NZ Musician August September 2016 by NZ Musician

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A u g u s t / S e p t e m b e r 2016 VO L . 19 N O . 8

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VINC E HARDER

SO LAID BACK COUNTRY CHINA

Music Industry Training Courses Directory 2017

NZ MUSICIAN magazine PO Box 99-315, Newmarket 1149 Auckland New Zealand

VO L . 19

Phone: (09) 373 2572 editorial@nzmusician.co.nz

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N O . 8 A u g u s t / S e p t e m b e r 2016

Publisher / Editor: Richard Thorne richard@nzmusician.co.nz Assistant Editor: Silke Hartung editorial@nzmusician.co.nz Advertising: editorial@nzmusician.co.nz Designer: Silke Hartung Pre-Press & Printing: MHP Print

Contributors Godfrey De Grut, Amanda Mills, Darryl Kirk, Jack Woodbury, Bing Turkby, Stu Edwards, Ania Glowacz, Sammy Jay Dawson, Michael Hollywood, Holly McGeorge, Aleisha Ward, Tim Hewitt, Olly Clifton, Caitlin Smith, Briar Lawry, Kevin Downing, Eliza Beca, Dee Muir, Sam Vegar, Hunter Keane, Thomas Goss, Aabir Mazumdar, David McLaughlin, Poppy Tohill, Del Thomas, Mark Bell, Mal Smith, Rona Wignall, Karin Vincent, Rob Burns

NZ Musician magazine is published six times a year. Available direct by subscription and free through selected outlets. For advertising or subscription enquiries please contact: editorial@nzmusician.co.nz or phone (09) 373 2572

2017 Music Industry Training Courses Directory p20

REGULARS

FEATURES Vince Harder . . . . . . . . . .

Prizegiving . . . . . . . . . . .

Maala . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

After ’Hours . . . . . . . . . .

Abbie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Al Witham . . . . . . . . . . . .

Trip To The Moon . . . . . .

Nikita Tu-Bryant . . . . . . .

Kiri Eriwata. . . . . . . . . . .

So Laid Back Country China

COVER

LESSONS 12

Deep Thinking. . . . . . . .

Building Blocks . . . . . .

Fresh Talent . . . . . . . . .

Finding Your Voice . . . .

The Lawful Truth. . . . . .

X-Factory . . . . . . . . . . .

Luthiers’ Fancies . . . . .

Tutors’ Tutorial . . . . . . .

And feel Like we’re a wreck And feel The clawing at our neck And feel Like a boy, not the best And fall Don’t try so hard next time People go away They’re calm-faced but full of shame Grace dead Well fed You might be a lover But you’re not one of mine I’m too busy drinking All the time

On Foreign Soil . . . . . . .

Ballad Of Calm Arms – So Laid Back Country China, p47

Vince Harder

Photograph by Tim Woolf

Guitar Cool . . . . . . . . . .

Fresh Cut . . . . . . . . . . .

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Vince Harder

SHOWING RARE VISION Two trophies as the artist behind his ’Rare Vision’ EP, plus a third as producer of the Stan Walker/Samantha Jade pop single Start Again, made Vince Harder the biggest winner at this year’s Pacific Music Awards. While his second EP didn’t bother the local charts, Harder is certainly no stranger to such heights of success. When the Stan Walker-sung Aotearoa won the Maori song-based Maioha Award at the 2015 APRA Silver Scroll awards it was Harder, the song’s writer, who collected it. Boy-band Titanium enjoyed unprecedented success on the strength of his pop songs during 2013. Back in 2008 his lyrics and vocals led the exceptional P-Money track Everything to the top of the NZ charts, and before that he had enjoyed major success as a musical actor, dancer – and even as a top-three finalist in Australian television’s X-Factor series. Actually, much of his incredibly diverse and successful career as an entertainer has been played out in Australia, where he currently lives, writes, records and runs his own fast-evolving artist development hub, HMG. Godfrey de Grut provided this insight to Vince Harder’s remarkable story-so-far.

From those early days at Henderson High in West Auckland Harder seemed compelled to perform. With the validation of being judged both best instrumentalist and vocalist at his school talent quest he felt further study was his best option to improve. A two-year stretch at Auckland’s Excel School of Performing Arts culminated with a national tour in the college’s band, which, he says, honed an appreciation for both teamwork and hard work. “We learned everything, from setting up the sound rig, the lighting rig, packing in and out of the theatre, promotion – the whole responsibility of putting on a show was given to us.” Post study he fell into work at a factory though that proved short-lived, the menial repetitiveness soon grating. After a month of only being able to tap out drum beats on the machine floor and singing to himself under his breath he decided, “I gotta start a band and I gotta start gigging.”

he entertainment industry reserves the term ’triple threat’ for those standout artists who can sing, dance and act. While Vince Harder certainly fits that criteria, it would be more appropriate, though rarer, for the Australasian industry to bestow a term which more accurately describes his diversity; singer, dancer, actor, writer, producer, video director, guitarist, pianist – septuple or octuple threat maybe? Since school Harder has always been forging his own ahead with a focus and determination most would find exhausting, even when just observing his output. “It’s not work”, he says on a Skype call from his Sydney home.“I’m looking for opportunities to evolve.”

Photo: Tim Woolf

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This intermediary step back into music led to some small gigs and the opportunity to network, make friends and build a social circle of like-minded individuals. In 1999 it led to him co-founding Jireh, an urban (faith-based) performing arts group that grew over the years, spawning a plethora of industry names such as Ginny Blackmore, Seth Haapu, Bella Kalolo and Turanga Merito. For three years he performed across Australasia with the group. With everyone in Jireh singing, dancing and playing instruments it mostly fell to Harder to write material and oversee arrangements. He was just 18 when he started taking on the responsibilities of band leader duties. When Bella Kalolo joined the group she already had a high degree of experience in professional musical theatre, and was far more worldly about the industry, having toured internationally. “That’s buzzy, that’s really out of it,” Harder recalls thinking at the time. “Most of us in the group were just dreaming of that professional life.” It was Kalolo who convinced Harder to audition (his first) for an Aussie production of The Lion King musical, early in 2002. It’s amusing to learn that he wasn’t aware of what a huge deal the show was. He’d seen the movie, sure, but the concept of the juggernaut Disney machine possibly providing the launchpad for an international career via their expansive media empire hadn’t dawned on him. “I didn’t even know The Lion King existed as a show,” he confesses. That admission helps explain why Harder was rather blasé about the audition – and didn’t follow up the subsequent calls, instead finding casual work at Rebel Sport. Besides, as he notes, he was increasingly kept busy with Jireh. Finally, almost a full year after that first audition, the casting director tracked him down and insisted he fly to Sydney (along with fellow Jireh members Kalolo and Turanga Merito) to audition for the coveted lead role of Simba. He says he went in determined to be himself. It went well and he was pulled aside as he was leaving the audition venue. “I remember thinking, ’Ooh, this is serious, no-one else is getting talked to!’” Out of about 4000 prospective Simbas from across the world they offered him the role, later that night talking him through the explosion of press and media coverage that was about to engulf him. It was a big break indeed. As he explains, in all things Lion King “… authenticity was important to the show’s creator, Julie Taymor.” The director of the original Broadway show, the big gun in the Disney arsenal, was soon on a plane to Oz to help sculpt the Simba character specifically to him. The goal was to retain the authenticity of the actor behind Simba, and to tell the lion’s story filtered through the actor’s own life experiences. Harder has fond memories of those times, though the work was hard with eight shows a week, and the pressure relentless. “The acting was the hardest,” he chuckles. “It definitely didn’t come naturally.” On one occasion, halfway through his 12-month contract he recalls momentarily blanking during the scene with Pumbaa and Timon discussing the composition of stars, while gazing up at the heavens. “I must have been thinking about a song I was working on in the studio and I went totally blank. I was actually looking out into the stars and I had nothing for them!” That was 2003. Thirteen years on Harder laughs hard at the memory, saying he made a decision then and there – he was not going to renew the contract for another season – his true focus had always really been on his own music. Where to go next? He toured as a dancer with Guy Sebastian for a time before landing in the 2005 Australian X-Factor. It was the first season and there were high hopes for the format. It was high pressure again with the contestants constantly having to turn it on for the TV cameras while on set. The producers needed mass appeal. Harder says he found being a ’personality’ was tiring and while essentially cast as the “typical Polynesian boy” he couldn’t choose the songs he wanted to sing, and the show started to feel produced to a pre-determined script. He did learn a lot

about record labels and the music industry, recalling watching the winning cast members (by now good friends), seemingly undermined then dropped by the label after the initial surge of album sales abated. Beginning to see the flaws within the system he was determined to figure out how to write his own songs more effectively. In order to ensure longevity in the industry he had to diversify again. “I had to learn how to write, how to produce.” MySpace provided a creative outlet for his songs and an A&R rep at Universal Australia became intrigued by his small successes. It was through the rep that in 2008 he was introduced former battle DJ champ turned beatmaker/producer P-Money. They hit it off and Harder began

“The long term plan is to develop more artists on this side of the world. Help them as a production house and then find a home for them as well, whether with HMG or not. Basically just creating a platform for other artists for us to be able to develop and nurture them.” working on a beat that became Everything – their first collaboration. “It had this robot chorus on it and I wanted to write to it and sing it. It all came really quick.” Indeed he turned his completed vocal around in a week. A month later P-Money chose it as the lead single (and title) for what was to prove a breakthrough album. Harder also featured in the video shoot. The song was massive here and in Oz, Zane Lowe pushed it in the UK and much touring followed. “I liked Vince’s tone and his knack for melody and vocal arrangements,” reflects Pete Waddams, aka P-Money. “With the single Everything and the subsequent album tracks I was looking to do more soulful and melodic vocal tracks.

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“He was totally the right guy for the job and we made some great records together. That wide range of experience all contributes to Vince’s ability to produce and perform to such a high standard. He knows how a song should be performed and also how it should be constructed. It’s his ear for melody and vocal arrangement that’s his strongest suit I think.” Harder’s own songs were released via P-Money’s Dirty Records over this period, honing his ever-growing skill set, which now included production. Looking back he says he wasn’t fully understanding of how his stylistic output would affect him as an artist. The machine wanted more dance music and radio hits but what he really wanted to do was RnB. “To be honest I was a bit confused about where I wanted to go and at the time I was writing a whole bunch of songs. My passion was to do stuff more on the urban side.” Stepping away from Dirty he began collaborating with old Excel classmate NOX (Inoke Finau) and Illegal Musik. It was full circle and back to urban basics. From close on 100 songs they eventually settled on a dozen for his debut album, 2011’s ’The Space Between Us’. The self-produced album featuring a host of guests/friends including K.One, Pieter T, Ria, Young Sid, PNC, Dei Hamo and David Dallas, included urban radio songs Say This With Me, Summer Dayz and Alone No More, as well as dance track I Want This Forever. While no local chart crasher itself, the album drew more attention to his work and soon he was writing and producing for others. Warner Music NZ charged him with writing and producing music for an upcoming boy-band act. Only trouble was he had just signed on to an 18 month-long Australasian stint in the musical Jersey Boys. “Ha ha ha, theatre came back,” he laughs. 2012 found Harder stuck in Oz performing shows five nights a week and furiously writing pop songs during the day in his hotel room – while his compatriots at Illegal were sorting and auditioning the singers in NZ. Jersey Boys proved an inspiring show to work on in terms of developing a catalogue of vastly different songs, and there were obvious parallels between the show’s narrative of writing music for a boy band (The Four Seasons) and his own predicament as principal writer for what was to become Titanium. Come On Home was chosen as Titanium’s first single, it debuted at #1 on the NZ singles chart and they started touring to much fanfare and hype.

“It was buzzy, and I was watching from Brisbane, checking it out on Facebook. They were singing my songs, and then… wow, they got five songs in the Top 40!” His musical theatre friends would be congratulating him backstage. “They were like, ’Uhh, that’s cool,’ but they didn’t even understand it, I was in two different worlds,” he recalls laughing. 2013 saw new musical long-term friendships blossom including writing with Stan Walker on his hit single Bulletproof, a partnership that has continued with multiple successes. Harder won the 2015 APRA Maioha Award for Aotearoa, sung by Walker along with Maisey Rika, Troy Kingi and Ria Hall. The pair co-wrote Start Again for the soundtrack of Born To Dance, the NZ hip hop dance movie starring Walker and choreographed by Parris Goebel. It was in 2013 that his own songwriting and production company, Harder Music Group began taking shape. Based in Parramatta, Sydney, the pan-Australasian venture aims to creating a unique and fresh sound and culture in pop music. “We started helping artists find a deal and became an artist development hub, bottom to the top. The long term plan is to develop more artists on this side of the world. Help them as a production house and then find a home for them as well, whether with HMG or

Dropping here in July 2015, his double Pacific Music Award-winning EP was the first release of his own music for which he really flew solo, writing, recording and producing, though throughout the eight-month recording endeavour he did regularly play snippets to friends and colleagues to get feedback on where he was heading. “’Rare Vision’ was I guess the first I was able to do on my own. I didn’t have the support of any label and that was a special thing for me – to solidify that whole aspect of me being a producer as well as an artist. It made for a really special project. It was basically just me.” Being comfortable asking for advice, or indeed collaborating with other artists, can be intimidating for some, but Harder relishes the opportunity to talk and create with others. It’s gratifying to hear from him that even among the top echelons of the industry people are positive and encouraging. He recalls how, when arriving at Sheila E’s doorstep in LA, after a month of Skype calls, she instantly made him feel at home by hugging him and saying, “Yo Vince! We’re like family already.” Friendships and building rapport with people is a recurring theme. He now has an important role to play in a big extended family of positive like-minded individuals that has been expanding since his college days. I was lucky to work with him myself on the 2015 Coca Cola Christmas in the Park shows. The man is truly inspiring. Harder’s most recent collaboration is the Deluxe Project EP – with another high school friend, Anthony McCarthy. It’s back to acoustic reggae and RnB, with both artists singing in Te Reo a feature. The two friends capture the narrative arc of a fictional relationship over the course of the six tracks. Its conceptual nature contrasts strongly against his previous output and further illustrates that Vince Harder is constantly focused on evolving his sound further.

“’Rare Vision’ was the first record I was able to do on my own. I didn’t have the support of any label and that was a special thing for me – to solidify that whole aspect of me being a producer as well as an artist.”

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not. Basically just creating a platform for other artists for us to be able to develop and nurture them. “I’m still interested in being an artist myself and still want to be able to do that whenever I can, but I wanted to be able to produce under something different. That’s why I started HMG. It started off just as a music production company, but some of the clients wanted videos, so I offered that as part of the service – and started directing the videos too!” As a business entity, Harder had long been gravitating toward acquiring more control with his creative energy and output. He is himself signed as an artist to HMG and these days managed by his wife, Abby Lee-Harder. Continuing with the ’close to home’ approach, his publishing, previously signed to Standard Music Publishing (through EMI back in the day), is now under Control (ie. self-). HMG has a marketing and distribution deal with Warner. “It’s an ongoing process,” he says. “We’re more in control with what we want to do with our publishing, where we want to take the music. “It’s not easier,” he quips before laughing.

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GARETH THOMAS: Fizzy Milk

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Former Goodshirt keyboardist Gareth Thomas is known as the cowriter of that band’s prevalent NZ #1 song Sophie in 2001, and for his lovely, delicate 2010 album ‘Lady Alien’. This second solo album brings with it the incredibly catchy All Eyes In The Room – an effervescent and quirky ode to seeing a former partner again for the first time. ‘Fizzy Milk’ is a glorious pop album, packed with intelligent, hook-filled, infectious songs. Some started life as potential Goodshirt tracks while others were written solely for this, but all creep into the brain. Particularly guilty of this is second track I’d Like with its seductive Bowie-esque vocal melody and simple, but memorable, guitar riff, and Girlfriend On My Hofner (co-written with Amelia Murray, aka Fazerdaze), a bluesy garage-rock (true) story of Thomas’s partner becoming attached to his new guitar. While the underlying style here is pop in all its guises, traces of spaghetti western guitars, funky beats, electronica and reggae are woven within the overarching sound to create something unified, diverse and arresting. A mix of sincere, often playful lyrics and inventive melodic hooks sung with warmth and charm. ‘Fizzy Milk’ is a gem. s !MANDA -ILLS

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The quality and depth of the current metal scene in NZ is staggering. Evangel epitomises the craft and cunning that we see around the country. The Hamilton four-piece have created an EP of controlled intensity and power that is by turns melodic and hardcore. If you’re holding your breath for a new Tool album then let it go, you’ll find something new and a notch more extreme here. The riffage is massive. Like a physics problem gone wrong the modes of the guitars are exploded in a Rubik’s cube-like layer on layer, all set against a rhythm section intent on undoing the world. Insane levels of double kick and bowel-rattling subs that shift you around the room are provided by Jared Hunt and Seth Tobin respectively. The compressed and unrelenting guitar work and vocals of James Dean and Joshua Tobin compound things. Dean handled the production, recording and mastering at Envy Studios where he works. The six tracks sound crisp and you feel the power of the whole band. A must for metal fans, Evangel’s influences are evident but what they have built on them is something special. s $ARRYL +IRK

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Louie Knuxx’s first full-length, streamable release since 2014’s ‘PGT/GRR’ is a sonically-tighter continuation of the latter’s cloudy palette. The Houston-influence is evident across these 12 tracks, mixed and mastered by Bee Dub Studios’ Dan Exile Mawby. Trappy percussion, heavily-reverberated hooks and samples, and massive sub-bass are plentiful. The effort sees Knuxx spit for the tape’s 46 minutes over what becomes a rather monochromatic atmosphere. Especially problematic is the amount of filler, including the closing P.H.F remix of Cold And Dead Heart Stealing which features an unlistenably overblown bassline. Production-wise ‘Tiny Warm Hearts’ suffers for mostly placing Knuxx fairly low in the mix, drawing more attention to beat than his lyrics; especially as his gritty, breathy vocality would better suit more body. Moments like the hook on album highlight YARP, act as a demonstration of what-could-be. With a well-treated vocal performance, a catchy chant of a hook and a well-chosen beat, YARP is a brief, urban-radio-ready flash of fun. The title track and Mercury Plaza are the album’s strongest songs, featuring smooth slow-jam beats that compliment Knuxx’s laid-back flow, which elsewhere feels unnatural over excited trap instrumentals. In the long run, the album fails to set Louie Knuxx apart from the masses of online trap rappers; its entertain }Ê i ÌÃÊ« >}Õi`ÊLÞÊ>Ê ÌÌ iÊÌ Ê ÕV ÊÃÕL «>ÀÊV Ìi Ì°ÊUÊ*ACK 7OODBURY

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Wavepig prove that those ‘punk’s not dead’ badges you used to see around Whanganui in the ’80s were right. The heavy guitar riffs keep one foot on Mount Rock-more, but the vocal delivery comes straight from the heartland of DIY punk-ville. The chanting at the start of Ocean reminds me of balmy days spent in student dives listening to the Tall Dwarfs. The song quickly shifts gear after that, careering into pop-punk territory and causing mayhem like a Blues Brothers’ car chase. Wavepig stand defiantly on the punk side of the pop-punk spectrum, and so sometimes the vocals aren’t quite as polished as you’d hear on a compilation like ‘Now That’s Not Exactly What I’d Call Music, Vol.53’. Still, the songs are highly listenable. Tracks like No More Government give you flashbacks to a ‘Punk And Disorderly’ compilation. There are some great bass lines perpetrated, like an updated version of Mike Watt’s work with the Minutemen, mixed with the busy-ness of punkabilly. The guitar playing and drumming are also tight as and there’s some tasty ‘ripping-velcro’ fuzz on the track 3641. Even some native birdsong, and a section in Te Reo – a song about harakeke (Flax). It’s so good to find the language in a different context, not just in email signatures at work. Ài>ÌÊÃÌÕvv°ÊUÊ"ING 4URKBY

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From her musical beginnings in Invercargill to arriving in London in the late ’70s with a handful of songs and 50 quid, timing and musical fortune were kind to Helen Henderson. After landing a record deal with a label that was home to The Boomtown Rats and Sinead O’Connor, to name a couple of prominent label mates, Henderson proceeded to pair up with prominent session musicians and record the collection of songs that only now has surfaced as ‘London’. The master tapes languished in a vault for a quarter century until co-songwriter Bob Rosenberg uncovered them. Henderson’s gift is the ease in which the songs seem to come to her and her storytelling ability is obvious, songs painting vivid pictures of the characters involved contrasting with others sung in first person. Listen To The Wind is filled with hope while Anyone’s Baby is possibly more autobiographical. Children Of The Night stands out as the album’s gritty rocker amongst a collection of retrospective love songs. With quality songs, musicians and engineering, time has been kind to these recordings and the songs still stand strong. With stylistic parallels to Sharon O’Neil and a confident songwriting individuality, Helen i `iÀÃ Ê«À ÛiÃÊ>ÊÌ i iÃÃÊÌÀi>ÃÕÀiÊÜ ÀÌ ÊÀi ®` ÃV ÛiÀ }°ÊUÊ3TU %DWARDS

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Alongside talent, dedication is what’s required to really get noticed and stand out from the crowd. This five-piece have it in spades. Primacy is Jason McIver on vocals, Will Bloodfarm on drums, Sadeer Kattan on bass, Adrian Brausch and Jared Tobin on guitars. They’ve all come from other outfits to make a strong, heavy rock jam together. There’s a bit of Tool, maybe some Deftones and no getting away from the Alice In Chains’ vibe, but these guys aren’t copyists – they’re just channelling the best with their quality originals. It’s melodic rock, with great power chords, atmosphere and a metal tinge. Shadeblack is particularly good with its beachy Pink Floyd intro and growly chorus. The recording, by Zorran Mendosa at his West Auckland HQ, is primo. Mastering wass done in Sweden by Jens Bogren (Opeth, Dragonforce) – these guys aren’t compromising on their material or its presentation. Lyrics are mostly by McIver (exHeathen Eyes) while the music credits go mainly to Brausch, but there’s ample evidence Ì >ÌÊÌ iÊÌ> i ÌÊ iÀiÊ ÃÊiÛi ÞÊ` ÃÌÀ LÕÌi`°ÊUÊ!NIA 'LOWACZ

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Rumbling along like Chicago’s electric blues scene never waned, Al Witham’s follow-up to his 2009 ‘Faultlines’ is stripped back, swampy and groovy. There’s more than a few layers of whisky stain to Witham’s howl, and more than a few nods to the boogie of John Lee Hooker as well as the theatrics of Screaming Jay Hawkins. ‘Angel Bones’ is almost hypnotic in its consistency. For 58 minutes it smolders away, boogeying along at a steady pace – sadly never really ramping up the way you think it will. Which isn’t to say the likes of France Blues, Grumpy Bones or Talk About An Angel aren’t cracking blues tunes, or that the album isn’t anything less of a great lesson on Kiwi blues, but a bit more dynamic interest would really have made this a must-listen. Witham wrote or co-wrote all but two of the 13 tracks, recorded and mixed the album, plus took lead on vocals, guitars, slide, bass and percussion. So this is definitely an Al’s garage recording, and presumably just as he meant it to be, right down to the supersimplistic cover design. Jack Cronnie added drums to a couple of tracks, Brian Romeril likewise with cornet and tenor sax, while Julia Truscott provided backing vocals on two songs. Blind Lemon Jefferson’s classic See That My Grave Is Kept Clean gets a whispered makeover, but again falls ever so shy of its promise. Seeing as Witham possesses a wonderful set of pipes and a cracker swamp guitar reverb, it seems a shame to see him ÌÊ Û }ÊÕ«ÊÌ Ê ÃÊiÛ `i ÌÊÀiV À` }Ê« Ìi Ì > °ÊUÊ3AMMY *AY $AWSON

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Into The East were Invercargill duo Graeme Wooller and Liv McBride – two vocalists, songwriters and multi-instrumentalists whose style orbited around the alt-country/folk axis. ‘How To Turn A Blind Eye’ is their second album, released just as the duo go their separate ways. Combining stomping rhythms, a big altcountry sound, acoustic folk, and lovely harmonies, the album is epic in scope, showcasing Wooller and McBride’s range of talents, as well as those of their band, including Dan Harrison (percussion and drums), Jim Crawford (double bass), and Simon Thompson on guitars. The sparse title song has beautiful harmonies, a bittersweet story, melancholic melody, and slashing guitars to underscore the message. Murder The Night starts off simple, and becomes an anthemic alt-rock song. There are occasionally lags across the 13 tracks, though it all comes into its own when the rhythmic elements kick in. There’s a sonic tension between the acoustic, quieter songs, and the more raucous tracks, which (while mostly alt-country) start to have a rock tendency. This pulls the album in two directions, with no sure view of where the music should be heading. The happy medium of styles is Sand Of Stars, which is texturally and aurally distinctive through a building up of instruments and harmonies. As an ‘au revoir’ to their fans this certainly satisfies, but indicates there was more in this duo than met the eye. s !MANDA -ILLS

3!#() ,UNCH 7ITH "IANCA %0 Sachi is two 18 year-old Auckland producers with an ear for smooth melodies. ‘Lunch With Bianca’, their first collection of tracks, covers a lot of ground gathering influences from street, bass and club culture. The rhymes flow in South Central featuring

US rapper DUCKWRTH, themes of Americana seem to sit in juxtaposition to the opening track Hold On performed with confidently Kiwi vocal accents and swirling loops over ’70s disco funk. Summer feels like it’s never far away in these tracks, which seem to capture the nostalgia and joy of golden, carefree days. Not just the season, it’s about being in the moment which these songs invite. Heavy Breathing features verses carried with fashionably disinterested and sultry female vocals. The song doesn’t get too weighty thanks to synth-mad choruses and jams. No More, the EP’s second single, is an example of world class EDM production. Video game noises playfully weave through confident vocals of a singer named Zoe, the chorus a catchy prism of pitched vocals and cut ’80s synths. It’s a vibey and memorable song that has caught Sachi international attention. Eyes Blue features rapper INF in a dynamic mix of neo-soul and street attitude that feels rooted in <½ÃÊ «Ê «ÊÌÀ>` Ì °Ê/ iÊvÕÌÕÀiÊ ÃÊÃÕ iÀÞÊLÀ } ÌÊv ÀÊ->V °ÊUÊ4IM (EWITT

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‘Don’t Be So Nice’ is Pales’ second gift to the world, following their 2013 debut album ‘It’s Cold Outside’. Songwriter Scott Maynard also plays guitar, bass and piano, Mike Isaacs covers vocals, woodwind and synth (and also mixed this along with Mike Gibson and Daren Maynard), and Rose Blake adds voice and banjo. This is folk from Wellington. The trio’s music has been described as ‘sparse but sophisticated’ – but sophisticated implies ‘hard to grasp’ which this is definitely not. Perhaps it references their jazz and classical backgrounds, and the fact they have chosen this format instead. It’s a contemplative, moody, slightly somber, occasionally vaguely spooky excursion. I love the bassoon and what sounds like an upright bass on Live In The Sun, which adds a jazzy note – if just for a little moment. There are spaces between both words and music, and a really natural fusion of voices. Maynard sounds a lot like Jed Town in his Fetus Production days (a serious compliment), and this music casts a little bit of a spell on you – in a nice, mellow way. Cory Champion joins the band with some very ÃÕLÌ iÊ`ÀÕ Ã]ÊÜ iÊ Ê* } Ê>``ÃÊ> L i ViÊ> `ÊÃÞ Ì °ÊUÊ!NIA 'LOWACZ

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Self-contained and slowly creeping into the dark thoughts of the subconscious, Callum Gentleman (real name Stembridge) takes his Bob Dylan-stylised writing and makes an exception in delivery as he slightly twists each song to hold a moment of optimism. It wouldn’t be wrong to be mildly confused by the direction of this self-titled EP, and this helps draw the listener to journey along as he explores the idiosyncrasies of the modern day, eager to see the arc in his story. Beresford Street is a good starter, the lyrical cynicism offset by the jaunty optimism of the musical backing. Final track Joseph bears a different tone to the rest. His saloon-echoed guitaring, with influences of Chris Isaak, themed in the theatrics of the tune and back-up singing from Alayna Powley, give the impression of a typical hero and damsel situation. Several other quality musicians pitched in, while Ryan Green recorded and mixed. Overall, Gentleman writes with a true sense of blues/folk noir and then takes that to the old country saloon bar to have a jam, saluting to the fact that life is hard. You can either moan about it, have a reminder of the dark soldiers from the night before – or combine both and write > Ê *Ê ÕÌÊ vÊ Ì°ÊUÊ(OLLY -C'EORGE

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This album is a strange brew. The guitar playing swerves between delicate ’80s Cure-influenced tendrils and much bolder rock. The next thing you know, they start a song as if they bought the Cocteau Twins lunch, knocked them on the head and stole their sound. Not a criticism, just a reference point, but there is so much more going on here. Established as a four-piece in 2009, Darkwater became this trio in early 2013. Nathan Waipouri on guitar, Merran Dixon on bass and drummer Ross Kilgour together create the dark post-rock driving sound that pervades the album, Waipouri providing the songs and strong lead vocals. I don’t imagine they would consider themselves a metal band, but they certainly move like one. At their heaviest they stylistically resemble a youthful Iron Maiden, and when they break out a technically sophisticated ensemble manoeuvre it’s mind blowing. On the other hand they have a melodic pop/rock sensibility and seem to be able to shift gears back to the heavy stuff at will. All this versatility isn’t a hindrance to the cohesiveness of the album – which was recorded at New Plymouth’s Mountain Sound Studios – the blending of styles that seem divided ends up united. I have trouble picking a standout track, but for the record I’ll go with Astray which displays > Ê >À Ü>ÌiÀ½ÃÊ`Þ > VÊÀ> }i°ÊUÊ$ARRYL +IRK

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Port Chalmers’ trio Seafog have been around for about a decade, and in an earlier incarnation were Jetty which featured both Robin Sharma and Martyn Sadler. Joining them in Seafog is guitarist Nigel Waters and the alt-rock trio’s debut is a frequently rhythmic, dense album where the band wear their influences on their sleeves. The title is a reference to Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s 2000 album ‘Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven’ (the title track also mentions the band), while sonically Bailterspace, Snapper, Sonic Youth and 3Ds are familiar lynchpins. Lyrically, Sharma touches on personal experiences and universal themes such as the birth of a child, lack of sleep and infidelity, though GBV is a tribute to a favourite band – Guided By Voices. ‘Raise Your Skinny Fist’ was produced by Forbes William at the Ante Room in Port Chalmers and sounds at once intense and intimate, as if the trio are in the room with you. The power of the guitar/drums line up is potent, and even in the quieter moments like Show Me The Way and Broken, there is a hypnotic force that propels them on, while never overpowering the song. When the guitar does come at you in a rhythmic aural assault, as on Clean UFOs, it’s a welcome one. ‘Raise Your Skinny Fist’ is a rush of energy > `ÊÃ Õ `]Ê>Êv iÊ> LÕ ÊÜ iÀiÊ ÀiÊ ÃÊÀiÛi> i`ÊÜ Ì Êi>V Ê ÃÌi °ÊUÊ!MANDA -ILLS

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As reported first in the Kapiti Observer, Strikemaster [NZ] have finally released their debut album – 35 years after forming. Thundering across your speakers as if 1986 never rolled ‘round the trio have found the perfect blend of pre-glam metal pomp and AC/DC chest-beating. People will no doubt be quick to make Steel Panther references, but there are no jokes to be found here, just three (now) old geezers giving it hell. Having knocked it on it’s head back in 1992 after a decade of rocking Wellington, three years ago the band performed at Bodega ‘for old time’s sake’. Blown away by the crowds that turned out they haven’t looked back since. Well, two tracks are from their earlier days, but the other eight here are new. Let’s not beat around the bush, their music is dated, but that’s not the point. ‘Sun For Change’ feels like a thank you to the fans and a victory lap for Steve Elliot (bass/vocals), Paul Cullen (guitars) and drummer Brian Desmond. Recorded by Mike Gibson, care has been taken to make it walk the line between studio record and live album, cheers and jeers can be heard over the top of fretboard heroics. Still influenced by the likes of Deep Purple while heavily informed by the punk/metal mix that shook up the metal world via the likes of Motorhead, tracks Obsessed and Neighborhood Spy show more than a touch of classic Mötley Crue. While certainly applaudable (these boys do have some serious chops), at times the songwriting is more than a tad cliché – the chorus to Dangerous Man downright cringey. They released an album of live takes back in 1984, but there’s no doubting this is the record -ÌÀ i >ÃÌiÀÊQ <RÊÜiÀiÊiÛi ÌÕ> Þ®Ê> Ü>ÞÃÊ} }ÊÌ Ê > i°UÊ3AMMY *AY $AWSON

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For a single that’s almost two years old, Maya Payne’s opening If Only feels incredibly current. 808-style kicks play out with a trap influenced swing and quick stuttering hi-hats. Interesting percussion and minimal instrumentation at the start of the track hint at the hyper-modern Anna Wise production style that creeps into a few songs on the EP. However the minimalism quickly gives way to pulsing synth chords in that slow attack, sudden release style we’ve become familiar with on records by the likes of Flume and Auckland’s Sachi. This is followed throughout with slow intros turning into festival-worthy choruses. The formula does feel a little tired after a while and this EP is probably most interesting outside the choruses, in its more experimental moments. Reverb soaked ambient breaks in Self Defined and interesting vocal stuttering, paired with elegantly constructed percussion parts at the start of Fragile X are a couple of highlights. ‘The Lucky Ones’ is a slick collection of songs that sound very ready for radio play and performance. Lyrically the Christchurch teen doesn’t break any new ground, but ` iÃÊ>Û `ÊÌ iÊV V j À ``i Ê ÃÊV Ê ÊÌ ÃÊ}i Ài°ÊUÊ/LLY #LIFTON

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Sulky, silky bass leads you on a valium-induced rollercoaster as you enter the spaceous sub-consciousness of Jupiter Sulphur Mine’s five-track debut. A glossy phychedelic intro steers 11-minute opening track Captain Reevo through four seasons, with a kind of northeast meets southwest scenario being a sudden change from a haunting echoed bass run, a slowly alto-stretched scream from the guitar, and naïve meandering keyboard pitter-patter falling into place. Then drums take over, picking up the pace with some urgency and, as if the storm has passed, Captain Reevo’s ship rests gazingly on the water. Light, almost Arabic flute and guitar strike as the last season slowly washes up, building like a last epic adventure before the ship must return to port. Saudade takes us through another tryst of twists, using a heavy-hearted, cello-like synth. Electric guitar from David Reeve brightens the search along with some spicey hi-hats and syncopated snare rhythm by Luke Hale, and jazz-fusion bass of Huw Jenkins complimenting its solo tango, slowly conversing in a kaleidoscopic uptempo and groovy dancehall blues tangent. Their live sound was captured by John McDermott in a Te Aroha church hall in March 2015. A comfortable openness of the recording gives it the >ÌÕÀ> Ê vÌi`ÊÀiÛiÀLÊqÊ i>ÃÕÀi`Ê Ê À`iÀÊ ÌÊÌ Ê ÃÌÊÌ iÊÃ Õ `°ÊUÊ(OLLY -C'EORGE

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The Beths are a small part of a much greater Auckland-based collective whole, a group of musical projects that include the likes of Sal Valentine’s Babyshakes and others. Long-time friends Elizabeth Stokes, Jonathan Pearce, Benjamin Sinclair and Ivan Luketina-Johnston seem intent on using this project to revive and celebrate the increasingly lost art of high energy guitar pop. Starting with the bouncy Whatever which combines hooks, crooks and guitar solos, ‘Warm Blood’ is a whirlwind 19-minute blast across five high tempo tracks. Each pays homage to a bygone era in one form or another, and all contain a distinctly retro post-punk fraying around the edges. Pearce recorded, mixed and mastered the EP, and while for the most part Stokes is the lead vocalist, the band embrace girl/boy vocal exchanges and clever harmonies, and use catchy backing vocals to provide genuine Beths’ signature moments. Stokes also wrote the majority of the material for ‘Warm Blood’, the only exception being LuketinaJohnston’s Rush Hour 3, which perhaps owes the biggest debt of all to the retro styles of Ì iÊ½ÈäÃÊLi>ÌÊ}À Õ«ÃÊ>Ê ÌÊ vÊÌ ÃÊ ÕÃ VÊ>«iÃ°ÊUÊ-ICHAEL (OLLYWOOD

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Miller Yule drops his surname for this polished introductory EP. The five-tracks by 25 year-old Miller, recorded/mixed alongside his highly experienced recording engineer father Phil at his The Voice Box studio (additional mixing by Scott Seabright at Roundhead), are as minimalistic as the artwork. The EP’s straightforward acoustic pop aesthetic employs playful melodies and simple instrumentals to an enjoyable, if ultimately unmemorable end. Slow-paced highlight A Full Moon Melody benefits from featured vocalist Gala’s harmony. Miller’s vocal performances are assured

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but restrained, and the passion of piano ballad Just Smile’s latter half hints at a stronger performer to come. Variety and Miller’s skillful use of foot-tapping guitar patterns sustain the five tracks, any weakness may be put down to its general uninvasiveness – his vocals are light on earworms and he takes few risks melodically. See You ’Round carries the EP to a bright end with a joyous harmonica solo, perhaps the EP’s most thrilling moment; a moment which acts to affirm Miller’s accompanying release statement, that ‘…these 5 tracks mark the start of something special.’ Ultimately ‘Shoot Me In The Heart’ seems to LiÊ ÕÃÌÊÌ >Ì]Ê>ÊV v `i ÌÊÃÌ>ÀÌ°ÊUÊ*ACK 7OODBURY

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This second album from The Prophet Hens has the jangle turned up to 11. In the vein of The Verlaines, Straitjacket Fits and The Chills before them the Dunedin quartet are mapping a landscape of pop, distinct in tone and melodic sensibility which marks something of a renaissance for the city’s fabled sound. This album is a lovely confection. That jangly guitar is at the heart of its charm but not its only allure. The twinned vocals of Karl Bray and Penelope Esplin, guitar and keys respectively, sit atop the bouncy and inventive rhythm section of Robin Cederman and Chris Butchard. Mixed by Samdrub Dawa and mastered by Tex Houston, the production is crisp and layered, with elements given room to breathe. The 11 songs have dynamic arrangements and sympathetic playing that reinforce their melodic qualities. Lyrically there’s a depth that carries the songs into a more intellectual teritory without sacrificing pop cunning. Heavy Blossom has a tribal drum feel and illustrates the band’s grasp of interplay. Quality start to finish, something new, built on >ÊÌÀ>` Ì Ê vÊÌ ÃiÊL> `ÃÊÌ >ÌÊ >ÛiÊ} iÊLiv Ài°ÊUÊ$ARRYL +IRK

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Hailing from the Wairarapa but laced with an indie Brit-pop influence, Spank have a re-jigged line up since the 2014 EP ‘In Their Natural Habitat’. With plenty of clean guitar jangle and an abundance of verve this engages from the outset. The band’s point of difference is trumpet-playing vocalist Nikki King, who leads the group with conviction and confidence. The rhythm section’s (drummer David Heath and Pete King on bass) synergy is demonstrated nowhere better than on opener Crowd Mentality, which oozes urgency despite being a mid-tempo pop track. King’s mellow trumpet lines lead in I Quit before the band deliver a manic strum fest. With a wide range of influences imbedded in their sound Spank manage to retain a characteristic element of Kiwi pop which serves them well. Between the horn and guitar melodies there’s also a regular hint of Mexicana, adding a unique flavour to the songs. Recorded in one sitting at /ÃÕ > Ê- Õ `Ê-ÌÕ` ÃÊ Ê iÛ ]ÊÌ iÃiÊv ÛiÊÌÀ>V ÃÊ>ÀiÊvÕ Ê vÊi iÀ}Þ°ÊUÊ3TU %DWARDS

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This very original collection of songs combines genre elements in an often surprising and atmospheric way. A Dead Forest Index is Adam and Sam Sherry, the Euro-based brothers performing mainly guitar, drums, organ and vocals. Guitar parts are sometimes folky and acoustic, strummed slowly, and at other times borrow elements of post-punk musicianship, strummed downwards quickly and continuously. The excellent vocals always sit presently over the tracks, reverb soaked and choral, feeling religious in tone – similar in style to recent tracks by Wellington trio Groeni. The drumming is interesting throughout. Rhythms are fairly straight but hi-hats are forgone in favour of thumping toms and kicks. On songs like Sand Verse and Homage Old the percussion sits in the background, beating war drum-like rhythms creating a very epic atmosphere. Recorded and mixed by Simon Gooding at York St, the 13 tracks mostly range between three and five minutes, with a few short experimental moments welcome additions. ‘In All That Drifts From Summit Down’ is best listened to in sequence and will be enjoyed by anyone with an appreciation of the more experimental side of folk, post punk and measured atmospheric vocal music. UÊ/LLY #LIFTON

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This 16-track compilation album of music from Whanganui provides a snapshot of some of that region’s creative talent, as produced and curated by local AV production guru Sacha Keating of Te Aio Productions. Part funded by the Whanganui District Creative Communities Scheme and limited to a CD run of just 150 copies, it reflects Whanganui’s rich multi-culturalism, with a blend of styles and hybrid influences present across the album’s hour-long duration. There’s naturally a heavy emphasis on local history and Maoritanga – with both Rihi’s He Pai Noa and MoKu Whanau’s Whanau Ora sung entirely in te reo Maori – and also a strong roots reggae and hip hop presence throughout. With helpings of old fashioned funk and soulful harmonies from Keating’s own group RedBack Villain, and even some orthodox rock from Wicca Bees, some of this material starts to feel almost borderless. Sure, it’s a celebration of language and all things Whanganui first and foremost, but right at its core, the album’s wider themes of identity, empowerment, unity and whanau are wholly universal. It’s a positive message from a community that hasn’t had its problems to seek in recent years, and it comes packaged in some great – and suitably challenging – cover photography vÀ Ê V> Ê>ÀÌ ÃÌÊ/ >Ê,> } Õ °ÊUÊ-ICHAEL (OLLYWOOD To submit your album or EP for review in Fresh-Cut, please send TWO copies along with a brief bio to NZ Musician, PO Box 99-315, Newmarket, Auckland 1149. It must be available for sale and only CDs provided with completed artwork are forwarded for review.

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CVJMEJOH CMPDLT with Thomas Goss

Stage Trek, Episode 3:

In search of street fairs & festivals

he last stop in our quest was the unpredictable but often quite fun planet of All-Ages & School Gigs. Now let’s journey to the stage at a street fair or festival. That’s not just another world, it’s a whole different reality. If you’ve already done your share of busking you will know just how strange it can be to play your best song over and over all day to a constant stream of passersby. Those people who do stop to listen make you understand just how hard it is to cultivate an audience one stranger at a time. Now amplify that cold reality. Instead of a few people per minute walking by, you’ve got dozens milling past every few seconds. Street fairs can be immense fun, if you know how to play the game. Treat the opportunity as a lark and your set is likely to be one you’ll wish you’d never played. But if you go into the experience with the right attitude (plus groundwork), then it can be an epic gig worth repeating many times. ‘Musician, know thyself!’ That’s the first commandment. Are you the type of player who can keep up good energy and continue to reach out to a faceless crowd? Are you able to ignore the grimaces? Can you maintain your sense of humour in the face of power failures, dodgy cables, and bad weather? Then this gig is for you. But once again, remember Goss’s Rule of Gigging: Undertake no type of gig unless you know what it’s like to be in the audience! Do your research

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If you want to play a street fair (or schools), go to one first. If possible, visit the actual fair you’d like to play one day. Observe what’s happening from multiple perspectives. How does the location sound as an open-air venue. Is the tech any good? If the fair runs after dark does the stage have decent lighting? How does the audience respond to different styles of music, and is your’s likely to go over well? Do they stay away from the area during performances or continue to walk past? And how are the acts you see performing? If you learn to think critically about these factors, then you can tell whether the fair will be a good fit for your band. Truth to tell, even the best fairs can feel a bit disorganised; but if the energy is good, the crowd large and friendly, and the sound good then it’s definitely worth a try. Who you gonna call? Quite often, the manager of the event has direct responsibility for booking acts. They may also keep an eye on the stage, co-ordinating announcements etc. If you’re attending for research this might be the area where you’d be most likely to run into them if you want to introduce yourself as a potential performer. These fairs tend to run once a year per location in towns like Wellington – but sometimes the managers run others in different locations throughout the year. An introduction today might lead to a gig the next month. Just make

sure that next location isn’t in the town of Nowheresville. Travel light Take my advice and cut out as much complexity as possible. You want a lean, mean act. Make a set list of songs that are entertaining, positive and energising. Make sure they don’t rely on intricate pedal boards, stacks of keyboards, or a 20-piece drum kit. You may have to walk your equipment a few blocks through teeming crowds from the closest parking to the stage. Save an amp or two by running bass and keys through the mains, if the monitors are good. Then roll the dice. What makes fairs so exciting is their unpredictability. Since this is an ongoing string of acts sharing the same stage, you may well go on an hour early if a few people don’t show, or an hour or two late if the previous acts dawdled over set up/teardown. Add to this whole equation the issue of the weather. At least 20% of the street fairs I’ve booked have been rained out or put on standby. What a sense of humour is for Through all that happens you’ve got to balance your attitude. Take your time up there as a great opportunity. Never lose your cool, and give the audience something right from the heart, even if it looks like no one is listening. Be ready for all kinds of challenges to your self-image, like heckling, yawning and ear-plugging as you play your best tune. If the

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organiser asks you to announce a missing child or give away tickets, then go to it with a will – see it as a way to work on your audience skills instead of an indignity. Greener pastures – literally! That’s the direction you go with a festival. This could be a simple thing like a weekly market that features live music, all the way up to WOMAD or the likes. A lot of the parameters are the same. Crowds tend to be a great deal more sympathetic to unknown live acts at festivals, so long as the music is compatible with the vibe. Once again, do your research. Forgot to ask – what’s it pay? Nothing. Forget it. Street fairs are for exposure only. You’d be likely to make more busking. Some markets have a small (like around $50) budget for live music – but you can pass the hat or open the guitar case at these gigs with a much better take than you might think. The definition of what constitutes a festival is just as complicated as to whether there’s any money involved whatsoever. But if you just want to get out and play, all of these open-air gigs are worth a shot. So what kind of gig does pay? For the answer to that puzzler, don’t miss our next instalment, Stage Trek, Episode 4: In Search of Parties & Events. See you then! Thomas Goss is a producer, band coach, and composer/orchestrator with an international clientele that includes Billy Ocean, Melanie C, and Canadian jazz star Nikki Yanofsky.

Prizegiving

Round of Applause Based in Newtown, but originating from the Bay of Plenty, Prizegiving are part of the latest wave of upbeat kick-ass Wellington bands. They may have only existed under that moniker for the last months – but Prizegiving have hit the ground running with their own particularly exceptional brand of emo-pop. Their debut album, ‘No Harm Done’, was released in June by Papaiiti **sp? Records and Sleepover Records – and it’s a doozy. Briar Lawry talked with guitarist Miles Sutton and keyboard player Ali Burns.**

ound of applause, it’s Prizegiving time. Prizegiving started out life as Tuff Wizards, consisting at the time solely of Whakatane brothers Miles (guitar / vocals) and Zac (bass / vocals) Sutton. But expansion came soon after?? explains *** Miles.**? “I think that a lot of it was practical concerns. There wasn’t any really mysterious reason, but I wanted the live performance to be more colourful and have lots of different parts and textures. “Because I’ve played in punk bands and stuff beforehand, I didn’t really just want to have the drum and bass thing. And it’s also more fun to play music with people, of course. It was pretty organic – everyone joined the band in a really natural way. It was never forced, we weren’t putting classified ads out, or anything. “I’d played in bands with our guitarist Riley [Brightwell] before, and he just fit in because he’s a really good musician and I knew that he had experience in bands. Then, in the Wellington earthquakes in 2012, my flat was condemned, so I moved into a flat with another close friend from home – and that was Wynn [McLaughlin]. And I knew he was

really good at drums, and we were into the same sort of music.” Co-vocalist and keyboard player Ali Burns came into the picture through a bit a little more serendipity, as she herself explains. “I was just hanging out at the flat, and they needed someone to do a couple of weird things on the keyboard, and no one had any hands to do it. So they got me to do it, and then they were telling me, ‘You’re in the band, now’.” Their quite expanded musical incarnation eventually needed a new name. “We wanted something a little more palatable,” Miles explains of the choice. “I think it’s kind of funny for a band like ours – it kind of pokes fun at the emotional nature of the songs. And I think that being self-aware is so important.” “It’s also a pretty NZ thing,” Ali adds, “… to call something a prizegiving.” The five** members had come to the band life through a variety of pathways, from parentally endorsed drum enthusiasm to general musical appreciation, to the classic Kiwi school trajectory of Rockquest. Together though, they have a shared appreciation for the

same kinds of music, especially from fellow NZ artists. ‘I just wanna write the next Fiji Baby, fly out to Nashville, meet Renee-Louise Carafice,’ ** sings on opening track Mid-Year Planner. “We get excited about ‘Nature’s Best’ and stuff. Growing up, a big one for most of us with Die! Die! Die!. We organised a show at 16 in Whakatane, and they came, and it was great – and it was really our first experience in that space,” Miles recalls. With connections to other bands and artists like Trust Punks, Career Girls, Mermaidens and Carb on Carb, they occupy a space currently full of fresh faces and brave new sounds. The specific brave new sound on Prizegiving’s album was recorded in Palmerston North all-ages venue The Stomach. “The actual recording was pretty swift – we did most of it in a weekend,” Miles says. “But then it was all the little things,” Ali adds. “Making the little changes to make it more dynamic.” Ali plays a Roland keyboard as well as an older Casiotone MT-70. There’s some Fender Rhodes on the record, because as luck would have it, there happened to be one

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at the studio. And as well as the regular guitars, keys and drums of their line-up, the album also boasts a little bass trombone and French horn, courtesy of Patrick Di Somma and Daniel McBride of Sheep, Dog & Wolf respectively. ‘No Harm Done’ was recorded, mixed and mastered by **The Stomach’s** Cameron Wilkes, who the band were friendly with. Their trust meant open communication channels, though as Miles reports, there was a lot of emailing back and forth, so that took time. According to Ali, ‘No Harm Done’ wasn’t written as an album. “I think it was really the songs that we had, that we wanted to do something with – those that fit together and had similar themes.” “I think some of it was written with a record in mind,” Miles elaborates. “The last track [Favourite Singer – Snow]**was really designed for that place – I couldn’t imagine it going anywhere else.” Relaxed, unpretentious and spontaneously energetic, ‘No Harm Done’ is far from polished, but is nonetheless a fully-formed debut recording from a band who are already truly owning their sound. www.*******

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HVJUBS DPPM HVJUBS DPPM with Kevin Downing

Using Movable Chords

ne of the biggest challenges guitar players face is that of playing chords. Some of the problems are 1). Knowing where all the chord shapes are on the neck. 2). How they all fit together. 3). How to make great music with them. In this article you will tackle all those things, and while this is only a start on this amazing subject, it will hopefully get you interested in more of this. There are many ways you can play chords on a guitar. When you first begin you tend to learn five- and six-string chord shapes, while later in the intermediate and advanced stages you will be playing more four-string chords, triads, double stops, with single notes to join chords up. I have kept this lesson to the four-string chord shapes. In Exercise 1 you can see four different shapes for an E7 chord. The first one is from an E7 open chord, the second is the D7 shape moved along the fretboard, the third is from the E7 bar chord shape and the last one is the A7 open chord moved along the fretboard. Start by getting to know these chords well. Exercise 2 is chords in A7, and are the same chords as the E7 shapes moved along the fretboard five frets. If you wanted to play these chords in B7, which you will, then move them along the fretboard another two frets. Again, make sure you get to know these chords really well before moving on. The theory behind what you are doing here is harmonising each note

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of the dominant seventh chord. So for E7 the notes of the chord are E, G#, B, and D. You can see via the music or tab that is what the top note is for each chord shape. It is similar for the A7, and B7 chords. What many guitar players donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t realise is that playing good supportive rhythm guitar is all about playing a nice supportive melodic back up, not sitting on the same bar chord for four bars and strumming away like your life depends on it. In fact many of the best rhythm players donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t play much at all, but when they do it supports the song. Exercise 3 is a blues progression using the new chord forms youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve just learnt above, along with some in B7. This is not how you would play them in a real song, but an exercise to get you to know them all thoroughly. This exercise might take you a while to get your brain and fingers around, but take your time and get them deeply ingrained into your memory system. Once you have Exercise 3 well learnt then it is time to experiment with some of your own blues progressions and see what you can come up with using the ideas presented here. For many this is boring stuff, but when you spend around 95% of your time playing rhythm and back up parts, having this sort of knowledge is priceless. Ever wondered why all the guys who have the best rhythm chops get most of the gigs? Kevin Downing is a professional guitarist, teacher and author. His contact details, along with many freebies, are on his website at www.guitar.co.nz

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Successfully stepping out of well-fitting singer/ songwriter brogues and into the dancefloor sneakers of electronic pop clearly requires more than just a change of haircut and footwear. Some kind of intervention and re-invention is needed. In the instance of Evan Sinton those two things came in the person of producer Josh Fountain and newly adopted persona of Maala. Eliza Beca caught up with Evan / Maala on the eve of the launch of his debut album.

Evan Sinton has been through a fairly significant musical metamorphosis in the past couple of years. While Maala’s first single Touch exceeds 1.6 million Spotify plays, search under his given name and you’ll find another release, ‘Phosphenes EP’, sitting in the low thousands. That EP doesn’t just sit at the other end of the spectrum in terms of its listening figures. In fact, the only thing revealing that the same person is behind these musically paradoxical projects, is the distinctive vocal tone. At some point between 2013 and March 2015,when Touch rather anonymously appeared on Soundcloud, things clearly changed for the now 21-year old. “I got bored of doing the acoustic guitar thing. I felt limited by it, so I just started trying stuff out, until something sort’a clicked and I felt more of a rhythm – that was Maala.” “I wasn’t an exceptional guitarist and I didn’t have a drive to be an exceptional guitarist… it was like a natural progression, just trying things out with what I’m comfortable and atuned with.” Letting go of the Fleet Foxes-esque guitar music that effectively carried him through high school, Evan found a new rhythm in an unashamed new found fascination with pop. The transition enabled him to work more from piano, his primary instrument, and apply that to other instruments on computer. A self-titled debut EP under the Maala brand took a slightly more minimalist approach, with hints of soul underlying the vocals. Another single, In The Air, also attracted NZ On Air

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funding and a subsequent artist showcase slot. Just a year on, his newly released debut album ‘Composure’ wholeheartedly embraces the electronic-pop genre (while including those two tracks as bonus). The stylistic morphing reflects his own changing musical influences. “Spotify was becoming a lot more a part of my listening experience, so I was introduced to a lot more playlists and the playlists were a lot more of that electronic blend, so that then consumed me… especially for this album, it’s been just a lot of pop music. I’ve really enjoyed learning the really bright and shiny pop and how to do it.” Evan’s identity as the artist behind Touch was revealed only on release of his debut EP in August 2015. Few interviews prior to the release, along with his cool and curated social media pages, presented a very slick package, adding to the hype behind this anonymity. A move proving to be both effective and popular at the time, though inevitably some criticised it as a cover-up of his participation in TV’s New Zealand’s Got Talent a couple of years earlier. “It was a very popular thing to do, so I’d be stupid to not acknowledge that and say that that wasn’t maybe an aspect… It’s like an idea that I kind’a wish I’d thought of first but I didn’t. But I’m a pretty reserved dude, I won’t scream and shout to get my song out there or anything, so it was just a very natural vibe to go out with a cool piece of art and a cool song.” He doesn’t feel NZ’s Got Talent is something he needed to cover up. It was merely a step

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in the process that got him to where he is now, helping to expose his music to a wider audience. He says he approached it knowing it was not a purely musical outlet. Nor was it such a big deal in his view. “It just felt like, I did a cover on TV and that was it.” In retrospect it seems stepping back from the music side of the show gave him a more holistic view on what he got out of it. “You get introduced to the label aspect, and to a bigger, wider audience and what they think of your music all of a sudden, and it’s less about your own thought process you know? It’s a bit more evolved and about engaging with other people, and I enjoy that aspect.” Adopting the Maala name was initially to give his music more of a mysterious quality, though as it turns out, the motives behind the anonymous nature of Touch’s release were far from its calculated facade. After writing and experimenting with various producers for the previous few months, Evan finally clicked with Leisure-member (and former Kidz In Space) Josh Fountain. Completing In The Air out of their first session, and later Touch, he describes their approach to the release as organic. Releasing via Soundcloud provides testament to this. “There was no promotion. There was no big scheme at that point, it was just, ‘Let’s test the waters’, and that was enough for me. I didn’t feel the need to overshare anything.” An instinctive attitude is something of a theme behind Maala, carrying through to the

development of ‘Composure’. With all the songs written in the studio, Evan emphasises a need to avoid having any major plan behind the process. “I like to think that I’m going into it more blind. If I started getting too conscious about how I needed to sound, it would be a little too derivative… There was no thought of like an order to the album until the very late stages – ’cause that’s overthought.” Similar reasoning was at play in the lyrical content. The tracks were built, layered and refined in the studio with Fountain, with only “gibberish melodies” mumbled over the top for direction. Evan would then take the demos home to work up some lyrics.

“I really enjoy the dynamic of playing to one’s strengths and allowing other peoples’ ideas to come through as well. It’s finding a good marriage there so that’s been a really rewarding part – seeing the producers I’m working with and how their ideas can co-exist. “I’d love to just work with some of these producers that do these massive songs and see their process and how they work. They’re all the ones that’re on the credit sheet and aren’t the artists. I’d love to do sessions with them, just to see how they approach it. I saw a glimpse of it with MoZella for Kind Of Love – they work so fast and their ideas are much stronger consistently. It’d just be such a great way to get better with my craft.”

“Signing up with a label out of high school, I was naturally intimidated by what I was meant to achieve… but that’s eased off now. I’ve been working with the same people for four years, so I’m a lot more comfortable with the dynamic there.” “Lyrics are something I don’t overthink. I write generally the first thing that comes to my head and respect it for what it is. I consider it just a reflection of whatever it is I was thinking. Like I go into lyrics quite blind, and so it’s never a conscious thing lyrically.” It all sounds determinedly unstructured, but for Evan this pattern of working was in itself a formula, giving him boundaries to get the work done in his own time. Still, it has some downsides. “I think there’s a lot of anxiety for me trying to keep creative. But I kind’a like the battle a little bit, like it’s not a job job for me… but it has its moments when you’re like, ‘Holy shit, I hate music.’” While the majority of the songs for ‘Composure’ were written by Evan, Josh Fountain and his Sony A&R guy Jaden Parks at Golden Age Studios in Auckland, the process was broken up by a couple of other sessions with various collaborators, trying out a different dynamic to see whether it created anything different. Hush was written in the States with ex-pat Kiwi Leroy Clampitt, who himself recently had writing credits on Justin Bieber song Company. Maala was selected as one of the artists involved in the APRA/AMCOS Songhub initiative early in the year, where he also got to work with American songwriter MoZella (Maureen McDonald), who was behind Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball and One Directions’ Perfect. “Collaboration is an essential part of my songwriting, I find it really hard to be stuck in a room by myself and get a song completely finished, I need to feed off other peoples’ ideas. I think it’s so normal for me now that it feels weird sometimes being in a room and doing it myself.

While compromise may be an inevitable part of signing to a major label, Evan expresses no apprehension toward the relationship. Given his preference for collaborative writing, working under Sony NZ has provided a number of opportunities to experiment with people he otherwise might not have had access to. If anything, his only concern going into it was a matter of self-confidence. “I think, obviously signing up with a label out of high school, I was naturally intimidated by what I was meant to achieve… but that’s eased off now. That was a very normal thing to kind of hesitate, or at least give it the time it needed to know how it worked. But I’ve been working with the same people now for four years, so I’m a lot more comfortable with the dynamic there, and it doesn’t play a big role for me. Its just creating good things with good people. It’s less about this business-y thing than people might see it as.” Having worked in a factory while putting together his first EP, Evan is now ‘working’ as Maala full time. While playing music full time might be the dream for many aspiring musicians, Evan conveys a sense of indifference, seeing it more as a stage he’s at – albeit one he’s enjoying. “I’m motivated to do music right now, like I’m really driven and I have a relentless amount of energy to keep writing at this point. But I know that I will change my mind and I will wanna try other things – whether that’s in a musical world or not. I don’t see the fulltime career in music thing driving me, it’s more just liking writing, and if I can do that to an audience then that’s awesome, but I’m not holding out for that.”

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n 2009, childhood buddies Ciarann Babbington (vocals/guitar) and Jamie Gordon (drums/vocals) formed a punk rock band. “It was originally a three piece. Me, Jamie and this guy called Ed, who was a fantastic guitarist. He was amazing and could shred like Jimi, but me and Jamie weren’t at that level at all. We were still playing two-chorded songs. So we decided, ‘Nah, you're too good’ and we kicked him out of the band,” explains Ciarann laughing. “But before all that Ian [Spagnolo, bass/ vocals] was like, ‘Bro, can I be in your band? Come on man, I’ll even play bass!’ He was a guitar player back then… now he plays bass.” “Yeah, we gave in,” jokes Jamie. Fast forward two years and the trio were entering new territory developing a new sound. To assist with this they decided to add a second guitarist, Ian’s twin brother, Alex, on lead. “Alex was always with the band. While we were rehearsing he was playing Playstation on the couch. Secretly he would go home and practise the songs, which we didn’t know about,” shares Ciarann. “They’d go off to band practice after school and I’d just listen to them, muck around and play Playstation,” Alex elaborates. “They wanted a second guitarist because their sound was evolving. It wasn’t moving away

from punk, they just needed more guitars, more diversity and complexity to it. My first gig was opening for Shihad at Wellington High. It was a bit nerve-wracking. I’ve been here for five years now.” Laughter ensues as the boys are asked how the band name came about. It falls to Ciarann to explain. “East End Rebellion, Box Set, Plain Fact, Bad Traffic… We were in the band three years and down eight names. We were like, ‘This is it, the next name we’re keeping and we’re never changing it.’ We shook on it, did the whole spit handshake thing. It was a deal, and the name was Bakers Eddy.” Jamie decides to firm up some details… “There’s a place in the book To Kill A Mockingbird called Barkers Eddy and Ciarann misread it. That’s what it is.” Bakers Eddy members have experienced a lot in their young age, including a whistle-stop tour of Europe prize for winning the NZ Battle of the Bands competition last year. Early in 2016 they released their debut EP ‘Plastic Wasteland’. Remaining humble, the Wellingtonians credit the band’s longevity to their strong friendship and great management. “It’s very hard to just keep going, but at the same time it’s so easy because we’re mates and it seems wrong just to not do it. It doesn’t even cross our minds to leave,” states Ian. “I think our manager [Claire Gormly] coming on board has a big part to play as well. Seeing her work paying off sort of gives us the drive to keep going,” adds Jamie. Ambitions for international success are high, but in the meantime these skater boys are enjoying touring the country and meeting new people. “We love people who get into us… and smashing the face of music,” exclaims Ciarann.

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pon learning her first instrument, Henrieta Tornyai, more commonly known by the name Henika, fell in love with music. Having moved to NZ from Slovakia aged eight, she started playing guitar at 11. “It’s something I could escape into. Music’s always been that for me,” Henrieta reminisces. Now, two more string instruments (bass guitar and double bass) and a degree in Jazz Performance later, music has become her life, and held even dearer to her heart. Henrieta went to the States after completing her degree and worked there with bassist Richard Davis (Sun Ra All Stars, Van Morrison), before deciding to take lead on her own musical career. With experience playing music ranging from Greek folk to orchestral, she had certainly exposed herself to an abundance of styles, so it’s no wonder that she didn’t know what would arise. “He [Davis] didn’t care how talented you were, he cared about your attitude. So I just started thinking about what I’m really doing, maybe I should do my own thing for a while. I’d worked with other bands and other people and helped to make their vision come true, but I’d never really looked at myself and who I was.

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“I wasn’t even sure what type of music it would be, I’d played so many different styles. It was daunting at first to even try to narrow it down, but I just started writing simple songs with an acoustic guitar, to see what would happen.” What happened is an exotic, haunting, and very sincere sound that exudes Henrieta’s genuine passion for music, and influences have been a vital part to her development as an artist. “You can put labels on my music; dark alternative indie folk rock jazz, but I really hope people look deeper than that. To me, genre is irrelevant, it’s the essence, the integrity and sincerity in the music that really matters. My greatest heroes like David Bowie, Bjork, Beck, Pj Harvey, Kate Bush, and Nick Cave are all artists who couldn’t be defined by genre. They pushed the boundaries and weren’t limited by anything. This is the sort of artist I aim to be.” Since winning The Audience’s Making Tracks grant with her single You Bring Me Down Henrieta has professionally recorded the song with Andrew Buckton, and completed a music video on she was actively involved in the production, transforming her initial vision into a true work of art. She is currently working on a self-titled EP with Buckton and Mike Franklin-Browne. Due to be released in September, she is promising a colourful array of dreamy darkness. “For me, music, it saved my life. It’s something that really gives my life meaning. And it’s not just stuff that I create, but things I grew up with too, it really impacted me. And I think my dream is to give some of that back if I can. That’s my definition of success, it’s not being famous or rich, it’s a connection thing. I want people to connect to my music in the same way that I have to others.”

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oming together in time for 2014’s Chronophonium festival, Auckland act Kip McGrath have since released two self-produced EPs. Their latest entitled ‘Sour Grapes’ consists of five tracks, the majority of which were written by Timothy Berry. “Me and Grelj [bassist Michael Garelja] were talking about forming a band and I was trying to get Sylvia to sing on some stuff I had already recorded and then that ended up coming together as Kip McGrath”, Berry remembers. “I came up with the name on a whim,” vocalist and percussionist Sylvia Dew volunteers. “Me and Tim were walking in the middle of town and talking about terrible band names, and band names we thought were good… this was sort of before we even decided to be in a band. And there was just this line for Kip McGrath, an education centre, and then we were just like, ‘Oh yeah.’”

The new EP’s name was similarly random, taken from the signage on a truck parked outside their flat, rather than any expression of internal ructions. Minor tensions did surface near the EP’s release, but any thoughts of ending were swept clean when it received positive reviews.Their self-titled first EP, just a year earlier, showcased more of a bubblegum pop style. That remains sprinkled throughout ‘Sour Grapes’, but is now combined with more rock hooks, merging together to make a solid indie pop recording. Drummers have been their problem, with Reuben Winter (Totems, P.H.F) replacing the original, and the stool more recently filled by Keria Paterson (RalWuss). The band are determinedly DIY and chose to produce the first EP themselves, but Tim admits that in the process he realised he wasn’t actually that good at it. “So I spent a lot of time learning how to produce. I think that’s the main difference between the first one and ‘Sour Grapes’.” “We had a bit more of an idea of what we wanted it to sound like as well, following on from the last one, we each had our own ideas and we wanted it to be a bit more dancey, a bit more funky,” guitarist Tane Marques adds, A new batch of recording is already scheduled, with the plan now to start compiling an album. “With all of our music that we have recorded and released to date it hasn’t been so much a process of writing something and then recording it ,” says Tane. “We’ve still got a backlog of stuff we learned from when we started. So I think the next stuff that we do will be more like, “Yeah, we wrote this and learned it and recorded it.’”

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What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Why we ought’a be in love with the songs we sing

ow, there’s this song I’ve fancied for years and years, but never had the courage to ask it out. I’d listen to other people singing it and think, “They don’t love it half as much as I do”. Unfortunately I’m cripplingly shy. I avoided it… until now. It’s like we’ve been together for years. Anyone can tell – we’re in love. Essentially, singing is about love. It’s about intimacy and relationship: our relationships with our voices and the songs we sing/write. Many people feel estranged and uncomfortable with their voice. Similarly, they can’t relate to, or meaningfully connect with, the songs they’re singing. Audiences detect this. It doesn’t really matter what other people think though, it’s about OUR relationship with the song and our vocal experience. I’m madly in love with the songs I sing. I’ll sing whether an audience is listening/present or not. How can your voice (or the song) feel comfortable and be able to express itself freely when you’re constantly fault-finding, criticising or comparing it with other people? We must develop trust and ease. You can’t judge and unconditionally love simultaneously. Relationship-building requires commitment, devotion, dedication, honesty, skill, acceptance, understanding and patience. We have to ask the right questions. In relation to my voice, I must ask it why it’s guarded, scared, insecure or strained. What happened? Am I stuck in past relationships? Am I being too breathy? Demanding? Cautious? Intimidated? Intimidating? Emotionally dishonest? Am I trying too hard? Am I self-conscious about something I’m trying to hide? Investigate and listen carefully to the answers. Similarly with songs. Ask it what it’s about? What feel/delivery does it want? When writing, ask what is significant about this particular situation right now? Have I ever felt this way before? When? Where? Why? How? These questions help us get to know a song. NB: You won’t connect with a song until you sing it. If it’s not working, we’re responsible for establishing and rectifying that relationship. If you’re interested in the answers, you’ll be in a constant and intriguing connection with the song each time you sing it. Remember, some relationships are slow to develop. We sing differently depending on our emotional state – just as we give different responses to the question, “How are you?” Are you bored because you’re taking your lover/song/voice for granted? Keep curious, receptive and engaged We sing songs we love differently. Our voices change (as when we speak to people we love)

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– they get tenderer, sometimes more excited, have more dynamic range and modulation. Notice changes in tone, tension, pitch and energy when you speak to people you love and/or don’t like. How does your voice change singing favourite or least favourite songs? Don’t sing (or write) songs you wouldn’t cage fight-to-the-death for. I want the whole world to hear great songs, as I interpret them – my arrangement, dynamic map, tempo, feel. I probably won’t sing something unless it makes me cry (out of happiness or sorrow). Relate to songs. As Abraham Lincoln said, “I don’t like that fellow, I must get to know him better.” It’s our job as singers to build and maintain loving relationships with the songs we sing. We sing better when we’re in love (not necessarily with a person… with with the song!)

and above ordinary conversation. What of the ‘screamer’ flatmate we’ve all either heard or been!? We harness this powerful open-throat energy; physically through practising the giggle release, and psychologically by establishing trust and safety. Our voices then become open and unfettered channels for personal expression and communication using songs as their delivery system. We ‘vocalise as expression’ instinctively and compulsively. Try noiselessly stubbing your toe. When we’re in love our physiology changes, we have butterflies in our stomachs and the musculature of our face activates (as with negative emotions). Feeling a song engages our core and we sing from the guts. Vocalists can wreck their voices singing in soul-destroying covers bands. This is classic Marxian alienation. If we sing songs we don’t

Allow aspects of your voice you’ve never heard before to emerge. Songs are mysterious, fascinating and wondrous. Approach them with respect, reverence, wonder, adoration and nakedness. Show yourself to the song and let it show itself to you. Be loving. Vocal problems emerge because we push, force, restrain or withhold. Would you ever push, force or withhold love? Be present and ‘yourself’ with the song, not overbearing, fake, bombastic and over the top – and equally, not tired, timid, disinterested or complacent. Think of how you light-up when your beloved walks into the room. Look forward to singing songs because you’ll find out something new about them each time, and about yourself. Singing doesn’t conceal – it reveals. Allow aspects of your voice you’ve never heard before to emerge. Songs are mysterious, fascinating and wondrous. Approach them with respect, reverence, wonder, adoration and nakedness. Show yourself to the song and let it show itself to you. Interestingly, our throats open when we’re unguarded. Because one primary function of the throat is closing to protect the lungs (a role it takes extremely seriously), we must consciously open our throats. We naturally open our throats when we’re vulnerable – when laughing / giggling or while making love. Think of how loudly laughter penetrates over

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love exclusively because we’re paid to, we’re basically prostitutes. Music is art, not commerce. Don’t second-guess an audience: they want to hear what you love. The voice is the barometer of the soul. Intimacy = into me see. If you HAVE to sing songs you detest, don’t let this ruin your relationship with the songs you love. Love songs as you wish to be loved – for who you are – your points of difference, your unique perspective, craziness, complexity and the sense that ‘no-one else will do’. We think we’ll love someone only when we understand them. The opposite is true and it’s the same for songs – we only understand songs when we love them. Don’t worry, our capacity to love is infinite. I’m always madly in love with hundreds of songs (no one any less so) and there’s plenty more where that came from. www.caitlinsmith.com bravecaitlin@gmail.com Fb: caitlinsmithjazz and caitlinsmithmusic

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Music Industry

Training Courses

Directory 2017

The music industry offers a broad array of career opportunities that include music performance, composing, sound engineering, broadcasting, artist and event management. Universities, polytechnics and other providers throughout the country offer valuable training courses in many of these areas. An essential guide to the various courses available for next year is presented here in NZ Musician’s annual Music Industry Training Courses Directory.

This Directory provides information about tertiary music courses available around the country in 2017, some of which have imminent application closing dates. The courses are listed geographically under North and South Islands, with the following key indicating the emphasis of the course:

Contemporary

Classical

Jazz

Technical

The annual Training Courses Directory can also be accessed on the NZM website, www.nzmusician.co.nz. This provides links to the training institution websites and is updated throughout the year. We have made every effort to include up-to-date information and to list all the pertinent music courses that have come to our attention, and thank those who have provided the information contained herein. While we strongly encourage musical training, inclusion in this listing does not constitute recommendation by NZ Musician magazine.

NORTH ISLAND AUCKLAND EXCEL SCHOOL OF PERFORMING ARTS AUCKLAND Course Title: CERTIFICATE OF PERFORMANCE IN MUSIC Duration: One year fulltime course, with selection for second year touring performance year. Course start date: March 2017 No. of students per intake: 100 (including Dance and Drama students) Entry criteria: Minimum age, 16. Entry is by audition. Applicants must have NCEA Level 1 English, show evidence of previous experience and display a degree of ability in one of the Major subjects. Emphasis of course: Contemporary rock, pop and jazz-based course majoring in bass, drums, guitar, keys or vocals. One on one lessons with practising industry professionals; wide range of electives including a ‘minor’ instrument, song writing, vocal harmony, band arrangement, dance, drama and more. Qualification: Certificate of Performance in Music majoring in Bass, Drums, Guitar, Keyboards or Vocals. (Changing in 2018 to the NZ Certificate of Music, Level 4 – the new nationwide certificate offered across the sector). Career prospects: Students will leave with an excellent knowledge and practical skills in their given Major, and the confidence to apply

them in a wide variety of industry settings. Facilities: Large auditorium with theatresized stage, large room for band rehearsal, sequencing lab (iMac Logic Pro 10), numerous practice rooms. Tutors: Karl Benton (keys), Vernon Katipa (bass), Stephen Thomas (drums), Nathan James (guitar), Koia Tomlinson, Vanessa Abernethy, Blessing Malu, Kylie Todd, Larissa King, Hannah McGrail (vocals), Ronnie Eketone (band/ arrangement/vocal harmony), Wayne Todd (music theory) Prominent graduates: Vince Harder, Adeaze, Ben Lummis. Cost: $5827 Application closing date: Auditions held Oct – December 2016. Apply at www.excel.ac.nz Contact: Ronnie Eketone Address: 20 Portage Road, New Lynn, Auckland, PO Box 15-357, New Lynn, Auckland 0640 Website: www.excel.ac.nz

MAINZ (THE MUSIC AND AUDIO INSTITUTE OF NEW ZEALAND) (A FACULTY OF TAI POUTINI POLYTECHNIC) AUCKLAND & CHRISTCHURCH Programme: CERTIFICATE IN DJ AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC PRODUCTION (Level 4) Duration: One year, full time Commences: February 2017 (Auckland and Christchurch) Entry requirements: NCEA level 1 or equivalent. Criteria apply – see www.mainz.ac.nz Emphasis: Introduces students to the world of DJing and electronic music from a professional perspective. During the year, they will gain

a solid foundation in the theory and practice of DJing and using computers to make music. Qualification gained: Certificate in DJ and Electronic Music Production. Level 4. Facilities: Eight DJ booths equipped with a mix of club and battle mixers, Technics 1200 turntables, iMacs with Serato DJ and Ableton Live, Pioneer CDJs, several types of MIDI controllers and KRK studio monitors. Tutors: Chris Cox, Jason Diallo Programme leader: Paul Bimler (Chch), Chris Cox (Akld) Cost indication: Refer to www.mainz.ac.nz Phone: 0800 265 526 Website: www.mainz.ac.nz

Programme: FOUNDATION SOUND AND MUSIC (Level 2 or 3) Duration: 6 months, full time Commences: February 2017 (MAINZ Auckland and Greymouth campuses) and July 2017 Entry requirements: NCEA Level 1 Literacy Emphasis: Provides opportunities for students to compose, perform, engineer, produce and operate live sound equipment while developing literacy, numeracy and study skills. The Foundation year is designed to help students work towards further study in live sound, audio or music performance. Qualification gained: NZ Certificate in Foundation Skills (Level 2) or NZ Certificate in Study and Career Preparation (Level 3). Facilities: Fully equipped project recording room, computer labs, rehearsal rooms and auditorium.

Tutors: Phil Oxenham, Jean McAllister, Daniel Costello, Juliex Taylor-Reid, Wayne Baird, Christmas Ropati and Harry Champion Programme leader: Phil Oxenham Cost indication: Refer to www.mainz.ac.nz Phone: 0800 265 526

Programme: CERTIFICATE IN LIVE SOUND AND EVENT PRODUCTION (Level 4) Duration: One year, full time Commences: February 2017 (Akld and Chch) Entry requirements: NCEA level 1 or equivalent. Criteria apply – www.mainz.ac.nz Emphasis: Incorporates sound engineering and lighting skills in addition to set construction and design. Students also study event management, administration and computing. Qualification gained: Certificate in Live Sound and Event Production. Level 4. Career prospects: Live sound engineers, stage technicians, AV technicians, lighting personnel and general crew. Prominent graduates: Sandy Gunn (Cirque de Soleil) Tuki Huck (Sony NZ), Savina Kim, Brooke Duncan (Oceania Audio), Anthony Johnson (The Production Co.) Facilities: Purpose-built auditorium with concert PA and lighting systems, musical instruments and amplifiers, and DJ gear. Tutors: Auckland – Tony McMaster, Dave McIvor, Dion Anderson. Christchurch – Dave Stone. Programme leaders: Tony McMaster (Akld), Dave Stone (Chch) Cost indication: Refer to www.mainz.ac.nz Phone: 0800 265 526 Website: www.mainz.ac.nz

Music Industry

Training Courses

Directory 2017

Programme: CERTIFICATE IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC PERFORMANCE (Level 4) Duration: One year, full time Commences: February and July 2017 (Akld) Entry requirements: Criteria apply – see www.mainz.ac.nz Emphasis: Students form bands, study then perform eight different styles of contemporary music during the year. Emphasis is on preparing students for the entertainment industry by tutors who are real world, gigging musicians, and regular guest lecturers who are wellknown people from the industry. Qualification gained: Certificate in Contemporary Music Performance. Level 4. Facilities: Four rehearsal rooms, computer labs, recording studios. Prominent graduates: Aidan Bartlett (Midnight Youth), Manase Fao’I (Te Vaka), Lee Morunga (Lion King), Zowie. Tutors: Chris Orange, Tony Waine, Alan Brown, Johnny Fleury, Josh Sorenson and John Quigley. Programme leader: Chris Orange Cost indication: Refer to www.mainz.ac.nz Contact: Auckland Campus admin. Phone: 0800 265 526

Programme: DIPLOMA IN MUSIC AND EVENT MANAGEMENT (Level 5) Duration: One year, full time Commences: February 2016 Entry requirements: NCEA level 3 or equivalent. Criteria apply – see www.mainz.ac.nz Qualification: Diploma in Music Event Management. Level 5. Emphasis: Provides students with the skills and knowledge needed to gain employment in the music industry. The high industry focus means students are actively involved in organising real events. Career prospects: Event, tour and band management, employment with record, publishing and public performance companies. Tutors: Kingsley Melhuish, John Quigley and Tony Waine. Programme leader: Kingsley Melhuish Cost indication: Refer to www.mainz.ac.nz Phone: 0800 265 526

Programme: BACHELOR OF AUDIO ENGINEERING AND PRODUCTION (Level 7) Duration: 3 years, full time Commences: February 2016 (Auckland and Christchurch) and July (Auckland) Entry requirements: Applicants should have NCEA Level 3 in English and Music, and either Physics or Maths. Applicants who have Level 2 in Physics and Maths who can provide evidence (in the form of a portfolio of relevant work) that they can successfully complete the programme, may be accepted into Year One at the Programme Leader’s discretion.

Emphasis: Multi-track studio recording, multimedia, jingle writing, live recording. Qualification gained: Bachelor in Audio Engineering and Production. Level 7. or Graduate Diploma in Audio Engineering and Production (Level 7) Career prospects: Professional careers in audio-visual post-production, TV, radio, jingle production, studio recording, technical and multimedia industries. Facilities: ProTools-based digital multi-track recording studios, Mac-based sequencing. Two studios each in Auckland and Christchurch. Tutors: Auckland – Zed Brookes, Angus McNaughton, Paul Streekstra, Daryl Tapsell, Roy Martyn. Christchurch – Ivan Shevchuk, Richard Hallum, Matt Scott. Programme leaders: John Bassett (Akld), Matt Scott (Chch) Prominent graduates: Geoff Paddison (Prime), Jonny Pipe, Shane Taipari and Nich Cunningham (Franklin Rd), Jordan Stone (Roundhead), Buster Flaws (Park Road Post). Cost indication: Refer to www.mainz.ac.nz Phone: 0800 265 526

Programme: BACHELOR OF MUSICAL ARTS (Level 7) Duration: 3 years, full time Commences: February & July 2017 (Auckland) Entry requirements: A national certificate at Level 4 or NCEA Level 3 and Audition. Criteria apply – go to www.mainz.ac.nz for details Qualification gained: Bachelor of Musical Arts. Emphasis: Designed to assist students launch a career in the music industry. Students learn a range of skills in music performance, theory, composition and arrangement. A strong music production pathway in the degree allows electronic music performance and audio engineering focused students to develop their skills alongside music performance students. The final year is very self-directed with students mentored through a programme of research and project work culminating in the production of a portfolio of work applicable to the student’s preferred career path. Career prospects: Professional musician, music production, private teaching, music industry businesses. The degree may provide a pathway to an institutional teaching career by following the BMusArts with the completion of a Graduate Diploma in Education. Tutors: John Bassett, Harry Lyon, Alan Brown, Tony Waine, Roy Martyn. Programme leader: Mark Baynes Cost indication: Refer to www.mainz.ac.nz

Programme: GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS AND ENTERPRISE (Level 7) Duration: One year, full time Commences: February, April, July, October 2017 Entry requirements: Open to students who

have successfully completed an under-graduate degree; or a Diploma at Level 5-6 who can demonstrate substantial practical experience in their chosen field. Special entry may be granted where evidence exists that the applicant can successfully complete the programme. Applicants for whom English is a second language must meet IELTS (or equivalent) Level 6. Qualification gained: Graduate Diploma in Business and Enterprise. Emphasis: The Graduate Diploma in Business and Enterprise would provide level 6 and 7 students with the opportunity to study business and entrepreneurial skills in the context of the creative and other industries. It would provide students with the opportunity to focus on a capstone project in the industry they nominate which could lead to future employment, research or study. It aims to challenge students in terms of business creativity and enterprising thought. This programme may also appeal to international students who have an undergraduate degree or diploma from their home-land and wish to round this off with a post graduate qualification which equips them with a broad range of business skills learned in a progressive country such as NZ. Career prospects: Business and new venture development, self-employment, marketing, event management, and consulting etc. Tutors: Keith Macky and Scott Bulloch Programme leader: Keith Macky Cost indication: Refer to www.mainz.ac.nz Phone: 0800 265 526 Website: www.mainz.ac.nz NOTE: Entry criteria for all MAINZ full-time programmes are available on www.mainz. ac.nz. Programme fees are subject to change. Follow us on Facebook www.fb.com/mainzmusic MAINZ SHORT COURSES MAINZ Auckland and Christchurch campuses are Avid Certified Pro-Tools Training Locations and offer short courses in Internationallyrecognised Pro-Tools qualifications. MAINZ also runs regular short courses in DJing, Logic, Sibelius, Ableton Live, Live Sound and Home Recording; and hosts workshops by visiting international academics and speakers in song-writing. For detailed information about short courses see www.mainz.ac.nz

SAE INSTITUTE, AUCKLAND Admin Office: 12 Heather St, Parnell, Auckland 1052 Phone: (09) 373 4712 SAE Studios: 18 Heather St, Parnell Phone: (09) 373 4317 Email: auckland@sae.edu Website: auckland.sae.edu Alumni: www.saealumni.com.au Facebook / YouTube: Search 'SAE Auckland'

Instagram / Twitter:@saeauckland SAE Creative Media Institute is the world’s leading educator in creative media industries. Established in 1976, we now span the globe with 54 campuses across 28 countries. The SAE campus in Auckland is based in Parnell, close to the CBD and student accommodation. At SAE we pride ourselves on delivering exceptional programmes in world-class facilities. We ensure our students receive an outstanding education, internationally recognised qualifications, and industry-relevant skills. All our programmes follow the founding principles of SAE – high quality, industry focused, practical and theoretical education options for creative and talented individuals. Qualifications on offer at SAE are; – Bachelor of Recording Arts – Diploma in Audio Engineering – Certificate in Electronic Music Production – Bachelor of Film Arts – Diploma in Film Making Graduates of SAE Creative Media Institute leave qualified to work locally or internationally within the audio and/or film fields. Job prospects for graduates are diverse, including recording studio engineer/producer; live sound technician; audio production for theatre, camera operator, scriptwriter and 3D animator to executive producer and film editor, and radio industry work. The creative industries in New Zealand remain a burgeoning sector. A 2015 report prepared by PwC for WeCreate.org.nz showed that New Zealand’s creative industries (including the book, music, television and film sectors) annually contribute more than $3.5 billion to the local economy. This is similar in size to the forestry sector, double the size of the printing sector, and half the size of sheep, beef cattle and grain farming. SAE campus manager, Dr. Suzette Major, says the Institute provides a supportive setting for students who are transitioning to tertiary study from a high school environment. “We are a tight-knit community working together on a small campus, which gives students a truly unique learning environment. Students often tell us that the connections they forge here – with their peers and staff alike – provide ongoing opportunities in the audio and film industry well after they have completed their studies.” Our Vision: To be the world’s leading educator for the creative media industries. Our Mission: We provide specialist vocational and higher education courses worldwide to inspire and develop our graduates. Our courses emphasise practical experience, the needs of students and industry credibility. Our students access the latest knowledge and outstanding facilities to enhance their skills. We are globally networked as a professional community in creative media. Excellence in academic and student services.

Music Industry

Training Courses

Directory 2017

SAE Audio Programmes Course: BACHELOR OF RECORDING ARTS DEGREE (PC1196) Duration: Three years (including the Diploma in Audio Engineering as year one.) Commences: January No. of students per intake: Limited places. Entry criteria: Successful completion of the Diploma In Audio Engineering. Entry interview. Cost: $17,917 (NZ students). Approved for student loans and allowances. Applications close: Commencement of course. Contact: SAE Creative Media Institute Auckland on (09) 373-4712 or auckland@sae.edu Emphasis:Incorporates the development of creative skills and research methods necessary in today’s highly competitive digital media and infotainment industries. This stage furthers the development of music production skills relevant to the commercial and classical music worlds. It develops the understanding of relevant aspects of business management and legal matters as well as communication and research skills. This degree is researchbased, opening the way to the highest levels of academic education (Masters and PhD). Qualification: Bachelor of Recording Arts. Career prospects: Music producer, studio sound recordist/engineer, mix engineer, Pro Tools operator, live sound engineer, mastering, broadcast engineer, audio post-production, music and dialogue editor, location recordist, electronic musician, sales and installation, education and associated careers, studio manager. Tutors: Stephen Small PhD, Karsten Schwardt MA, David Chechelashvilli MSc, Suzette Major, PhD, Mal Smith BA(Hons), Michael Miller MA, plus guest lecturers from industry. Course: DIPLOMA IN AUDIO ENGINEERING (PC1902) Duration: One year full-time. Commencement dates: January, April, June and September. No. of students per intake: Limited places. Entry criteria: Minimum 17 years of age, School Certificate/NCEA Level 1 in Maths and Science. Adult entry is 20 years plus. (Adult entry – no prior qualifications required.) Cost: approx. $12,371 (NZ students). Approved for student loans and allowances. Applications close: Commencement of course. Contact: As above. Emphasis: Approved by the NZQA, the Level 5 Diploma in Audio Engineering provides industry standard training and incorporates multiple skills necessary for today’s successful audio engineer. With intensive theoretical and practical training graduates are able to apply and demonstrate a solid grounding in all aspects of working with professional commercial music and audio within the industry. Also offers a grounding in working with commercial music, audio and film and television related industries. Includes training for sound recording studios, post-production studios, radio-television

broadcasting stations, live sound and any work involving sound recording and mastering. Qualification gained: Diploma In Audio Engineering (Level 5). Career prospects: Assistant sound engineer, studio sound recordist/engineer, ProTools operator, live sound, mastering or broadcast engineer, audio post-production, music and dialogue editor, location recordist, music producer, electronic musician, sales and installation, education and associated careers. Tutors: Stephen Small PhD, Mal Smith BA(Hons), Reuben Rowntree BA(Hons), David Chechelashvilli MSc, Marcel Bellve Dip.Audio, Suzette Major PhD, Pritesh Panchal Dip.Audio, Dave Johnston BCom, plus guest industry lecturers. Course: SAE CERTIFICATE IN ELECTRONIC MUSIC PRODUCTION Duration: Six months part-time, short courses avaiable. Commences: Multiple intakes through year. No. of students per intake: Limited places. Entry criteria: Minimum 16 years of age. Open education. Cost: Dependent on course. Applications close: Commencement of course. Contact: As above. Emphasis: The EMP courses encourage individualism and combine the fundamentals of electronic music production with practical experimentation and personal creativity. Students graduate with the skills and knowledge to create the music they love and gain a strong foundation for future learning Qualification: SAE Certificate in Electronic Music Production Course prospects: For anyone wanting to experiment with electronic sound and DJs wanting to remix music more effectively. Also teachers and enthusiasts. Tutors: Pritesh Panchal Dip.Audio, David Chechelashvilli MSc, Marcel Bellve Dip.Audio, John Ropiha Dip.Audio, plus guest DJ artists. Audio Facilities SAE Institute rests its entire teaching strategy on personalised, practical learning. There are no large lecture halls at SAE; rather students learn in top-of-the-range studios with equipment that parallels industry standards. The Project Recording Studio introduces students to the recording and mixing processes without overwhelming them with a complex array of equipment. It provides a balanced mix of challenges and opportunities to help master essential skills and familiarise students with common equipment such as the Mackie console and outboard effects rack. The Classic Recording Studio includes the Audient ASP8024 console and 24-track Otari tape machine – equipment that is still in use and much prized throughout studios nationwide. An extensive array of high-quality outboard effects and processors help instil a greater insight into how each part of the studio functions while providing a more tactile working environment than plug-ins allow.

The Digital Recording Studio allows tracks to be recorded and mixed entirely in the digital domain. It boasts an impressive array of plugins in a powerful Mac Pro with a ProTools HD set up. Total control of every aspect of the mix is afforded through the revolutionary AVID S6 modular control surface, allowing every setting to be saved at the touch of a button. The MIDI and Sampling Suite teaches audio creation and manipulation using predominantly samples and synthesis. Students learn to focus their attention more on the role of a producer and gain valuable skills and understanding into the world of electronically produced music. The suite utilises Apple and Ableton software combined with hardware elements by Korg, Yamaha, Roland, Nord, Novation, Alesis and Neve. The Post Production Studio boasts a Mac Pro computer system using interactive Euphonix control surfaces, ProTools software and a high quality 5.1 channel ADAM Audio monitoring environment. The Mastering Suite features meticulously designed acoustics for critically monitoring recordings and preparing them to the high standards required for commercial release. The suite is based around a powerful Mac Pro running Steinberg Wavelab, featuring UAD hardware and plugins, and a comprehensive monitoring system consisting of top-of-theline speakers by B&W and Genelec, as well as the famous FM radio-simulating Auratones. Digital Editing Workstations train students on the finer points of using professional audio software by AVID, Ableton and Apple for editing, mixing, composing and manipulating sounds. The Study Lab provides students with a place to complete assignment work, research, revise and relax with fellow students. Access is provided to both internal and external library databases as well as a host of additional resources to aid study. For more information or to book a studio tour contact (09) 373 4712 or auckland@sae.edu

UNITEC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AUCKLAND Want to turn your love of music into a career? From reggae to soul, electronic to orchestral music, Unitec’s contemporary music courses will improve your knowledge of musical techniques and composition. You’ll also get an understanding of the business side of the music industry. There’s lots of time to experiment too. You’ll work on band or ensemble pieces with your fellow music students, and perform your original works live. You’ll also have access to drop in computer labs and rehearsal space, to try out the latest technology and explore different musical styles. You’ll be guided by lecturers who are well known and respected in the industry. And you’ll be inspired by visits from successful musicians. It’s your chance to find out what a career in the music industry is really like.

Course: DIPLOMA IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC Duration: Two years full-time or part-time options available Start date: February Entry criteria: Applicants must have a total of 48 NCEA credits at level 2 in best 4 subjects, OR a maximum total of 20 in best 4 Sixth Form Certificate subjects, OR equivalent, OR completion of an appropriate qualification at Level 3 or above. Special and Discretionary entry is also possible for those who do not meet the standard entry criteria. All applicants attend an audition/interview in which they must demonstrate competence in aural and musical abilities. Applicants who have successfully completed the Certificate in Music (Introductory) programme and achieved a grade of P or M in all four courses will be granted automatic entry. Emphasis: The course develops musical and professional strengths, including collaborative performance, creative and cross-disciplinary skills, music fundamentals and techniques, technology-based and music industry skills. Offers a broad, genre-inclusive understanding of contemporary performance and recording, and an understanding of the contexts of music and culture in Aotearoa New Zealand. Qualification: DipConMus Career prospects: Prepares you for further study or for music-related careers including composing and songwriting, sound or multimedia design, DJing, music teaching and performing Facilities: Dedicated Mac laboratory with industry standard technologies. Dedicated classrooms and performance space. Tutors: Samuel Holloway, Age Pryor, Robin Toan, Chris O’Connor, and other part-time industry-based tutors. Cost indication: $5,966 (based on 2016) Contact: Samuel Holloway Phone: 09 815 4321 ext. 7858 Address: Unitec NZ, Carrington Road, Mt Albert, Auckland Email: sholloway@unitec.ac.nz Website: www.unitec.ac.nz/music Course: CERTIFICATE IN MUSIC (INTRODUCTORY) Duration: Full-time for 16 weeks or part-time options available Start dates: February or July Entry criteria: Students must be at least 16 years of age on the date of the programme’s commencement for the semester in which they wish to enrol (or provide a completed Early Release Exemption form), have a minimum of 3 years secondary education, OR a Unitec Certificate in Foundation Studies: Whitinga (Level 2), OR equivalent. A short audition/interview is required together with a literacy diagnostic assessment. Emphasis: Provides a range of fundamental music skills, offers opportunities for musical expression and creativity, and enables you to participate in practical music-making ses-

Music Industry

Training Courses

Directory 2017

sions. A bridging route for those wanting to study the Diploma in Contemporary Music, but who don’t meet the entry requirements. Qualification: CertMus (Intro) Prospects: Entry to the Diploma in Contemporary Music or further study. Facilities: Dedicated Mac laboratory with industry standard technologies. Dedicated classrooms and performance space. Tutors: Samuel Holloway, Age Pryor, Robin Toan, Chris O’Connor, and other part-time industry-based tutors. Cost indication: $2,983 (based on 2016) Contact: Samuel Holloway Phone: 09 815 4321 ext. 7858 Address: Unitec NZ, Carrington Road, Mt Albert, Auckland Email: sholloway@unitec.ac.nz Website: www.unitec.ac.nz/music

THE UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND, SCHOOL OF MUSIC NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CREATIVE ARTS AND INDUSTRIES

Course: BACHELOR OF MUSIC and CONJOINT DEGREES (BMus, BA/BMus, BCom/BMus, BMus/BSc) Duration: Three years (four to five years for conjoint degree programmes) Commences: 6 March 2017 Entry criteria: You must have a University Entrance qualification: NCEA, Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), International Baccalaureate (IB) or another recognised equivalent qualification. Your application for admission will include the submission of a CV-statement of musical background; and/ or copies of your musical qualification certificates; and/or a composition/audition portfolio; and/or a live audition. Emphasis: The Bachelor of Music offers you the opportunity to gain a broad knowledge of music techniques and styles within your chosen major. There are five majors offered. In the Classical Performance major you will specialise in one of a variety of classical instruments, early music or voice. The Composition major covers written composition and various electronic media. The Jazz Performance major covers all aspects of the genre including musicianship, history and theory, composition and improvisation. The Musicology major develops music understanding, writing and music analysis skills. The Popular Music major provides the fundamental skills for writing, arranging and performing popular music. For details and options visit www.music.auckland.ac.nz Qualification: Bachelor of Music degree Career prospects: Solo or orchestral concert musician, pop or jazz musician, recording artist, freelance composer, composer/arranger for film, music or TV, choir-leader, conductor, band-leader, music journalist, community edu-

cator, music therapist, teacher, archivist/librarian, publicist, music/arts programme director, festival director, licence administrator, music editor, sales rep, entrepreneur. Facilities: School of Music buildings at 6 Symonds St, 23 Wynyard St, 18 Waterloo Quadrant and 74 Shortland St. 155-seat concert hall, large recording/performance studio, eight lecture/teaching rooms, practice rooms, two electronic studios, keyboard laboratory, computer lab, teaching studios and a specialist Music and Dance library. Tutors: Refer to www.music.auckland.ac.nz Fees: Refer to www.auckland.ac.nz/fees Application closing dates: 31 August 2016 - Classical Performance, Jazz Performance and Popular Music majors; 8 December 2016 - Composition and Musicology majors. Late applications may be accepted if places are available. Contact: Creative Arts and Industries Student Centre Phone: 0800 61 62 63 Email: info-creative@auckland.ac.nz Address: Level 2, Building 421 (Architecture & Planning Building), 26 Symonds St, Auckland. Website: www.music.auckland.ac.nz

Courses: POSTGRADUATE DEGREES Research programmes: Master of Music (MMus), Doctor of Music (DMus), Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Taught programmes: Bachelor of Music (Honours) (BMus(Hons)), Postgraduate Diploma in Music (PGDipMus), Graduate Diploma in Music (GradDipMus) Duration: 1-3 years depending on degree with part-time options also available. Courses start: Varies depending on degree. Entry criteria: On application. Emphasis: The School of Music offers seven postgraduate programmes in music and music-related disciplines. Postgraduate students come from a variety of backgrounds, with diverse interests and reasons for undertaking postgraduate study. However, they all share a common goal: to develop their musical expertise and understanding to a higher level through advanced practice and research. Study options are available in a wide range of musical subjects, including classical performance, jazz performance, popular music, composition, sonic art, musicology, music education, studio pedagogy and ethno-musicology. Career prospects: In addition to the career prospects listed in the Bachelor of Music degree, postgraduate alumni can also become tertiary teachers and researchers. Facilities: School of Music buildings at 6 Symonds St, 23 Wynyard St, 18 Waterloo Quadrant and 74 Shortland St. 155-seat concert hall, large recording/performance studio, eight lecture/teaching rooms, practice rooms,

two electronic studios, keyboard laboratory, computer lab, teaching studios and a specialist Music and Dance library. Tutors: Many have made significant contributions to national and international research and have received worldwide recognition. A full list of current staff, along with their research interests can be found at www. music.auckland.ac.nz Cost: Refer to www.auckland.ac.nz/fees Applications close: 8 December 2016 (MMus, BMus[Hons], PGDipMus, GradDipMus). Any time during the year (DMus, DMA, PhD). Contact: Creative Arts and Industries Student Centre as above.

Central North VISION COLLEGE HAMILTON Course: BACHELOR OF MUSIC (CCM) Duration: Three years full time Commences: February and July Entry criteria: 17 years of age and have four years secondary education (NCEA 2), or be aged over 20. Interview and audition. Emphasis: The only Christian music degree in NZ. This is a contemporary music degree, focusing on both performance and academic development. Based in a dynamic Christian environment, theology and worship is included to build a solid biblical foundation for both life and ministry. Study the type of music you love – rock, pop, R&B, jazz – even classical. This contemporary music degree will take your skills to a highly advanced level. Choose from voice, instrument or songwriting streams. Qualification gained: Bachelor of Music (Contemporary Christian Music). Career prospects: Professional performance musicians, secondary school music teachers, primary school or early childhood teachers, full-time/itinerant music tutors, further study for Honours & Masters qualifications. Facilities: Recording studio with ProTools 10 and 003 interface. Auditorium, practice rooms, ensemble performance rooms, library and study centre, computer lab and student common room. Cafeteria on campus. Tutors: Joanne Whitt (Head of School), Brett Wilson, Caleb Driver, Stu Edwards plus other specialist tutors. Cost: $6,100 (approx) per year. Contact: Student Enquiries Office Phone: 0800 834 834 Txt: txt BMus to 027 557 8839 Email: hamilton@visioncollege.ac.nz Address: 21 Ruakura Road, Hamilton 3216 Web: www.visioncollege.ac.nz

years secondary education (NCEA 2), or be aged over 20. Interviews and audition. Emphasis:Focused on equipping Christian musicians with professional musical skills, so they can be effective in music and ministry in their local church and in the wider community and industry. Qualification: Diploma in Performance Music (Level 6) Career prospects: Become church music directors and music tutors. Study further to complete the Bachelor of Music (CCM). Facilities: See Bachelor of Music listing. Tutors: Joanne Whitt (Head of School), Brett Wilson, Caleb Driver, Stu Edwards plus other Cost: $6,100 (approx.) per year. Contact: Student Enquiries Office Phone: 0800 834 834 Txt: txt BMus to 027 557 8839 Email: hamilton@visioncollege.ac.nz Address: 21 Ruakura Road, Hamilton 3216 Web: www.visioncollege.ac.nz Course: DIPLOMA OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC (Level 5) Duration: One year full time Commences: Feb. and July Entry criteria: 17 years of age, and have four years secondary education (NCEA 2) or be aged over 20. Interviews and audition. Emphasis: To equip Christian musicians with professional performance skills so that they can be effective in music and ministry in their local church and in the wider community and industry. It is a comprehensive year, combining performance with academic study, and counts as the first year of the Bachelor of Music (CCM). Choose from voice, instrument or songwriting streams. Qualification: Diploma of Contemporary Music (Level 5) Career prospects: Become church music directors and music tutors. Study to complete a Level 6 Diploma or Bachelor of Music (CCM). Facilities: See Bachelor of Music listing. Tutors: Joanne Whitt (Head of School), Brett Wilson, Caleb Driver, Stu Edwards plus other specialist tutors. Cost: $5,400 (approx.) Contact: Student Enquiries Office Phone: 0800 834 834 Txt: txt your name to 027 557 8839 Email: hamilton@visioncollege.ac.nz

Course: DIPLOMA IN PERFORMANCE MUSIC (Level 6) Duration: Two years full time Commences: Feb. and July Entry criteria: 17 years of age, and have four

Music Industry

Training Courses

Directory 2017

WINTEC, HAMILTON WAIKATO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Course: BACHELOR OF MEDIA ARTS (Commercial Music). Duration: Three years Commences: February 2017. (Mid year intake July 2017.) No. of students per intake: 25 Entry criteria: NCEA level 2, at least 60 credits across four subjects including Music and English or equivalent. For further information see below for contacts. Emphasis: Commercial Music is a stream of entry into the three year Bachelor of Media Arts programme. Study consists of innovative courses relevant to songwriting, composition, music production and performance. Industrybased projects give students industry and practical experience. Qualification: Bachelor of Media Arts (BMA). Facilities: Music students have 24 hour access to six recording studios, ranging from ProTools LE systems to a fully equipped ProTools HD studio utilising Control 24 mixing console. Tutors: David Sidwell, Jason Long, Kent Macpherson, Wayne Senior, Debbie Nisbet, Megan Berry, Dr Jeremy Mayall, Dr Nick Braae, Dr Matthew Bannister, Julia Booth, Stu Edwards, Adrian Hayward, Nathan Lauridsen, Nick Kraenzlin Cost: Approx. $6000 annually. Applications close: 30 September (late applications considered). Contact: David Sidwell (Team Manager). Address: Waikato Institute of Technology, Private Bag HN3036, Hamilton. Phone: 0800 858 0246; (07) 834 8800 Ext. 8532 Fax: (07) 858 0227 Email: David.Sidwell@wintec.ac.nz Web: www.wintec.ac.nz/mediarts

Course: CERTIFICATE IN MEDIA ARTS (MUSIC) Duration: 20 weeks Commences: February or July 2017 No. of students per intake: 20 Entry criteria: Level 1 English and Music or equivalent credits in NZQA. For more information on entry criteria see above for contacts. Emphasis: Designed to provide the skills and knowledge needed for further study at tertiary level. Qualification: Certificate in Media Arts (Music) Career prospects: With further study – audio engineer, songwriter, sound designer, performance, film and video sound. Facilities: See Bachelor of Media Arts above. Cost: Approx. $2,500 Applications close: December 2016 (late applications considered). Contact: David Sidwell. Details as above.

Course: BACHELOR OF MEDIA ARTS – HONOURS Duration: One year Commences: March 2017 Entry criteria: On application Emphasis: This post-graduate programme aims to develop an in depth research-based project in the area of music. Qualification gained: BMA - Honours All other details as above. Course: MASTER OF ARTS – MUSIC Duration: One year or two years part-time. Commences: March, July and October 2017 Entry criteria: On application Emphasis: This post-graduate degree consists of a major self-directed research project in music. This includes studio-based practise and a supporting written dissertation. (Part time study option available.) Qualification: MA (Music) All other details as above.

WAIARIKI BAY OF PLENTY POLYTECHNIC – TAURANGA Course: Tioriori - Certificate in Music Production and Performance (Level 5) Duration: One year (fulltime) Commences: Early February 2017 No. of students per intake: 30 Entry criteria: On application and audition. Be able to demonstrate by audition the musical ability to succeed in the programme. Emphasis: On completion you will have a practical knowledge of working with live sound and skills in music theory and performance. You may choose to continue to study with us on the Te Kamakama - Diploma in Music Production & Performance Level 6 or gain employment as a performer, live sound technician/engineer or seek employment in related creative arts industries. Qualification gained: Tioriori - Certificate in Music Production and Performance (Level 5) Career prospects: Performer, live sound technician/engineer, employment in related creative arts industries Facilities: www.boppoly.ac.nz Head tutors: Dave Bishop (Programme Co-ordinator), Damian Lunson Prominent graduates: Huia Hamon, Tim Cooper, Joel Shadbolt, Josh Pow, Jeff Kildare, Nick Ririuni Cost: TBA Contact: Dave Bishop (Programme Co-ordinator) Address: Waiariki Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, Windermere Campus, Private Bag 12001, Tauranga 3143 Phone: (07) 571 0190 ext. 8903 Email: david.bishop@boppoly.ac.nz Website: www.boppoly.ac.nz

Course: Te Kamakama Diploma in Music Production and Performance (Level 6) Duration: One year (full-time) Commences: Early February 2016 No. of students per intake: 25 Entry criteria: Audition and interview. Pre-requisite Tioriori - Certificate in Music Production and Performance or equivalent qualification and/or experience. Emphasis: The programme develops emerging musicians and studio producers through a study of music and media technologies. Students explore contexts for their music in workshops and classes studying the NZ music and media industries. Internships allow students to work alongside professionals from the creative industries. Qualification: Te Kamakama - Diploma in Music Production and Performance (Level 6) Career prospects: Industry professional – studio and stage, teaching, media practitioner, further tertiary study to degree level. Facilities: ProTools, Reason, Sibelius and other music software. Full recording facilities, computer suite, performance space and classrooms in attractive campus environment. Fully integrated radio station (Sub 88.3FM). Head tutors: Dave Bishop (Programme Co-ordinator), Damian Lunson Prominent graduates: Huia Hamon, Tim Cooper, Joel Shadbolt, Josh Pow, Jeff Kildare, Nick Ririuni Cost: TBA Contact: Dave Bishop (Programme Co-ordinator) Address: Waiariki Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, Windermere Campus, Private Bag 12001, Tauranga 3143 Phone: (07) 571 0190 ext. 8903 Email: david.bishop@boppoly.ac.nz Website: www.boppoly.ac.nz

WAIARIKI BAY OF PLENTY POLYTECHNIC – ROTORUA Course: DIPLOMA IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC PERFORMANCE Duration: One year Commences: 27 February 2017 No. of students per intake: 12 Entry criteria: Certificate in Contemporary Music Performance, or similar course of study, or record of prior learning, passion for music and great work ethic. Emphasis: The Diploma in Contemporary Music Performance develops graduates with comprehensive knowledge, skills, and capability in applied professional music performance, song writing, musical arrangement and music production including the use of technology, communication and instrumentation. Graduates will be able to function either individually or in groups in much the same manner as a professional artist or band would

work within the music industry, and may also pursue further higher-level study in music performance, music production, sound engineering or related fields. Qualification gained: Diploma in Contemporary Music Performance (Level 5) Career prospects: Music artist, musician, writer, composer, computing, artist manager, recording engineer. Facilities: Great music rooms, practise rooms, recording facilities (off-site), theatre, performance opportunities. Prominent graduates: Neihana Mackey Harrison, Kalani Marsters (1814), Te Kahurangi Webster (entertainer Dubai), Kathy Clay (teacher Kohanga Reo), Stella Maris (World Champs Performing Arts LA.), Caroline Case (progressed to Masters in Music Therapy, Massey University), Tiwana Rawere (drummer). Cost: Please visit the Waiariki website for details. Applications close: See webpage for details. Contact: Information Centre Address: Waiariki Bay of Plenty Polytechnic Rotorua Campus, Private Bag 3028, Rotorua 3046 Phone: 07 346 8999, 0800 924 274 Email: enquiries@waiariki.ac.nz Website: www.waiariki.ac.nz Course: CERTIFICATE IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC PERFORMANCE Duration: One year Commences: 27 February 2017 No. of students per intake: 30 Entry criteria: NCEA L2, L3. A knowledge of music theory preferable, passion for music and great work ethic. Emphasis: The Certificate (CCMP) is structured to build upon the natural talent of the learners and provide the learners with the skills and knowledge they need to perform and find employment in the music industry. Qualification gained: Certificate in Contemporary Music Performance (Level 4) Career prospects: Music artist, musician, writer, composer, computing, artist manager, recording engineer, etc. Facilities: Great music rooms, practice rooms, recording facilities (off-site), theatre, performance opportunities. Prominent graduates: Neihana Mackey Harrison, Kalani Marsters (1814), Te Kahurangi Webster (entertainer Dubai), Kathy Clay (teacher Kohanga Reo), Stella Maris (World Champs Performing Arts LA.), Caroline Case (Masters in Music Therapy, Massey University), Tiwana Rawere (drummer). Cost: Please visit the Waiariki site for details: Applications close: See webpage for details Contact: Information Centre Address: Waiariki Bay of Plenty PolytechnicRotorua Campus, Private Bag 3028, Rotorua 3046 Phone: 07 346 8999, 0800 924 274 Email: enquiries@waiariki.ac.nz Website: www.waiariki.ac.nz

Music Industry

Training Courses

Directory 2017

NZ SCHOOL OF RADIO TAURANGA Course: NATIONAL CERTIFICATE IN RADIO BROADCASTING Duration: 20 weeks Courses start: Late January and late July. No. of students per intake: 12-18 Entry criteria: Good personality, passion for Radio, NCEA English Levels 1&2. Emphasis: Offers training in all aspects of the Radio Industry including on-air announcing, sound production and writing commercials. Plus TV presenting, video production & online design. Get real experience working for stations like The Edge and ZM and meet industry stars. Qualification: National Certificate in Radio (foundation skills) + NZSOR Diploma in Commercial Broadcasting Career prospects: Radio announcer, copywriter, producer, promotions & marketing, sales, record company rep, TV presenter, sports commentator, voice-over artist. Facilities: Campus with two digital recording studios and two on-air Radio Stations Tutors: Hamish Denton (Manager) and around 20 guests from the Radio & TV industries. Prominent graduates: Simon Hampton (3 News), Brin Rudkin (More FM News), Fame Teu (Mai FM Drive) Cost: $8,130 incl. gst. Applications close: End of June and December Contact: Hamish Denton Address: Level 1, 30 Grey St, PO Box 13472, Tauranga, 3141 Phone: 07 578 1521 Fax: 07 578 1526 Email: hamish@radiocareer.net Website: www.radiocareer.net

UNIVERSAL COLLEGE OF LEARNING (UCOL) PALMERSTON NORTH / WHANGANUI / WAIRARAPA Course: CERTIFICATE IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC PERFORMANCE (L4) Duration: One year full time. Palmerston North, Wairarapa and Whanganui. Courses start: February to November 2017. No. of students per intake: 20 per intake. Outer campuses 15 students per intake. Entry criteria: Open entry with audition. Emphasis: Creating a musical whanau (family) to support and enable connections to be made in this diverse and evolving technology-based industry. Students completing this course will be able to create their own work and perform, with the technical ability to record, produce and start a career as a musician. Creates a pathway to enable students to become skilled musicians, focusing on original music and the ability to record their own music as a professional.

Qualification gained: Certificate in Contemporary Music Performance (Level 4) Career prospects: Music performer, singing, song writing, sound engineering, teaching, band management, event management, schools, music store retail. Facilities: Three campuses have a music dedicated department with, rehearsal room/s and a state of the art recording facilities on the Palmerston North campus, which all campuses use. On each campus are dedicated Mac suites with the latest music software, practice room/s, quality professional musicians as tutors and specialist instrument tutors. Programme leader: Kane Parsons Tutors: Palmerston North – Kane Parsons, Nigel Patterson, Graham Johnston. Whanganui – Mike Franklin-Brown, Lizzie deVegt, Dave Griffiths, Andrew Condon. Wairarapa – Cody Field, Courtney Naera, Saali Marks. Plus specialist instrument/technology contractors: Joe Callwood, Tom Callwood, Erna Ferry. Prominent graduates: Anna Monteith (Electric Era, Penny Dreadfuls, Blue Ruin); Jason Meadows & Kahi Tangiora (Depths); reggae/ metal act Rezist; Ben Dixon (Inhale); Courtney Naera (nee Brown); Jason Ireland. Applications close: It is preferred to have enrolments at least one month before the course starts, however enrolments are taken up until the course start date. Contact: Kane Parsons Address: Universal College of Learning School of Photography Arts and Design Private Bag 11022, Palmerston North Phone: 0800 GO UCOL (0800 46 8265), 021 421 474 Email: k.parsons@ucol.ac.nz Facebook: www.facebook.com/Ucolmusic Web: www.ucol.ac.nz (www.spad.ucol.ac.nz)

Course: DIPLOMA IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC PERFORMANCE (L5), Duration: One year, full time, Palmerston North Entry criteria: You must have completed the UCOL Certificate in Contemporary Music Performance, an equivalent Level 4 qualification in music, or have the equivalent skills and knowledge. No. of students per intake: 20 per intake. Qualification gained: Diploma in Contemporary Music Performance (Level 5) Career prospects: Songwriting/arranging film, radio/television, advertising, bands, solo artistry, session music performance, itinerant teaching in schools, music store retail. Cost: $5945 with student levy included. Facilities: As above for Palmerston North campus. Contact: As above. Phone 0800 GO UCOL

Wellington WHITIREIA COMMUNITY POLYTECHNIC PORIRUA Course: BACHELOR OF APPLIED ARTS (MUSIC) Duration: Three years fulltime Commences: February 2017 No. of students per intake: 24 Entry criteria: (Under 20 years.) Minimum of 42 NCEA credits at Level 3 or higher, plus 8 credits at Level 2 or higher in English or te reo Maori with at least 4 credits in Reading and 4 credits in Writing, and 14 credits at Level 1 or higher in Mathematics or Pangarau, and Grade 5 Music Theory or equivalent, and audition and interview. (20 years or over) as above or equivalent, and Grade 5 Music Theory or equivalent and audition and interview OR (any age). Completed Whitireia Certificate in Rock, Jazz and Commercial Music or equivalent Level 4 Music Certificate, and audition and interview. Emphasis: Study and develop skills for the music industry. Subject areas include: theory, composition, arranging, instrument studies, band workshops, performance, recording and production. Learn about the music business and develop relevant communication skills. Qualification: Bachelor of Applied Arts (Music) Career prospects: Working in the music and entertainment industries, performing, composing, recording, teaching Facilities: Recording studios and editing suites, MIDI, performance spaces equipped with stage, full PA, backline and lighting; AV equipped classrooms; rehearsal rooms, library, student support and peer tutoring. Tutors: Gloria Hildred, Rick Cranson, Sandy Cairns-James, Phil Hornblow, Dan Adams, Andy Mauafua, John O’Connor, George Packard, Jim Perkins, Johnny Lawrence, and Marino Karena. Prominent graduates: Nick Granville, Loli, Jordan Reyne, Daniel McGruer (Kora), Iain Gordon (FFD), Kevin Hotu (Southside Of Bombay), Jo Cotton, Tofiga (Laughing Samoans), Andy Mauafua, Maaka McGregor (Wai), Richard Maxwell, Tyna Keelan, Sam Notman. Cost: $6,711 TBC (indication only) Applications close: November 2015 Contact: Whitireia Information & Enrolment team Address: DX Box SX33459, 3 Wi Neera Drive, Porirua Phone: 0800 944 847 Fax: (04) 237 3101 Email: info@whitireia.ac.nz Website: www.whitireia.ac.nz Facebook & YouTube: Search ‘Whitireia School of Music’

Course: CERTIFICATE IN ROCK, JAZZ AND COMMERCIAL MUSIC Duration: One year fulltime Commences: February 2017 No. of students per intake: 28 Entry criteria: 10 credits NCEA Level 1 literacy and 10 Credits NCEA numeracy or equivalent and grade three music theory or equivalent and evidence of instrumental vocal skills/ability based on interview and audition Emphasis: Become a practical musician by developing your musical skills and your understanding of the industry. Subject areas include: theory, composition, MIDI, instrument and professional studies, band workshops and performance. Qualification gained: Certificate in Rock, Jazz and Commercial Music Career prospects: Musician, performer, band member or further study Facilities: Computer labs running recording, MIDI, ear training and music notation software; performance spaces equipped with stage, full PA, back line and lighting; AV equipped classrooms; fully equipped rehearsal rooms, library, student support and peer tutoring. Tutors: Gloria Hildred, Dan Adams, Sandy Cairns-James, Rick Cranson, Phil Hornblow, Marino Karena, John O’Connor, Andy Mauafua, George Packard, Jim Perkins and Johnny Lawrence. Cost: $5,985 TBC (indication only) Applications close: November 2016 Contact: Whitireia Information & Enrolment Address: DX Box SX33459, 3 Wi Neera Drive, Porirua Phone: 0800 944 847 Fax: (04) 237 3101 Email: info@whitireia.ac.nz Website: www.whitireia.ac.nz Course: CERTIFICATE IN DJ MUSIC Duration: One year full-time Commences: February 2017 No. of students per intake: 24 Entry criteria: 10 credits NCEA Level 1 literacy and 10 credits NCEA Level 1 numeracy or equivalent and evidence of skills/ability/ aptitude based on interview and audition Emphasis: For newcomers and experienced DJs wanting to become professional, this programme includes DJ performance, turntable skills, the art of mixing and the history of DJ, music production and industry studies. Qualification gained: Certificate in DJ Music Career prospects: Professional DJ, performing artist Facilities: DJ suites running Serato Scratch Live software and Logic Pro; computer labs; rehearsal spaces; PA and lighting systems; library, student support and peer tutoring. Tutors: DJ Raw, DJ Shan, Alphabethead, Marino Karena Prominent graduates: DJ Static, DJ DeVice, DJ Bezerik, EA Kut, DJ Ruse and DJ Klipz Cost: $5,985 TBC (indication only) Applications close: November 2016

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Directory 2017

Contact: Whitireia Information & Enrolment Address: DX Box SX33459, 3 Wi Neera Drive, Porirua Phone: 0800 944 847 Fax: (04) 237 3101 Email: info@whitireia.ac.nz Website: www.whitireia.ac.nz Course: CERTIFICATE IN LIVE SOUND AND EVENT PRODUCTION Duration: One year full-time Commences: February 2017 No. of students per intake: 21 Entry criteria: 10 credits NCEA Level 1 literacy and 10 credits NCEA Level 1 numeracy, Level 1 physics and/or music or equivalent study/work experience Emphasis: Learn skills in live sound engineering, lighting, production design and event management to become a stage technician, AV operator, sound engineer, crew for live music or stage productions. Qualification gained: Certificate in Live Sound and Event Production Career prospects: Stage technician, AV operator, sound engineer, live sound crew Facilities: 5kW 3-way FoH PA, lighting rig, full backline, AV set up, computer labs, library, student support and peer tutoring. Tutors: Kevin Whooley, Marc Freeman. Cost: $5,985 TBC (indication only) Applications close: November 2016 Contact: Whitireia Information & Enrolment Address: DX Box SX33459, 3 Wi Neera Drive, Porirua Phone: 0800 944 847 Fax: (04) 237 3101 Email: info@whitireia.ac.nz Website: www.whitireia.ac.nz Course: CERTIFICATE IN FOUNDATION MUSIC Duration: Six months full-time Commences: July 2017 No. of students per intake: 28 Entry criteria: 10 credits NCEA Level 1 literacy and 10 credits NCEA Level 1 numeracy or equivalent and evidence of instrumental and vocal skills based on interview and audition. Emphasis: This introductory programme Includes performance skills, playing with a band, professional studies and music theory. Qualification: Certificate in Foundation Music Facilities: Labs running recording, MIDI, ear training and music notation software; performance spaces equipped with stage, full PA, back line and lighting; AV equipped classrooms; fully equipped rehearsal rooms, library, student support and peer tutoring. Tutors: Gloria Hildred, Sandy Cairns-James, Phil Hornblow, Marino Karena, Andy Mauafua, Rick Cranson, Jim Perkins, John O’Connor, Johnny Lawrence and Dan Adams. Cost: $905 TBC (indication only) Applications close: May 2017 Contact: Whitireia Information & Enrolment Address: DX Box SX33459, 3 Wi Neera Drive, Porirua Phone: 0800 944 847 Fax: (04) 237 3101 Email: info@whitireia.ac.nz Website: www.whitireia.ac.nz

MASSEY UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF CREATIVE ARTS WELLINGTON Course: BACHELOR OF COMMERCIAL MUSIC Duration: 3 year full-time Commences: February 2017 No. of students per intake: 100 Entry criteria: Entrants to all papers must meet Massey University admission requirements. Entrance to practice and composition papers is also by audition. Emphasis: A band new degree launching in 2017, the Bachelor of Commercial Music prepares students to create, produce and promote tomorrow’s music. Future focused and cross-genre, the programme emphasises new technology, the latest models, and industry-standard production tools, and is taught by musicians, industry professionals and practising academics. The degree offers a choice of three majors – Music Technology, Music Practice and Music Industry. The Music Technology major covers software and hardware development including programming and electronics, as well as studio engineering, live sound and lighting. The Music Practice major focuses on performance, composition and arrangement, studio production, and also addresses artistry and musical development. Papers in the Music Industry major include artist development, music publishing, live music, label development, and future trends in music. Students from all three majors collaborate across a number of core papers. Together they produce, promote and perform a gig, a music video, and a short tour. Other shared core papers look critically at aspects of the contemporary music industry, such as web development, social media, and musicology. Students also take elective papers of their own choosing. For further details visit: creative.massey. ac.nz Qualification gained: Bachelor of Commercial Music degree Career prospects: music software developer, music hardware development, digital music distribution, creative technologist, professional musician, producer, promoter, label representative, music marketing, artist manager, songwriter, sound engineer, publisher, booking agent, composer for film/TV/games. Facilities: Music and media studios, lecture and classroom spaces, computer labs. Applications close: 1 December 2016 Contact: College of Creative Arts Address: Massey University , College of Creative Arts , PO Box 756, Wellington 6140 Phone: 0800 MASSEY/+ 64 4 801 5799 Email: commercialmusic@massey.ac.nz Facebook: facebook.com/cocacm Website: massey.ac.nz/cm

TE KŌKĪ NEW ZEALAND SCHOOL OF MUSIC WELLINGTON Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music (NZSM) was previously a joint venture of Victoria University of Wellington and Massey University. Since July 2014, it has been fully integrated into Victoria University, and all courses are taught on the Kelburn campus.

Main programme: BACHELOR OF MUSIC Duration: Three years full time Commences: Monday 6 March, 2017 Entry criteria: University Entrance and by audition for performance majors (or Masters in Music Therapy). NZSM offers a wide range of opportunities for the study of music at tertiary level – for students just beginning their exploration of music, for students at various levels of advanced study, and for professionals seeking opportunities to expand their qualifications. In addition, a BA with a major in music can be undertaken (see below) and many specific NZSM courses can be taken independently and added to other degree pathways, including a number of online, distance courses. Emphasis: Students may major in one of: Jazz; Classical Performance; Composition (instrumental and vocal, or sonic arts); Music Studies (specialising in musicology, ethnomusicology, jazz, or without specialisation). Facilities: A variety of concert venues including the Adam Concert Room on the Kelburn campus; keyboard laboratories for individual practice and musicianship training; practice/ rehearsal rooms with after-hours access; Javanese and Balinese gamelan; recording studios suitable for recording jazz and classical music to a professional standard. A large range of historical instruments and copies are available plus the Lilburn Electroacoustic Music Studios and Sonic Arts Lab. Lecturers and artist teachers: For profiles see: www.nzsm.ac.nz/about-us/our-people Career prospects: BMus graduates in all areas of study will have broad transferrable skills and knowledge to enter a diverse range of careers. Careers for all music graduates include performing, composing, arranging, teaching, librarianship, radio work, and administrative roles in cultural organisations and other sectors of the music and arts industries. Prominent graduates: Little Bushman (Warren Maxwell, Joe and Tom Callwood, Rick Cranson), Myele Manzanza, Reuben Bradley, Jeff Henderson, Simon O’Neill (tenor), Madeleine Pierard (soprano), Julia Joyce (viola), composers John Psathas, Gareth Farr, Chris Gendall and Dylan Lardelli. Cost: Approximately $6,450 per year. Auditions (for performance courses): Auditions for both Classical Performance and Jazz Programmes will take place in late August (main audition period) and October. Earlier or

later auditions might be possible. Contact the Classical Performance or Jazz Administrator respectively. Email: music@nzsm.ac.nz Phone: (04) 463 5369 Website: www.nzsm.ac.nz Other programmes: Bachelor Of Music (Honours), Master Of Music, Master Of Musical Arts, Master Of Music Therapy, Graduate Diploma In Music, Postgraduate Diploma In Music, Artist Diploma, Doctor of Musical Arts, PhD in Music, Bachelor of Arts with a Music Major (BA in Music Studies at Victoria University of Wellington). NB: A range of open entry courses in Music Studies, Composition and Performance can be taken by students enrolled in other degrees. Many of these are open entry (no prior musical expertise required) or by audition (large ensemble performance ie: orchestra, big band etc.)

SOUTH ISLAND NELSON MARLBOROUGH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (NMIT) Course: DIPLOMA IN ARTS AND MEDIA (Contemporary Music) Duration: 2 years full time Course starts: February 2017 Entry criteria: Applicants must provide evidence of proficiency on their principle instrument – by either audition or providing a link to an online video of yourself performing. A reasonable level of computer literacy is needed. Applicants 20 years and over: No minimum academic requirements. Demonstrate ability to study at this level. Emphasis: If you want to live creatively and turn your talent for music into your career, the Diploma in Arts and Media (Contemporary Music) is a great way to start. Learn the art of songwriting, play at gigs, create and record your own music and take control as a sound engineer. You’ll gain a full picture of the music industry and the know-how to forge your own career through marketing and promotion. Qualification gained: Diploma in Arts and Media (Contemporary Music). Students can exit after one year with a Certificate in Arts and Media (Contemporary Music). Career prospects: Musician, sound engineer, songwriter, music producer, session musician, music teacher, sound technician, music management and other technical roles. Graduates will have a set of elementary skills in managing an independent contemporary music band and sufficient contemporary music skills to find employment in the music sector. Facilities: The arts and media building on the Nelson campus is equipped with up-to-date digital gear necessary for contemporary arts and media practices including music editing and composition, video, graphic design, image

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Directory 2017

manipulation, publication design and production, animation, website design and more. Tutors: Visit nmit.ac.nz for tutor profiles. Cost: Domestic fees, $6,437 (approx.) per year Applications close: February 2017 Contact: Doug Stenhouse Address: 322 Hardy Street, Nelson Phone: 0800 422 733 or (03) 546 9175 Facebook - NMIT: facebook.com/nmitnz Facebook - NMIT Creative Industries: facebook.com/nmitci/ Email: info@nmit.ac.nz Website: www.nmit.ac.nz

ARA INSTITUTE OF CANTERBURY CHRISTCHURCH Course: BACHELOR OF MUSIC ARTS (BMusArts) Duration: Three years full time study. Courses start: 20 February 2017 No. of students per intake: Up to 50 Entry criteria: Academic NCEA Level 3 (60 credits at Level 3 and 20 credits at Level 2 or higher) which must include 14 credits at Level 3 in each of three approved* subjects and literacy* - 10 credits at Level 2 or above, made up of 5 credits in reading, 5 credits in writing and numeracy* - 10 credits at Level 1 or above (specified achievement standards, or unit standards 26623, 26626, 26627). *NZQA approved subjects: see http://www. nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications-standards/awards/ university-entrance/approved-subjects-foruniversity-entrance/IELTS 6.0 Academic (no lower than 5.5 in any subtest). Note: Students who have undertaken examinations other than NCEA should contact Ara for requirements. Emphasis: Provides an industry-relevant professional qualification that prepares you for a range of career paths in contemporary music. The programme integrates study in instrumental or vocal performance, music theory, composition, arranging, contextual studies, improvisation, sound production and professional practice. You can choose a number of pathways – with options in performance (jazz, contemporary and percussion), arranging, songwriting, production and industry. The Music Arts programme has a vibrant Visiting Artist programme including an annual Songwriter in Residence. Qualifications gained: Bachelor of Music Arts (BMusArts) [exit Diploma in Music Arts (DipMusArts) available after two years study]. Career prospects: You will be able to engage in many musical and artistic situations including teaching, performance, production, sound engineering, event management, promotion, composition and arranging. Facilities: Purpose-built three-level Music Arts building. Built in 1998 its air conditioned and sound-proofed rooms include a mixture of individual practice rooms, ensemble rooms, class teaching rooms, computer/keyboard

suite, CD and resource library, a 99-seat auditorium, recording facilities, quality grand pianos and high-end backline. Students have access 6am to 11pm, seven days a week. On the edge of Christchurch’s CBD, the Music Arts building continues its role as a centre for music performance and education in the city. Tutors: Tom Rainey (Head of Department), Gwyn Reynolds (Programme Leader), Cameron Pearce, Darren Pickering, Scott Taitoko, David Saunders, Doug Brush, Harry Harrison, Michael Story, Andrew Genge, Bob Heinz, Doug Brush, Joe McCallum, Kate Taylor, Luke Smillie, David Cooper, Jed Parsons, Lee Borrie, Byllie-Jean Rangihuna-Billingsley, Hamish Oliver. Prominent graduates: Nick Gaffaney, LA Mitchell, Oakley Grenell, Joe McCallum, Brett Hirst, Gerard Masters. Cost: (indication) $6,100 – $6,700 per year Applications: Applications now open. Audition dates are 26-28 September, 5-7 December. Contact: Gwyn Reynolds (Programme Leader) Address: Ara Music Arts, PO Box 540, Cnr Madras & High Streets, Christchurch 8140 Phone: 0800 24 24 76 Email: gwyn.reynolds@ara.ac.nz Website: www.ara.ac.nz/musicarts Course: CERTIFICATE IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC PERFORMANCE (LEVEL 4) Duration: Full time Course starts: 20 February 2017 No. of students per intake: 20 Entry criteria: 12 credits in NCEA English Level 1. IELTS 5.5 academic (no band score lower than 5). Emphasis of course: This one year course of study will give you the musical skills and knowledge to help you on your path to becoming a professional musicality. You will have a balance of creative freedom whilst learning core music theories. Classroom subjects will cover a range of musical areas. These subjects combined with daily practice on your chosen instrument will ensure a strong foundation of skills to help you further your musical career. Qualification gained: Certificate in Contemporary Music Performance (level 4) Career prospects: You will be able to pursue career opportunities in the music industry, perform as a soloist or band member in a range of contexts, pursue music tuition and engage in a music retail position. Facilities: As above for Bachelor of Music Arts. Tutors: Kate Taylor, David Saunders, David Cooper, Harry Harrison Cost: (indicative) $5,400 - $5,600 Application: Open now. Audition dates are 26-28 September, 5-7 December. Contact: Gwyn Reynolds (Programme Leader) Address: Ara Music Arts, PO Box 540, Cnr Madras & High Streets, Christchurch 8140 Phone: 0800 24 24 76 Email: gwyn.reynolds@ara.ac.nz Website: www.ara.ac.nz/musicarts

MAINZ – CHRISTCHURCH AND TAI POUTINI POLYTECH

VISION COLLEGE CHRISTCHURCH

GREYMOUTH See the MAINZ listing in the North Island section. The Certificate in Live Sound and Event Production, Certificate in Audio Engineering and the Diploma in Audio Engineering are available in Christchurch. Phone 03 365 9195 for more details.

UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY

SCHOOL OF MUSIC Course: BACHELOR OF MUSIC, BACHELOR OF ARTS, BACHELOR OF MUSIC (HONS), MASTER OF MUSIC, DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS, DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (MUSIC) Duration: Three years Commences: 20 February 2017 Entry criteria: University Entrance. Also successful audition if enrolling in performance. Emphasis: The School of Music offers an exciting range of courses at graduate and postgraduate levels in performance, music in society, composition, songwriting, digital music, recording and production techniques, community music, music history and research, musicianship and music education. Qualification: Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Music (Hons), Master of Music, Doctor of Musical Arts, Doctor of Philosophy (Music) Career prospects: Performing, teaching, composing and arranging, song writing, music journalism, music for TV and radio, music therapy, librarian, music administration. Facilities: Recital/rehearsal/practice rooms, computer/keyboard labs, recording facilities. Tutors: 30 full and part-time performance and academic staff. Prominent graduates: NZ Trio (Ashley Brown, Justine Cormack, Sarah Watkins), Mark Menzies, Martin Riseley, Gemma New, Serenity Thurlow, Jared Holt, Rachelle Pike, Luke Di Somma, Christopher Bruerton, Jeremy Woodside, David Kelly, Bryony Gibson-Cornish, Jun Bouterey-Ishido, Amina Edris, Oliver Sewell, Polly Ott, Stephen Watson. Applications close: 10 December. Applications for auditions (performance major and nonmajor) 17 October. Submissions of portfolio (Songwriting, Notated Composition) 7 November. Contact: School of Music Administrator Address: PO Box 4800, Christchurch 8140 Phone: (03) 364 2183 Fax: (03) 364 2728 Email: music@canterbury.ac.nz Website: www.music.canterbury.ac.nz

Course: BACHELOR OF MUSIC (CCM) Duration: Three years full time Commences: February and July Entry criteria: 17 years of age and have four years secondary education (NCEA 2), or be aged over 20. Interview and audition. Emphasis: The only Christian music degree in NZ. This is a contemporary music degree, focusing on both performance and academic development. Based in a dynamic Christian environment, theology and worship is included to build a solid biblical foundation for both life and ministry. Study the type of music you love – rock, pop, R&B, jazz – even classical. This contemporary music degree will take your skills to a highly advanced level. Choose from voice, instrument or songwriting streams. Qualification gained: Bachelor of Music (Contemporary Christian Music). Career prospects: Secondary school music teachers, church music directors, and fulltime/itinerant music tutors. Facilities: Our purpose-built music facility, known as The Shed, includes its own auditorium, practice rooms, classrooms, student lounge and full ProTools recording studio. Student computers equipped with ProTools and extensive music software. Tutors: Kaye Grenon (Programme Leader), Alistair Greenwood, Kit Genon, Julian Hay plus other specialist tutors. Cost: $6,100 (approx) per year. Contact: Student Enquiries Address: 334 Manchester St, Christchurch Phone: 0800 834 834 Txt: txt MUSIC to 027 557 8839 Email: christchurch@visioncollege.ac.nz Course: DIPLOMA IN PERFORMANCE MUSIC (Level 6) Duration: Two years full time Commences: February and July Entry criteria: 17 years of age, and have four years secondary education (NCEA 2) or be a mature student aged over 20. Be interviewed and auditioned. Emphasis: Combining both performance and academic study this Diploma trains students to excel in a performance environment. You’ll also study the business side of the music industry. Students have the option of completing one more year to achieve our Bachelor of Music (CCM), available at our Hamilton campus, or applying for cross-credits with a Christchurchbased music degree programme. Major in either instrument or voice. Qualification: Diploma in Performance Music (Level 6) Career prospects: Professional performance musician. Study further to complete the Bachelor of Music (CCM). Facilities: Our purpose-built music facility, known as The Shed. See above.

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Directory 2017

Tutors: Kaye Grenon (Programme Leader), Alistair Greenwood, Kit Genon, Julian Hay plus other specialist tutors. Cost: Approx. $5,400 first year. Approx. $6,100 second year. Contact: Student Enquiries Phone: 0800 834 834 Txt: txt MUSIC to 027 557 8839 Website: www.visioncollege.ac.nz Course: DIPLOMA OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC (Level 5) Duration: One year full time Commences: February and July Entry criteria: 17 years of age, and have four years secondary education (NCEA 2), or be a mature student aged over 20. By interview and audition. Emphasis: To equip Christian musicians with professional performance skills so that they can be effective in music and ministry in their local church, the wider community and industry. It is a comprehensive year, combining performance with academic study, and counts as the first year of the Bachelor of Music (CCM). Choose from voice, instrument or songwriting streams. Qualification: Diploma of Contemporary Music (Level 5) Career prospects: Professional performance musician. Study to complete a Level 6 Diploma or Bachelor of Music (CCM). Facilities: See above. Tutors: Kaye Grenon (Programme Leader), Alistair Greenwood, Kit Genon, Julian Hay plus other specialist tutors. Cost: $5,400 approx. Contact: Student Enquiries Address: 334 Manchester St, Christchurch Phone: 0800 834 834 Txt: txt your name to 027 557 8839 Email: christchurch@visioncollege.ac.nz Website: www.visioncollege.ac.nz

SOUTHERN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY INVERCARGILL Course: BACHELOR OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC Duration: Three years fulltime. Commences: February 2017 No. of students per intake: 20 Entry criteria: Approximately Level 4 theory, Applicants must pass an audition (video okay) and are expected to be proficient on their performance major (keys, drums, bass, guitar, voice, saxophone, and trumpet). Emphasis: Papers include world music perspectives, music technology, contemporary music theory and entertainment industry studies. There is a strong emphasis on practical musical skills. Students can major in performance, songwriting or music education. Qualification gained: B.ContMus (Bachelor of Contemporary Music) Career prospects: Performer, composer, songwriter or private music teacher. Could also lead to further study in teaching.

Facilities: Large MIDI and keyboard suites, a theatre seating 300+, intimate 60-seat theatre, practice rooms, band practice rooms, lecture rooms and performance room. Tutors: Aaron Ives, Hollie Longman, Peter Skerrett, Pania Simmonds, Dr Sally BodkinAllen, and Jason Sagmyr. Applications: From September onwards. Contact: Dr Sally Bodkin-Allen – Academic Leader Address: Private Bag 90114, Invercargill Phone: (03) 211 2699 ext 3316, 0800 4 0 FEES (0800 4 0 3337) Email: sally.bodkin@sit.ac.nz Website: www.sit.ac.nz Course: GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC Duration: One year fulltime. Commences: February & July 2017 Entry criteria: Applicants are expected to already have a degree and will need to pass an audition (video okay). Emphasis: As per Bachelor course above. Career prospects: Performer, composer, songwriter or private music teacher. Could also lead to further study in teaching. Facilities: As above. Tutors: Aaron Ives, Hollie Longman, Peter Skerrett, Pania Simmonds, Dr Sally BodkinAllen and Jason Sagmyr. Applications: From September onwards. Contact: Dr Sally Bodkin-Allen – as above. Course: GRADUATE CERTIFICATE CONTEMPORARY MUSIC Duration: One year fulltime. Commences: February & July 2017 Entry criteria: Applicants are expected to already have a degree and will need to pass an audition (video okay). Emphasis: As per Bachelor course above. Qualification: Graduate Certificate in Contemporary Music Career prospects: Performer, composer, songwriter or private music teacher. Tutors: Aaron Ives, Hollie Longman, Peter Skerrett, Pania Simmonds, Dr Sally BodkinAllen and Jason Sagmyr. Applications: From September onwards. Contact: Dr Sally Bodkin – as above. Course: CERTIFICATE IN MUSIC AND SOUND ENGINEERING (PRE-ENTRY) Duration: 20 weeks Commences: February (subject to numbers) & July (main intake) 2017 Entry criteria: Preferably four years secondary education. An aptitude for music as a realistic career choice or for personal development. Mature students – 20 years or older. Emphasis: Students gain fundamental knowledge of theoretical and practical components of contemporary music and sound engineering. Qualification: Certificate in Music and Sound Engineering (Pre-entry) Applications: From September onwards. Contact: Doug Heath, Programme Manager, doug.heath@sit.ac.nz

Course: GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN AUDIO PRODUCTION Duration: One year full time. Commences: February 2017 Emphasis: Major subject areas are: acoustics, audio equipment, business studies, electronics, industry studies, musical knowledge, music technology, personal development, recording/mixing/production techniques, specialist audio, research project – includes 12 weeks studying at SAE in Bryon Bay, Australia. Career prospects: Work and/or postgraduate study in audio production and related fields. Facilities: Five purpose-built studios with attached recording rooms, large recording auditorium, industry standard, up-to-date equipment including our SSL AWS900+SE recording console. Tutors: Aaron Ives, Doug Heath and Stu Carr. Applications: From September onwards. Contact: Doug Heath, Programme Manager, doug.heath@sit.ac.nz Course: GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN AUDIO PRODUCTION Duration: One year full time Commences: February and July 2017 Emphasis: As per Diploma course above. Career prospects: Work and/or postgraduate study in audio production and related fields. Facilities: As above. Tutors: Aaron Ives, Doug Heath and Stu Carr. Applications: From September onwards. Contact: Doug Heath, doug.heath@sit.ac.nz Course: BACHELOR OF AUDIO PRODUCTION Duration: Three years full time. Commences: February 2017 Emphasis: As per Diploma course above. Career prospects: Work and/or postgraduate study in audio production and related fields. Facilities: As above. Tutors: Aaron Ives, Doug Heath, Jason Sagmyr, Pania Simmonds, Dr Sally Bodkin-Allen and Stu Carr. Applications: From September onwards. Contact: Doug Heath, Programme Manager, doug.heath@sit.ac.nz Course: CERTIFICATE IN AUDIO PRODUCTION Duration: 34 weeks Commences: February 2017 No. of students per intake: 22 Entry criteria: School leavers, preferably four years secondary. Keen interest in audio. Mature students – 20 or over. Emphasis: Gain skills and knowledge directly relevant to initial employment or further training in the audio industry. Gain sufficient knowledge and skills for entry to the Bachelor of Audio Production. Tutors: Stu Carr Applications: From September onwards. Contact: Stu Carr Email: stu.carr@sit.ac.nz Website: www.sit.ac.nz

UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO DUNEDIN Courses: BACHELOR OF MUSIC (Endorsed in Performance, Studio Production and/or Composition), or BA MAJORING IN MUSIC. Duration: Three years. Commences: Late February 2017. No. of students: Places are limited to 60 performance students. (see below) Entry criteria: Performance papers by audition. Entrants to all music papers must meet the University of Otago’s admission and entrance requirements. While the ability to read music is essential for some papers, MUSI 191 (Introduction to Music) is available for students without music theory or musicreading skills. Emphasis: Performance papers focus primarily on a popular music repertoire and feature some original music at second and third year levels. Academic papers (songwriting, theory/analysis, technology, cultural theory etc.) are designed to stimulate composition, arrangement and technological skills. Papers in Western art music (classical) or ethnomusicology can be included. Songwriters can do classical composition in addition to song writing. There are also music industry papers for all music students, as well as those intending to become music business professionals. Qualification: MusB Endorsed in Performance, Studio Production and/or Composition, BA with Music Major, or MusB Honours. Postgraduate qualifications: PG DipMus, Master of Music in composition, performance or studio performance, Doctor of Musical Arts in studio production, performance or composition, Master of Arts in a music research related topic, and PhD. Career prospects: Professional musician, songwriter, commercial composer/arranger, educator, academic/author in the field of popular music, music industry professional, music programmer, record producer. Cost: (Indication-only, based on charges for 2016). All 18-point papers $998 per paper. Application dates: Audition application forms and DVDs are due 1 September 2016 (late applications may be accepted). Auditions are held in Dunedin on 24 September or at selected times during the year. Closing date for applications to study at the University of Otago is 10 December 2016. Auditions can be sent to the department by a quality recording on DVD or by YouTube link. For advice on content, contact either Dr Ian Chapman or Associate Professor Rob Burns. Contact: Administrative Assistant, Department of Music. Address: Department of Music, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin. Black/Sale House, 100 St David Street, Dunedin Phone/Fax: (03) 479 8885 or (03) 479 4180. Email: music@otago.ac.nz Website: www.otago.ac.nz/music

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After ’Ours

>cid I]Z Hjch]^cZ Directed by Swap Gomez, the video for single See The Light is shot fly-on-the-wall style at a classic Auckland west coast beach home afternoon/evening party gathering. There’s family, food, music, conversations, laughter and warmth. Lots of warmth. It seems likely that the effortless, spacious, warm and inviting jazz of After ’Ours’ debut album ‘Odyssey’ was created in just such an environment. Actually both the band and album titles are figurative and realistic, as Aabir Mazumdar discovers in conversation with pianist Nick Williams and drummer Michal Martyniuk.

fter ’Ours, the duo of drummer Nick Williams and Poland-born classical/jazz pianist Michal Martyniuk, are building up to the September release of their first album. ‘Odyssey’ seems an appropriate titled given the Auckland-based good friends have spent five years making it. “It’s After ’Ours because that’s exactly how our music was worked on,” explains Nick. “It wasn’t like we had an album worth of stuff and it took five years to record. It evolved along the way. It was created along the way, after hours.” They have a comfortable and open dynamic, each bringing their own unique perspective from ‘either side of the glass’. Their creative process was shaped by bringing together Nick’s audio background and Michal’s multistylistic, music and performance background, incorporating both the musician and producer roles into the composition process. Michal describes the collaboration as being easy. Nick has been a music teacher for a decade and has a rich history with music. “I got my first drum kit when I was three, played my first gig when I was five – in my dad’s blues band at the Gluepot,” he remembers. He continued to play gigs with his father in Australia as well as with a rock band in school, eventually beginning to get more interested in production and learning how to record. He has since been a core member Tangent with Alex Urlich (B2KDA) and The Mercs with his partner Ange Saunders, who also features on ‘Odyssey’. Michal recently completed a Bachelor degree in Jazz Performance at the University of Auckland. He spends much of his time performing more traditional varieties of jazz

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with the likes of Jonathan Crayford and Nathan Haines. Haines has been a tutor, mentor and supporter to both, contributing a great deal to their After ’Ours project over the last six years. Aside from playing on the album, he provided many of the synths and recording equipment that was used, as well as introducing them to many of the musicians who came to be involved. Despite describing a deep jazz influence, ‘Odyssey’ draws from a great deal of influences and styles, ranging from a Steely Dan jazz-infused rock to hip hop veins harking back to A Tribe Called Quest and J-Dilla. While listing a wide range of influences, Nick reflects on their often evident hip hop influences. “Love that stuff,” Nick reflects. “Q-Tip is really quite a big influence of mine. I love his stuff.” Their first single/video See The Light is a prime example of his blending of that classically mellow Rhodes sound with grooving hip hop. Their approach to writing the album tracks wasn’t genre-specific however. “We weren’t thinking that we’d do a jazz record or a pop record, it was just what we liked,” Michal explains. Their composition and production process resulted in an assemblage of influence, perspective and homage, while maintaining an evident appreciation for simplicity and groove. “It’s very diverse and we don’t really know where to put it,” Michal admits. “We just want to give it to people and see if they can find something they like on it.” “I think there’s something on there for everyone,” says Nick, taking a more optimistic tone. “I think it’s a very accessible album.”

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Alongside the indifference to maintaining traditional stylistic boundaries, the primary objective was always to enjoy the process itself. They brought a positive and appreciative energy to the production process as well as their interactions with the star-studded line-up involved – including Nathan Haines on saxophone, The Streets’ Kevin Mark Trail and Sharlene Hector on vocals, and percussionist Miguel Fuentes. “Having those guys involved was just awesome,” Nick laughs gratefully. The album was recorded almost entirely in his home studio with some additional recording done at York Street Studios and The Lab and was mixed in the UK by Mike Patto (Reel People). Don’t be fooled by the ‘home studio’ aspect. There was a considerable arsenal of boutique audio and vintage musical equipment used in the sessions. “Having this analogue synth that’s alive, you just hold a chord and it’s breathing. It’s amazing. You don’t have to play much, you don’t have to say much, it’s just a living thing,” articulates Michal on the character that the borrowed synths brought to the compositional process. The result is an extremely warm sounding album, ‘warm’ being used pluralistically to describe both an inherent quality of the production as well as the listener’s experience on listening. “It feels warm, the album, so that’s the goal achieved already. We just wanted to let people feel the love,” finishes Michal.

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Producer Agreements – Part 1

t’s no secret that many artists wouldn’t be the household names they are today without the work of some great music producers behind them. While producers often have a low profile as far as the public is concerned, in some case the world’s best producers like Rick Rubin and Timbaland are as famous as the superstar artists and bands they work with. In this and the next edition of The Lawful Truth we’ll be taking a close look at Producer Agreements and the vital points you need to consider, whether you are a producer or an artist looking to use a producer. Before we look at the different ways that producers can be paid for their work and what some of the more common approaches are, we’re first going to get a better understanding of what people often consider some of the ‘secondary issues’ in Producer Agreements. These issues are actually just as important as obvious things like ‘the money’ because unless the agreement covers off all of such other issues it can lead to huge uncertainty and problems, meaning that no one ever sees any money! There is a well acknowledged tendency in the music industry for deals to move quickly, and sometimes despite everyone’s best intentions details don’t all come together until the last minute. However when it comes to a producer being arranged to work with an artist there should usually be plenty of time to make sure all the key details are worked out upfront. Despite this, you’d be amazed at how many recording projects either take place without a Producer’s Agreement, or alternatively, once the recording is finished people are still negotiating the contract. This should never be allowed to happen. As a producer you want to make sure you have certainty in respect of the time you are devoting to the project. If you’re the artist you want to make sure you have the producer booked in for the times when you are available as well. Without having a Producer’s Agreement

in place at the outset the artist in particular runs the risk of not having certain key issues clarified upfront, such as the precise payments that have to be made to the producer. This would mean that a producer could potentially hold off their agreement on other issues vital to the artist (like assignment of copyright which we’ll discuss soon), until those things like payment terms are resolved to the producer’s satisfaction. Copyright ownership is a key issue to clarify in any Producer Agreement. Producers contribute significantly not only to the overall sound of the recording, but in many cases also song arrangements and even basic songwriting. Due to the way copyright law works the producer will often be regarded as a joint copyright holder in the songs written as part of the recording process. This might not be a problem for some acts, however in other instances we’ve found that artists will assume that these types of services are all part of what they pay a producer for. As a consequence they think the producer shouldn’t be taking any songwriting ownership or credits. No matter how the parties decided to handle this issue, it must be remembered that because of the way copyright law works a producer will retain any songwriting interest they may have acquired until a written agreement (e.g. a Producer Agreement) is signed by the producer and the other songwriters clarifying otherwise. So for all parties concerned, this is a key issue to address up front. The producer can then confidently contribute in the recording sessions knowing what they will receive in return, and the artist can have absolute certainty that no nasty copyright disputes will later emerge. Another such secondary issue that’s also vital to define upfront is exactly what the producer is providing the artist. For example, does the producer’s fee include the studio hireage and what about any engineer or session musicians that the producer may bring in? Are these all the producer’s responsibility to

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arrange from the budget the band has agreed, or are they extra costs the artist has to pay? If they’re extra costs you (the artist) are expected to pay, then obviously you need to spell out in the Producer Agreement that your approval is needed first. Also with session musicians it should be clearly stated who is responsible for arranging the recording releases from these musicians, so as to avoid any songwriting claims that session players may later make, if it is not the intention to provide them a songwriting percentage of the tracks they contribute to. The Producer Agreement should clarify if the producer is expected to also mix and even, in some cases, master the recordings. Although these are all very distinct roles and on bigger budget recordings specialists would be sought for each different task, it is not unusual for a producer to assume some or all of these additional roles where the artist doesn’t want to go elsewhere for them. Once again different producers have different strengths and provide different services, but the key thing is that if applicable, these services are clearly specified in the Producer Agreement – along with any additional fees that are payable to the producer for such services, as well as the timelines within which these extra tasks will be completed. Having covered off some of the contract fundamentals, in the October/November issue’s edition of The Lawful Truth we’ll move on to discussing standard payment terms and rates in Producer Agreements. David McLaughlin is a specialist music lawyer with Auckland law firm McLaughlin Law (www. mclaughlinlaw.co.nz). He can be contacted by email at david@mclaughlinlaw.co.nz or on 09 282 4599. Disclaimer: This article is intended to provide a general outline of the law on the subject matter. Further professional advice should be sought before any action is taken in relation to the matters described in the article.

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Abbie

Giving It Back

Launched in September last year, about the same time Maori Television’s fun music competition show Homai Te Pakipaki nine year run ended, Waatea Music was established to provide a platform to release and support Māori music. The two intersect in the person and developing talent of 28-year old singer Abbie Harker-Ferguson. Abbie talked with Poppy Tohill about her debut album ‘Lost / Found’, released at the end of July.

rom singing over the family TV at a young age, to singing her way into our homes as a teenager on Maori Television’s hit show Homai Te Pakipaki, Abbie Harker-Ferguson had already come a long way. The past four years have provided a steep learning curve for the young songstress as she moved away from her family home in Tokoroa to live in Auckland, signed on to the city’s music industry and alongside that, stepped out of her musical comfort zone to dive into the unknown world of pop. “I’ve been a die hard fan of soul and blues music my entire life, but I think it was time for me to grow. So when I moved to Auckland it was an evolution of sorts. “I ended up working alongside Woodcut Studios and William Henderson, a great producer that helped me evolve my style into this coming together of blues, soul, pop and my love for storytelling.”

Photo: Donna Carr

Woodcut are the production part of the not long-established Maori label Waatea Music, and her seven-track release is the first album from the label. Abbie was 19 years old, a practising songwriter and working as a property manager for Ray White in Tokoroa when she picked up enough courage to go to Auckland and sing on Homai Te Pakipaki. “When I managed to get through to the finals and came third that impacted my life hugely. I moved to Auckland, signed a management deal and the rest is history, so that show was definitely a big catalyst for change and impacted me enormously.” Although influenced by the greats such as Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Sam Cooke and Lauryn Hill, she puts her early love of singing down to none other than Disney’s, The Little Mermaid. “I’ve always loved sounds and mimicking what others are doing with their voices,” she confesses. “I used to spend hours watching that movie and singing in front of the fan to recreate the sound when she’s singing and swimming through the tunnel.” After four years spent living in Auckland and working on material for her debut, Abbie describes herself as “…a songwriter, first and foremost.” “I don’t play an instrument, but I’ve been writing songs since I was a very young as I’ve always loved the way words fit together and create a connection with people. The way I write songs has always been quite backwards, but as a part of the evolution, I also wanted to diversify my songwriting. So instead of writing a song from scratch with the idea for a tune already in my head, I listened to some beats for inspiration and then went from there, which opened up a whole other level of writing for me.” Experimenting with new genres and ways of writing isn’t all that’s new on her album. Led out by the single Million, it showcases her naturally soulful voice over electronic-pop beats. “I love a challenge, so if there’s something I really want to do, I won’t back down until I’ve done it, no matter how much it scares me.” “The reason I think I’m half decent at singing is because I love listening to the way people make sounds. I’ve always listened closely to Maori speakers because it’s such a beautiful language

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that has always fascinated me, so I decided I would challenge myself to write a song in Te Reo for the album.” Not at all fluent in the language she needed help to check what she’d written made sense, but did much of the research and writing for the beautiful song Rerehua herself. “I really wanted to be respectful of the language and do the very best I could to paint a picture, rather than just throwing a whole bunch of words together that don’t mean anything.” “It’s a love song about that someone special and what they mean to you. It’s supposed to be a heartfelt call to one another, so in the bridge you can hear us (Maaka Fiso, who collaborated with me on the track) almost singing out to one another. “Music transcends language barriers so it doesn’t matter if people don’t understand, because you can still connect with one another and that connection and bond over the music and making or just allowing others to feel something by inviting them in is what it’s all about for me. People always know you mean well if you sing to them.” With the release of ‘Lost / Found’ scheduled for the end of the month, mid-July found Abbie in England, where she performed at the charming Deebs Day Festival in Hertfordshire. It’s a farm-based festival of hammocks and hay bales, glitter and good vibes. ‘My first festival and I am hooked,’ she blogged on her website.‘Happy people wearing the most amazing outfits and getting along. Sandy-beaches with hammocks, talking music, bars, chilling-tents, two different areas for various types of music and a random inflatable banana… the list of awesomeness goes on.’ “Festivals are a whole other level!” she chuckles. “Being on stage and singing my own original music, in front on an international audience who don’t know who I am, and having them respond in such a positive way was absolutely amazing. “I feel like I’ve just started this evolution which is all about being open to different sounds and styles and it’s made me realise there’s so much more to learn. I’ve always been so focused on my blues, jazz and soul that all of the other different genres and ways there are to create music were totally escaping me, so I look forward to evolving and learning so much more about songwriting. I’m still very new to collaboration also, so I want to work out the rhythm of writing with and maybe even for other people.” “I have very big dreams, because I don’t feel like people should ever limit themselves.”

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Al Witham

A stalwart of the Kapiti Coast and Wellington blues scenes for many years, Al Witham is known as much for his deep baritone vocals as his performances, both solo and with a band. Recorded at ‘Al’s Garage’, his just-released third album is a largely solo effort. Del Thomas caught up with Witham to find out about how ‘Angel Bones’ came together.

n stark contrast to most modern day musicians, Kapiti-based blues man Al Witham says he only started playing when he was about 17. “I got into Mississippi John Hurt and that folk blues thing with the alternating thumb basslines – ragtime style. I also loved Bob Dylan, so there was always a focus on lyrics, but with a rock attitude. “It was just a hobby until I was in my mid 30s when I started playing in bands. By then, I was also writing songs. I realised I wasn’t the best singer but no-one else was going to sing my songs, so it was just the way to get the songs out there. Recording helps you sing better ’cos you hear what you really sound like, not what you think you sound like!’ Al played with Kayte And The Barflies for a while then recorded a solo album (‘Just Is’) in 2004. He was living next to Breaker Bay recording studio for a while and his 2009 follow up, ‘Faultlines’,was done there, with a band that included Wayne Mason, George Barris and drummer Richard Te One, who also produced. “I started recording myself as I can’t afford to pay for studios nowadays – what with having a young family and mortgage… I was just working on an album but had no pre-conceived ideas about it. “It’s been good doing it this way. The album really assembled itself as I went along as I’ve been learning to use this gear. It’s all originals except for two very old blues tracks. As I looked back on it and tried to work out the track sequence, I realised that a lot of the songs had some reference to death, even if it was just in passing, and that led me to thinking of bones. That became the working title for a while and then I realised there was a song about an angel and another about the devil – you

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know, these sort of dual things in people’s heads – so it became ‘Angel Bones’.” The credits reveal that Al provided almost all the vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, bass and percussion – in fact all musical contributions on more than half the album’s 13 tracks. “It’s mostly all me! Vocal, guitar, bass and some hand percussion, like clapping sticks together or banging a home-made drum! We had a full drum kit which we recorded here too. A friend, Jack Cromie, did that for me. And there are horns on a few tracks (Brian Romeril did them), and backing vocals on a few tracks by Julia Truscott who lives down the road. And Kevin Ludwig played some percussion as well.” His voice is gritty, rough and often raw, perfectly-suited to his earthy style of blues and the material he sings about. Amongst songs about devils and angels, love and death, For Eliza delicately starts; ‘When I saw my daughter, for the very first time, she fell into my hands in a slippery pile.’ It helps explain the several year gap since ‘Faultlines’, and also the minimal instrumentation used this time – he had to wait for the house to be empty to record any drums or horn parts. “I had a new family and that was my life for a couple of years. I’d also used all the songs I’d written on the last album – so I needed to write some more. But it took me a long time to learn the recording and mixing side of things. I did a lot of listening and editing! It’s like learning a new instrument. “I was writing songs as I was going and working out how to arrange and record them. Working this way means I’m over-dubbing track by track, so it’s more of an assembly process in a way, but I always try to keep a live feel. “If I’m doing vocals, I’ll do

several takes and decide which is best. If I’ve got one that I like all the way through that’s great. But if it’s got a couple of things I’m not happy with I can edit it – but it’s only if it’s really bad that I’d do that. So, there’s the odd pitch wobble – but it wouldn’t be me if there wasn’t,” he laughs. With the album released in July he played a gig at Studio 64 in Taranaki and will perform at the Capital Blues Club in Wellington in October, but says he has nothing else in the diary at the moment. It’s another challenge to be met in

gig will be with the band, he says he mostly plays solo – it’s the nature of the gigs that are available. “I enjoy solo gigs ’cos you can go off on tangents, or if you do make a mistake you can wing it and go somewhere else. You might create something new but, with a band, you’ve got to be able to follow each other, so that means usually sticking to a structure – unless they’re really good improvisers! “I’ve got a fairly rhythmic style of playing. But you need to put

what has been a very independent album process. “Organising bookings is another job that you have to fit in somewhere and recently I’ve been more concerned about getting the CDs manufactured and getting them out in time. The last album was released through Ode, but there are so few retail outlets nowadays that it’s hardly worth it. I’ve decided not to do Spotify. You get a pittance back and you may be under-cutting your digital sales that way. So it’s just on Bandcamp and the CDs will be available there too.” While the Capital Blues Club

something interesting in there too, so it’s good to have that alternating bass with your thumb to whack out a beat and pick out a melody with your other fingers, play little leads across the rhythm. “It’s nearly all standard tuning but I’ve got this old 1960s Dutch Egmond guitar I use in open A. I used that on the album for a couple of things, just to break it up a bit. I settled on open A because it suits my voice. I don’t have a wide vocal range – G is too low and D… I just can’t sing in D,” he admits with laughter.

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Shortland Street TV Theme - Graham Bollard

he longest running NZ TV theme of all time has by now ear-wormed its way through the conscious (and subconscious) sound world of multiple generations of Kiwis and international listeners alike. The 26-year consistency of public television broadcast of the show definitely helps to promote memorability of the theme, but I wonder also if the reason I find myself randomly humming the tune (and I regularly do) is because of its clear and purposeful construction â&#x20AC;&#x201C; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s undeniably catchy. Firstly I transcribed the earliest version played during the closing credits from way back in 1992, as this contains the shift to the glorious B section that is not present in the instrumental edit used for the opening credits.

approach these things. He replied that it only took 45 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The key (Gmin) was the original one from my demo. It was on the lower side for her but I think the song suited it. Once she found a slightly 'breathy' soft approach towards singing it the idea worked.â&#x20AC;? The songâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s initial construction was, he says, done in a roundabout way. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The backing music was something I had lying around that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d made a year or two earlier to test a new sampler. I decided to use that as the starting point and to try writing a vocal melody over it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I remember the brief for the theme being very rough. I knew the programme title and that it was a medical â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;soap/dramaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; focusing on

The abbreviated opening theme works efficiently on many levels to hook the audience in. The melodic rhythm is highly varied with subdivisions of the meter ranging from semiquaver to semibreve fusing rhythmic cells into strong three-note groups on beats one and three (utilising single weak note/word pickups in-between). These accentuate the contour of the couplet rhyme scheme setting up â&#x20AC;&#x153;meâ&#x20AC;?, (the secondary â&#x20AC;&#x153;seemsâ&#x20AC;?) and â&#x20AC;&#x153;needâ&#x20AC;? followed by the lovely assonate grouping â&#x20AC;&#x153;dreamâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;streetâ&#x20AC;?. Melodic direction is overwhelmingly linear, descending an octave (plus an F neighbour note) from tonic G to tonic G utilising a diatonic scale set based on G minor and omitting the 6th degree, which by harmonic implication at measure six of the melody, suggests an Eb (G Aeolian) G Aeolian minor is a somewhat sombre key to launch a soap opera but the rising cadential passage Eb through F to Gm (bVI â&#x20AC;&#x201C; bVII - i) provides a sense of fruition that is hard to beat, a canny and powerful device much utilised in pop songs (you will have heard the major key version of this progression which uses bVI - bVII â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I and is even more triumphant). I asked composer Graham Bollard about the choice of low key and the vocal session with Tina Cross he produced at Stebbings, because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always interesting to learn how musicians

everyday relationships, but thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about all. I must have had the melody well established in my head as I recall writing the lyrics sitting in my car in Mt Eden.â&#x20AC;? To my ears the theme plays out like a mini pop song with verse 1a, verse 1b, bridge and a refrain extension over verse harmony (the harmonic rhythm is halved during this section, providing a heightened sense of momentum, very cool touch). The bridge lifts to the major IV chord â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Câ&#x20AC;&#x2122; which is non diatonic and slightly unexpected after the preceding G Aeolian verse. The very first note Tina Cross sings is a startingly â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Eâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; natural, the first time the listener has heard any kind of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Eâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; note in the melody up to this point. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dramatic and shifts the harmonic perspective to G Dorian, a much more uplifting key that coincides nicely with the (slightly more positive) change in tone of the lyric. Over the course of 26 years many iterations of the theme have been revamped with new technology to accommodate the stylistic advances heard in popular music and instrumental edits were utilised from the outset. One of my favourite versions incorporated a full two verses and three bridges â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I asked Graham if this full-length song-form version was written first and then chopped down into suitable edits, or had he written additional sections of

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the song as he went along over the seasons? â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was originally only written as a one minute vocal song. I never intended it to be an instrumental... so it was difficult to make it into one. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m fairly satisfied by the 2008 instrumental but that only went to air for a year and a half. The longer version youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re refering to was a three minute promo version from 1993 that was given away as a free gift at various times. Tina did another session at my house and I wrote some extra verses for it.â&#x20AC;? How many versions he has he created over the years? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Too many... haha. In my â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;themes} folder there are 16 files. There are more than that though since it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t include the very early ones.â&#x20AC;? Graham continues to work as underscore and music supervisor on the show, prepping each episode in an unbelievably short amount of time. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I get the video files on Friday and have to deliver the whole weekly block by Wednesday the following week, so I start Friday and finish five episodes by Tuesday. As well as underscores and background tracks that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve written we use some production music too since itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot required in a very short space of time. I would estimate 15-20 underscores and 20-30 background tracksâ&#x20AC;?. The show and definitely the music have rightfully earned a place in Kiwi hearts and ears over the years. Reading the comments posted on Youtube below various Shortland St uploads suggests that even hearing the theme can be extremely nostalgic for some people living overseas, and most adults I asked during the writing of this article could mumble/sing most of the songâ&#x20AC;Ś with words! So impactful is Graham Bollardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theme amongst other things it has been gloriously reworked by something called The Bellavista Orchestra into an epic 5:00 general-Midi synth parade and out of tune â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;saxama-phonathonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (complete with a modulation a tone up for the last bridge) and included on a compilation album of Great TV Medical Drama Themes! (Available on iTunes.) Best to just listen to the original, again. Godfrey de Grut is a Silver Scroll co-winner with Che Fu, MD of the 2013 & 2015 Silver Scrolls and co-artistic director of Coca Cola Christmas in the Park 2015. He is a freelance writer, arranger and producer, lecturing in popular music studies at the University of Auckland. Follow his musical ramblings @GodfreyDeGrut on Twitter or email godfrey.degrut@gmail.com

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Binford Luthiery The business seemed to rather creep into place on the Auckland guitar-making (and repair) scene, but in a couple of years Binford Luthiery has cemented a significant and active presence, which notably includes a beginner school of luthiery. NZM’s guitar guru, Mark Bell, headed to Onehunga to meet Trevor Binford and investigate his growing luthiery business.

e’re told that the human brain can be broadly categorised as one of two main types – the ‘classical’ brain is said to be scientific, organised, methodical, pragmatic, mathematical, while the ‘romantic’ brain is more intuitive, creative, impulsive and artistic. I’m no expert, but let’s throw in chaotic and needy with addictive tendencies. This is why luthiers are such a rare and special breed, because to be truly gifted in their craft (or should I say ‘art’?) they need to have copious facility in both categories. For sure there is a fair chunk of exacting mathematical and engineering mental and physical dexterity required to produce a great-sounding instrument; measuring loads, devising complex bracing systems and neck joints, routing and drilling and any number of complex and exacting tasks that sit squarely in the ‘engineering’ box. But to truly transcend the parameters of science you need to tap into something much more unquantifiable and mysterious, and that is where the true artistry of instrument building begins. Trevor Binford is one of those luthiers who manage this mental balancing act of seamlessly marrying art to craft with the skill of an all-but-invisible neck joint. Specialising in jazz archtop guitars, he produces a range of custom handmade stringed instruments, also building (and repairing) acoustic flat tops, ukuleles and electric guitars. He’s a busy man, as this story will reveal, so I was tasked with finding out as much as it’s possible to absorb in one evening about the mysterious art of bespoke instrument building. Driving to Binford Luthiery’s workshop in an industrial sector of Auckland’s Onehunga, I had a mental picture of him as a thick-set Kiwi, plaid-encased forearms like Christmas hams, calloused hand crushing mine in greeting – “Gidday mate, beers in the fridge, come and see the workshop…” Names, of course, are often deceiving and Trevor turns out to be a softly spoken, Michigan-born, Washington State-schooled, Alaskan life-experienced young man (he’s 30) with a wealth of high-end luthiery already under his belt – the results of which are hanging from the walls of the back room and speak to me as articulately as anything Trevor has to say over the next hour – which is quite a lot. Unsure of what he wanted to do after graduating from school, the young Binford eventually got his start in the business by enrolling in a year-long masters course in guitar building and repair, in British Columbia.

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While there one phone call changed the trajectory of this budding young luthier’s life forever. “When I was at guitar-building school one of my teachers, Mike Jarvis, got a call from Bob Benedetto who’s the biggest name in guitar building in the world when it comes to these particular guitars (arch tops). His instruments sell for US $40,000 each.” (I nod knowingly as if to convey familiarity with this jaw-dropping revelation.) “So he (Jarvis) says to me, ‘They need somebody down there, you can work in the States, and we like your work, so would you go?’ I had a couple of things to work out, but there was really no way around it, I had to take that job. There was no other opportunity in the world like that. So I went down to Georgia and worked with Bob Benedetto.” “He’s a really hard-nosed Italian gentleman from New York, a real tough boss, but he was a really cool boss to have as well, a very good player. I just had a really good time waking up in the morning and working for the best guitar builder in the world for a couple of years.” With US recession storm clouds gathering on the horizon he and his wife made the decision to move to NZ, staying with his wife’s family in Hawkes Bay and working the orchards for a couple of years until Trevor had accumulated enough money to tool up a small luthiery business. At that point they made the move to Auckland, and Binford Guitars began in earnest. As I take in the well-appointed workshop my eye is drawn to a nicely contoured piece of timber soon to grace the top of an acoustic/electric arch top. I ask if it’s been steamed over a mould to acquire those complex curves. “It isn’t. That’s carved, that’s why it’s called an acoustic arch top. Because there’s no sound properties in glue. To steam a piece of wood to a shape you have to have laminates to make it strong, then you have to have glue between each laminate to hold it together. Well that’s a lot of glue when you have three sheets of timber with glue in-between. There

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are no acoustic properties to it. When you hit a string that top will vibrate some, but if you go through the process of carving it out of an inch-thick piece of wood then you have a lot more sound.” The tools he uses for this exacting task are marvellously old school – devilishly sharp small brass hand-planes, one of which is not much bigger than your thumb. He says these tools allow him to work at a pace that feels right to him. They remove the right amount of material with each stroke to allow him to gradually conjure the curves he is looking for. You might think this would be the most time consuming aspect of arch top building, but Trevor mentions later that sculpting the top and back takes him about five hours these days, while the total guitar build time comes to around a month. I ask whether he likes to incorporate any NZ timbers in his beautiful designs. “For certain things yes, although with a lot of the timbers it’s hard to find ones that are dried properly and processed properly. So when people want to buy an acoustic guitar I don’t reinvent the wheel usually, I just use standards like mahogany and spruce – I don’t go down that route. For certain things I have, like for neck timbers I’ve used swamp kauri and it hasn’t moved at all, however I’ve reinforced it with carbon fibre and laminated it a couple of times. I use it with discretion.” Discretion seems to fit the Binford design philosophy rather well – you won’t find lashings of paua inlays, ornate bindings and wildly exotic timbers. “That’s somebody else’s gift, not my own. I find the simpler the better.” What you will find are masterpieces of balanced design, visually appealing in a beautifully understated way –instruments that look and sound like they belong up there with the very best, which they doubtless do. While our interview is going on a young man is intently sanding away in the background. He’s not an assistant but in fact a student – the third leg to the Binford Luthiery’s building, repair and teaching platform – his Guitar Buildshop. “What I offer and what’s really taken off are courses for acoustic and electric guitar building. So people sign up and we go through all the processes required to come out with an acoustic guitar or electric guitar. There will be flaws in the end but it will be a playable, nice-sounding instrument that they were very much a part of making. I show processes and I help them and I do some of it myself, but a lot

of the grunt-work is done by them, and that brings them a step closer to the instrument and to the music.” Surrounded as we are by such beautiful creations I have to ask whether he ever gets emotionally attached to certain instruments and consequently finds it a bit wrenching to let them go, in the knowledge he will probably never see them again. He admits that in the early days he did. “If I have that real appreciation for that instrument I’ve just created, it’s something I want to share, it’s something I want to sell on to somebody. I want somebody else to appreciate that as well, I want them to invest themselves emotionally the same way I have.” “You should never glorify the inanimate object too much, because it’s the person holding it that really makes it sing.”

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Hard to say if that’s ‘classic’ brain or ‘romantic’ brain that came up with that pearl, but I suspect it’s from both.

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Mixing In The Box – Part 2

kay, valuable cliché time. ‘Start with the end in mind.’ There is a temptation to just start pushing faders around and see what happens. If you have an idea of what you want your final product to sound like, then you are more likely to get an appropriate result. This means you need a plan and that you might need to do some research. Does the track remind you of another track that you like the sound of? See if you can find a copy of that track and have a listen. When you find something that meets the brief put it somewhere so that it’s available to you quickly – perhaps on a muted track in the session. Listen to this track intently and decide what it is that you like about it that’s appropriate to your potential mix. I like to write these things down so that I can keep reminding myself of the intent. Your plan should include a map of where you want to position the different elements in the mix, both horizontally (using panning) and vertically (using EQ). Whether you are going to group elements such as drums together and how they are going to get to the stereo buss. (Are they going to use an independent sub group buss?) Which tracks may require dynamics processing (eg. gating or compression), and are you going to need to create an artificial space (reverb) in which to place the mix? To get your session ready for the mix some ‘left brain’ activity is required. Based on your plan insert the plug-ins that you think you need on to the appropriate tracks. Create any sub groups that you need and route the appropriate tracks to them and then route them to the appropriate masters. Set up auxiliary busses for time-based effects, such as reverb, that you may use on multiple tracks. In order to make accurate decisions with regard to volume a useful practice that was common in the ‘good old analogue days’ was to make sure that all your tracks are of equal volume. To achieve this analogue consoles often had a Return Trim or MTR Trim knob. Your DAW probably won’t have this but you can insert a plug-in at the top of the plug-in chain that has a ‘gain’ adjustment in it. Often these can be found in the Utility section of your plug-in list. To achieve uniformity, take each individual fader and position it half way between unity (0dB) and the maximum level. Play the signal through the track and adjust the gain either up or down so that the signal peaks at unity. Once the gain is set, lower the fader to -3dB. If you apply this process to each track you will be making decisions based on equal volume. It also has the added benefit of ensuring that an appropriate level is going into your plug-ins to help them work in an optimal manner. (See graphic below.) While you’re doing this it’s a good time to check the phasing of your tracks. Some DAWs include a phase button with their Gain plug-ins which is very handy. This is particularly valuable if you have recorded something

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with multiple mics. A good example would be acoustic drums as there are often multiple mics on the same elements especially the kick and snare. Pick one track as the master for each element then change the phase on a second track while both are soloed. If the tracks are in phase then they will sound robust together, if they’re not in phase they will sound weaker. Apply this process to all tracks of the mix and check the phase between the individual elements. For example the bass in relation to the kick. While you’re doing this you can also be ‘looking for the magic’ – the elements that are going to be the backbone of the track – the things that hook you and draw listeners into the song. Keep these in the back of your mind so that you can feature them in the finished track. If the signal is too dynamic you could insert a plug-in, such as a compressor or gain rider, to control the variation. Leave adjusting it until you get into the mix. You could also consider where you want to pan elements within the stereo spectrum and roughly position them, but again this is a decision that can be made as you go through the mixing process. The intention of this preliminary work is to make the mix process more streamlined and allow you to ‘just do stuff’. Just because you have inserted something doesn’t mean that you have to use it or be committed to it. As you go through the process you may well want to change some of these things. Once you are happy with the basic session and are ready to mix make sure to save the session as a milestone mix and give it a x.00 suffix so that you can come back to it if necessary. Save all following mixes with an incremental suffix (eg x.01). Now you’re ready to start doing all the interesting and creative stuff, and that’s what we’ll be discussing in the next issue of NZM. Mal Smith has been a lecturer at SAE Institute in Parnell for the past 15 years. He also mans the keys for Auckland band The Blue Jaffas. You can contact him at m.smith@sae.edu

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Being jazz-based instrumental recordings, radio has never been an outlet – and being evidently performance-shy, touring and gigging has not earned them a following. Still, it could well be that you are more familiar with Trip To The Moon than you think. If you’ve locked in to Shortland St at any stage over the last 20 or so years you’ll likely have heard their music – not that they deliberately make music for syncing to local television or film – well, not until recently at least. Richard Thorne caught up with Tom Ludvigson, the duo’s keyboard playing composer, recording engineer, producer – even video maker – to discuss their latest album offering, ‘A Traveller’s Tale’.

Trip To The Moon

Photos: Michael Flynn

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tarting out as A Trip To The Moon, Tom Ludvigson and Trevor Reekie released their first album, ‘Jazz Hop’, in 1996. Regular Sunday afternoon get-togethers in Ludvigson’s garage/home studio have resulted in a steady stream of subsequent Trip To The Moon albums, all variously blending the realms of trip hop, jazz, electro-acoustic, ambient and electronic world music soundscapes. 2012’s ‘The Invisible Line’ was album number five, and 2016 brings ‘A Traveller’s Tale’, the most consistently realised of their albums to date – and also the most determinedly ambient. Over almost 20 years their composition process has typically involved working tracks up from beats and drum loops, meaning a strong rhythmic element as a start point, with the creation of a new album the end goal. The pair wanted this time to be more ambient, and initially set no other agenda. “Instead of working with that intent and compositional ideas we just set up and played [and recorded]. For probably a year we kept meeting once a week, as we have for years, and took the approach of not planning it.” Their recording space (his open plan lounge) is neatly populated with a variety of keyboards on desks and stands, a baby grand piano dominating one corner. There are a couple of matched condenser mics on stands but nothing looks state-of-the-art-new. Every Sunday Ludvigson would set up some of his older synths, which he says offer far greater user friendliness than computer-based versions in terms of sound tweaking while you play – “… new models don’t have any knobs to turn and so are less expressive,” as he notes. “We accumulated a lot of recordings, and the constant factors meant that we had quite a lot of room to collage this material together in interesting ways. Trevor sees them as all being in one key [G minor] but they weren’t really. I know that he likes to tune his guitar in open tunings and most of the time he plays in open D or open G, I think, maybe DADGAD,

but depending on what bass notes you put underneath it becomes a different note in a different key!” Over a few hours together they would play and record just two or three long stretches of spontaneously created music. With a bit of in-computer engineering at the session end they’d each get a rough mix of the day’s playing. After a year of this they started listening back and decided they should make another TTTM album after all. Ludvigson had been working up his video skills and raiding their work for backing, so had already been looking over the material. Sections that were half an hour long might provide just a few minutes of selected content, but surprisingly he describes the reduction of all those recorded hours down to the components of a dozen tracks as being easy. “You pick one to work with and if it’s satisfying you finish it. If it’s not you pick another one. We threw away probably a third of the material we had worked on, sometimes tracks that we might have spent 30 or 40 hours on! It’s actually part of our process, we always make more than we need. Then when we decide that some isn’t as good as the rest we are improving the overall quality, throwing some away means that what’s left is only the best stuff. “We could probably make another album, or two from what’s left, but there’s another thing about music in that it’s related to its contemporary context and so it grows old and becomes history. So maybe the best things are still there – but I doubt we will ever dip in to look at them again.” With documentaries and Shortland St being the main revenue sources for TTTM,‘A Traveller’s Tale’ does have origins in music for syncing, and to some extent is a more musically populated version of a recording they mastered en route, for distribution to decision-makers in the local film and soundtrack scene. “Trip’s music has often been too busy for that kind of background music role as there

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is always something happening,” Ludvigson notes smiling.“So we in fact mastered an album that we called ‘5.5’, and made only a dozen copies of it, which we sent to people who use music in film because that was tailor-made for background.” Key to the difference in overall sound from previous TTTM albums is that for ‘A Traveller’s Tale’ they decided not to get their usual master-musician collaborators involved in track creation, rather leaving their involvement to later in the process. Songwriter Greg Johnson has been a regular contributor with his trumpet since ‘Jazz Hop’. Guitarist Nigel Gavin and Jim Langabeer (soprano sax et al) have both featured on most albums since. Though photographed together with their instruments for the album’s CD liner, the other musicians recorded their parts individually – especially in the case of the LA-based Johnson. “It might be that Nigel did an overdub on one and Jim did an overdub on another and then we decided to put them together onto a new hybrid track – and many of the tracks were created like that. They became what I call an ‘epic’. An epic is a track that has at least three disparate sections,” Ludvigson chuckles. “There are very marked transitions into something new in some of the tracks.” In the case of the two Auckland musicians he would take his very portable recording system – his laptop, a digital converter, headphones and mic – to them. “It’s so different from last century. With Greg’s overdubs we just emailed him the tracks and he did them in his LA studio and sent them back.” The Auckland-based four played as a band for the last album release and will be coming together again to release ‘A Traveller’s Tale’ in late August.

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BSDFF PO GPSFJHO TPJM Arcee is Rona Claire Wignall, the performer name being both her initials and a riff on that of a feisty female Transformersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; autobot. Born in Manchester, England, she grew up in NZ from 12. Having studied music at Otago University she has recently shifted north to Auckland. Arcee performs typically blunt, conscious hip hop, rapping about issues that affect herself, friends and family. Her debut album â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Arcee LPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; was released in August last year. Invited to perform at Fusion Festival in Germany she tacked on a small tour that added France and Switzerland to her international performance resumĂŠ, kindly providing NZM with this tour diary.

Auckland, Hongkong, Frankurt, Berlin â&#x20AC;&#x201C; June 27/28 27 hours worth of flights! As soon as we landed at Berlin Airport we were picked up by a private shuttle to be taken straight to our first gig at Fusion Festival. Feeling like Oprah we were prepped for the two and a half hour drive from Berlin to LĂ¤rz. Instead we were soon travelling over 200km/h on the autobahn which is a new experience for us. Very scary, and we underestimated German humour. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think the driver got our Kiwi jokes either. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Guess where weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re from?â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oh, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mind. I pick up 1000 artists today.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Well, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re from New Zealand so you can tell the other 999 artists that we won! We came the furthest so weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re the winners!â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ja, okay.â&#x20AC;? Conversation ends. We arrived at the festival site a day before it began. They were still setting up but Oliver, our manager from Artistcare, gave us a tour of the site. We weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking around saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wow itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really busy!â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oh, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just the 3000 crew,â&#x20AC;? Oliver replied. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The 70,000 festival goers arrive tomorrow.â&#x20AC;? We were so shocked at the sheer size of Fusion. The festival is held on an old war-time air strip and the 12 stages are made from the old Nazi plane hangars. A much better use for that area of land now. Everything at the festival â&#x20AC;&#x201C; stages, shops, seating, gates, fences, toilets, sound box â&#x20AC;&#x201C; were all made there months ahead of Fusion. We weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re given free food vouchers for the five days, which we could go to any of the three backstage kitchen and exchange for a meal. Every meal was vegetarian and absolutely delicious. We found our first German supermaket (Netto) just a short bus ride away from the festival and went round every aisle saying â&#x20AC;&#x153;Woooah look at this.â&#x20AC;?

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Fusion Festival, LĂ¤rz â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Thursday June 30 We performed at 9pm in the Tube Box Hangar, to a crowd of about 300 people. For a first gig in Germany it was awesome to see a full sea of heads jumpinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to our Kiwi music. After our set the organisers asked us to play again the following day, this time at the outside stage next to the hangar. Although the gig was small in comparison we were surprised to have so many people afterwards asking us where to find our music online. We were so pumped to be at Fusion and put on the best shows a jetlagged NZ rapper can give. The next few days we got to enjoy the festival. It was a completley anti-facist festival with its main focus being equality and love. Racism, sexism or homophobia were completely excluded. Fresh orange juice was in big demand and we wondered why they kept the orange skins in big buckets outside one of the big marquees. Then on the last day, a massive orange fight broke out between the campers. Hundereds of oranges flying through the air! We met up with a few Kiwis who were at the festival for a few days, and drank with them at the campsite. It was there we learnt about Pfirsich-Melone, peach-melon, a popular combination of flavours in Germany. Hamburg â&#x20AC;&#x201C; July 2-8 Leaving the festival, we managed to talk our way onto an earlier bus and got to Hamburg where we were picked up by the festival organiserâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son Pavel, who showed us round for the week. We were taken to a 14-bed apartment for the week â&#x20AC;&#x201C; so we invited some

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European-based friends and family to join us! My sister came over from London and one of my best school friends from Portugal, along with a few friends from northern Germany, to look around Hamburg and come to the gig. During the week we watched some of the Euro 16 matches at the famous St Pauli stadium. I also visited Schanze 12 Studio to do some piano rap recording with Naked Ape Records. Although I perform as an MC with an electro set and backing tracks, I also perform a little something called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;piano rapâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; where I play the piano as my rhythm and melody and rap over the top. This style of mine is more about the message and the lyrics, where I rap about issues such as anti-bullying, domestic violence, racism, sexismâ&#x20AC;Ś Our gig in Hamburg was at a club located right on the waterfront, the very popular hip hop venue, Hafenklang (which means sound of the harbour). It was on Friday night and people

were filing in very quickly. It was also the start of the Bleubird & Ceschi tour which I was opening for, so I really wanted to bring the energy and skill. It was definitely the dopest thing seeing my name on posters all over Hamburg. The show was incredible, about 100 people with such great energy! Watching American rappers Bleubird and Ceschi was incredible. Based in Florida and NY, their performance was polished and mind-blowing. It’s really neccesary seeing rappers on stage who are better than you, and wanting to push yourself, write better and perform with more finesse. Leipzig – July 9-12 We jumped on a train the next day for Leipzig, a five-hour journey going through the set and routine for that night’s gig. We were picked up at the station by the venue owner and taken to an artist flat above the club. An old school apartment sleeping 20 people, full of stickers and graffiti. Following some drinks and American politics discussions with Bleubird and Ceschi before the show, we got ready to go on stage straight, but not before leaving our own impression on the walls. It was a tough show in Leipzig. Although

the room was packed, smoking was completely acceptable inside the club and the fog of smoke made singing and rapping extremely difficult. This is something that’s never an issue in NZ and I would never think about. Oberhausen – July 13 Over the next few days we explored Leipzig. We watched some beach volleyball in the middle of town, explored the amazing cathedrals and even picked up a tattoo before heading off to Oberhausen, where we were put up for two nights in a hotel. Not as beautiful as previous stops but the show in Oberhausen was awesome. Strasbourg, France – July 15 Another train ride across beautiful European landscape. This time our journey ended in France – the amazing town of Strasbourg. A little holiday before our final shows in Switzerland. Strasbourg was incredible, we rented bikes for a whole day and biked around the small towns of petite france. It was Bastille Day and there were celebrations all around the town. We were devestated to hear of the terrorist attack in the city of Nice not far from us. It really was such sad news.

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Zurich, Switzerland – July 16 We arived in Switzerland after a nice bus ride south. The owner of the bar we were performing at kindly put us up in his apartment for our last stop on tour. We got changed and then headed off to Zum Gaul for an under-the-stars show. About 80 turned up to the gig, with people lined up on the bridge who stopped to have a listen. I performed the new piano rap track I had recently recorded in Hamburg and they seemed to enjoy my fun facts about NZ. The next day I was invited last minute to take a workshop on female rap, songwriting and performance up on a Swiss mountain. Afterwards I performed to the whole camp of 150 people and then hiked back into Zurich. We sold out of the rest of our albums and were ready to go back home. During the trip I was contiously filming an ‘on tour music video’ to a new single to release in early August. The track is called Alg (all good) and it features the whole tour. >"39,SSLY3SOd _399 "UU9_

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n this issue we are going to look at some Afro–Cuban bass lines two of which are contemporary, and one, while from a relatively recent song, is based on a traditional Cuban rhythm. In 1969, Santana released a song called Evil Ways (composed by Clarence Henry), which became the band’s first hit. While it is a ‘rock’ song of the period, it uses a very traditional Cuban rhythm called a ‘cha, cha, cha’. (Check out the Woodstock version of the song on YouTube.) Santana became famous as a

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rock band using Latin rhythms already familiar to a large section of American society, and Carlos Santana is still out there today. A resurgence of success happened with the band’s 1999 album, ‘Supernatural’ on which there is a single called Smooth that uses almost the same rhythm, though not as rigidly as the 1969 hit. A cha, cha, cha rhythm is counted as 1, 2, ‘3 and’ 4, although the bass wouldn’t actually play this (see Example 1). The Smooth bass line (the first eight bars are in Example 2) sits somewhere between this feel and the more

contemporary Cuban salsa that is present not only in Afro–Cuban dance music, but also in a lot of rock, pop, and jazz music that draws on Latin influences. The line uses an A minor oriented scale that is mostly Aeolian, although the F falling onto the E highlights the Latin sound and suggests a Phrygian scale (which always sounds Spanish). Example 3 is what is called a ‘tumbao’ bass line, which is often used in salsa music. These lines are more difficult because they feel as if the bass is crossing the beat being laid down by the

drummer. (If you watch the live version of Smooth on YouTube, the band goes into a ‘montuno’ section used for solos, most often by a pianist playing octaves in both hands, at the end of the song. This section features bassist Benny Rietveld playing a ‘tumbao’ line on electric upright.) The art of playing this type of line over complex chord changes takes some work, but a lot of listening to the style will get you there. Example 3 is played under a simple chord sequence (Am, D, Bm, E, G, Am, D, F, A). An easy way to play it is to break each note down to its number of quavers while listening to a 4/4 pulse from your computer or drum machine. Start slowly and build up the tempo. Example 4 is another salsa line and it can be slapped once you get used to it, as it is slightly simpler than Example 3 (although it would be best to get the feel right first). As noted above, this style is unlike just about every style you may have played and often has the bass crossing the groove laid down by the other members of the band. The cowbell player playing a solid 4 to the bar or a 2:3 or 3:2 clavé will be your best friend! (I’ll explain clavé rhythms in a later issue.) Also, you may initially find that you have to almost cut yourself off from listening to soloists because the tumbao feel follows the chord sequence they are using, but your bass notes don’t always change the chords being used where other band members’ parts do. Have fun! (Dr. Rob Burns is an Associate Professor in Music at the University of Otago. As a former professional studio bassist in the UK, he performed and recorded with David Gilmour, Pete Townsend, Jerry Donahue, Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, James Burton, Ian Paice and Jon Lord, Eric Burdon and members of Abba. Rob is currently a member of Dunedin bands Subject2change and The Verlaines.) ashdownmusic. com/artists/252/Robert-Burns

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Nikita Tu-Bryant

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ikita Tu-Bryant was born in Taiwan’s capital Taipei, moving to Auckland before she was four. Introduced to music with violin lessons from the age of five, she soon developed a keen musical ear. It was her NZ-born dad who introduced her to the electric guitar at 10. By 15 she was playing in pubs and, alongside her musical chops, was starting to develop her tenacity and skill as a performer. She went on to study jazz at the NZ School of Music in Wellington. “This album is evidently about love, a love story,” Tu-Bryant opens, hidden away in the quietest possible corner of the departure lounge at Auckland’s international airport. I can hear the clinking of cups and clanging of the announcement bell as she sheds light on the concept of her latest collection, an album tiltled ‘(Before, and After) Joshua’. “In its lightness and in its darkness, because everything is contextual, one cannot exist without the other. This is simply a record of one girl’s love journey. Relatable or not relatable, I really wanted to make it as honest and truthful as possible – hence the very raw recording.” As with our interview, album listeners are transported to Nikita’s world throughout the

On the south coast of Wellington, hidden away from the city, still in hearing distance from the airport but where the ocean laps gently on the sand, Nikita Tu-Bryant recorded an album in the back of her van. With the back door open to let in the breeze, in one very raw and personal session she let go of eight songs that had been brooding in her mind. Karin Vincent talked to Tu-Bryant about the concept for that new album ‘(Before, And After) Joshua’, the process and the story behind the story.

album, the audible surroundings all included, left in as it was at that moment. It’s like you are perhaps in the front seat, listening in. The sonic drones of an aircraft landing or taking off are not filtered or cut away, but remain as part of the ‘realness’, a truthful awakening to the journey Nikita is taking you on. “The beauty of recording as a solo artist is you only have yourself to make sure you are happy with the end result. With technology we can spend forever re-recording and re-recording, polishing and polishing. I really wanted to let this story go as soon as I could, because it was actually part of my grieving of this experience and I needed to do it then and there. I care more about the story than the quality.” Her van, Rangi, plays an essential role in this particular story – the story of love that ignites, love that conquers and then love which had to be let go. While roaming from bay to mountain, river to forest in NZ, Rangi was home to the couple who first met by chance in an airport on another continent thousands of miles away, while in transit to opposite directions. Joshua, she explains, is not his name, rather a place. Nikita investigates the abstract while remaining a storyteller. She teaches that the most vital attitude towards creativity, especially in regards to writing music, is to be careful not to judge it as you are creating. “It’s very fragile, and having it be judged

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while you are creating limits the possibilities. You almost have to unlearn what you already know and approach each piece of art with naivety and clear canvas as a child would have, like exploring the piano for the very first time.” The 28 year-old’s popular Wellington band, Nikita the Spooky and a Circus of Men, features double bass, cello, violin and guitar. She also plays in Flite, alongside Ed Zuccollo and Rick Cranson, somehow finding time to work on another solo project, a play, which she describes as her biggest endeavour yet. The five-episode play, named Tide Waits For No Man, involves multiple storytelling techniques, or mediums, that she has been exploring for the past couple of years across the globe. One of those is puppetry – the reason for her imminent departure for LA, from where she is heading to Vermont to take up studying with master puppeteer Peter Schumann. He created the Bread and Puppet Theater which performed very popular and politically radical shows during the ’60s and ’70s. The CD version of her album features a hand printed cactus on the front. The influence of the water and the desert on his collection of work further reflected in the mono-coloured print on its brown, recycled paper cover. “The ocean has taught me that nature does what nature wants. It has taught me to be patient, to be present and it’s taught me the wonder of not knowing the time.” lllYPJLJg"gj,_n"PgY3SYPp

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Kiri Eriwata

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ow focusing on education, Kiri Eriwata is a self-taught musician and veteran live performer. She recalls music being the only thing that mattered in her youth. “It’s all I ever wanted to do,” she smiles. “I tried drama and journalism and everything else, but that was just to support what I was doing as a songwriter.” Parental concerns meant getting a day job, but that soon proved a folly. “The pay was really bad, and I was making three times as much money going out and doing gigs at night,” she laughs. The first band Eriwata was involved in was Acoustic Attitude, along with Aaron Carpenter and Aaron Neil. “That was pretty much back in my hippie days. I was a bit of a flower child in the ’90s,” she laughs. “We did really well, pretty much working five nights a week back in those days... that was my kind of starting point going into those kinds of places.” Taking some diverse career twists and turns since, and she has worked with a number of international musicians including Sarah Blasko, Bobby McFerrin, Jamie Cullum and Bonnie Tyler. She also collaborated with Kevin Mark Trail (ex-The Streets), which resulted in a Te Reo track Na Te Kukune, which came out of beats Trail gave mutual friend Huia Hamon. “She would give them out to different artists to see if they could put anything on them. That was my first take of a waiata in Te Reo.”

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Eriwata’s forthcoming album, the melodic and often experimental ‘Muse and Memorabilia’ is her turn to shine. “This record is really more a collection of works than a consistent, cohesive album… I think my style veered depending on whom I was working with.” Thus the bouncy country-ish pop of Get Back Home is followed immediately by the slow ballad lament Goodbye Chicago, a standout track. “I think it’s not what it probably seems. It was written as homage to the life I had singing in the cover bands, which was a huge part of my career. It was an analogy for the glitzy life that I had on stage... about letting go of that kind of life.” ‘Muse and Memorabilia’ was recorded and produced by Neil Baldock, back when he was Roundhead Studios’ resident engineer, with mastering done at Kog Studios. “We had several home studios set up and did a lot of pre and post work at home, as well as utilising Roundhead and Revolver to do the big stuff.” A talented and creative cast of performers assisted with the album, including The Solomon Cole Band, Bones Hillman, Nick Gaffney and Jol Mulholland. The combination of Baldock and Jol Mulholland meant Mulholland’s weird and wonderful sounds found their right place on the record.

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Photo: Laura Tait

She has released a number of radio singles in a diversity of genres covering pop, folk, rock, urban Maori and soul. She’s shared the stage with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and sung backing for international stars like Bonnie Tyler, Leo Sayer and Sarah Blasko. On another tack, Kiri Eriwata has for several years lectured in songwriting, voice and music industry studies at Auckland University – and alongside that has been slowly compiling a debut album titled ‘Muse and Memorabilia’. Amanda Mills spoke with Eriwata ahead of the long time-coming album’s release.

“In the end, that song, I Love You, But sounded nothing like how I originally wrote it, which was a very riff-based guitar track.” Where possible Baldock used instruments already set up for other sessions in the Auckland studio. “Neil was also helping to record a lot of those guys’ albums, it was a little bit of contra... I can definitely say the album is both Neil’s and mine… he was so much a part of it.” Another path in her career led Eriwata to teaching music industry studies at Auckland University, lecturing in voice, the industry and songwriting, and more latterly private vocal teaching. Teaching also feeds into her network of industry peers, and with the help of Songbroker’s Jan Hellriegel her songs have featured on Shortland Street and Filthy Rich. Eriwata says she has no plans to tour ‘Muse and Memorabilia’ in a traditional sense, preferring the idea of playing gigs on the beach, flash-mob style. “I think I’m going to work on some music that doesn’t have as big a production,” she ponders. “I really like the idea of just peeling back and finding something a bit more organic. I’d like to just try some different things… I don’t want to end up repeating the same type of work.”

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So Laid Back Country China Separately frustrated with the strictures of the different variations of country music that their respective bands had hitched their wagons to, Wellington musicians Michael Keane and Harriett Ferry found a shared desire to fashion something new. Four years on, So Laid Back Country China’s second album sees their adopted ‘canyon rock’ genre growing in depth, breadth and popularity. Holly McGeorge caught up with the pair in a Wellington bar.

Calmly Armed

xplaining the origins of that mouthful of a band name, songwriter Michael Keane quite accurately describes the music of So Laid Back Country China. “At first we used it to describe how to play something to an earlier drummer. It kind of came out because it’s long, a little bit confusing and a little bit country. It has a sort of fragility to it.” Previously a member of Wellington act John The Baptist, Keane was finally able to fully focus on his own project when the alt-country quartet officially broke up in mid-2014. He’d been writing songs for it since 2011, releasing the first EP ‘Winter’ as So Laid Back Country China soon afterwards. Singer and keyboardist Harriett Ferry had signed up in 2012. She too had a background in country music, having previously played with John The Baptist member Shaun Blackwell in a band called Big River Chain. “We wanted to tear [country] song structures apart and create a huge live sound, as well as writing music that was reflective and truthful to our day to day lives,” Keane remembers of their shared goals when first collaborating. Both the band and its sound soon grew with the addition of bassist James Bennett and Kane Tippler on drums and percussion. ‘Winter’, recorded and produced by James Goldsmith at local Wellington venues Meow and Puppies, was followed by the band’s debut album, ‘With Knees of Honey in Goodbye Canyon’, in May 2015. Again just over a year on, the quartet (and engineer/producer) have independently dropped a third album, this one called ‘Sin Cristales’. Again with the enigmatic titles. Keane explains that the new album’s name also goes back to 2012, when a South American Twitter account – that typically posts pictures of children kidnapped by drug cartels – shared early demos of the band with the comment, ‘It’s like falling out a window without the glass,’ in Spanish. He thinks about it for a moment, but concludes he can’t repeat the Spanish words. “What stuck was ‘sin cristales’. It has been a piece of imagery in my head and it tied in with me stopping drinking and a few other

things, so that was the base of the material. The title carries on from canyon rock [a genre they have assumed which possibly helps explain some unlikely critical comparisons to Calexico], although we want to move away from that, with the glass and having a kind of falling imagery. “I always think of canyon rock as a really immense and cavernous sound, but with a quite specific slow pace movement, not necessarily just soundscapes but the feeling of travelling and gliding… a big sound,” he emphasises. Again the band decided to work with Goldsmith and recorded in October/November 2015 at Goldsmith’s Blue Barn Studio in Wellington suburb Mt Cook. “James gets us and our sound. He often throws a spanner in the works and changes things, and it works for the better,” Harriett enthuses. Sometimes that meant him stripping out recorded parts, and sometimes it meant compromising with Wellington’s wild weather, a favourite part of the process for Keane. “It was one night when the rain was falling horizontally and we were waiting for it to disappear so we could track. James was great to capture it all and I am really glad we did it that way – it captured the feeling we were going for.” While the band’s roots are clearly in country, their music sits more in the broader field of cinematic post rock a la Mogwai, Mono, or, to keep it local, Napier’s Jakob. Ferry is unsure how best to describe their sound. “We wouldn’t know, as we bring different influences to the band. Our drummer listens to a lot of Pink Floyd and Tool, classic drummer stuff, we really love cheesy country but we can’t do that ‘cos we’re not American. I like [German modern composer] Nils Frahm and Tom Waits as pianists. Michael listens to guitarists like William Tyler, Robbie Basho and Neil Young.” Producer James Goldsmith is no more certain. “I used to describe them as prog stoner country band when I first worked with them on ‘Winter’, but since then they have really evolved. The songwriting incorporates elements of post rock and alt country, as well as more traditional

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folk and country elements. So I’ll tow the line and say canyon rock.” In the recordings, Keane’s voice booms and croons, sometimes reminiscent of The National’s Matt Berninger, at others touching on Ian Curtis’s legendary and appealing darkness – with insecurity and shakiness. Ferry’s warm and pure voice provides the ying to his yang, suiting the contradictory atmosphere of the music. In many ways, ‘Sin Cristales’ sits on a bipolar scale, an album that pulls the listener in many directions, gives conflicting emotional musical and lyrical cues. Lyrics are deceptively short, repetitive and tell their stories mostly between the lines, conveying emotions around very vague outlines of snapshots in time – feelings of inadequacy, resignation, detachedness yet longing, lust (in such a matter of fact fashion that sounds like it’s nearly lacking passion), melancholia. Hollow body guitar chords ring and sparkle from a base that’s dark and moody here. Frantic prog rock guitar riffing breaks out over pedestrian drums and piano there. It’s cold but warm. “We just wanted to do what was right for each song and for the album. A couple of songs didn’t end up on the album because they didn’t feel right. We certainly didn’t have any reference points. Although Blood had a very Bill Callahan [Smog] slant, originally as an acoustic song, which isn’t what we were going for, so we broke it apart a lot,” Ferry points out. “We would have liked to have had more than seven songs but really wanted to make sure we gave it its due, letting it find itself and respecting each song for what it is and not trying to push any influences onto it and letting it breathe.” Given their pattern to date it’s no surprise that Keane is more keen to move on to the next than dwell on the merits of ‘Sin Cristales’. There’s a hint of addiction in his creative process. “We want to do this all again. We want to write another album, gig and do all the stuff you do after the album is done. I just want to record more. Make people listen to it, release singles.” `SM"J7,"3L3SjPg_n3GJP"Y ,"P73"OUY3SO

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NZ MUSIC S E RV I C E S DIRECTORY 2016

Edition