THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Mike Chunn

In the middle of this month -- June 21st touchdown, June 25th a concert at Auckland's Town Hall -- the Beatles made direct contact with New Zealand.

The reception here 50 years ago was much like everywhere in '64, the height of Beatlemania: huge crowds, screaming, shows that people saw but barely heard . . .

It was a turning point in New Zealand popular culture and to mark the occasion the Play It Strange Trust -- CEO Mike Chunn -- has arranged concerts of Beatles' songs at the Auckland Town Hall on June 24 and 25 featuring a veritable galaxy of local stars (Tim Finn, SJD, Graham Brazier, Fiona McDonald, Jordan Luck and more) for A Strange Day's Night.

But the trust's mandate is to spotlight young songwriters through an annual secondary songwriting competition and to also put them in concert with established musicians.

So a Strange Day's Night will see a number of them sharing the stage with stars and over the next week or so we will spotlight some of the performers young and established . . . but we start with Mike Chunn, former member of Split Enz and Citizen Band. 

The first song which really affected you was . . .

Tower of Strength by Gene McDaniels

Your first (possibly embarrassing) role models in music were . . .

The Beatles

The one songwriter you will always listen to, even if they disappointed you previously, is?

Bob Dylan

As songwriters: Lennon-McCartney or Jagger-Richards; kd lang or Katy Perry; Madonna or Michael Jackson; Prince or Pink?

Lennon McCartney

The three songs (yours, or by others) you would love everyone to hear because they are well crafted are . . .

Strawberry Fields Forever, Beatles

Tangled Up In Blue, Bob Dylan

Stuff and Nonsense, Split Enz

Melody first? Words or phrase first? Simultaneous?

Words first

The best book on music or musicians you have read is . . .

Beatles Anthology

If you could co-write with anyone it would be . . .

Jordan Luck

The last CD or vinyl album you bought was . . . (And your most recent downloads include . . .)

Last vinyl album was The United States of America – released in 1968

One song, royalties for life, never have to work again. The song by anyone, yourself included, which wouldn't embarrass you would be . . .

Let It Be Me

One line (or couplet) from a song -- yours or someone else's -- which you think is just a stone cold winner is . . .

"I must admit I felt a little uneasy When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe" -- Bob Dylan, Tangled Up in Blue

And finally, finish this couplet in any way you like: “Standing at the airport with an empty suitcase at my feet . . .” (You are NOT allowed to rhyme that with “meet” however)

Watching the shifting mobs where nothing’s indiscrete . . .

For more on the Play It Strange Trust go here.

For tickets to A Strange Day's Night go here.