The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
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THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE REGGAE QUESTIONNAIRE: Astro of UB40
30 Oct 2014 | 3 min read
New Zealand audiences are extremely loyal to those acts we take to heart. The Violent Femmes could turn up tomorrow and -- despite not having been here for years and not even existing anymore -- we'd rock up to see them. Same with UB40. Decades ago we adopted UB40 as one of our own and they reciprocated. They've been regular visitors (with or without singer Ali Campbell) and their... > Read more
Anytime At All
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE FILM QUESTIONNAIRE: Alastair and Vanessa Riddell
21 Oct 2014 | 3 min read
Alastair Riddell is perhaps best know as the man who fronted the excellent glam-rock band Space Waltz back in the early Seventies whose single Out in the Street is a genuine Kiwi classic (as is the camp and clever clip which accompanied it). And recently a British rock magazine pointed Ziggy-era Bowie fans in the direction of Space Waltz's sole... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Kevin Mark Trail
20 Oct 2014 | 2 min read
Singer Kevin Mark Trail -- who guests on the new Sola Rosa album Magnetics and is on the tour (see dates below) -- has got other reasons to be cheerful. His new album The Knight has also just been released, so his profile could hardly be higher. And as well as joining Sola Rosa on stage he will also open for them to showcase his own soulful material. He describes The Knight as "an... > Read more
To the Ocean
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Jeff Boyle of Jakob
17 Oct 2014 | 2 min read
New Zealand three-piece Jakob have patiently carved out an impressively wide niche for themselves since their debut album Subsets of Sets back in 2002. Their broad sonic palette across their albums and EPs since have placed them in the vanguard of instrumental music which has its touchstones in widescreen psychedelica, dynamic prog, eerie ambience and dense metal. Critics have made... > Read more
Magna Carta
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: C.W. Stoneking
14 Oct 2014 | 3 min read
Australian CW Stoneking first came to Elsewhere's attention with his King Hokum debut album of original songs back in 2006, at which time I admitted, “this one's got me stumped”. The reason was because there was a thirtysomething white guy on the cover but the performer was clearly some old black guy “maybe even recorded in the... > Read more
The Zombie
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE REGGAE QUESTIONNAIRE: Maxi Priest
13 Oct 2014 | 3 min read
British reggae star Maxi Priest came through the old soul music channel of the church, that's where he first started singing . . . so it's no surprise that there has always been a lot of soul in his style, which accounts for him singing with the likes of Roberta Flack and having greater succes in the US than just about any other British reggae act. “First and foremost, I’m... > Read more
None of Jah Jah Children
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE WRITERS QUESTIONNAIRE: Willy Vlautin
9 Oct 2014 | 2 min read
Willy Vlautin perhaps first came on to people's radar with his Oregon band Richmond Fontaine. Albums like The Fitzgerald, Thirteen Cities and We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded like a River impressed for his literate lyrics, storytelling and character studies. No surprise then when Vlautin delivered a novel, the compelling Motel Life in 2006 which was full of dark deeds, bad deals... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Ben Morley of Mice on Stilts
6 Oct 2014 | 3 min read
Few could watch the heartbreaking images from Gaza recently without feeling some pang of pain and discomfort. Regardless of the knotty politics of the situation there, seeing people's homes destroyed, families killed and schools bombed while children were there made you wonder just how civilised Mankind is in the 21st century. The horrors of that conflict moved many musicians and this... > Read more
A Moss Ocean
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Brayden Jeffrey
26 Sep 2014 | 3 min read
Each year the University of Auckland's School of Music holds a songwriter competition with contestants drawn from their Popular Music courses, this year there are five contestants and Elsewhere is pleased to be able to offer them the chance to answer our Famous Elsewhere Songwriter Questionnaire.Every year the show sells out so bookings are advisable (throughwww.maidment.auckland.ac.nz). All... > Read more
Atomic
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Henry Beasley
25 Sep 2014 | 4 min read
Each year the University of Auckland's School of Music holds a songwriter competition with contestants drawn from their Popular Music courses, this year there are five contestants and Elsewhere is pleased to be able to offer them the chance to answer our Famous Elsewhere Songwriter Questionnaire.Every year the show sells out so bookings are advisable (throughwww.maidment.auckland.ac.nz). All... > Read more
Weekend
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Sio Andrews
24 Sep 2014 | 3 min read
Each year the University of Auckland's School of Music holds a songwriter competition with contestants drawn from their Popular Music courses, this year ther are five contestants and Elsewhere is pleased to be able to offer them the chance to answer our Famous Elsewhere Songwriter Questionnaire. Every year the show sells out so bookings are advisable (through... > Read more
London Oh London
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THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Possum Plows
23 Sep 2014 | 3 min read
Each year the University of Auckland's School of Music holds a songwriter competition with contestants drawn from their Popular Music courses, this year there are five contestants and Elsewhere is pleased to be able to offer them the chance to answer our Famous Elsewhere Songwriter Questionnaire.Every year the show sells out so bookings are advisable (throughwww.maidment.auckland.ac.nz). All... > Read more
Mine (demo)
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Michael Murray
22 Sep 2014 | 3 min read
Each year the University of Auckland's School of Music holds a songwriter competition with contestants drawn from their Popular Music courses, this year there are five contestants and Elsewhere is pleased to be able to offer them the chance to answer our Famous Elsewhere Songwriter Questionnaire. Every year the show sells out so bookings are advisable (throughwww.maidment.auckland.ac.nz).... > Read more
Oh Darlin'
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Courtney Barnett
12 Sep 2014 | 2 min read
She may only have a small but perfectly-shaped body of recorded work behind (two EPs) but Melbourne's Courtney Barnett has been acclaimed far and wide . . . as far as Pitchfork which considered her song Avant Gardner its best new track when it was released, and more recently her song History Eraser was nominated for an APRA award in Australia. She has combined her two EPs into one release... > Read more
History Eraser
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Mahoney Harris
8 Sep 2014 | 3 min read
Waiheke-based singer-songwriter Mahoney Harris is well known to many in the New Zealand music industry (as someone who takes care of licensing, promotion and such through her Aeroplane Music company), so perhaps its no surprise to see the list of local musical luminaries who appear on her debut album We Didn't Feel Alone. But frankly, you don't get the likes of Wayne Bell, Tom Healy,... > Read more
We Didn't Feel Alone
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Dave Khan
1 Sep 2014 | 3 min read | 1
It would be fair to say of guitarist multi-instrumentalist Dave Khan that he sometimes seems to be everywhere. He has appeared with Tim Finn, the Bads, Tami Neilson, Delaney Davidson, Gin Wigmore, Don McGlashan . . . Ridiculously talented, he is also a modest presence on stage who can set the air alight with seemingly effortless playing, he also turns down the moods for hush-now... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Dave Graney
22 Aug 2014 | 5 min read | 1
The e-mail from Dave Graney in Australia sounded almost apologetic, like he had to explain who he was. I replied along the lines, "So this would be the same Dave Graney of the great Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes? I know exactly who you are, sir. Saw you play a few times". But it is true that few New Zealanders would know Graney and his songwriting gifts (not to mention how back... > Read more
Everything Was Legendary With Robert
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Glen Moffatt
14 Aug 2014 | 3 min read
For a while there, over a decade ago, the New Zealand country singer Glen Moffatt seemed to be everywhere, and at the close of the Nineties and into the new decade he released three excellent albums: Somewhere in New Zealand Tonight, A Place to Play and If That's What You Want. As those titles suggest, Moffatt could offer some commentary on the lot of the country troubadour who travels... > Read more
Point of No Return
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Robert Scott
11 Aug 2014 | 2 min read
Because Elsewhere recently had a major piece on Robert Scott and was with specific reference to his new album The Green House, let's just give you the link to that . . . and observe that last week the Herald reviewer bestowed four and half stars (out of five) to The Green House with the tag "another solo gem". That reviewer also noted Scott's terrific last album Ends Run Together... > Read more
Now in Your Hands
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Paul "The Axeman" Martin of Devilskin
30 Jul 2014 | 2 min read
Devilskin bassist Paul Martin has some serious prior form in the noise stakes: He played in the legendary (not a word we use lightly here) Kiwi hard rock bands Knightshade and Blackjack, and more recently was lead guitarist/lead singer for World War Four. But with Hamilton's Devilskin it seems it has all come to a higher plane. The band -- fronted by the nailhard vocals of Jennie... > Read more