The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
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THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE WORLD MUSIC QUESTIONNAIRE: Tui Mamaki
19 Nov 2018 | 2 min read
Although her name betrays her origins in Aotearoa New Zealand, we have offered Tui Mamaki a Famous Elsewhere World Music Questionnaire because musically and literally she inhabits a wider world than this place. Her Mamaku Project, later just Mamaku, embraced the sounds of gypsy and Middle Eastern music alongside some jazz tropes, dub and more. Her most recent project under her own name... > Read more
Snowfall (from Fly)
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: DANIEL BARRETT of RACING
16 Nov 2018 | 4 min read
It has been a slow but steady build for Auckland-based indie rock band Racing but their stars have been well aligned: appearances at the Splore and Auckland City Limits festivals, a NZonAir showcase, their single Motel Pool holding down 32 weeks in the top 10 of the NZ rock airplay charts, live gigs and then a bit of quiet because . . . They recorded their debut album Real Dancing at... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE WRITERS' QUESTIONNAIRE: Louise Hayward
10 Nov 2018 | 3 min read
While those of us who write words for a living make it seem easy, for others who embark on a writing project, as Auckland writer Louise Hayward has done with her first collection of poetry As It Was, it can be troublesome journey of doubt and revision, reflection and reservation. Hayward, who has had a long career in banking (in London) and as music publicist back in New Zealand, took her... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Cato Van Dijck of My Baby
8 Nov 2018 | 6 min read
The Dutch-Kiwi band My Baby has appeared at Elsewhere previously when guitarist Daniel “Dafreez” Johnston answered a Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire in advance of their tour in early 2016, on the back of their 2013 album My Baby Loves Voodoo . Playing a blend of dance-directed roots, blues, funk and with touches of world music (gnawa, raga, desert blues etc) My Baby have hit the... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE TEACHERS' QUESTIONNAIRE: Judith Bell of Chisnallwood Intermediate School
5 Nov 2018 | 4 min read
When the organisers of this year's annual Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards were considering the landscape of local music they wanted the awards to acknowledge the past, the present and the future. The past is taken care of with the induction of people into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame, the present is acknowledged on the night and the future is . . . Well, that is largely in the... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Helen Corry
10 Oct 2018 | 4 min read
You may have seen – but maybe didn't if you follow her on Facebook – Helen Corry's arresting video for her song La Femme. Earlier this year the clip which she said showed feminine empowerment in the #metoo age saw her Facebook page suspended. Although ironically it was still on You Tube and was played on The Edge TV. And you can see it below. Although it may have looked... > Read more
Strike
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE TEACHERS' QUESTIONNAIRE: Liz Sneyd of Virtuoso Strings
8 Oct 2018 | 3 min read
When the organisers of this year's annual Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards were considering the landscape of local music they wanted the awards to acknowledge the past, the present and the future. The past is taken care of with the winner of the Legacy Award , the present is acknowledged on the night and the future is . . . Well, that is largely in the hands of the hundreds of music... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Kim Benzie of Dead Letter Circus
26 Sep 2018 | 1 min read
If'n it ain't broke then don't fix it, right? So when Brisbane rock band Dead Letter Circus went back into the studio to record their fourth album, their first of new material since 2015's massive Aesthesis, they pulled in producers Forrester Savell and Mat Bartlem who had worked with them on Aesthesis. And as before this self-titled album is full of sky-scaling hooks and driving metal... > Read more
We Own the Light
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Don McGlashan
22 Sep 2018 | 4 min read
What can you say about Don McGlashan, official Arts Laureate and Living Legend? That he has written songs which explore the dark underbelly of New Zealand life (White Valiant) but also those of great beauty (Anchor Me, Andy)? That he has explored brittle post-punk (Blam Blam Blam), avant-garde percussion (From Scratch), performance art and film (The Front Lawn with Harry Sinclair),... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Blair Jollands
3 Sep 2018 | 2 min read
Expat Blair Jollands has been based in London (and Spain) for so long that he is perhaps barely known in his home country these days. But over the years he has produced a number of fine albums and drawn praise from Boy George (whose label he was originally on), David Bowie, the Guardian and numerous reviewers (Classic Rock magazine said he had “the sweeping drama of Nick Cave, elegant... > Read more
I'll Remember You
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Elizabeth Stokes of the Beths
27 Aug 2018 | 3 min read
With their fizzy, upbeat power-pop-cum-indie rock debut album Future Me Hates Me, Auckland Beths bounced straight into contention with one of the best albums of the year. It is unashamedly good fun but also gritty, has plenty of pop swagger and millennial slacker cool, and rides a bunch of great guitar-driven melodies. The Beths – back in Auckland after some US dates – play... > Read more
Uptown Girl
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Holly Arrowsmith
14 Aug 2018 | 2 min read
Singer-songwriter Holly Arrowsmith already has an impressive award under her belt: for best New Zealand folk album in 2016 which acknowledged her debut For the Weary Traveller. It was a fine album . . . but her new one A Dawn I Remember is both a step up and a step sideways into a more mature, emotionally rewarding place and we commend it highly. Yes, it is "folk", but only in... > Read more
Slow Train Creek
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Blair Parkes
6 Aug 2018 | 3 min read
Among the many enjoyable local albums which have come out in the past few months, the new one by Blair Parkes out of Christchurch is the one which might struggle for attention against The Big Names. But Elsewhere is going to say Parkes' Always Running – with Ryan Chin and Miss Mercury (see below) helping out – is a real find, a keeper and a repeat-play item. In our review we... > Read more
Sweetest Darkness
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Jed Parsons
17 Jul 2018 | 3 min read
It sometimes seems that Jed Parsons' debut album Midnight Feast – recorded with Lee Prebble at Surgery in Wellington – has been a long time in the telling . . . because he has been touring, played Auckland City Limits earlier this year and has been an increasingly visible presence after three advance singles. Midnight Feast was released last week (we were away, missed the date)... > Read more
Time
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Chris Dent aka Albi (of Albi and the Wolves)
8 Jul 2018 | 7 min read
With their debut album One Eye Open of 2016 – which won praise at Elsewhere and them the award for Folk Artist of the Year in 2018 – the hard working trio of Albi and the Wolves brought raw energy and passion to their chosen idiom, and also pulled in ideas from rock, world music, soul, jazz and more. The trio of singer-guitarist Chris Dent (aka Albi) from Northland, fiddle... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Erin Cole-Baker
2 Jul 2018 | 2 min read
New Zealand singer-songwriter Erin Cole-Baker spent time in the US earlier this year and, given how her work would easily sit with both country and folk audiences it is no surrise that she is heading back up that way. In August and September she is playng dates in California, Oregon and Washington. She wil be touring on the back of her delicate new album Till The Feeling's Right which... > Read more
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THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Nicole Andrews
4 May 2018 | 4 min read
Let's not call Wellington-based singer songwriter Nicole Andrews – originally from Portland, Oregon – an over-achiever . . . but she certainly achieves something over and above most of us. She is a self-confessed lover of folklore, languages (she's currently learning Japanese), English literature and horror films, is a self-taught pianist raised by a family of artists and... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE MANAGER QUESTIONNAIRE: Alastair Burns
30 Apr 2018 | 5 min read
With the annual Music Managers Awards just about on us (Wednesday May 9 at Auckland's Tuning Fork) we have been profiling some of those who are helping steer the career of the artists they manage (or self-steer in the case of Nick Atkinson of Hopetoun Brown). One of the big awards on the night is that for NZ Music Commission International Achievement which see Julie Foa'i (Te Vaka, Opetai... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE MANAGER QUESTIONNAIRE: Nicole Thomas and Paula Yeoman of NicNak Media
26 Apr 2018 | 5 min read
NicNak Media was founded in 2015 by Nicole Thomas and in 2016 Paula Yeoman joined her as a co-director. Between them they have considerable media and music experience: Thomas 20 years in the game here and in Australia which included an eight year stint in publicity and promotion at Warner Music NZ and publicity at TVNZ; Yeoman a respected print, radio and TV journalist who has worked in New... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE MANAGER QUESTIONNAIRE: Nick Atkinson
23 Apr 2018 | 4 min read
So how do we know Nick Atkinson, let me count the ways: One-time member of Supergroove, for his radio and television appearances, as a player/songwriter/member of Hopetoun Brown alongside Tim Stewart (now three albums into a lightning fast career), for playing on stage with Aldous Harding . . . Now we turn the spotlight onto him as he wears another hat, that of a manager. Atkinson is... > Read more