Bio

He was made in England, born in Wellington, and grew up in Turanganui-a-kiwa (Gisborne).

Recent history - working on a follow up LP to 2016’s #RawSelfie which was recorded in 2013 on an LG Optima cell phone in a series of live takes in a St Kilda flat.
So far #SecondSelfie is being tracked on a lap top using audacity, where baser is recording layers of guitar, bass, percussion, voices, and in some cases found sound.
Right, here’s the older history.

Dunedin-based musician darryl baser moved to New Zealand’s independent music capital in March 1993 and promptly began organising gigs for himself and a host of his peers
Initially shy and waiting for the phone to ring he soon discovered a simple truth: if you want gigs to happen, you’ve got to make them happen. Suffice it to say he beat the fear and has made a bunch of friends in the music scene, simply by either meeting them at shows, or picking up the phone and asking them to play shows.

Over his two decades in Dunedin he’s played with some of the city’s favourite sons and daughters, along with musicians from around New Zealand and has even toured the South Island with a couple of Australians.

Darryl Baser is not what one would call a prolific releaser of music; putting out a cassette in 1995 and a 7” single in 1997.

Family and work matters took a front seat to song writing, performing and recording for around a decade, which along with a significant period of writer’s block meant his singing and playing took a back seat, particularly to a 15-year stint as a music writer for the Otago Daily Times.

Fast forward to 2013.
Smart phones are gradually taking over the world and the word “Selfie” is added to the dictionary.

Becoming a single person in late May, to solve his communication issues he purchases an LG Optima, and rapidly discovers it can record sound.
For a laugh and a bit of self-reference records a song, then another, and another.

Around that time old friend and long-time fan of New Zealand music Arno Loffler visits his second home of Dunedin, the two get talking at the Queens music venue, and the idea of recording an entire album on a smart phone was born.

From a hazy recollection during a busy period the title ‘Raw Selfie’ was thrown about at the meeting at Queens.

Baser says the title reflects both the modern ‘selfie’ obsessed generation who seem driven by a need to take pictures of themselves and their friends on their phones and promptly posting them online. The title track was written in late September 2013.

The main core of the songs were recorded in his lounge at St Kilda, Dunedin between June and October 2013.

Noted Dunedin engineer and producer Stephen Stedman, who also is scheduled to polish Raw Selfie. Artwork for Raw Selfie comes by kind permission from top New Zealand artists: Dunedin’s Ewan McDougall, and Sarah Flourish, who's woodcut is one the front cover.
Raw Selfie was released in Jan 2016 on Zelle Records and Powertools in Aotearoa.
Darryl Baser is currently compiling material, including drum parts, bass lines, guitar parts and found sounds for a follow up LP with the working title ‘second selfie.

Links

• Artist Website
• Facebook Page
• Twitter Page
• Youtube Page
• SoundCloud Page