Absolute Elsewhere

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JAMES GARDENER, INTERVIEWED (2001): From Buzzcocks to Jack Body

8 Feb 2004  |  3 min read

James Gardner, director of the contemporary classical ensemble 175 East, downplays his former musical career. Despite being in "teenage bands of doubtful competence" and becoming a keyboard player "because I was the least worst at it," he can claim some pretty good post-punk credentials.In the mid-80s he played in the backing band for Pete Shelley, formerly (and latterly... > Read more

TRINITY ROOTS INTERVIEWED (2004): Songs for the heart and homeland

24 Jan 2004  |  4 min read

Hailed as a gentle but potent love song to Aotearoa and its people, TrinityRoots' Home, Land and Sea is a celebration and call to unity which shines in contrast with most other offerings currently topping the album chart. Guitarist Warren Maxwell, bassist Rio Hemopo and drummer Riki Gooch have built on their debut True to create a mystic soulful album in which the band... > Read more

NESIAN MYSTIK INTERVIEWED (2003): For their people

22 Dec 2003  |  3 min read

For Te Awanui Reeder and the rest of Nesian Mystik, yesterday was downtime and a chance to rest before opening for Duran Duran and Robbie Williams at Western Springs tomorrow. But there's downtime ... and there's downtime. For Nesian Mystik - back from London where they did a showcase for media at New Zealand House and public gigs in Soho and Brixton - downtime still... > Read more

DION OF THE D4, INTERVIEWED (2003): Rock'n'roll soldiers

16 Oct 2003  |  5 min read

We catch him at the unglamorous and very un-rock'n'roll Ponsonby Food Hall but Dion of the D4, the North Shore band that has captured hearts and imaginations in Europe and Japan, is only too happy to chat.The band goes on tour this month but for most of the year it wouldn't have been uncommon to run into various members of D4 around the shops and foodhalls of their hometown. Big in Europe... > Read more

BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB INTERVIEWED (2003): All together now . . .

9 Oct 2003  |  4 min read

It's a week ago and you have to imagine the scene backstage in a room at Toronto's Guvernment Entertainment Complex. Peter Hayes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club has just come off stage. It's 1am and he has run into some musician friends - but also has a phone interview to New Zealand scheduled. Now most people at this point - weary, slightly slurry of voice from whatever - might ignore... > Read more

SALMONELLA DUB INTERVIEWED (2003): This touring life

1 Oct 2003  |  7 min read

For two guys who have done 27 interviews back-to-back in Sydney, arrived in Auckland at midnight and got up early for a Mike Hosking interview on Breakfast, Tiki Taane and Andrew Penman are surprisingly chipper. Taane is playing a Tony Hawk skateboard game on a laptop, and Penman is looking through a scattering of CDs, vinyl and posters on the coffee table of this suite in the upmarket... > Read more

JACK WHITE INTERVIEWED (2003): The heat on the rising son

10 Sep 2003  |  6 min read

As a measure of how mighty or mundane Jack White's life has become, consider this: It made news in Hollywood gossip magazines that he had grown a moustache. Now for him, that's either great fame or a great pain. No two guesses needed about what he thinks. The man who is one half of the White Stripes with Meg White -- his sister or ex-wife, believe what you will -- and largely... > Read more

The Air Near My Fingers

COUNT DUBULAH INTERVIEWED (2003): Music from the Temple

26 May 2003  |  3 min read

Few bands were as exciting, but as irritating, for world music purists as London's Transglobal Underground, who emerged at the start of the Nineties with clubland hit Templehead. A meltdown of big-beat dancefloor, Indian instruments and rock guitars, funky bass and the voice of Egyptian singer Natacha Atlas, TGU had their roots in the tiny basement room of Nation Records in central... > Read more

MICHAEL BUBLE INTERVIEWED (2003): From Sinatra to Queen

15 Feb 2003  |  6 min read

The invitation for dinner-hour drinks and a show in an Auckland hotel ballroom by Michael Buble was clear: dress to impress. Some did, but for many a denim jacket or T-shirt apparently fitted the bill. It can be hard to convince Kiwis some things are worth a little effort. And Canadian singer Buble - pronounced Boob-lay - was well worth it. The singer who locates his heart... > Read more

BRYAN ADAMS INTERVIEWED (2003): Lights, camera, sing . . .

30 Jan 2003  |  6 min read

It's below 40C and Bryan Adams is heading to the improbably named Chicoutimi, 200km north of Quebec, for a gig. It's only a 5000-seater and for someone who has played stadium shows for more than 100,000 this seems a small deal. He laughs and admits it isn't premier-league stuff, but the cost of touring means he has to pepper in a few other shows around the main ones, in this case dates... > Read more

DUBIOUS BROTHERS INTERVIEWED (2002): Hip-hop through a prism

20 Aug 2002  |  5 min read

Pinang in Malaysia, about 1998, was the last time. "Some dude tried to stab me with a meat cleaver. After that I thought, 'Well, no one's going to walk up to me in New Zealand and try to kill me with a meat cleaver'. So I came home. Although lately ... " Taina Keelan pauses. It's been quite a time for headlining homicides, and maybe playing music in bars around Southeast Asia... > Read more

OPETAIA FOA'I OF TE VAKA INTERVIEWED (2002): World famous, except in New Zealand

31 Jul 2002  |  7 min read

From the semi-rural side street, the home of Opetaia and Julie Foa'i in Laingholm is unremarkable other than for its size. It sprawls across the property and boasts a high A-frame, but other than that you would drive past without a second glance. However, this is the spiritual home and business centre of Te Vaka, Auckland's pan-Polynesian group whose celebratory and exotic... > Read more

THE PROCLAIMERS INTERVIEWED (2002): Just the usual Scottish stuff; death, family and politics.

8 Apr 2002  |  5 min read

Serious guys these Proclaimers. And that's despite their uplifting Everlys-from-Scotland sound which often comes off as singalongs, notably the naggingly addictive I'm Gonna Be with its beerhall chorus "I will walk 500 miles." But being Scottish, and it's a trait observable in those cooler climes, they also knuckle down to the serious stuff. When they emerged 14 years... > Read more

BETCHADUPA, INTERVIEWED (2002): First rays of the new rising sons

22 Mar 2002  |  7 min read

Small gestures can be illuminating. After an hour-long conversation, betchadupa singer-songwriter Liam Finn and drummer Matt Eccles get up to leave the sunny boardroom of their Auckland record company. On the way out Finn automatically picks up the water glasses to take them back to the kitchen. His parents should be proud of this thoughtful young man, not just because their boy has... > Read more

JOSH ROUSE PROFILED (2002): The stars come out

3 Mar 2002  |  3 min read

To say American singer-songwriter Josh Rouse, doesn't arrive with the ballyhoo of our inflated cover star says little. His new album still comes with the obligatory self-congratulatory bio full of Josh quotes which are testament to his worthiness, and has him saying it's his best album so far.No doubt Britney Spears is on record boasting much the same about whatever her last achievement -... > Read more

JOE COCKER, PROFILED ON FILM (2003): The man still standing

8 Feb 2002  |  3 min read

The great soul singer Ray Charles has often said that Joe Cocker is his foremost disciple.He reiterates that compliment - Cocker has "tears in his voice," he says - at the start of the documentary Joe Cocker: Have A Little Faith.Charles is only one of many who pay handsome tribute to Cocker and his singular career.Eric Clapton calls this former gasfitter from Sheffield "one of... > Read more

ALIEN ANT FARM INTERVIEWED (2002): Ant music again

6 Jan 2002  |  5 min read

Okay, here are some things about Alien Ant Farm, who might otherwise be dismissed as one-hit wonders for their recent top-10 cover of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal. First, singer-songwriter Dryden Mitchell is a smart guy, grew up on metal and sensitive folk equally and writes damn fine, angst-driven rock. Secondly, they have a great rhythm section which kicks along... > Read more

FRED DURST of LIMP BIZKIT, INTERVIEWED (2001): Durst the worst

14 Dec 2001  |  9 min read

One of the most despised men in rock slumps on to the couch, belches, then mutters "Diet Coke", which seems his way of saying "Pardon me". Then he lazily makes an unprintable aside about this small but extremely comfortable room in this expensive art deco hotel on Sunset Strip. If you had come here to try to like Fred Durst, frontman and mastermind behind Limp... > Read more

BUBBA SPARXXX INTERVIEWED (2001): Slo-mo hip-hop from the South

31 Oct 2001  |  5 min read

There's nothing particularly special about what Bubba Sparxxx does, he says so himself. But in the hip-hop world of swagger'n'brag, that self-effacing comment alone makes this 99-kilo, almost two-metre tall former football player from a small town in Georgia pretty special indeed. Bubba Sparxxx, born Warren Anderson Mathis in March '77, is being far too modest anyway. His debut album... > Read more

NIKKA COSTA INTERVIEWED (2001): Take care, she's connected

30 Aug 2001  |  6 min read

Here's a pretty cool career high: opening for the Police and playing to an audience of around 300,000 in Chile.  Here's another: hanging out with Quincy Jones, Sly Stone, Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack pals.  And another: singing with the full Don Costa Orchestra, the same guys who backed Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan and other greats. For the woman who can claim... > Read more