write about.
In all seriousness with the money side of it, how much do things like Spotify and the streaming services impact you? I mean, they say you do get some ridiculous amounts out of it. You have to get something like a million or two million plays to get 20 cents or something like that.
Has that changed the way you make music?
Conor: Yeah,
singles get picked up a lot more on playlists, that’s like it used to be with
radio. We would get better plays from singles and I think if you are a big
artist, going on Spotify and sharing your music, you lose out on a lot of
money, but when you’re starting out like a band like us or anyone in a local
scene, putting your music on Spotify or Apple music gives you a whole new
audience you never thought you could get.
We got a dude from Lichtenstein listening to us. Lichtenstein, there’s like 10 people in Lichtenstein. So yeah the thing with Spotify, is we actually get heard across the world. The really interesting thing is not too many people in NZ listen to us compared with places in America where we can get 21,000 streams on a certain song, so it’s really interesting to see how those demographics workout.
I don’t think overall we’re in it for any kind of money, we just want to make music and play to people, that’s the fun of it. Making money would be awesome, but not a lot of musicians make money these days, so I don’t think that’s the aim.
It’s a semi-serious hobby, no, it's a serious hobby, a very serious hobby.
But in any case, any money that we do make from Spotify, or the music shows we play goes back to making more songs. The money we made from our last EP, off the top of my head. Our last EP had 100,000 streams on Spotify, and that worked out to about $300.00. So, if anybody wants to make money from that…
I believe Crooked Royals are about to go on a nationwide tour?
Keane: Yeah, pretty well all over the place. I think everyone’s excited, and we’re playing in the South Island, in Christchurch and Dunedin. I’ve personally never been there before, not sure about you guys, so it’ll be good to see those places.
We’re very happy to have our little tour and stuff.
You’re getting across the whole country too, a lot of bands are only doing two or three shows across the country, so you’re really getting out there amongst it.
Lee: There’s no way in hell we could play them all in a week, as well all have day jobs and stuff, so it’s a few weekends, but it’s going to be super enjoyable.
Do you feel though the NZ metal scene is going through a bit of a revival there at the moment?
Christian: It feels awesome, it’s picked up, since {8 Foot Sativa} it went down a little bit, but, I think if anything in New Zealand we have a big emo uptake, dunno if that helps. But the guys from {Alien Weaponry} are doing great, they’re just slapping NZ everywhere. There’s also a shit ton of local metal bands who are absolutely killing it. We showed our management team in America the talent that’s’ here in New Zealand, and they were just blown away by how much we have over here.
Last question; words of advice for young musicians?
Lee: It’s something you should just do; whether it’s a covers band or whatever, just learn some songs and it’ll be great. Don’t be afraid to experiment, if you want to try a genre that wasn’t your genre growing up you should definitely try it. Get that stage experience under your belt if you really are passionate about it, ‘cause it’s all good to play in your garage and sound like the best band in your garage, but get out there and if you have to play in a caver band, do it, I used to play in a Filipino Christmas covers band in Whangarei. I know, so you get that experience, and just be open minded to music, if you’re a metal head, fine, but be open to rap, rock, country, reggae, everything. All music is gonna help you, pick it up and learn it. You never know where inspiration will get you from, it’s crazy.
Crooked Royals are Lee (vocals), Christian (vocals, guitar), Jake (guitar), Keane (drums)
and Conor (bass).
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