The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
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THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Delaney Davidson and Marlon Williams
5 Nov 2012 | 4 min read
On paper Delaney Davidson and Marlon Williams (the latter of Unfaithful Ways) have very divergent taste as you can see below, but put them together in a recording studio for their Sad But True album and something unique happens. The album – on the newly established Lyttelton Records label – is subtitled “the secret history of country music songwriting” and... > Read more
Bloodletter
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Neill Fraser of Villainy
29 Oct 2012 | 3 min read
Auckland alt.rock band Villainy scored a major coup for the cover of their debut album Mode Set Clear -- see below -- they had the famous Storm Thorgerson (renown for his Pink Floyd album artwork) design it. And how did that come about? They just asked. The contents however are at some distance from Floyd's tripped out moods. Villainy deliver a very focused fire-storm of tough-minded... > Read more
Gather Yourselves
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Trevor Reekie and Tom Ludvigson of Trip to the Moon
25 Oct 2012 | 4 min read
Jeez, where to begin with these two? The pocket edition story of Trevor Reekie would mention he spent time in the UK in the Seventies, back in New Zealand in the Eighties he played guitar in and produced the innovative electro-pop outfit Car Crash Set, helmed Stunn then Reaction Records (producing the Mockers aong others), founded his own Pagan Records which gave a first start to... > Read more
The Landscape Listens
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Dave McArtney of Hello Sailor
15 Oct 2012 | 3 min read
So where do we start with Dave McArtney? Well, with Hello Sailor of course which he co-founded in the Seventies, help take to great heights and some darks depths, wrote wonderful songs for and so on. Then there was his career with Pink Flamingos . . . But Sailor never really went away and just last year they were inaugurated into New Zealand's music Hall of Fame. And now there is a... > Read more
Bric A Brac Shop
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Matthew Pickering
1 Oct 2012 | 3 min read
Wellington's Matthew Pickering is probably very glad to be going out on the road for a month in support of his third album Up at the Bunkers (see dates below). His day job is as the editor of Hansard in New Zealand's parliament, the aural record of what has been said in the House. Pickering is an unashamed folkie whose weapons are acoustic guitar, piano, banjo Ukulele and such. On the... > Read more
Fumble for Change
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Shane Warbrooke of the Bemsha Swing
1 Oct 2012 | 3 min read
The Bemsha Swing album Against Friends and Lovers arrived unannounced but any band which names itself after a Thelonious Monk tune is going to catch Elsewhere's ears. And this duo of Shane and Andrew from Auckland not only catch ears but sear them with grisly guitar noise which is exciting in its intensity (see review here). Not quite what Mr Monk had in mind but . . . However as you... > Read more
Coherence
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Stix Zadinia of Steel Panther
27 Sep 2012 | 2 min read
If KISS were every anime-loving teenage Japanese boy's idea of a rock band, then California's Steel Panther are every glam metal fan's idea of a cliche. And Steel Panther revel in it. Formed a decade ago, they began by playing hair-metal covers as Metal Shop, morphed into Steel Panther (claiming they formed in the Eighties but had been ignored at the time) and began playing originals which... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Dave Rowlands of Clap Clap Riot
24 Sep 2012 | 2 min read
Clap Clap Riot's debut album Counting Spins registered under that "long overdue" category. But when it came out a few months back it went straight into our Favourite Five Recent CDs page after a week for its smart combination of taut rock, sophisticated power pop manoeuvres and a slightly weary, over-it attitude in places. It was as if they had not just assimilated some... > Read more
Growing Up
THE ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: University of Auckland songwriter winner Sam Springett
21 Sep 2012 | 3 min read | 1
Every year many of the students in Auckland University's popular music course enter a Songwriter of the Year competition in which they perform their original songs backed by a professional band (and often with some fellow students pitching in). This year's final was at the Raye Freedman Arts Centre on Thursday Sept 20 and Elsewhere thought we should throw the same questionnaire at the... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Francesca Mountfort (aka Nervous Doll Dancing)
17 Sep 2012 | 2 min read
As Nervous Doll Dancing, Francesca Mountfort is cutting a unique path for herself. Formerly of Wellington but now Melbourne-based, the cellist and composer graduated from Victoria University a decade ago and has explored electronics, ambient music, classical of course, and . . . puppetry? Yep, in 2003 she won a NZ Fringe Festival award for her multi-media show which included dance, film and... > Read more
Sneaky
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Kasey Chambers
14 Sep 2012 | 2 min read
Award-winning Australian singer-songwriter and alt.country star Kasey Chambers has long been an Elsewhere favourite for her astute lyrics and passionate delivery, and her earthy sense of humour in person. With her husband Shane Nicholson -- and often with her singer-songwriter dad Bill on hand (interviewed here) -- she has presented some of the most enduring country music of the past... > Read more
Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson
THE ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: APRA Silver Scroll winner 2012 Stephanie Brown
14 Sep 2012 | 7 min read
The annual APRA Silver Scroll award acknowledges excellence in songwriting, so at Elsewhere we modified our Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire and tailored it to be specifically about the craft of songwriting for this year's five finalists. Here is the winner, Brooklyn-based Stephanie Brown for her song Everything to Me which she performs as Lips. The first song which really affected you... > Read more
Everything to Me
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Ray Woolf
10 Sep 2012 | 3 min read
Ray Woolf has had a long and diverse career in New Zealand show business, half a century of it in fact from the time he was a young rock'n'roller, a regular on Sixties television shows such as Happen Inn as a sharply dressed pop singer, then filling out the Seventies in cabaret, hosting his own television series, later exercising a few jazz chops with the Rodger Fox Big Band . . . and most... > Read more
Little Things That Happen (1967 previously unreleased)
THE ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: University of Auckland songwriter finalist Sam Allen
4 Sep 2012 | 2 min read
Every year many of the students in Auckland University's popular music course enter a Songwriter of the Year competition in which they perform their original songs backed by a professional band (and often with some fellow students pitching in). This year's final was at the Raye Freedman Arts Centre on Thursday Sept 20 and Elsewhere thought we should throw the same questionnaire at the... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Matthew Hope of Artisan Guns
3 Sep 2012 | 4 min read
The Auckland four-piece Artisan Guns certainly distinguished themselves early: their first EP Bird and Bone in 2009 got some glowing notices and their single Autumn in 2010 was a finalist in the Apra Silver Scroll songwriting award. Since then they have toured, written, knocked off university degrees, had side projects and now have delivered their long awaited debut album Coral which, as... > Read more
Swim
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Nick Weaver of Deep Sea Arcade
1 Sep 2012 | 3 min read
The young Australian band Deep Sea Arcade barely make a wrong move on their debut album Outlands when it comes to channeling classic pop from a couple of generations before them. (see review here) Just indie enough to be off the mainframe but also full of hooks and choruses to pull in the casual passerby, Outlands is a polished, mature debut which is, best of, fun, interesting and diverse.... > Read more
Together
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Greg Fleming
31 Aug 2012 | 4 min read
Those who know the saying "a long time between drinks" will see it could be applied to the recording career of Auckland singer-songwriter Greg Fleming. He came to serious critical attention as far back as the early Nineties then disappeared off the radar until his excellent Taken in 2010, the album he'd recorded in '95 as a follow-up to Ghosts Are White ('94) but which was never... > Read more
Edge of the City
THE ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: University of Auckland songwriter finalist Doug Robertson
30 Aug 2012 | 3 min read
Every year many of the students in Auckland University's popular music course enter a Songwriter of the Year competition in which they perform their original songs backed by a professional band (and often with some fellow students pitching in). This year's final was at the Raye Freedman Arts Centre on Thursday Sept 20 and Elsewhere thought we should throw the same questionnaire at the... > Read more
THE ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: University of Auckland songwriter finalist Emily Rice
29 Aug 2012 | 3 min read
Every year many of the students in Auckland University's popular music course enter a Songwriter of the Year competition in which they perform their original songs backed by a professional band (and often with some fellow students pitching in). This year's final was at the Raye Freedman Arts Centre on Thursday Sept 20 and Elsewhere thought we should throw the same questionnaire at the... > Read more
THE ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: University of Auckland songwriter finalist Stevii Hill
28 Aug 2012 | 2 min read
Every year many of the students in Auckland University's popular music course enter a Songwriter of the Year competition in which they perform their original songs backed by a professional band (and often with some fellow students pitching in). This year's final was at the Raye Freedman Arts Centre on Thursday Sept 20 and Elsewhere thought we should throw the same questionnaire at the... > Read more