FREE I S S U E . 374 J U LY 2015
SOC IAL S I NC E 77’
JOHNNY MARR GIN WIGMORE AVA L A N C H E C I T Y
DANIEL JOHNS ANIMALS & ANOREXIA
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CREDITS Rip It Up Creators Murray Cammick Alistair Dougal Publisher Grant Hislop Publishing Coordinator Tyler Hislop - tyler@harkentertainment.com Rip It Up Head Writer Andrew Johnstone Groove Guide Head Writer Jake Ebdale Designer Ashley Keen - ashley@harkentertainment.com Sub-Editor Louise Adams Sales Grant Hislop - grant@harkentertainment.com
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Publishing Assistant Jamie Hislop - jamie@harkentertainment.com Accounts Gail Hislop - accounts@harkentertainment.com Contributors Nick Collings, Sarah Thomson, Gary Steel, Laura Weaser, Kate Powell, Mark Kendrick, Guy Innes
Rip It Up and Groove Guide Magazines is published by Hark Entertainment Ltd Office 2a Waverly Street, Auckland CBD, New Zealand Postal PO Box 6032 Wellesley Street, Auckland 1141, New Zealand Website ripitup.co.nz or grooveguide.co.nz Printers Webstar | Blue Star Group Limited | Shit Hot Printers Rip It Up and Groove Guide are subject to copyright in its entirety. The contents may not be reproduced in any form, either in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher. All rights reserved in material accepted for publication, unless initially specified otherwise. All letters and other material forwarded to the magazine will be assumed intended for publication unless clearly labeled “NOT FOR PUBLICATION�. Opinions express in the magazine are not necessarily those of Hark Entertainment Limited. No responsibility is accepted for unsolicited material. ISSN 0114-0876
CONTENTS
01.
28.
14. 34.
08.
16.
26. 6. What Goes On/What’s On The Rip It Up Stereo, 8. Daniel Johns, 10. So What…/Tweet Talk, 12. Johnny Marr, 14. Beau Monga, 15. Avalanche City, 16. Veggie or Vegan, 17. Years & Years, 20. Album Reviews, 24. Film Reviews, 26. Gin Wigmore, 27. Shit Worth Reading, 28. Best Pizza, 29. Shit Worth Eating/Shit Worth Drinking, 30. Shit Worth Doing - Music, 32. Learning - Unitec, 34. Shit Worth Doing - Culture, 26. Shit Worth Doing - Screen, 38. Shit Worth Doing - Attractions, 40. This Month In Clubland, 42. Emmett Skilton, 44. Tours & Events
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WHAT GOES ON
THE CHURCH TOUR 2015 YES CO-FOUNDER DIES
NEW ORDER, NEW ALBUM
Chris Squire, co-founder of prog-rock band Yes and renowned bass guitarist, has died aged 67. Squire, who formed Yes with singer Jon Anderson in 1968, had been undergoing treatment for acute erythroid leukemia (a rare cancer of the blood and bone marrow) in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. In a statement released on Sunday, fellow Yes band members described Squire as a phenomenal bassist and the “linchpin” that held the group together. “It’s with the heaviest of hearts and unbearable sadness that we must inform you of the passing of our dear friend and Yes co-founder, Chris Squire. Chris peacefully passed away last night in Phoenix, Arizona,”
TIDAL LOSES CEO Jay Z acquired the music streaming service in March for $56 million, but despite receiving backing from a host of big-name artists, including Kanye West and Rihanna, the venture has failed to take off thus far. A spokesperson for Tidal confirmed Peter Tonstad “is no longer with the company” and said it will be transitioning to a permanent CEO as part of our strategic plan to create a leading platform”. News of Peter’s departure comes shortly after Jay Z defended the service during an intimate gig in New York City.
New Order have announced details of their 10th studio album, Music Complete. The followup to 2005’s Waiting For The Siren’s Call will be released on Friday 25 September. Produced mostly by New Order, with two tracks in the hands of the Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands and one track, Superheated, featuring production from Stuart Price, their statement explains that this new album “finds the group revitalised”. It continues: “where the group has previously pushed toward electronics or guitars, here the two are in balance.” This will of course be New Order’s first album without their original bassist, Peter Hook.
The Church Tour has announced the line-up for the 2015 tour. Four of New Zealand’s most lauded, singular and extraordinary musical talents combining: Delaney Davidson, Tami Neilson, Barry Saunders and Marlon Williams: The Lost Highway. The Church Tour 2015 will showcase the styles and genres that scatter loosely under the flag of Country Music, converging at a place where yarns, myths, tales, legends and fables come to life through exceptional songwriting delivered via the incomparable voices of four artists-in-arms. THE CHURCH TOUR 2015 THU 01 OCT – SAT 10 OCT NATIONWIDE CHURCHTOUR.CO.NZ
Passion Productions in partnership with Auckland Live present
ON THE RIP IT UP STEREO
DANIEL JOHNS TALK (2015)
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Emmett Skilton
Shara Connolly
BETWEEN TWO WAVES By Ian Meadows
Love in a warming climate 4 — 15 AUG Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre Tickets* $25 — $35 at ticketmaster.co.nz
* Service fees apply.
JANET JACKSON ‘SLEEEP’ (2015) LEON BRIDGES ‘COMING HOME’ (2015) YES – ‘OWNER OF A LONELY HEART’ (1983) SHAMIR - ‘ON THE REGULAR’ (2015) JAMIE XX - IN COLOUR (2015)
NEW GUM SARN‘NEW GOLD MOUNTAIN’ (2015) RATATAT - ‘CREAM ON CHROME’ (2015) NINA SIMONE - ‘I WANT A LITTLE SUGAR IN MY BOWL’ (1967) ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS – ‘GONE, GONE, GONE’ (2007)
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ANDREW JOHNSTONE
DANIEL JOHNS
ANOREXIA, ANIMAL RIGHTS & TALK
DANIEL JOHNS NEW ALBUM: TALK OUT NOW
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DANIEL JOHNS IS probably best-known in New Zealand for his tenure with the band Silverchair. He was 15 years old when the band was picked up by Sony Music Australia after their song ‘Freedom’ won a competition on national TV. Their debut album Frogstomp (1995) was a huge seller in Australasia and the States and while the brand was set on a spiral of diminishing returns in the latter region it continued to flourish in Australia and New Zealand until the band went on permanent hiatus in 2013. By this stage Johns had established himself as a musical journeyman and through a number of collaborations with a variety of artists in genres from pop and rap through to EDM, demonstrated his musical versatility. Based on these musical experiments, the style of his new album comes as no great surprise. Kiwi Joel Little, the mastermind who helped Lorde to fame, produced his new album Talk. I began our interview by asking Johns about working with Little. “It’s probably one of the most inspiring collaborations I have had in my career,” said Johns. “At the start it was a kind of an arranged marriage. We share the same publisher and she sent me an advance copy of Lorde’s album and asked if I wanted to work with Joel and I jumped at the chance. Once we got into the studio together we clicked and we discovered we had a very similar musical palette. He helped shape the sound of the record and I owe him a lot of praise.” Talk is a gloriously sexy and soulful album that is not a hundred miles away in style and tone from the work of Justin Timberlake. It is an emotionally honest portrait of love and longing filled out with catchy choruses, hooks and inventive song structure and Johns himself is stunning; his lyrics,
melodies and vocals underline his place amongst the front line of Australian musicians. Little’s production delivers a spacious sound that is a notch above Timberlake’s last album, 2013’s The 20/20 Experience – and all things being as they could, Talk has all the ingredients to be a massive international hit. “I’m really proud of it, it was a long journey and a lot of blood, sweat and tears. I had hundreds of tracks and ideas to work through. The main thing for me was to come up with something I could be proud of,” said Johns. The album rocketed to the top of the Australian charts on release and has done “a lot better than I expected,” said Johns. Johns has spent the entirety of his adult life in the spotlight and has suffered the indignities of having his most personal moments splashed across the headlines. Relationship breakups, a drinkdriving conviction, depression and perhaps most notably a battle with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, a problem that so plagued him through the late 1990s that he considered suicide. The whole episode still remains a bit of a mystery to him but as he explains: “I have had enough therapy to figure that it was like when everything was out of control, eating was one thing I could be in control of.” Johns is an animal rights advocate, a subject he feels really passionate about. “My family has always been pretty big on animal rights and everyone is either vegetarian or vegan and I was a vegan for a really long time until I developed some health issues so I am not any more but I still feel really strongly about animal rights and contribute to charities and do what I can without looking hypocritical,” Johns explained. These days Johns eats seafood
Anorexia: “I have had enough therapy to figure that it was like when everything was out of control, eating was one thing I could be in control of.”
as his body cannot properly metabolise all the nutrients it requires from plant food alone. Understandably he is reluctant to say too much as the more militant within the animal rights movement see his move toward animal protein as a sell-out and his change in diet has bought him a lot of flak from some quarters. I ask Johns if he has any plans to come to New Zealand any time soon and he explains he would like to especially in light of the success of his two recent shows at the Sydney Opera House. He went into the shows with a great deal of trepidation, or in his own words, “pretty scared right up
until the first show as I had no idea how we would play the songs from Talk with a band. It took a while to figure it all out, there was a lot of experimenting and rehearsing until we got the music to the point where it sounded like the record but also maintained an element of live danger. Luckily I had a really good band who were at ease with the electronic elements and it went off.” Daniel Johns was an open, articulate and fascinating interview subject. You can tune into Rip It Up radio via the Rip It Up website and listen to the interview in full.
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SO WHAT...
Britney Spears wanted Nicole Richie in her ‘Pretty Girls’ video. The singer has revealed she was originally eager for the fashion designer to feature in the clip for her new single featuring Iggy Azalea, because she hoped they could be “valley girls” together. Speaking about the video - which premiered last month - she said: “I actually wanted Nicole Richie to be in it and I was like, ‘We could do something really funny, I know her really well, she’s a really, really sweet girl and we can be like valley girls’ and all of this kind of stuff.
Scott Eastwood would give up his career for love. The Longest Ride actor knows it would be the “ultimate sacrifice” to turn his back on his passion so would only do so if he knew the woman in question was ‘The One’. Asked if he’d give up acting for the love of his life, he said: “Yes I would. I think that’s the ultimate sacrifice and if I couldn’t see my life without her then of course. She would have to be ‘The One’ though.” Scott’s father is ‘American Sniper’ director Clint Eastwood and he admits the Hollywood legend used to try and set him up on dates when he was younger. Paris Hilton always plays her own music. The singer, DJ and socialite is a big fan of her own tunes and particularly enjoys “jamming” her new single while she is getting ready for the day. She said: “I always listen to music when I’m getting ready, usually one of my own songs. “I love jamming ‘High Off My Love’, by me.” Hilton also enjoys entertaining guests to her house with her own DJ sets in her private nightclub.
T WEET TALK “NEVER AGAIN will it be referred to as “gay marriage”. It’s now called “marriage.” #SCOTUSMarriage” Michael Moore @MMFlint
“I think I’m on the cusp of being friends with Taylor swift” Amy Schumer @amyschumer
“If only we sent Taylor Swift to the negotiating table in Geneva I think Iran would end its nuclear program tomorrow” Ben Jacobs @Bencjacobs
“I thought that I was the originator of the term “gypsy tits” but a quick Twitter search proved me wrong. Can’t win em all.” Hannibal Buress @hannibalburess
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Jessie Ware is not a fan of taking selfies because she prefers to play it “cool”. The singer revealed that when she sees other famous people she won’t approach them for a picture however she likes to immediately get on the phone to her mum Helena and give her the low-down. She said: “I usually play it quite cool I think. I don’t go and get selfies. I just kind of text my mum. She always likes to know who I’ve seen. She’ll always have an opinion. She’ll ask ‘What are they wearing? What’s the colour of their lipstick?’ She texts me back as if they’re like old friends or something.”
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ANDREW JOHNSTONE
Q& A
WITH JOHNNY MARR “I didn’t really have what you would call a strong relationship with animals but I discovered that after I stopped eating them my relationship to animals changed significantly.” call a strong relationship with animals but I discovered that after I stopped eating them my relationship to animals changed significantly. It wasn’t too much of a sacrifice to be honest anyway as food wasn’t something I cared about too much, it was just fuel, I lived off coffee and cigarettes mostly anyway. It was much more difficult to get by as a vegetarian though in the 1980s, particularly in Europe. Germany and Spain was a bit tricky on tour. I became vegan in 2007 after I’d been living in Portland, Oregon for a couple of years. Portland is a particularly forward-thinking city so going vegan was easy. My decision to no longer drink alcohol was because I got bored of it and I wanted to get into a new phase of life. The idea of the boozing musician in his forties didn’t appeal to me. Who wants to be that guy? I don’t much rate alcohol as a useful drug. AJ: You have been married to the same person for since your youth, an astonishing achievement by any standard. What is your secret? How have you both made it work, especially in the crazy world of rock music?
JOHNNY MARR SEE HIM LIVE: JOHNNY MARR THU 16 JUL - THE POWERSTATION, AUCKLAND
JOHNNY MARR ROSE to prominence as the guitarist for English band The Smiths. He has since worked with acts as diverse as The The and Modest Mouse and has released two solo albums. He is performing at the Powerstation in Auckland on Thursday 16 July. Andrew Johnstone: I was interested to read that you are teetotal and vegan. I became vegetarian at age 15 some 36 years ago. I heard the word and knew that it was for me without understanding the full social implications of my decision. I still don’t understand it fully, it’s a proclivity that I cannot and do not wish to escape. I feel great empathy for our fellow species and find the idea of eating them distasteful. I am also ashamed of factory farming of livestock. Otherwise, I see and
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smell cooked meat and feel inexplicably sick about it. I was also teetotal until two years ago (I am 52). I discovered craft beer! I am not sure why I was teetotal, just following my instincts. Even now, while I will take a drink, I don’t drink to get drunk, rather I appreciate the nutritional benefits of “proper” beer and especially enjoy the taste of hops. That’s my story; I would love to hear yours, especially as I am preparing a story about being vegan/vegetarian for the magazine. Johnny Marr: I’ve been a vegetarian since 1984, when I was 20 years old. The Smiths were making an album called Meat Is Murder so that made it official for me. Up until that time I didn’t really have what you would
JM: I don’t know if there is a secret as such. If I did I’d write a book about it and make a fortune, maybe I could do seminars and forget this guitar playing nonsense. AJ: Your appearance of the BBC Two documentary The Joy of the Guitar Riff is absolutely fascinating. Please explain something about your discovery of the guitar and how your ideas about it evolved, especially ideas about wanting to recreate the riff. JM: I discovered the guitar as a little boy. There was no reason for it other than I loved the look of them and had one as my very first proper toy. I was obsessed with everything about the guitar and I still am. I started to learn it properly at around the age of nine or 10, writing my first songs and it became my thing.
It’s the best instrument because you can be involved on a deep level with other people in bands but you can also have your own personal relationship with it, physically and mentally. I wrote an essay for a British newspaper called “Why Playing The Guitar Means Everything” that kind of sums it up. If anyone’s interested, it’s on my site at johnnymarr.com. AJ: An Englishman in America. How did you find life in the Pacific Northwest and your reflections on the USA please? JM: I love the Pacific Northwest; Portland is a special place. There is a culture of music and art and a community of liberal-minded people there. When I first arrived most of my favourite musicians at the time were from there; Elliot Smith, Modest Mouse, Quasi etc. I only went for 10 days and I stayed for a few years. There are a lot of good things about America, there is a positivity in a lot of the American psyche that is missing in the British psyche, I don’t know if it’s “the pioneering spirit” or what but England could do with a bit of it. You can’t generalise though because plenty of people have it very tough in the States too of course. I’m lucky that I get to
move around a lot, especially doing movies. AJ: Many British musicians I have interviewed tell me that coming to NZ is like being back home except the weather is better and there are more hills. I find this interesting because I find Britain to be quite alien place. The language is the same but the culture is quite different. You are no stranger to these shores; please offer some of your observations and thoughts. JM: The first I every heard about New Zealand was that it was like “a psychedelic Yorkshire”. That was from a member of Echo and Bunnymen in the ‘80s. I think what he meant was that it’s a little strange for someone from the UK at first because your eyes tell you that you’re in England but your senses are telling you something very different, partly because it feels tropical, the temperature and humidity in summer is nothing like the UK. It’s odd to be looking at somewhere that looks and sounds Atlantic but feels Pacific. I first came to New Zealand in 1990 when I was in The The and I really liked it, that was a great tour, and then I came back with Neil Finn and then again with The Cribs.
AJ: You are playing the Powerstation in Auckland on Thursday 16 July. What can the audience expect? JM: My shows are pretty energetic; I like to keep things up-tempo. My band are great and playing live is what we’re about really. The new records have been popular so it’s not like I have to rely on my back catalogue to enjoy a show, but then that makes playing the older songs more like a celebration. It’s a mix of the new stuff and some of the songs people know. The Powerstation is a cool venue and we’re really looking forward to it. AJ: I love both albums but am especially taken with the track ‘Easy Money’. Why has it taken you so long to do the solo thing? JM: I just made the solo records when it felt right. I liked being in the bands I’ve been in, Modest Mouse, The The… and doing different things like the movie soundtracks. Doing the solo records happened at the right time.
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ANDREW JOHNSTONE
BEAU MONGA
BEATBOXER EXTR AORDINAIRE
BEAU MONGA NEW ALBUM: BEAU MONGA OUT NOW
WHEN A PUBLICIST from Sony asked if I would be interested interviewing X Factor 2015 winner Beau Monga, I immediately said yes without really knowing anything about him. In fact I thought, for some reason, that he was a she and a soul singer, not a beatboxer.
show, they turned a ratings goldmine into a limp biscuit by losing their bottle and sacking the judges in question. If they had held on, the storm would have subsided, as it did, but they didn’t. They erred on the side of rank mediocrity and suffered a massive ratings slump.
and all of it mesmerising. I will admit here, that beatboxing was not something I knew anything about, but after watching Monga lay down loops, I came away in awe of his skills and somewhat better educated about this art form.
The thing is, I don’t watch TV, and the most I knew about X Factor 2015 was based on the Natalia Kills and Willy Moon incident, at the time an inescapable story that was all over the media.
Anyway, this story is about Monga so I had better get back to him. A few months earlier we had hosted an event with X Factor 2015 third place-getter Benny Tipene. It was a grand success and we were keen to do it again. I suggested this to Sony who agreed in principle but said that Monga was a little mediashy and may decline. He didn’t and arrangements were made with the New Zealand Radio Training School at the Whitireia Polytechnic (on Queen Street in Auckland), who provided the audience (students), and the recording equipment.
Behind the scenes Monga found Natalia [Kills] to be tough but supportive and full of good practical advice.
I became involved in my own small way when I came to their defence on the Rip It Up Facebook page. I was slaughtered and some 600 comments left me in no doubt about the paucity of my ancestry. I asked Beau on his thoughts on the judges in question, which turned out to be the same as mine, that the whole thing was a gross overreaction. Behind the scenes Monga found Natalia to be tough but supportive and full of good practical advice. Still to this day I am in awe of the vilification, as is Monga, and somewhat unsettled by the degree of hate stirred up in this otherwise bucolic little country. As for MediaWorks, the company that recently replaced John Campbell with a cooking
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Monga duly turned up and we hit it off immediately. Far from being the shy guy I was warned to expect, I found Monga to be personable, intelligent and incredibly funny. From the first moment he had me in stitches, a situation that did not change over the course of the next hour. Armed with his trusty loop pedal, between questions Monga performed, all of it improvised
Monga is a native of Manurewa in South Auckland and is the son of pop royalty, Betty-Anne and Ryan Monga of Ardijah whose hits include the iconic ‘Time Makes a Wine’ (1987). At age 19 he headed down to Hamilton to study mathematics and general science. He got through his first year with flying colours (my words, not his), but he found himself somewhat bored and dropped out. He returned to Manurewa and started beatboxing at the local mall to raise a little cash. Apparently, until then, he had little interest in music, it was just something he decided to do and in the doing he found an art that kept his intellect engaged. As for X-Factor, like the beatboxing, it just kind of happened. A friend of his went down to the local auditions and encouraged Monga
to give it a try. He ambled down and arrived just minutes before they were due to pack up. Needless to say he was successful and before he knew it he found himself on a new course of life. He describes X Factor as less a competition and more a
place of friendship and mutual encouragement and describes the loss of each consecutive player as “sad”. He had no expectations of winning and was just enjoying the moment. Even on the last night of the show he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to win and when he did, he felt bad, if not a little guilty for the second getter Nyssa Collins. Such is Monga, unaffected and full of empathy. He talks openly and honestly and has the audience in the palm of his hands. You can’t but help like him. Beau Monga, it was a pleasure and best wishes to you for a happy and fulfilling future. Listen in to Beau Monga talking and playing live at The NZ Radio Training School (Whitireia, Queen Street Auckland, next student intake 20th July), on Rip It Up Radio via the Rip It Up website.
ANDREW JOHNSTON
DAVE BA XTER IS AVAL ANCHE CIT Y “I didn’t start singing until I was 25 and I can clearly say I related to every American Idol contestant who thought they were pretty good until they heard themselves on playback.” Hall some 10 years later where he recorded his debut album. Amazingly, the whole thing was done on a mini-Mac using simple utilitarian gear. Baxter: “The gear you use makes the least difference, it’s the people you work with and instruments you use that make the difference.” AVALANCH CITY NEW ALBUM: WE ARE FOR THE WILD PLACES OUT FRI 03 JULY
DAVE BAXTER’S 2011 song ‘Love, Love, Love’, spent 19 straight weeks on the New Zealand charts and won him the coveted APRA Silver Scroll Award that same year. The Australasian Performing Rights Association, APRA, collects royalties for musicians as well as convening the Silver Scroll Award in recognition of excellence in songwriting. Besides the trophy, the winner receives a cash prize of $5000. “Winning felt kind of weird, I had never imagined that I would ever be considered for such an honour.” The last five years have certainly been a rollercoaster for Baxter who, while an accomplished guitarist, had never sung a note prior to the recording of his debut album, Our New Life Above Ground. “I didn’t start singing until I was 25 and I can clearly say I related to every American Idol contestant who thought they were pretty good until they heard themselves on playback. I was crap and there was a big difference between what I thought I sounded like and how it was.” Surprisingly, Our New Life Above Ground was Baxter’s first collection of songs with lyrics. Until then, all his compositional work had been instrumental. He fixed his vocal problems through sheer hard work, the same way he tackled the guitar, songwriting and the art of sound engineering. Baxter is a graduate of WINTEC’s School of Audio Engineering and a student of Rik
Bernards (former lead guitarist with Hamilton metal legends Knightshade), who taught him guitar from age 11 to age 17. It was Bernards who encouraged him to drop out of high school and enrol at WINTEC, “Seventh form is for those who don’t know what they want to do with themselves, you know what you want to do so do it.” Bernards convinced Baxter’s parents that WINTEC was the right move. While he was studying, he continued playing in hardcore bands, just as he had done through high school. While heavily influenced by music from the likes of the Deftones, Rage Against The Machine and Norma Jean, he also nursed a love of pop and here he mentions Vanessa Carlton as being among his favourites, an influence that gives some insight into Baxter’s own burgeoning pop style as it was then. Dave Baxter is a native of Tauranga who moved with family to Hamilton in time for his high school years. Ensconced at Hamilton Boys High he discovered the music room to be “a place of sanctuary” from the testosterone. He is being careful here, not wanting to diss his alma mater, but explains that a world populated by boys without the tempering influence of girls can be a rough environment and not one he would have chosen for himself if he’d had the choice. In the school’s music room he played, listened and began the long musical apprenticeship that landed him up north and in the Kaurawhero
He has taken the same approach with his new album We Are For The Wild Places, recorded in the “bedroom” and again on a miniMac. The smooth and spacious production is underscored by the background sounds of suburbia and the ring of birdsong, the kind of sounds that would not penetrate a purpose-built recording studio but are part and parcel of the palette of the home recording process and as Baxter explains, “all of that extraneous sound adds flavour and colour to the recording”. Four years between albums is a long stretch but as Baxter clarifies, when you are writing, producing and playing most of the instruments yourself, it takes a while to get it all down the way you want. In fact, the problem becomes when to stop and say finished. With the experience of his first album still fresh in his mind Baxter decided to relieve himself of some of the burden by handing the mixing and mastering of the new album of to Chris Walla, the former Death Cab for Cutie guitarist. Part of the long run up to the release included a year waiting for Walla to be free to do the work. Baxter is eternally grateful for the success of ‘Love, Love, Love’, a song that he considers to be “something of a miracle”, one that he is hoping will repeat itself with his new material. Baxter is a relaxed and charming interviewee and he finishes our conversation by offering some insight into his thinking: “Being a crazy career-driven artist is not healthy. I am focused on fulfilment and living in the moment.”
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ANDREW JOHNSTONE
VEGGIE OR VEGAN
I’M A VEGETARIAN, that is: I don’t eat meat but I do consume animal products like milk, milk products and eggs. A vegan, on the other hand, eats neither flesh nor animal product. A vegetarian should not wear leather (I do … I was given a leather belt years ago and it seems a waste to discard it), a vegan would certainly never wear leather, a product formed from the skin of a slaughtered beast. To the militant vegan, I am worse than a meat eater, because although I subscribe to the idea of animal welfare, I still participate in the exploitation of animals. I enjoy yoghurt and from time to time, grilled cheese. I am also partial to blue vein cheese since reading that scientists researching the blue mould discovered it to be a powerhouse of beneficial biomedical compounds, ones that protect the heart, arteries and brain. My body says yes, but my mind is full of hesitation. There are close to 7 million dairy cows in New Zealand and let’s face it, they pay the bills. Besides producing some 18 billion litres of milk every season, they are a major source of meat protein. Every year these several million cows give birth igniting the lactation process. Male calves are a by-product and some are
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kept for rearing into beef but most, along with undersized and unhealthy females (quality females are kept as replacement dairy stock), make up the mega bobby calf cull. The 2013-2014 season saw around two million four-day-old calves being turned into veal, sausages, meat patties and pet food. As for mum, her life is fast and hard. While she is offering an economic return she is wellcared for, but the moment she falters, she is dog meat. A cow can live for 20 years; the Kiwi cow averages 5-7 years. Besides pet food, she makes a profitable hamburger. But she’s just a dumb cow? I began my working life on the family dairy farm. The attitude was appalling and I look back on my education with a degree of horror. I am ashamed of the harm I caused on the road to my enlightenment and I especially regret the Camel Incident. She was a unique beast, named for her height and posture. I always thought that by cow standards she was a genius. She could open the gates precisely designed to be cattle proof and she had no fear of the electric fence. The method of the New Zealand farmer is to start putting
aside pasture in late summer so that by winter there is a surplus of fresh feed to sustain the herd through winter when grass growth is at its slowest. The paddock is divided in portions by a strand of electric wire of which the cows are totally in awe. Not her – she knew that a whole paddock of fresh grass was for her and her alone, all for the price of a couple of uncomfortable shocks. She decided that we were friends and every time she saw me she rushed over to a bunt, a cuddle (this is a creature that weighs close to a tonne and is more than capable of crushing a man), a tickle and a good cleaning. The cow tongue is rough and smelly, her saliva copious but her affection real and heart-felt, to the point of procreation. I learned to be very wary when she was on heat. The affections of this massive beast were frightening. Imagine an avalanche trying to mount you. She was fat, unproductive and troublesome. She had to go. I begged for her life, but Dad insisted, “That’s the way it is, any exceptions will only cost us money and set a bad example.” Most cows need to be forced onto the truck but she ambled up the
ramp, ever curious, looking for adventure. An hour later she was at the works and her life at an end. I lost faith in the farm after that but it wasn’t the trigger for my vegetarianism, which had come years before in a way I can’t adequately explain. I was standing in line with a group of Hindu boys out from Fiji for a Kiwi education. It was a Catholic boys’ school and the fees these boys provided helped to pay the bills. Regardless of the economic benefit they allowed, they were treated with disdain; preached about Catholic truth and were directed to the end of the line in the dining hall awaiting special meals. This is where I found myself one night, late and at the end of the queue watching these quiet boys receiving their meals, mixed veges and a few deep fried potatoes. It was sparse and there was no meat. I had never seen such a thing. When my turn came I asked the cook about this strange dinner. “Hindus are vegetarian,” he said, cigarette dangling from his lips (it was the 1970s), “they don’t eat meat.” A light went off in my head and I said without further thought, “I’ll have what they’re having.” I didn’t go full on vegetarian
right away, it was a process, but a genie had awakened in me and there was no going back. Chicken, beef, sheep and pig were right off the menu but fish took a little longer. This went south after I read an article on fish intelligence. It seems that by large they experience pain and pleasure on a scale discernible enough to rate alongside whales, dolphins and octopuses and I could not eat a creature that enjoyed living.
own time, Mohammed, the founder of Islam, urged a more compassionate attitude toward the beasts that toil and provide for us.
I explained to animal rights campaigner and vegan Lynley Tulloch that when I eat cheese I give a thought for the cows that sacrifice so much for my sustenance. She tells me this is a cop out and in a way she is right. I do it salve my conscience because I do feel guilty.
Some people see past the conditioned norms that tell us that animals are lesser and not subject to the same feelings that humans are. Cutting edge neuroscience, informed observation and Facebook are teaching us differently. The latter in particular is a veritable goldmine of videos showing us pigs, dogs, cats and goats playing, bonding and doing goofy things. These videos that remind us that emotions like love, joy, and the need for companionship are universal traits, ones not confined to the human sphere.
I could give up dairy but I don’t want to. If I could source affordable, sustainable and readily available product I would.
In 2011, an estimated 58 trillion chickens,1.4 trillion pigs and 300 million cattle were slaughtered internationally.
There is a retired couple in the deepest darkest Wairarapa who have created a cottage industry from a cow they rescued. She became fallow, and a fallow cow produces no milk. They bought her from the farmer (she was waiting to be sent for slaughter), offered her care and lots of quality feed and she got pregnant again. Years later she is the backbone of a small herd, an outcome almost unheard off the in New Zealand dairy system. Sadly, their cheese is priced way beyond my means.
Pigs are smart and rate better on intelligence tests than dogs, humanity’s erstwhile best friend; and cattle, while they may be incapable of operating a digger or driving a laptop, possess emotional qualities not a hundred miles removed from their human masters, but what about chickens?
Veganism and vegetarianism are not new phenomenons. There have always been a minority who have urged their fellows to act more thoughtfully toward those creatures over which we have dominion, the most notable being the Jain, a religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. The Jain faith, once the dominant religion of the Indian sub-continent, dates back some seven centuries BC, giving some indication of how old the animal rights movement actually is. More closer to our
Chicken was the first meat I happily gave away. Unlike a carefully butchered joint of meat that bares little resemblance to the creature it is carved from, the chicken maintains its complete shape and form after slaughter and all I could see (this is before my vegetarianism), was bone, sinew and bits of blood, all of which caused me some degree of unease, a hint of the latent and as yet undiscovered proclivity within my nature.
Okay, so maybe chickens don’t rate as high as the clever crows of New Caledonia or parrots like the kea, but they are clever wee beasties with reasonably complex emotional lives. I did not realise this when my wife turned up with two red shavers a couple of years back. Katie and Christina became a subject of intense fascination as they followed me about and around the garden, scratching and pecking and speaking in sympathetic tones that spoke of reassurance and contentment. Because they were so thoroughly rough on the garden I decided to
The cats were left in no doubt who ruled the roost and to our immense surprise they became the guardians of peace, tolerating none of the occasional cat fights, rushing into conflagrations and quickly and assuredly prising apart the warring parties. How could I ever consider even eating these girls? I wouldn’t and I couldn’t because I love them, and in their own way, I know they love and more importantly, trust me. I have come to the conclusion that my mysterious vegetarian proclivity is based on my natural empathy toward all living creatures, my choice
In 2011, an estimated 58 trillion chickens,1.4 trillion pigs and 300 million cattle were slaughtered internationally.
build them a run. It was as large as your average backyard (big enough, I thought, to satisfy their wandering nature), and built to contain. Their first hours locked away were consumed by investigation as they poked and prodded for a way through the defences. Within two hours they were out, thus setting the pattern that was to follow. For every gap I bridged, they found another escape route. Despite my best efforts I have never been able to imprison them as intended.
But it’s just a chicken?
Chooks are creatures of habit. They leave their perch at a precise time in the morning and return to it at the same time every night. At 6am it is their habit to enter the house through the cat door and seek us out in bed. They like to cuddle up close and chat for a while before going about the routine of their day.
The orthodox view is that a chicken is a pretty basic kind of intelligence, again an assumption that is not borne out by the latest research into bird intelligence.
The other thing that amazed me about these remarkable girls is the way they quickly established a hierarchy within our larger family of cats and guinea pigs.
and not one I care to impart on others. I am a pragmatic kind of non-meat eater that accepts that not everyone feels as I do. My only wish is for a more enlightened attitude toward the creatures that serve us. Here I quote Temple Gradin, a mildly autistic animal behavioural scientist whose special talent is her ability to see the world from the point of view of the animals she studies. Her work has revolutionised the design of slaughterhouses, making them more “compassionate” toward the beast walking towards it demise. She says: “I think using animals for food is an ethical thing to do, but we’ve got to do it right. We’ve got to give those animals a decent life and we’ve got to give them a painless death. We owe the animal respect.” I will leave the last word to Tommy Lee, drummer with Motley Crue and occasional meat eater, who said in a recent interview with Rip It Up, “We do some pretty shitty things to animals and it isn’t right.”
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ANDREW JOHNSTON
YEARS & YEARS
THE NEXT ONE DIRECTION? I asked Mikey how fame feels? He laughs before saying he has only been recognised once “by the waitress I ordered coffee from yesterday. Olly is already pretty famous in Britain and he is usually the one who gets the attention. We were in Paris recently and when the tour bus pulled up outside the hotel this massive crowd of screaming girls mobbed us. The same thing happened after the concert that night. It was a bit of a surprise. I also like all the free stuff companies are throwing at us like sunglasses, sneakers and clothes. I could really get used that.”
WHEN MIKEY GOLDSMITH left Melbourne to go on his OE in 2009 his parents were convinced he was heading off for a fairly typical young Aussie tour of the world, that is: “lots of drinking and rowdy good times”.
Sound of … is an annual BBC poll for critics and industry figureheads to find promising new talent. Since its inception 12 years ago, Sounds Of… winners have included 50 Cent, Adele, Haim, Sam Smith and Jessie J.
This wasn’t on Goldsmith’s agenda at all. A keen musician since his youth, he had set his sights on forming a band in London and having a crack at the big time.
“We were in LA doing promotional stuff when we got a text from our management telling us we had won,” said Goldsmith. Olly burst into tears and we went nuts. It was insane, it was like I was standing on the sidelines and watching it all happen to another band. It was unreal.”
Soon after arriving in London he met synth player Emre Turkmen online and enlisted flatmate actor Olly Alexander after hearing him singing in the shower. By 2010, Years & Years was a happening thing. Their debut single ‘I Wish I Knew’ was released in 2012. In 2013 the group signed to French label Kitsuné Records and released their second single ‘Traps’. Their third single ‘Real’ was released in February 2014. Later that year the group signed to Polydor and released their fourth single ‘Take Shelter’ which went to number one on the iTunes UK singles electronic chart. In December 2014 the group’s fifth single ‘Desire’ peaked at number 22 on the UK singles chart. In January 2015, their sixth single ‘King’ was previewed on BBC Radio 1 and selected by ex-pat Kiwi Zane Lowe as his Hottest Record of the Day. By March, ‘King’ was number one in Britain, number three in Australia and went top 10 across Europe. In January 2015, Years & Years won the prestigious BBC Sound of 2015, which is, by any stretch of the imagination, a really big deal.
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In January 2015, Years & Years won the prestigious BBC Sound of 2015, which is by any stretch of the imagination, is a really big deal. Needless to say, Goldsmith’s parents are now looking at him slightly differently. “They are a bit bewildered with all that’s happening but at the same time are impressed. They didn’t know I had it in me,” he laughs. Mikey has been playing bass most of his life. His father is a music teacher who specialises in tango. “I played double bass for Dad for years. The tango is played in 3/4 time and pop music is always mostly in 4/4 and even now I sometimes get confused with my timing and revert to tango style during gigs.” Besides tango, Mikey is big into heavy metal, classical, Sigur Ros and Radiohead.
The band’s debut album Communion is due out early April and I ask Goldsmith about the name: “We decided on ‘Communion’ because the song titles taken as a whole seemed to have a kind of biblical theme,” he hastily adds that none of the band are religious before enlarging on the concept. “Once we started thinking about it we began to see the idea of communion in a broader context, like for example our gigs are a kind of communion, a unity between the crowd and band, so it just seemed right.” Goldsmith misses Melbourne and laid back pace of life Australia offers, and the good weather. “London is cold and chaotic but it’s where it’s all happening but I try to get back home as much as I can.” Otherwise the guys are taking it all in their stride. “For now anyway,” he laughs. “We are a really tight unit and I hope that all the attention doesn’t change us.” A visit down under is on the cards but first it’s America. “Britain is relatively easy to crack because once the BBC playlists a song it is rolled out across the country. In America the radio market is more diffuse and it is harder to get to reach a national audience but we are certainly going to give it a go.” The band’s music carries a deep Australian flavour, one that is sun-drenched and joyous. Their songs have little more depth than say One Direction, a band whose success Years & Years would like to emulate. Our time is up and it has been an enjoyable interview with a focused and very pleasant young artist. Thanks Mikey.
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ALBUM REVIEWS TESS PARKS & ANTON NEWCOMBE I DECLARE NOTHING (‘A’ RECORDINGS)
While Anton Newcombe is the outrageous Brian Jonestown Massacre frontman, whose controversial media profile has tended to overshadow his musical output, Tess Parks is a 24-year-old Canadian with only one previous album to her credit. Now Berlin-based, with his own studio and record label, Newcombe seems to be making up for lost time, and here, in both quality and consistency, and here provides the perfect musical foil for Parks’ insanely
THE ABLE TASMANS
MUSE
TORO Y MOI
ARE YOU SATISFIED?
(FLYING NUN)
(WARNER BROS)
(CARPARK RECORDS)
(VIRGIN/EMI)
A CUPPA TEA AND LIE DOWN
DRONES
WHAT FOR?
By the time Johnny Rotten became the face of Country Life butter in 2008, his face looked a bit like it was made of the stuff, so it almost made sense. If Slaves want to hawk a product it should be those lollies that look like teeth, but serve none of the functions of teeth and are ultimately tasteless and unsatisfying. It’s possible the major error lies with the process. Taking an energetic punk band and throwing them in a hermetic studio environment has ended poorly before. It’s just that when that band consists of two grown men snarling about women as immovable, shoe-obsessed objects or attempting a custardy postOccupy flanthem, it’s harder to know exactly where to pin the blame. In the event you can’t find a donkey, there are a couple of asses here.
The Able Tasmans, formed in the early ‘80s, are named after the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, (he’s the first European to lay his sights on these far off shores). They released five albums and two EPs during their career, (1984-96). A Cuppa Tea and a Lie Down was their debut album and the first to be reissued (out now on Flying Nun).The Able Tasmans hail from Auckland and North, but their songwriting and arrangement style echo the Dunedin sound as it was back then in the late 1980s. I had discovered this album at the local library during my first year at the university and their lo fi, pop jangle sound became a regular feature on my stereo. It was A Cuppa Tea and a Lie Down that lead me to other bands like the Bats and the Chills. The reissue reinforces how good of a first album it is and the inclusion of the Tired Sun EP and other bonus tracks are an extra treat.
Muse have been around since 1994 and their latest release, Drones, is album number seven. Muse are well-known for their spectacular live shows and have many times been voted number one live band in the world. Right, that’s the nice stuff out of the way … while Drones is a big improvement on the last two albums, it is still a long way away from the first three Muse albums which are amazing, and demonstrate that a relationship breakdown is often the best way to get good source material for albums. Drones is a concept album and it has it highlights but bands such as Queensryche, Pink Floyd, Dream Theatre and Stone Sour have done it better. The first half of the album is packed with good traditional Muse rock songs. It’s the second half that seems to lose a bit of steam, the last few Pink Floyd-ish songs cause the album to finish on a limp note. Some notes for the next album, Matt: write rock songs, play rock songs, turn amp to 12 and rock.
If I close my eyes, tighten my duvet around me a little more, and turn on Toro y Moi’s, (Chazwick Bundick), latest album What For?, I can almost pretend its summer. With the help of a host of performers, including Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Rueben Nielson and Real Estate/Ducktails’ Julian Lynch, Bundick has progressed his craft on this brightly sun-baked album. This ten track album is more cohesive than Toro y Moi’s previous efforts and features some of his catchiest songs to date. Rich textures, a quirky approach to mixing, and carefully arranged instrumentation are the highlights of this album. Overall, What For? is shimmering, nostalgic and hooky as hell. It is an amalgamation of some of Toro y Moi’s most idiosyncratic moves, but breaks enough new ground to be interesting, if a little calculated.
MARK KENDRICK
MARK KENDRICK
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SLAVES
SAM WIECK
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droll vocals. Hers isn’t the most versatile of instruments, but it’s comprised of the most possessed aspects of Patti Smith with some of the narcotic sandpapery tones of Marianne Faithfull at her best. Happily, Newcombe knows exactly what is required, and that’s a Spector-on-Velvetson-drone-psychedelia that combines to create a vortex of dirty, dreamy, spaced-out sound designs against Parks’ effortlessly jaded songs.
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KATE POWELL
ALBUM REVIEWS JAMIE XX IN COLOUR (YOUNG TURKS)
There often exists a strange tension within UK’s grandest music scenes. The pull between music existing as a common space where all are welcome, and the very human desire to become proprietary towards the things you love. The allnighter patches, the deep crate knowledge, or just the guy-who-knows-a-guy-witha-great-bean-hookup (sorry); markers of inclusion and exclusion respectively. When rifling through influences (especially Orbital) and his own past within London’s
club scene, Jamie xx (née Smith) manages to create a record that is both intensely personal and an all-applicable tale of longing and belonging. Slow builds, scale trills and impeccably timed crescendos from the xx staples of whip-cut drum beds, steel drums, choice samples and spare piano chords all jostle with a stupidly accessible precision. A step out of the shadowy spaces of his past work, perhaps. ‘Cause this one’s in colour, yeah? SARAH THOMSON
CHASTITY BELT
DAUGHN GIBSON (SUB POP)
MARK SEYMOUR & THE UNDERTOW
BRANDON FLOWERS
(HARDLY ART)
TIME TO GO HOME
CARNATION
MAYDAY
(UNIVERSAL)
Seattle post punk quartet Chastity Belt leave the traditional elements of punk behind entirely, instead paying homage to the darkwave scene of the 1980s. However the subversive spirit remains. Julie Shapiro’s vocals echo with quintessential ennui, as the guitars jangle and drums swirl around her, evoking the likes of Sonic Youth and Velvet Underground. This is a sonic leap for a band that became a band simply by picking up instruments they couldn’t play yet. On a base level, the theme of this album are going out and getting laid, but there is a wryly feminist bent to each song. Depending on how you listen to it, Time to Go Home can be beautiful, sincere, or silly. There is something to be said for the sharp nonchalance employed by Chastity Belt as a tool to overthrow what patriarchy remains within the millennial era. Time to Go Home is a well-crafted album full of witty sass, and heralds the band as an important voice in modern feminism.
Daughn Gibson was in a band called Pearls in Bass (20012008) before he released his solo albums, All Kill (2012) and Me Moan (2013). Carnation is his latest offering and I suspect that for many fans of his previous works there will be some that will struggle with the direction he has gone in. Previous efforts have been in a “country Johnny Cash style”. Carnation is an album that jumps all around the place, which for me is something wonderful, and it shows that Gibson has really challenged himself on this record. The songs are very different to each other. The very first song Bled to Death made me think I had put on a Depeche Mode album by mistake. ‘For Every Bite’ sounds like a classic Tindersticks song, and ‘Shatter You Through’ sounds like a lost ‘80s Bowie track. This will be an album that will have something new with every listen and one that this reviewer will have on repeat for a while.
(LIBERATION)
First things first: this is not The Killers. It’s obvious The Desired Effect wouldn’t have worked in that context. More important is the fact that Flowers has obviously set his sights on a specific meld of 1980s influences. Those expecting rock music might be disappointed with this overtly commercial set, which sets Flowers as a slightly skewed pop idol. There are synth stabs that could have come off a Pet Shop Boys record (and a guest appearance by, surprise surprise, one of the Pet Shop Boys) and the kind of keyboards and drum sounds that adorned many an ‘80s pop hit, so it’s clear that his solo career is a chance for Flowers to proudly wear those colours. He gets to brandish his vocal apparatus in a way that The Killers didn’t – an wide-eyed tenor that’s scarily reminiscent of the young Tim Buckley. It starts to sound like a welcome proposition.
KATE POWELL
MARK KENDRICK
Mark Seymour is like a pubrock version of our own Don McGlashan. Both middle-aged singer-songwriters inhabit a vaguely modal folk-rock style, the roots of which lie just as much in the Celtic nations as they do in the protest-song Americana of Woody Guthrie and early Bob Dylan. But while McGlashan’s songs are intimate observations with philosophical connotations, Seymour blatantly carries a torch for the overtly socio-political story-songs Guthrie wrote the book on. While his band The Undertow have none of the roiling power of early Hunters & Collectors, they’re perfectly sympathetic to Seymour’s songs, whether the style is rock or semi-acoustic folk. It’s brave of Seymour to take a stand on subjects as controversial as refugees, government cronyism and old-boy bigotry, and he should be proud of this musically unchallenging but lyrically plucky project.
THE DESIRED EFFECT
GARY STEEL
GARY STEEL
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ALBUM REVIEWS GIRLPOOL BEFORE THE WORLD WAS BIG (WICHITA)
One bass, one guitar and ten songs of upfront, raw vocals from two women yet to break their twenties. The exposures of leaving childhood are surely present on Before the World Was Big, but without the needy request for its return. Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker’s voices can ring with a bluntness that recalls playground chanting (particularly when employed in round, as on the album’s title track) but they also resound with a wide, consuming
power. When employed together within Kyle Gilbride’s (from Swearin’, also responsible for Waxahatchee’s stunning Cerulean Salt which is definitely a sonic parallel here) beautifully spaced and measured recordings, Tividad and Tucker turn simple observations of their anxiety into strong confrontations: how much would it terrify you not to look away from their unease? That’s the thing, though. You won’t want to. SARAH THOMSON
OF MONSTERS AND MEN
A$AP ROCKY
MAJOR LAZER
FFS
AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP
PEACE IS THE MISSION
SELF-TITLED
BENEATH THE SKIN
(RCA)
(MAD DECENT)
(DOMINO)
(ISLAND)
Fashion plate or talent to rate? A$AP Rocky still hasn’t answered that, but whatever – he does it all in style. Perhaps the answer is that A$AP and his crew are the catalysts, and their job is to make sure they get all the right guest stars and producers to forge a product that makes up in entertainment value what it lacks in coherence. This is slick stuff, worth bending your ear to the production alone that, even if it doesn’t move hip-hop forward, it certainly presents a collage aesthetic with more taste and diversity than the typical commercial rap travesty. A$AP’s subject matter is also refreshingly different. Guest shots come from Kanye, Miguel, Lil Wayne, M.I.A and others, adding variety without destroying the overall flow, possibly due to the sterling production work Dangermouse and Mark Ronson. It’s a good hip-hop album rather than a great one, but it benefits from some oldschool moves.
A typical Major Lazer cut starts with a sturdy undercoat, applied with a broad brush dipped in Eurocentric dance music before the details are worked up in the vibrant colours of reggae and dancehall. The subject matter— generally the names that come after the word “feat.” – holds it all together with a glaze. On their third outing, Peace Is The Mission, the details are lacking. There’s plenty going on but it’s as though it’s been piled up in one big daub in the form of ‘Lean On’, featuring MØ and DJ Snake. There are some vibrant, emphatic moments. The bumbling, squelchy bass that waddles into the chorus of ‘Night Riders’ is a great example. But many of the tracks are never able to reach the high watermark of the first single. Either fading before their three minutes is up or never really getting started.
Within the debut offering from FFS (an ubergroup comprised of Franz Ferdinand and Sparks), is Alex Kapranos capable of delivering Kimono My Houseera level punnery? Are the Brothers Mael capable of sharing composition duties with any such group of young upstarts? Or, perhaps more importantly, should anyone care? Sort of. A collaborative project that Ron Mael apparently spearheaded a decade ago, FFS is undeniably a Sparks album. Vocal melodies are written for Russell Mael’s batshit theatricality, not Kapranos’ low-range speed croon. Lyric couplets are tellingly from the pair who once warned you they had “angst in their pants”, not those who expressed similar sentiment via: “do, do, do you, do you wanna”. But, this is unfair to Franz Ferdinand. Just perhaps, they have achieved the greatest feat here: coaxing a tight, playful new album from two brilliant men who reside on the brink of indulgence.
I feel sorry for Icelandic groups coming in after musical phenomenons like Bjork and Sigur Ros. I feel sorry for Of Monsters And Men, but I shouldn’t. Their 2010 debut did good business, even topped charts, despite their sound being underwhelming. Beneath the Skin is like the commercialisation of Sigur Ros that they could never quite pull off. It’s not that Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir sings like Jonsi so much as that the slightly hushed and orchestral tones sound emotional but curiously bloodless. But what the group does well is combine its shoegazing atmospherics with pretty and melodic lines, and in places, its contours are pop-oriented and conventionally singsong. This is good and bad: they’ll probably appeal to a wider demographic, but they do so at the expense of originality or an adventurous spirit. GARY STEEL
GARY STEEL
SAM WIECK
SARAH THOMSON
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ALBUM REVIEWS PHIL JUDD PLAY IT STRANGE (SELF RELEASED)
Phil Judd has always walked a unique path. First with Split Enz and later with the Swingers and Schnell Fenster, his musical vision has always been singular and bold. All at once fragile, complex, sensitive and manically creative, this legend of the Australasian music scene has fallen on hard times of late but this has not stopped him from exploring new avenues in sound. At an age when many musicians struggle for inspiration (Judd is now 62), he continues break new ground. Play It Strange is his fourth solo album and demonstrates an artist still at the top of his game. Despite a heart condition, his ongoing struggle with bipolar disorder and the after affects of a minor stroke; everyday for the last two years Judd has
trundled down to the small studio at the bottom of his garden on the outskirts of Melbourne and explored the endless stream of ideas that flow through his restless head. He writes, plays, engineers and produces, and with a little help from old friends here and there, has created an album as good as anything he has ever done and certainly better than anything his peers have produced in recent times.Imagine pop psychedelia mixed with some alternative progressive rock and a good dose of vaudevillian styles and you have something of the musical cornucopia that is Play It Strange. Chock full of wild musical ideas, melodic experiments and Judd’s unique and inventive wordplay, Play It Strange is a ferocious masterpiece, a strange and beautiful tragicomedy unlike anything else you are likely to hear this year. ANDREW JOHNSTONE
VEGETARIAN MUSICIANS PAUL MCCARTNEY JEFF BECK KATE BUSH ELVIS COSTELLO MISSY HIGGINS JOAN JETT KESHA KRS-ONE
MORNINGDEER
ALABAMA SHAKE’S
LEONA LEWIS
(WHEREABOUT RECORDS)
(ROUGH TRADE)
BOB MARLEY
BLUE FOR B
SOUND & COLOR
It is meant in the best way possible when I say that I didn’t expect an artist called Morningdeer to create an album like Blue For B. I braced myself for a cutely insipid folk singer, and was left some 23 minutes later pleasantly surprised. After listening to her previous offerings, Blue For B demonstrates a natural step forward for the artist. True to her moniker, there is an innate delicateness to the tracks on Blue for B. The result is cleverly angular music that acts as a counterpoint to Morningdeer’s ethereal and existential lyrics. So … as it turns out, Blue For B is exactly the sort of album an artist like Morningdeer would create, as it is crafted on contradictions and things not being as they seem – and it’s unsettlingly good.
At a time where the airwaves are dominated by glitchy drum beats and sugary pop, Alabama Shakes offers a welcome respite. The songs ebb and flow with a weirdly woozy sex appeal. The album is more soulful than its predecessor, Boys and Girls,and this seems to suit Howard’s voice more. Featuring a dramatic and damning jam, it showcases an Alabama Shakes that is unafraid to cut loose in a way that is exciting and exhilarating for the listener. The sophomore effort is always a difficult one. A band can either regurgitate the same sound, or go for something completely different. Alabama Shakes have produced an album that in many ways is daringly defiant but curiously familiar. KATE POWELL
BRIAN MAY GEORGE HARRISON JOSS STONE SHANIA TWAIN EDDIE VEDDER DAMON ALBARN JOAN ARMATRADING RICHARD ASHCROFT MICHAEL BOLTON
VEGAN MUSICIANS BRYAN ADAMS FIONA APPLE MILEY CYRUS MICHAEL FRANTI CHRISSIE HYNDE K D LANG JOHNNY MARR MOBY SINÉAD O’CONNOR MIKE SCOTT “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC ROB ZOMBIE
KATE POWELL
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FILM REVIEWS
DIRECTED BY | COLIN TREVORROW STARRING | CHRIS PRATT, BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD, TY SIMPKINS
JURASSIC WORLD Humans continue to make the same mistakes more than 20 years later, as we play God with creatures we fail to understand. Introducing the Jurassic series to a whole new generation, Jurassic World has all your nostalgic moments: dinos, spine-tingling music, the I-told-youso scientist when shit hits the fan, and boss dino fights. But original fans (not Lost World/ Jurassic 3), may be bitterly disappointed as,
while the film is essentially a remake more than a reboot, the execution fails to have you in awe. After Hammond’s original Jurassic Park failed, a new park (also known as Jurassic World) is finally open for business. A huge success, investors keep wanting to see more and more, leaving park manager Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) to spearhead the creation of a new genetically engineered breed of dinosaur. But will this super-being outsmart its human
creators? Of course. The best way to describe this film is enjoyable and entertaining, but it’s no masterpiece. One of the biggest draw cards of Jurassic Park was suspense – you never really saw the T-Rex until halfway through the film, after a series of heart-stopping water vibrations. This time, our “super-dino” is rolled out in the first five minutes. The element of fear comes from the unknown but when we can see what it looks like, there’s hardly any reason to fear. But much credit must go to our leads for making this a fun ride. No, not Chris Pratt or BDH – but velociraptors. A sidelined popular favourite in the series, these crafty critters get their time to shine. It’s not kitchen stalking session, but it’s good to see them back again. They say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and hope new fans of the series won’t judge Jurassic off this mediocre effort. Nearly 30 years on, the original is still as good as it gets. LAURA WEASER
DIRECTED BY | PETE DOCTER STARRING | AMY POEHLER, MINDY KALING, BILL HADER
INSIDE OUT I think critics were beginning to worry about Disney-Pixar’s future after a string of seriously unoriginal sequels that could have been avoided – think Cars 2, Monsters University. Inside Out marks an incredible return to form, a la Toy Story styles, taking a simple home truth and turning it into something special. The theory goes, inside all of us is a city of little personified emotions controlling our thoughts and feelings. They live in a “head”-quarter, where they advise us on daily life. Young Riley is going through a crisis – her life is being turned on its head as the family moves from Midwest for San Francisco. Until now, Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler) has been Riley’s dominant emotion, and tries to keep the others in
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the headquarters (Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness) calm as chaos ensues. It’s so refreshing to have an original concept, and with school holidays keeping parents and kids alike in cinemas this winter, it’s also great to have one that both young and old can empathise with. We’ve all moved house, and such a common idea has been executed perfectly, with a balance of comedy and poignant moments. The voice cast, Poehler, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling and Lewis Black, make a change from your usual A-listers, and has comedians first find a nice rhythm in their humour that echoes a Saturday Night Live episode. Fun for the whole family – literally, from little one, to oldies and everyone in between. LAURA WEASER
DIRECTED BY | PIERRE COFFIN, KYLE BALDA STARRING | SANDRA BULLOCK, PIERRE COFFIN, JON HAMM, MICHAEL KEATON, ALLISON JANNEY, STEVE COOGAN
MINIONS It’s school holiday central, with the hotly anticipated Minions battling it out with Inside Out. I have never heard so many grownass women tell me they want to see this film – nearly a year out from its release date. So it’s here, and is it worth the hype? Well, if you’re expecting a lot of frivolous fun, and Minion mayhem, this is for you. It truly is an origin story, going to the dawn of time to explain where these yellow Tic-Tacs came from. Fast-forward to 1960s USA, and the Minions – Kevin, Stuart and Bob – are looking for an evil overlord to serve. It’s their lifelong mission, you see, to help the most evil of masters and they have done so
through the ages of time. Now without someone, their kind is deeply troubled. Their eyes (or eye) are set on Scarlett Overkill (Sandra Bullock), the world’s first female supervillain. But she’s in hot demand – can they win her over? With some things, like Despicable Me, you get a lightning in a bottle situation and it’s so unexpectedly powerful, you think, can this ever be replicated? The sequel was the answer to that question and Minions further emphasises the point. It’s not as strong, thematically, and there’s no real… how shall we say this?... point to Minions. But what they hey, they’re adorable and ohso-silly! LAURA WEASER
FILM REVIEWS
DIRECTED BY | ZAZA URUSHADZE STARRING | LEMBIT ULFSAK, ELMO NUGANEN, GIORGI NAKASHIDZE
DIRECTED BY | BILL POHLAD STARRING | JOHN CUSACK, PAUL DANO, ELIZABETH BANKS, PAUL GIAMATTI
LOVE AND MERCY TANGERINES Tangerines tells the story of Ivo, an old Estonian man living in rural Georgia during the bloody Apkhazeti war of 1992-93. When Ivo discovers two rival soldiers wounded on his doorstep and takes them in to recover, the men are forced to confront their differences and cohabit. Lembit Ulfsak is wonderful as the reverent Ivo, a man of unwavering humanity, unwilling to be beaten by the chaos unfolding around
him. Director Zaza Urushadze’ depiction of desperation and the struggle the men face is filled with nuance and subtlety; his characters feel authentic and unmistakably human, and the film never feels preachy or insincere a hefty feat these days. Tangerines is a beautiful, subtle piece of cinema, one obviously crafted by a director with a significant stake in the story and it’s history and is worthy of high praise. GUY INNES
In 1966 producer/Songwriter Brian Wilson released Pet Sounds, an album he recorded for his band The Beach Boys. It was a paradigm shifting production that not only changed the way young way musicians approached the recording studio, it also demonstrated the potential of the album format, demonstrating that the long playing record could be more than just a ‘bunch of songs’. A new film, Love and Mercy, examines Wilson’s life and
legacy. Paul Dano plays Wilson the younger and is centred on the recording of Pet Sounds while John Cusack plays him in his middle age when he had fallen into major depression and into the hands of the manipulative and psychotic psychotherapist Dr. Eugene Landy. This extraordinarily heartfelt and imaginative biopic is nothing short of astonishing and I left the theatre deeply moved and ever more in awe of Wilson’s talent. ANDREW JOHNSTONE
DIRECTED BY | ALBERTO RODRÍGUEZ LIBRERO STARRING | JAVIER GUTIERREZ, RAUL AREVALO, NEREA BARROS, ANTONIO DE LA TORRE DIRECTED BY | PIERRE COFFIN STARRING | IAN MCKELLEN, LAURA LINNEY, HIROYUKI
MARSHLAND Marshland (La Isla Minima) has been hailed as one of the best Spanish films of the last few years, winning ten Goya awards and broad critical acclaim. The kudos is justified – this is an excellent film. Alberto Rodriguez’s psycho-sexual thriller follows two antithetic detectives as they investigate the brutal murder of two schoolgirls in dusty small-town Spain. The uncertain socio-political backdrop of post-Franco Spain accompanied by Alex Catalan’s chiromantic cinematography work beautifully together, lending a real sense of eeriness to the film. Javier Gutierrez and Raul Arevalo are excellent as our
mismatched protagonists, men of conflicting ideology banished to the marshlands after finding themselves on the wrong side of their higher ups and forced to work together in the hope of making it back to Madrid. The story bends and braids wonderfully as our cops find themselves deep in the grimy local underworld, becoming, only rarely, slightly overcomplicated with a couple of loose ends that the viewer may find confusing. This is a thriller in the truest sense; grim, theatrical and stylish, buoyed by great performances and real sophistication. Highly recommended. GUY INNES
MR HOLMES Taking an unconventional approach to Arthur Conan Doyle’s venerable character, Bill Condon’s Mr Holmes attempts to grapple with a more human side of Sherlock, a man at odds with fate and desperate to solve one last mystery before succumbing to the ravages of age. A commendably thoughtful premise, let down, unfortunately, by poor writing and a lack of cinematic cohesion. The film follows a retired Holmes as he returns to his Sussex country home where he lives with his brusque housekeeper and her budding detective son. When the young boy stumbles upon Sherlock’s written accounts of his
final case involving a beautiful, troubled woman, the film becomes clumsy and maladroit held up partly by the ever-graceful Sir Ian McKellen but ultimately feels stiff and unstructured. The Japanese subplot comes and goes rapidly with little explanation and Sherlock’s supposed emotional toil is not fully realised, through faults of both the script and editing, leaving a sense of bewilderment minus the excitement. Starting with a relatively fresh premise and good point of difference, Mr Holmes progresses and ends with not much else. Doyle would not have been impressed. GUY INNES
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KATE POWELL
GIN WIGMORE
BONE DEEP AND MINCE PIES “I really think that honesty is one of the strongest cards to play, and that’s how I choose to live and write and create music.” notes. Bold is a good way to describe the musical transition Wigmore has undergone in Blood to Bone. This confident approach to creating an eclectic array of music has been partially inspired by her move to LA. GIN WIGMORE NEW ALBUM: BLOOD TO THE BONE OUT NOW SEE HER LIVE: GIN WIGMORE WED 01 JUL THE KINGS ARMS, AUCKLAND FRI 03 JUL BODEGA, WELLINGTON SAT 04 JUL CPSA, CHRISTCHURCH
GIN WIGMORE FIRST came to widespread attention in 2009 with her debut album Holy Smoke. It featured the hit single ‘Oh My’ which showcased a neo-soul meets rock ‘n’ roll sound that coupled beautifully with Wigmore’s signature rasp. Holy Smoke gained a swag of awards at the New Zealand Music Awards that year, including album of the year, pop album of the year, and breakthrough artist. She followed this up with 2011’s Gravel and Wine, and one of its singles ‘Man Like That’ featured on the James Bond film Skyfall. On a bitterly cold Waikato winter morning I am sitting in a studio bundled up in a duffel coat talking to Gin Wigmore on the phone. She is calling from her new home in Los Angeles, and breezely tells me it’s mid-afternoon, she’s in shorts, and contemplating a swim after this interview. “That sounds lovely,” I say with a hint of envy. I pull my coat a little tighter. Averting my eyes from the ominously grey scene outside my window, we begin talking about her latest sonic venture. 2015 sees Wigmore releasing her third studio album Blood to Bone. The title, she explains, “is a continuation from Gravel and Wine. I was told during that album that I needed to bleed for it. I was sweating but I needed to give it blood … I have been more involved in the production side and I’ve been digging a little deeper too. Now I am older I am shedding my armour and getting deeper insider myself, bone deep.” By allowing herself to go “bone deep” in Blood to Bone, Wigmore has immortalised some deeply personal moments and emotions
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in song. Since her sophomore album, she has been through a break up with an ex fiancé, married a punk-rocker, and moved to Los Angeles. “Was it a difficult decision for you to allow your listeners and ultimately the media such an intimate glimpse into your life?” I broach delicately, twisting my woollen scarf in my hands. Wigmore answers with philosophical candor: “Yeah it’s difficult, but I’d be doing a disservice to my music if I wasn’t really honest about the subject material. I have to be. But that’s what I see for myself as a writer and musician. I have to be an honest writer, an honest musician, I’ve got to be vulnerable to get the best stuff out, and yes it’s difficult, but at the same time, the truth can never come back and bite you. I really think that honesty is one of the strongest cards to play, and that’s how I choose to live and write and create music. There’s no other option for me, it’s a blessing and a curse. We are here for such a short time, and I don’t want to live on a superficial surface state, I want to live deep and intensely. (In order to do that) you’ve got to look inside yourself and look inside your relationships, and what resonates with you and what doesn’t and make bold moves sometimes.” Listening to the album, there is an endearing sense of self-assuredness to each of the songs on. It is an album of firsts for Wigmore, she acts as co-producer, and we hear her playing the piano and her husky voice hitting falsetto
“There is no real feeling in this city, you can dream so big and still not reach the top of where you could take that dream,” Wigmore enthuses. “You might think that you may be doing something obscure … but you will find a whole thriving community doing that just by way of population. It’s cool to have that access, and that confidence that it’s not just one person doing it, there’s tones of people exploring that style and I guess that’s what gave me the confidence on Blood to Bone. I tried many different things because I felt that there was a place for all those different styles on this album.” Electronica is one such example of a new style. This is due to the involvement of Charlie Andrews, who produced alt-J’s runaway hit An Awesome Wave, an album much admired by Wigmore for its “cool, tasty, classy” take on electronica. She tracked him down and “basically asked if I could go over and write with him.” What was meant to be a couple of days ended up being two weeks, with one of the results being her new single ‘New Rush’. “We both really pushed each other to try new things … the way he works is really inspiring, the way he manipulates sound, he’s like a mad scientist making things out of tin cans. He’s such a polite lovely English dude, (he’s) low stress and taught me a lot about how to go about making an album.” On the back of the release of Blood to Bone, Wigmore will be hitting the road and touring once again, and is thrilled at the prospect of coming home for the first time in three years. “Yeah!” she exclaims with idiosyncratic zeal. “I’m going to have a mince pie, see Mum, and play at the Powerstation.”
READING
PARADICE ICE SKATING PRESENTS
NOW
AD WITH
SICK IN THE HEAD JUDD APATOW BOOK
I never knew this existed until writing about it, but it looks really good. One of the world’s favourite directors and writers (he just puts what we do on the screen and hopes for funnies), Judd Apatow gets into conversations with the biggest names in comedy – Brooks, Seinfeld, Barr, Rock, Dunham, CK – they’re all there. With films like Superbad, Knocked Up and Funny People under his belt, this is likewise a candid, brutally honest, slightly deranged portrayal of a comedy nerd living the dream. If you’ve ever seen that Talking Funny clip on YouTube, this is the book for you.
11 JUNE – 19 JULY Open Daily until 10pm Tickets from $15 | Slide from $7.50 aucklandlive.co.nz
HOPE: A MEMOIR OF SURVIVAL IN CLEVELAND AMANDA BERRY & GINA DEJESUS BOOK
Whoa – this is where things get a bit real. Amanda Berry and Gina Dejesus, two of the women who were trapped in Ariel Castro’s basement of nightmares for a decade, tell us their story of courageous survival in the true face of hell. Including never before heard details on Castro and themselves, this is a must-read.
AV CLUB AVCLUB.COM WEBSITE
The AV Club really has everything on anything. It covers TV, film, music, opinion, comedy, books, games – basically, shit you really enjoy on a daily basis. It’s a site that I make sure I check first thing in the morning, as the writing is always on point, always entertaining, and the navigation is a breeze.
Tuesday Night Double Feature
Led Zeppelin ‘Greatest Hits’ plus Pink Floyd ‘Wish You Were Here’ 8PM / 14 JULY / 21 JULY / 28 JULY
$35 R18 Includes two glasses of wine and a snack.
BOOK NOW AT STARDOME.ORG.NZ / 09 624 1246
OUBL
E LAN
E ICE
SLIDE
ANDREW JOHNSTONE
BEST PIZZA
I HAVE FOUND myself mostly within two situations of life. One: I have lived in the country for most of it and this has made takeaway pizza impossible. Two: The few times I found myself living in the city I never had the cash for this kind of luxury. I wanted pizza, I desired pizza and I wasn’t getting pizza so I learned to make it myself. Raising dough is an art as much as a technique, one fraught with difficulty, but get it right it and the result is a delectable and richly scented bread base, onto which goes the sauce: a mixture of extra virgin olive oil, tomato puree and paste, garlic, thyme, basil, red onion and cheddar cheese seasoned with parmesan, salt and pepper. Sometimes I get it wrong (not enough yeast or a poor assessment of ambient temperatures), and after all that work and anticipation it can end up being a bit frustrating. Frankly, I would rather someone make it for me. These days I am back in the city, and while I am not rolling in dosh, there is enough for the odd pizza if I fancy it. Dominos are just around the
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corner from where I live and $6 for a mid-size Margarita is more than affordable. The Dominos base is mostly bread-like, but the cheese a bit lacking for a guy weaned on Kiwi cheddar. The generous portion of cherry tomatoes makes me feel like I’ve had one of my “five a day” and the basil, while somewhat overworked and artificial, certainly tames the palate. A more traditional Margarita seems a little bland in comparison. The Margarita is the original Italian pizza: yeast-raised dough with a tomato sauce made from garlic, basil leaves, salt and pepper. The whole caboodle is dressed with pieces of buffalo mozzarella and cooked hard and fast. For this “best of” exercise I stuck with this style, thinking that if they can get such a basic pizza right, they can probably do anything. I was sold into trying the “certified pizza” at Dante’s in Ponsonby Central. The owner caught me eyeing up the menu (actually I was baulking at the prices), but he sold me on a tale
of extra virgin olive oil grown on volcanic soil, tomatoes from the district of San Marzano and dough that was two days old: “Good for digestion,” he emphasised. “The yeast have done all the work for you.” Okay, the dough was exceptional, but the torn pieces of buffalo mozzarella were underwhelming. The sauce was wet and leaked, spoiling the structure of the dough and dampening the eating experience. Expensive at $20 but this is seriously good-looking pizza that begs to be tried again. Dante’s are certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, an Italian culinary association charged with protecting the purity of the original pizza, The Neapolitan. Dante’s are the only certified Neapolitan pizza maker in NZ. Next up is a business meeting in Parnell. It’s after hours and a pizzeria is right downstairs. Italia Square, 100 Parnell Rise, is “straight up” Italian pizza made by Italians. The dough is perfectly formed and possessive of that rich bread aroma lacking in Dominos. The sauce is firm and well-seasoned, the cheese more than adequate. This is a
pretty decent pizza but pricey at around $20. Also worth trying is their fried calzone (a calzone is a filled pizza. It resembles a half-moon and is made of salted bread dough). My pick is not theoretically pizza, rather its pizzas lesserknown ancestor, the Manakesh. This is a Middle Eastern variant on seasoned flatbread, a food style that has been around since antiquity. The pizza is based on the same principle but with the addition of tomatoes, a fruit that arrived in Italy sometime during the 16th century. The dough is rolled and dressed in spinach, herbs and three kinds of kinds cheese (there are meat and vegan options available). It comes out of the oven and looks exactly like a pizza until it is served when it is folded over itself and then cut in half, the result is the best damned toasted cheese sandwich I have had in a long time. Poppas Pretzels in downtown Auckland (kind of opposite the Civic and downwind a bit), make a worthy Manakesh. This crispy, salty treat starts at $4.95. I spend an extra $1 for jalapeño peppers and feta cheese.
EATING
DRINKING
THE BLUE BREEZE INN
BELLOTA
146 PONSONBY RD
91 FEDERAL ST
AUCKLAND
AUCKLAND
I’m all for vibrant and light flavours of Asian food. Chef Che Barrington was the head of MooChowChow, which celebrated innovation and Thai flavour and technique. Now, with a new vision of updated Chinese food after an expedition to China, Barrington has opened the Blue Breeze Inn. You’ll be glad to know it’s also New Zealand’s premiere rum and cocktail bar, The Rum Jungle. Smack on Ponsonby Road, there’s the mainstays of mouthwatering Chinese cuisine: dumplings, noodles, chicken, seafood. Yeah, I haven’t had dinner yet so I’ll stop there. Make sure you go and say xiangshang to Che and the crew.
Spanish for acorn, Bellota has won many awards, including Metro’s Best Tapas Bar and “best first drink on a first date”’ for 2010 (the latter – damn hard to find, may I add). A Peter Gordon creation, Bellota offers some of the strongest flavours of Spain, including chistorra, delicious empanadillas, addictive cassava chips with aioli and many more. There’s also dessert – churros, catalane and a boss dessert platter. This is authentic tapas experienced best with a fine chilled beer, so get involved, take your date there and splash out on these tiny little morsels of goodness from the depths of Spain.
PEACH PIT
MONTEREY
352 KARANGAHAPE RD
4 RINTOUL ST, NEWTOWN
AUCKLAND
WELLINGTON
The Peach Pit is a local eatery and bar on K Road – it’s a bit styley, a bit different, and a bit delicious. Looking at their menu, there’s some intriguing stuff that I want, particularly the bulgogi burger with kimchi mayo. I’ve also heard the surimi hotdog is dangerously addictive, like most K Rd things.
A neighbourhood bar with a plethora of independent beers, as well as great burgers with homemade sauces, Monterey is your new favourite. It’s inspired by the Californian writers huts of the mid-20th century, and checking the décor out, you can just imagine the musk of old jackets with elbow patches. All vinyl music too – winner.
BURGER LIQUOR
XUXU
129 WILLIS ST
GALWAY ST & COMMERCE ST
WELLINGTON
AUCKLAND
Talk about getting to the point – Burger Liqour is the new joint in Wellington that will have your belly sloshin’ with the finest of ales and your stubby li’l digits all greasy from quality meat juice. They do hard shakes, which is like getting tipsy at the corner dairy. Heaps of scrumptious options for takeaway, too.
There can never be too many dumpling bars in New Zealand. This is one of the city’s small gems, offering the stone cold classics of pork and chives. Across from Britomart Square, this is dumpling mecca. With helpful staff and a quirky low lit atmosphere, there are also Asian-inspired cocktails that go perfectly with… well, anything.
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SHIT WORTH DOING MUSIC PICK OF THE MONTH
THU 23 JULY SAT 25 JULY
THU 02 JULY
SHLOHMO THE KINGS ARMS
BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY
I AM GIANT
AUCKLAND
VECTOR ARENA
BODEGA
8PM, $49.90, UTR.CO.NZ
AUCKLAND
WELLINGTON
An enigmatic electronic producer from LA, Henry Laufer aka Shlohmo is returning to our shores with a full band. His debut Bad Vibes was a frenzied bit of electro funk, and latest album Dark Red expands on that album’s broody underpinnings ten-fold, with songs like ‘Emerge From Smoke’ taking you on a claustrophobic trip. Multiple support acts.
8PM, $79, DASHTICKETS.CO.NZ
8PM, $38.45, NZTIX.CO.NZ
Now tell me whatcha gonna do when there ain’t no tickets left? I dunno, bro. This concert sold out hard and fast, so maybe try your chances outside the Powerstaion and start spittin’ as fast as Bizzy Bone for a spot on the guest list. It’s Bone Thugs – the second best group started by Eazy E.
Fresh from an X Factor NZ appearance with new singer Ryan Redman, I Am Giant will be stomping all over our fair land with a six date tour winter tour. With features on Fox Sports, grab your backpack full of energy drinks and skate to a gig. Single ‘Kiss from a Ghost’ is ultra badass.
DAY ?? MON
TUE 14 JUL SAT 11 JULY
BIC RUNGA & TINY RUINS
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RYAN ADAMS
THE WINTERGARDEN – THE CIVIC
HERMITUDE & YOUNG TAPZ
TOWN HALL
AUCKLAND
STUDIO
AUCKLAND
7.30PM, $55, TICKETMASTER.CO.NZ
AUCKLAND
8PM, $101.30, TICKETMASTER.CO.NZ
It’s great seeing our talented songwriters banding together for the greater good – think McGlashan/Dobbyn and Anika, Boh and Hollie. Now Bic Runga and Tiny Ruins join in a tour that is sure to have you quietly weeping at the greatness that comes from our small country. Seriously, have you heard their duet ‘Hurtling Through’? Check it.
8.30PM, $45, NONSTOPTIX.CO.NZ
Controversial, outspoken, a bit dirty looking – Grammy-nominated Ryan Adams is keen to push through the pain and bring his band to Auckland and Wellington. His blistering selftitled album was not so much a return to form ala Gold, but something exciting, energetic and made to play live. Better get your ass a pass, pal.
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On the back of brand spanking new album Dark Night, Sweet Light, premier Aussie dance act Hermitude make the jump over, ready to buzz us out with a sweet dance buzz with tunes like sweet new single ‘The Buzz’. Supported by Young Tapz, who features on ‘The Buzz’, this will be an all-out floor filler.
SAT 18 JULY THU 16 JULY
WED 01 JULY
NEIL FINN
GIN WIGMORE
JOHNNY MARR
TOWN HALL
THE POWERSTATION
THE POWERSTATION
AUCKLAND
AUCKLAND
AUCKLAND
8PM, $82.50, TICKETMASTER.CO.NZ
8PM, $40, TICKETMASTER.CO.NZ
8PM, $83.50, TICKETMASTER.CO.NZ
Neil Finn solo with strings – it’s on the tin. His recent setlists have been career-spanning monstrosities of quality. It’s no wonder – Neil is one of our most consistent songwriters, each album an improvement on the last. Dizzy Heights was a trippy masterwork that could easily topple Split Enz’s eccentric best. Listened to Together Alone lately either?
Award winning, raspy-voiced seductress Gin Wigmore plays a show in support of third album Blood and Bone. With the record exploring unchartered musical territories on songs like ‘New Rush’ and ‘Written in the Water’, this will be a powerful show from one of our favourite songstresses. Expect some old favourites though!
Why does Johnny Marr need to tour? He’s done it all already. Look at his resume – the Smiths, Oasis, Talking Heads, Modest Mouse – this guy is an indie fan’s quivering wet dream, with his jangly guitar and perfectly sculpted bowl haircut. Get the live treatment of tunes from latest record The Messenger this October.
TOP 6 BEST SELLING RECORING ARTISTS OF ALL TIME 1. BING CROSBY ALMOST 1 BILLION UNITS 2. THE BEATLES: 600 MILLION UNITS PLUS 3. ELVIS PRESLEY: 5-600 MILLION UNITS THU 02 JULY
THU 30 JULY
NADIA REID
KITTY, DAISY & LEWIS
DARKROOM
THE POWERSTATION
CHRISTCHURCH
AUCKLAND
8PM, $10, UTR.CO.NZ
8PM, $52.50, EVENTTICKETING.CO.NZ
Though her album cover looks like a bad headshot for a ‘90s children’s programme, Nadia Reid is proof that you shouldn’t judge a folk singer by her covers. Her album Listen to Formation, a ten-song collection of indiecountry swagger, is one of the more intriguing local releases lately. Reid should put on a swingin’ show.
After years of solidly gigging across the world, as well as opening for greats like Coldplay (ahem) and Stereophonics (I guess), Kitty, Daisy & Lewis are finally breaking out on their own. With an album produced by Clash member Mick Jones, every gig of theirs is an old-school, ska-filled party. Don’t sleep on this talented trio any longer.
4. MICHAEL JACKSON: 4-500 MILLION UNITS 5. FRANK SINATRA: 3-400 MILLION UNITS 6. NANA MOUSKOURI: 2-300 MILLION UNITS
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ADVERTORIAL
LEARNING
TURN YOUR PASSION INTO A CAREER “Study contemporary music at Unitec and you’ll learn to compose, perform, edit and produce your own work. It’s a great springboard to all sorts of different careers in the music industry.”
TURN YOUR PASSION into a career at Unitec Institute of Technology. Unitec offers a friendly and diverse learning environment with flexible study programmes, lots of support, and hands-on experience to build the skills you need for your career and your future. Unitec works closely with industry, which means visits from guest lecturers and programmes that are up-to-date with the latest knowledge. The tutors are experts in their field and you’ll benefit from their professional experience and industry connections. From certificates through to postgraduate courses, more than 90% of our programmes include Industry Based Learning. It’s your opportunity to put theory into practice by working with a host organisation. You’ll develop relevant industry skills and knowledge, confidence and self-discipline so that when you graduate you can hit the ground running. Industry experience is a big bonus when you’re applying for jobs. You might even meet your future employer through your work placement or at one of the industry events each year.
Certificate in Communication and Media Arts, Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts (Production Design and Management), or Graduate Diploma in Creative Practice. Are you interested in designing sets and managing creative productions? Whether you want to work in film, TV or theatre, the scenery, special effects and audio-visual systems are crucial to bring each story to life. Production design and management courses give different areas to specialise in. Costume design, stage management, lighting and sound, or scenery and props. Why? Because of the hands-on learning you get from working alongside student and professional actors, dancers, musicians, directors and writers every day. It gives you a taste of how the industry works, and helps you make valuable professional connections. You can also make use of our theatre, dance and television studios, as well as the extensive production workshops and electronics workshops. It’s the ultimate foundation for a creative career you’ll love. Find out more at Unitec.ac.nz/success START YOUR CAREER IN MUSIC.
PRODUCTION DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT The visual world you see in films, plays and TV programmes is all down to the people who work behind the scenes. From costumes and props to lighting and sound, study production design and management and learn how to set the scene. With more than 100 productions at Unitec each year there are opportunities to learn on the job aplenty! Study options include
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Want to turn your love of music into a career? From reggae to soul, orchestral to electronic, Unitec’s contemporary music courses will improve your knowledge of musical techniques and composition. Want to write or perform songs? How about DJing or producing radio shows? Maybe a career as a sound artist or vocalist is more up your street. Study contemporary music at Unitec and you’ll learn to compose, perform, edit and produce
your own work. It’s a great springboard to all sorts of different careers in the music industry. 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 at live concerts. Study options include Certificate in Music (Introductory) and Diploma in Contemporary Music. Find out more at Unitec.ac.nz/success WHERE? Unitec has three dynamic, inclusive and environmentally sustainable campuses. Mt Albert is green and spacious, with lots of carparking, sports facilities and cafes to catch up with friends. It’s a 10-minute drive to the city, and a short walk to the nearest shops, bus stops and train station. You can use the free shuttle bus to get across campus and if you don’t want to commute, you can live at the Unitec Residential Village. Out west, there’s Waitakere with its modern teaching facilities and public library that Unitec shares with the community. You can spend time with your children in the whānau room, relax in the landscaped plaza outside or take a quick walk to the many shops and cafes of central Henderson. The Northern campus is Unitec’s newest and most modern campus. Based in Albany it’s easy to reach from all parts of the North Shore and the northwest and parking is free.
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SHIT WORTH DOING CULTURE PICK OF THE MONTH
WED 01 JULY - SUN 19 JULY WED 01 JULY
RUPERT
BASTILLE DAY
BETH STELLING
Q THEATRE
ROSEBANK ESTATE
THE TUNING FORK
AUCKLAND
CHRISTCHURCH
AUCKLAND
MULTIPLE, $59, PATRONBASE.COM
7PM, $60, EVENTFINDA.CO.NZ
7PM, $27.50, TICKETMASTER.CO.NZ
The powerful, all-encompassing media magnate Rupert Murdoch takes a good ol’ romp down memory lane, cabaret style, and sings about a pretty amazing rise to the top. Giving us a cleverly crafted take on his stories of richness, power, wealth, money and being rich, Rupert is sure to be this year’s standout musical event. Audacious Aussie, indeed.
I love Bastille Day. It’s all about the food, the culture, the music, the costumes – great stuff. Held at the beautiful Rosebank Estate to celebrate the French National day, this three course dinner boasts duck liver parfait, confit duck, salmon fillet and a bounty of buttery potatoes. And of course – there’s profiteroles. Sacre bleu, Christchurch! Engouffrer!
Beth Stelling is comedy’s rising star with razor-sharp wit and some seriously on-point observational humour. Having featured on The Pete Holmes Show, Chelsea Lately, Conan and You Made it Weird, Stelling is also Jimmy Kimmel’s favourite. Make sure you head along to her show at the Tuning Fork.
TUE 14 JULY & THU 16 JULY
FRI 10 JULY FRI 10 JULY & FRI 17 JULY
NZSO: POWER AND PASSION
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FRI 10 JULY
MEET THE OBJECTS
MICHAEL FOWLER CENTRE
MID WINTER CHRISTMAS
AUCKLAND WAR MEMORIAL MUSEUM
WELLINGTON
ALEXANDRA PARK RACEWAY
AUCKLAND
6:30PM, $33, TICKETEK.CO.NZ
AUCKLAND
2PM, DONATION, DOOR SALES ONLY
Vasily Petrenko joins forces with Macedonian Simon Trpceski for a dazzling night of brilliance. A chance for us Kiwis to experience true passion in the form of Petrenko’s conducting style, they perform such hits as Mahler’s Symphony Number 5. Shit was dope in 1901. I’m talkin’ about Mildred, Edna, Ethel and Ida – Mahler Number 5.
5:30PM, $65, ALEXANDRAPARK.CO.NZ
An amazing project that has been in the works over the past year, Alfriston College students have recreated the landscape of 1915 Gallipolli in Minecraft, block by block. With the help of Auckland Museum staff and their WW1 collections, this is must see stuff and an interactive world for those wanting to learn more.
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I’ve always thought that Christmas should be more than one a year, and if you can brave the cold in Alexandra Park in the middle of winter, you’ll get the chance to celebrate it – in an outrageously large hat, or hired suit, and get flat out blasted watching horses. Soft drinks, juice, water, solids also available.
THU 16 JULY - SUN 02 AUG THU 23 JULY
FRI 17 JULY - SUN 19 JULY
NZ INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
ARMAGEDDON EXPO
ALAN DAVIES
MULTIPLE VENUES
WESTPAC STADIUM
FOUNDERS THEATRE
NATIONWIDE
WELLINGTON
HAMILTON
Bringing the best, brainiest, brightest and boldest films from world cinema straight to our doorstep, the annual New Zealand International Film Festival is a stonking good time. With video stores dropping like flies, this is a good chance to stumble upon a great film which isn’t blockbuster popcorn dreck. Check out your nearest host online.
12PM, $20, TICKETEK.CO.NZ
8PM, $69, TICKETEK.CO.NZ
My first Armageddon was back in 2000. I was on the lookout for a rare WWF Royal Rumble VHS from 1996, and I also wanted to swap some Pokemon cards. I haven’t been since, but it looks like it goes off. There’s, like, dinosaur suits and 3D lasers and rich techies slangin’ their wangs around.
One of my favourites from such shows as Would I Lie to You and QI, Alan Davies is returning for the first time since 2013. A virtuosic storyteller with a knife-sharp, raging wit, this will be a bloody hoot and quite droll at the same time. His Tuesday Club podcast is always good fun too.
FREE FM 89.0 (WAIKATO) AYUBOWAN SRI LANKA
HASHTAG RADIO SAT 5PM
Exploring Social Media and New Technology
TUES 8PM
This program is all about Sri Lanka
GARAGE PUNK SHOW SAT 10PM
SAT 25 JULY
ROYAL NZ BALLET OPEN HOUSE
RETROSPECT 60S
FLAT OUT PRIDE FRI 5PM
THU 30 JULY - SUN 02 AUG
THE OPERA HOUSE
The Waikato region’s only Rainbow Show
Enjoy the heady sounds of 60s Garage Punk with Phil Grey
WELLINGTON
THE FOOD SHOW
9:30AM, FREE
ASB SHOWGROUNDS
GO FEET! RADIO
SUN 10.30AM
Celebrating Wellington’s 150th birthday (jeez, girl, you still look 100), our capital is opening its doors to 30 national institutions free of charge. This gives fans the opportunity to gaze upon some of the most wondrous, rarest collections and treasures housed in the city as part of the Open House circuit. A NZ ballet fan’s dream.
AUCKLAND
WED 10.00PM
10AM, $26, FOODSHOW.CO.NZ
Features vintage Jamaican music and showcases what modern bands throughout New Zealand and the world are doing with these musical genres.
Hindu vision promotes understanding, tolerance, and compassion between people”
Yes. The Food Show. I show up with nothing in my stomach, and within the first isle, I’m full of spicy chicken wings, sorbet and vodka. It’s a dangerous mix, but it’s the cost of the samples ($0) that make up for the brutal case of hot snakes that afternoon. So, so, so worth it.
HINDU VISIONS
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SHIT WORTH DOING SCREEN
WED 01 JULY
FRI 10 JULY
WED 01 JULY - SUN 19 JULY
TERMINATOR: GENISYS
TED 2
CINEMA RELEASE
CINEMA RELEASE
ANT-MAN
A fifth Terminator film is coming with a saggy Arnie returning in the titular role. The film industry is all about the big reboots, but this franchise has had at least two other conscious attempts with little success. So why care about this one? Well, there’s a fight between two T-101s – good Schwarzenegger vs bad Schwarzenegger. So that.
Mark Wahlberg returns as slovenly man-child John, best bud to raucous teddy bear Ted. Ted needs to impregnate his supermarket wife Tammi-Lynn, yet can only achieve said pregnancy through a generous “donation”. But hold on – Ted’s not human, right? Cue the token Seth McFarlane dick jokes, a sperm hijacking and hilarious, wacky custody battle.
CINEMA RELEASE
Not since Antz have I been so excited for an antbased film with neurotic lead-man. And while this may seem parodist, it is a legit Marvel film. Paul Rudd plays the titular hero alongside lost elf Evangeline Lilly. Antman is my second favourite superhero of Rudd’s after his brilliant portrayal of Slappin’ Da Bass Man.
PICK OF THE MONTH
FRI 10 JULY
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FRI 10 JULY & FRI 17 JULY TUE 14 JULY & THU 16 JULY
DRUNK HISTORY UK
CELEBRITY WIFE SWAP USA
COMEDY CENTRAL, 9:45PM
PRIME, 9:30PM
WESTSIDE
This looks great – a bunch of top UK comedians get blotto and tell stories of their favourite historical stories. Including Johnny Vegas, Rob Beckett and James Acaster, the comedians then act out their boozy versions of events in small plays. Sounds like charades at Christmas, except no one’s a comedian where I live. Jimmy Carr narrates.
Remember Tiffany? She sung ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’ in the ‘80s, followed by Playboy, and then she was gone. But here she is again in Celeb Wife Swap, doing the switcheroo with Pretty Little Liars actress Nia Peeples. How will these semi-wealthy women survive a small amount of time with other creepy children? Watch and see.
TV3, 8:30PM
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Ted and Rita have raised a problem child in Wolf, and he needs to be straightened out fast. In the series finale, the couple are rocked by Wolf’s wave of crime in the neighbourhood – as well as his knocking up of Ngaire’s daughter, Desiree. Will Wolf stay out of jail? Just another day in the west.
FRI 17 JULY - SUN 19 JULY THU 16 JULY - SUN 02 AUG
THU 23 JULY
ALL BLACKS VS SAMOA
WORLD’S BUSIEST MATERNITY WARD
MR. HOLMES
PRIME, 6:00PM
VIBE, 8:30PM
CINEMA RELEASE
In what will surely be a brutal, engaging and historic match, watch the All Blacks take on Samoa in Apia, Samoa. The first international test for NZ in 2015, this is the AB’s first trip to Samoa ever. A prequel to the Rugby Championship, look out for some big hits and start placing your bids.
On any given day, up to 50 babies are born at the Jose Fabella hospital in Manila, one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. On a busy day, it can get 100 li’l whippersnappers a’poppin’ out. The BBC’s Anita Rani explores the history of this young Philippine destination and what makes it so “busy”.
Either Robert Downey Jr has aged terribly or this is Sir Ian McKellen playing an ailing and retired Sherlock Holmes. From Dreamgirls director Bill Condon, Holmes aims to unravel a 50-year-old case with the shreds of memory he still has left. Add a dash of senility and drab quotes and you get an excellent Sherlock film.
THE 5 MOST SHAZAMED DANCE TRACKS EVER 1. AVICII ‘WAKE ME UP’ (19.67 MILLION) 2. CLEAN BANDIT FEATURING JESS GLYNNE ‘RATHER BE’ (15.09 MILLION) 3. LILY WOOD & THE PRICK - ‘PRAYER IN C’ (ROBIN SCHULZ REMIX) (10.61 MILLION) SAT 25 JULY
THE TRUTH ABOUT... BLOOD BBC KNOWLEDGE, 8.30PM
We slosh five litres of it around every day in these fleshy vessels we call bodies – it’s a doco on blood. Michael Mosley gives up a fifth of his own in order to conduct experiments and possibly solve some mysteries about this sticky red substance. Mosley even prepares a black pudding with a special ingredient – himself. Yeck.
THU 30 JULY - SUN 02 AUG
PRIME PRESENTS NZ SEASON: BULLIES PRIME, 8:30PM
Over three startling episodes, we learn about the total bummer that is bullying in New Zealand. Back in the nineties, it was just namecalling and fights. Now it can perpetually haunt you, hovering in your text messages and your Facebook. The first episode covers boardroom bullies – yep, adults get their shit ripped too.
4. MILKY CHANCE ‘STOLEN DANCE’ (10.56 MILLION) 5. MARTIN GARRIX ‘ANIMALS’ (10.48 MILLION) SOURCE: STATISTA.COM
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SHIT WORTH DOING ATTRACTIONS
SUN 22 NOV WED 01 JUL - SUN 19 JULY
AOTEA SQUARE ICE RINK
THE RED BULL TROLLEY GRAND PRIX
AOTEA SQUARE
AUCKLAND DOMAIN
AUCKLAND
AUCKLAND
Hey, ever wanted to get colder in winter, plus potentially make a dick of yourself in public? Look no further. The Aotea Square Ice Rink is back for its third year in a row, turning the square into a mystical playground of lights, ice, polar bears and freezing pain. It’s a place for everyone – for couples looking to fill in the awkward silence between checking texts that aren’t there, or a chance to see your mate completely eat it on his dumb face. Once you make your first full circle, that’s it. You just keep going. That’s how they get you.
The Red Bull Trolley Grand Prix is a chance to let your inner trolley-maker flag fly. Fuelled by creativity, fun, a pinch of malice and lighthearted competitiveness, this event encourages racers and amateurs alike to compete in a thrilling race against the clock on a twisty maze of concrete. Entries for the race are due by the end of July, so if anyone is keen to craft a grotesque papier mache mould of Colin Craig’s head into a non-engine vehicle, hit me up and let’s get to work. Flying down the streets of the Auckland Domain, this will be the shit.
MULTIPLE VENUES, NATIONWIDE
NO LIGHTS NO LYCRA NOLIGHTSNOLYCRA.COM MULTIPLE VENUES, NATIONWIDE
Ever wanted to dance in the dark like Courteney Cox pre-Friends? No Lights, No Lycra has you covered, organising classes with no lights, lycra work out gear, no teachers, no steps – just a space to move your butt in the dark without judgement. You may get the random hand in the mouth, but that’s cool.
PICK OF THE MONTH
SPOOKERS HAUNTED ATTRACTION UPTOWN BOUNCE
833 KINGSEAT RD
SNOWPLANET
565 GREAT NORTH RD
AUCKLAND
91 SMALL RD, SILVERDALE
AUCKLAND
The number one haunted attraction scream park in New Zealand (besides Rainbow’s End on a Monday), Spookers is tailor-made for quality pants-shitting. It’s a place to exacerbate any anxiety or notions you had about zombies eating your flesh in the dark and has its own brown motorway sign, so you know they mean business.
AUCKLAND
Every time I bounce, I feel I touch the skyyy! Uptown Bounce is here to cure your pre-teen tramp repression. Loads of fun and a legit way to exercise, take your pick of 22 wall to wall tramps. Oh jeez, you can even bounce off the sides of the wall. There’s dodgeball. And basketball hoops. Wow.
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If you’ve decided against the ice skating by now, why not fall on your arse in style and head to Snowplanet? It’s an awesome place – so many friendly staff, amazing setting, and the chance to feel real life legit snow. And there’s definitely no judgement in the beginners area. Come on! Learn something new, dammit!
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OUT NOW F E AT U R I N G T E A R I N M Y H E A R T, S T R E S S E D Ø U T & FA I R LY LØ C A L
TO U R I N G N Z T H I S J U LY T W E N T YO N E P I LOT S . C O M
W A R N E R M U S I C . C Ø. N Z
NICK COLLINGS
THIS MONTH IN CLUBL AND FOR THE EXTENDED INTERVIEWS AND MORE CHECK OUT RIPITUP.CO.NZ/CLUBLAND
make it a bit more cinematic and the idea of the concept album, something that actually carries a story all the way through, which we’re also doing with some of the other singles we’ve been working on. They all have a similar type message and interweave. Musically these tracks are complex. ‘Ghosts’ ended up having about 1000 tracks of vocals, plus lots of synths and live drums, it was the biggest session I’ve ever worked on and the next track we’ve got we’re hoping to get a 30-piece choir in it.
BAITERCELL BAITERCELL IS THE alias of super musician and philosopher Chris Chetland. He is the go-to guy when you want your music mixed down and mastered, having been involved with the cream of the crop in NZ, which artists like Scribe, Savage, Boh Runga and Shapeshifter can attest to. He has teamed up with UK vocalist Kevin Mark Trail and together they are bringing music with a message back to electronic tunes with their new single ‘Ghosts’. How did Kevin and yourself come to write music together? When he came over from the UK he would often come and stay with us, down in our sleep out at the bottom of the garden and we got into the studio to have a play around and see what we could do with some dance music. He does a lot of soul and electronica
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styles as well as his jazz field and his more urban stuff that he did with The Streets (‘Weak Become Heroes’ and ‘Let’s Push Things Forward’) but we wanted to do some stuff that fit the more drum & bass vibe. How did the concept of ‘Ghosts’ come to be? We had been talking about stuff to do with the environment and philosophy and we thought we’d write a song that had a message about that, we would look at what was going on in music and in general, one of the problems was that lyricism had became a dying art, especially in dance music. We wanted to do something on the more conscious tip. Kevin came up with a load of words and lyrics, we discussed the concepts and carved that out and wrote the idea of the music video as we wrote the lyrics, to
How did you transfer the concepts of ‘Ghosts’ into a music video? We linked the lyrics through with the words in the story to give a visual emphasis on the concepts in it, for example the problems with how we’ve become in framed or caught up so much with in our technology that we’ve lost sight of the world that goes on around us. Society does have a lot of problems environmentally and we wanted to bring that up but we didn’t want booty girls shaking on it. We wanted to have something that was a journey, a trip of sorts, a discovery of the main protagonist in the video as he moves through and then comes into contact with nature and nature opens up and breaks him out of the mould of the world he’s been captured in, especially for someone like Kevin who comes from London, right in the city, where as say on my side I grew up and spent a lot of life in the bush or the forest or at the beach, really in nature. In the later half of the video when it goes really psychedelic, those images are algorithms of nature, they’re the sort of things I work with in my biology side of things, I’ve been wanting to do a video involving that sort of
that stuff since probably the mid ‘90s. We bought that in because those are ways to see the forms of nature, as nature talks to us through maths. We bought those two worlds together, the more spiritual and ecological with the more abstract and conceptual. Tell us the science behind the music video? Shae Sterling did the video as he has one of the best eyes I’ve ever seen, so I knew if anyone was going to get the shots of the story and capture that emotive content he was definitely one of the top people to call in with that. With the visuals we wanted to stat them off more ordinary, so you get the growth of the plants over and through the buildings. For the second half I sourced a lot of those visuals from a guy, Dr Scott Graves, who is a computer scientist, who is also a biologist. Those images generated are called genetic algorithms, so they create the fractals, you’ll notice some of them are like fern type shapes or helices and they are the forms of nature or where nature borrows from. Are there any ‘Ghosts’ remixes coming? I’ve done an extended drum and bass one, there is a liquid drum and bass one from Rubix, Sample Gee has been doing a hip-hop/ pop one, Andy Lovegrove from Breaks Co-Op is doing a more downbeat version and Mikael Wills is doing a more dance floor one. Hopefully there will be about seven or eight by late July when we do the release.
‘GHOSTS’ - BAITERCELL AND KEVIN MARK TRAIL OUT NOW ON KOG NICK COLLINGS
2014 was the year of “EDM”. 2015 will be the year of… ? Jamie Lee Wilson. ;)
SCRATCHING THE SURFACE JAMIE LEE WILSON
with house music legend Todd Terry, I’m excited that this release is finally here!
JAMIE LEE WILSON is one of the most determined vocalists in electronic music. She has amassed a string of successful collaborations under her belt with some of the biggest names in house music including Roger Sanchez, Bob Sinclar and Joachim Garraud. 2015 is Jamie’s most ambitious year yet having recently relocated from the sunny Gold Coast in Australia to pursue her career in Los Angeles.
What projects are you currently working on? I’ve been in the studio with Sultan and Ned Shepard in LA and have a new release coming out in summer with Stonebridge and ‘Back 2 Love’ is on the way with Dave Audé – there’s a little sneak peak of that being featured on music app Slyde this week alongside ex Pussycat Doll Jessica Sutta!
Coming up in electronic music, who was your vocal hero? I’d have to say Chris Willis. His perfect blend of soul and pop with David Guetta changed the face of dance music and I’m now so lucky to call him one of my close friends. What aspect of making music excites you the most right now? I recently relocated to Los Angeles and it’s interesting to see that dance music is finally being recognised over here in the States. It’s exciting to hear electronic elements creeping into the mainstream and I’m looking forward to hearing what comes next! What track of yours do you recommend to people who have never heard your music before? ‘Like A Flame’! A track I did
Are there any DJ/producers you have met that are nothing like how you thought they would be? I performed live on radio in Amsterdam and Sidney Samson and Far East Movement walked in during my set. Sidney had his dog with him, the cutest little thing you’ve ever seen. They were all so so lovely! Really down to earth and approachable. I’ve since caught up with the Far East guys over here – nicest people you’ll ever meet! Most memorable singing moment to date? Supporting David Guetta at Pacha Ibiza was a pretty special night! There was a problem with my microphone and my manager had to sneak into his DJ booth and “borrow” his microphone for my set. It was a high-tech operation ha ha.
working electronic artists getting some mainstream recognition! What’s the musical equivalent of the G-Spot? A well belted D sharp.
What are your thoughts on the current commercialism of dance music in the world right now? As a vocalist, I like it! There’s a lot of cheap and nasty music creeping its way in, but that always happens. I think there are some commercial gems out there and it’s nice to see some hard
‘LIKE A FLAME’ (TEE’S INHOUSE MIX)
TURNING THE TABLES WITH… LOADSTAR
7. They are signed exclusively to Andy C’s record label Ram Records.
1. Gavin Harris and Nick Hill are Bristol-based drum and bass duo Loadstar.
8. As Loadstar they have produced official remixes for Ed Sheeran, Rudimental, Jessie J, Example, Breakage, Chase & Status and Naughty Boy.
2. They originally produced music under the name Xample & Lomax. 3. Xample studied sociology at Liverpool University. 4. Lomax was originally part of a drum and bass trio called Hold Tight. 5. Loadstar was created to make a new sound together to help cross over towards a different audience rather than just pure drum and bass fans.
OUT NOW ‘CRAZY BEAUTIFUL’ OUT FRI 12 JUL
9. They write music for other musicians including Hadouken!, Dot Rotten and the UK MC P-Money. 10. Outside of dance music they enjoy 2 Door Cinema, Metronome, Brothers and James Blake.
SEE THEM DJ: DEEP HARD N FUNKY FT. LOADSTAR (UK) FRI 03 JUL FOUNDRY, CHRISTCHURCH SAT 04 JUL ELLERSLIE RACE COURSE,
6. The name Loadstar came from an old sampler the duo used. It took ages to load and when it finally booted up the display came up with a star icon.
AUCKLAND SUN 05 JUL MEMORIAL HALL, QUEENSTOWN MON 06 JUL COMMON ROOM, DUNEDIN
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ANDREW JOHNSTONE
EMMETT SKILTON
THE THEATRE OF CLIMATE CHANGE of from the moment I first read the play.” A bold claim – what is your response to this quote and what is working with Peter like? You’re right, it is a bold claim, but I think very justifiable. Shakespeare was very much an expert at reflecting society back on themselves, and as I briefly mentioned, Between Two Waves behaves in a similar way. Ian Meadows has put relatable humans from very different walks of life head on with climate change, which is very immediate to our world today, both personally and politically, and the audience watch as they grapple with that idea and navigate their complex lives around it.
1. Emmett, you are best known to me as the star of the wonderful Almighty Johnsons, but you have a whole life beyond that show. Tell us a little about your life, as it is at this moment, in particular your life in LA and the challenges of being an actor for hire. I’ve spent the last 18 months back and forth from LA, firstly going there to do publicity for The Almighty Johnsons for its release on the major cable channel SYFY, followed by a more recent release on Netflix internationally. I’ve since been spreading my time between acting, most recently a feature film called Bella, studying at Stella Adler Academy of Acting, and most recently I have found myself heading down a producing and writing path. I am in the process of producing two films, one of which will be shot in the US, and a web series called Auckward Love, set and filmed right here in Auckland. 2. You have returned home to
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star in the play Between Two Waves, a theatrical production that examines climate change. What attracted you to this play? When I first read this play, it was amidst a time where it seemed, particularly in New Zealand, people needed to know so much more about climate change. They weren’t being told the whole story. So I firstly saw this as an opportunity to open up a public conversation about the issue. Secondly, Between Two Waves is not a story that just examines climate change, it is a story about our own lives getting in the way of something bigger than us, which I think is happening everywhere you look – it’s almost part of the human condition to behave in that way. 3. The director is Peter Feeney and he says of the play, “It’s rare outside of Shakespeare to find the personal and the political so adroitly combined. It’s a project I had to be part
“There really isn’t a single thing a government can do once all its people start speaking.” Working with Peter has been a great experience. He’s a person who is constantly searching and growing, and the more I work with him, the more that “always learning” attitude rubs off on me. 4. Give us a little insight into the production, the behindthe-scenes preparations and challenges and your role. A few words about your co-stars and the producer Leanne Frisbie who saw the play in Sydney and was so moved by its message that she decided to bring it to NZ. Leanne, our producer and one of our actors, saw this play in its first production and immediately recognised how important its message would be to a New Zealand audience so it is really thanks to her passion and dedication that this production
has come to be. Leanne, along with our co-stars, Shara and Peter, bring very different approaches to the work so the rehearsal room is always buzzing with new and unexpected ideas, which will only add to the great layers playwright Ian Meadows already has within his writing. My preparation is different for every role I play, but my approach to Daniel has required me to work slightly different than usual. He is not only a climate scientist, which I have been researching as well as taking university papers to understand, but he also has a diagnosed medical condition and has a very specific attitude about the world and future, magnified by events in his past, so understanding and embodying the complexities of his life involves some very indepth prep. 5. What are your own personal feelings about the challenges and politics of climate change? I think corporate money and science should not mix, and some governments really need to stop disregarding one because of another. And for us, the people impacted by those attitudes, I think it all begins with knowledge. Once there is an across-the-board understanding and acceptance of climate change then we can really make the changes we need. There really isn’t a single thing a government can do once all its people start speaking. Emmett Skilton is in the controversial new play on climate change Between Two Waves at Herald Theatre Aotea Centre, Tuesday 04 August to Saturday 15 August. Tickets available at ticketmaster.co.nz.
03—04. July 2015
this is semi –permanent Victory Convention Centre Auckland
Purchase tickets at www.semipermanent.com
Michael Bierut Pentagram — Jessica Walsh Sagmeister & Walsh — Christopher Doyle Designer – Georgianna Stout 2x4 Evan Roth Artist & Hacker – Andrew Gordon Pixar – James Brown MASH – Hege Aaby & Matt Rice Sennep Yuri Suzuki Designer & Musician – Tomas Libertiny Product Designer & Artist – Kathryn Wilson Kathryn Wilson +++ more
UPCOMING TOURS & EVENTS BIC RUNGA & TINY RUINS Fri 03 Jul The Wintergarden – The Civic, Auckland Sat 04 Jul Opera House, Wellington
DEMON ENERGY BATTLE OF THE BANDS 2015 Wed 01 Jul - Sat 01 Aug Multiple Venues, Nationwide
DON MCGLASHAN BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY (US)
10CC (UK) Tue 10 Nov ASB Theatre, Auckland Wed 11 Nov TSB Showplace, New Plymouth Thu 12 Nov Regent On Broadway, Palmerston North Fri 13 Nov St James Theatre, Wellington Sat 14 Nov Municipal Theatre, Napier Mon 16 Nov ASB Arena, Tauranga Tue 17 Nov Founders Theatre, Hamilton
Fri 30 Oct ASB Theatre, Auckland
CHRIS CORNELL (US) Fri 20 Nov Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch Mon 23 Nov Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington Thu 26 Nov ASB Theatre, Auckland
HELLO SAILOR Fri 18 Sep The Powerstation, Auckland
HELLYEAH (US)
Thu 25 Aug Horncastle Arena, Christchurch Fri 28 Aug ASB Theatre, Auckland Sat 29 Aug ASB Theatre, Auckland Sun 30 Aug Founders Theatre, Hamilton Mon 31 Aug St James Theatre, Wellington Tue 01 Aug St James Theatre, Wellington
Thu 20 Aug Studio, Auckland Fri 21 Aug Bodega, Wellington Sat 22 Aug Bedford, Christchurch
ED SHEERAN (UK) Sat 12 Dec Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland
RIPITUP.CO.NZ
Fri 03 Jul Darkroom, Christchurch Sat 04 Jul Chicks Hotel, Port Chalmers Sat 18 Jul The Meteor, Hamilton Sat 24 Jul Eyegum Collective, Wellington
DYLAN MORAN (IE)
Tue 21 Jul Regent On Broadway, Palmerston North Wed 22 Jul Municipal Theatre, Napier Thu 23 Jul Founders Theatre, Hamilton Fri 24 Jul Town Hall, Auckland Sat 25 Jul - Sun 26 Jul Bruce Mason Centre, Auckland Mon 27 Jul Regent Theatre, Dunedin Tue 28 Jul Memorial Centre, Queenstown Wed 29 Jul Civic Theatre, Invercargill Fri 30 Jul Horncastle, Christchurch Sat 01 Aug Opera House, Wellington Sun 02 Aug Opera House, Wellington Mon 03 Aug TSB Theatre, New Plymouth
Sat 12 Dec Westpac Stadium, Wellington Tue 15 Dec Western Springs Stadium, Auckland
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BONEY M
ALAN DAVIES (UK)
AC/DC (AU)
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Wed 01 Jul The Foundry, Christchurch Thu 02 Jul The Powerstation, Auckland
Thu 02 Jul Sherwood, Queenstown Fri 03 Jul Opera House, Oamaru Sat 04 Jul The Fullwood Room, Dunedin
HDSPNS
FAT FREDDY’S DROP Sat 24 Oct Town Hall, Auckland
FLEETWOOD MAC (UK/US) Wed 18 Nov Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin Sat 21 Nov - Sun 22 Nov Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland
HERMITUDE & YOUNG TAPZ Fri 10 Jul Bodega, Wellington Sat 11 Jul Studio, Auckland
HOZIER (IE) Thu 05 Nov Vector Arena, Auckland
GIN WIGMORE THE CHURCH TOUR 2015 Thu 01 Oct St John’s Cathedral, Napier Fri 02 Oct Holy Trinity Church, Tauranga Sat 03 Oct Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland Mon 05 Oct Old St Paul’s Church, Wellington Tue 06 Oct Old St Paul’s Church, Wellington Thu 08 Oct St Michael & All Angels Church, Christchurch Fri 09 Oct The Cardboard Cathedral, Christchurch Sat 10 Oct Knox Church, Dunedin
Wed 01 Jul The Kings Arms, Auckland Fri 03 Jul Bodega, Wellington Sat 04 Jul CPSA, Christchurch
GOOD RIDDANCE (US) Wed 05 Aug San Fran, Wellington Thu 06 Aug Galatos, Auckland
HARVEY’S AROUSED BY WOLVES Fri 03 Jul The Kings Arms, Auckland
I AM GIANT Thu 23 Jul ReFuel, Dunedin Fri 24 Jul The Bedford, Christchurch Sat 25 Jul Bodega, Wellington Thu 30 Jul The Mayfair, New Plymouth Fri 31 Jul Altitude Bar, Hamilton Sat 01 Aug The Powerstation, Auckland
IMAGINE DRAGONS (US) Tue 08 Sep Vector Arena, Auckland Thu 10 Sep Horncastle Arena, Christchurch
UPCOMING TOURS & EVENTS LIFEHOUSE (US)
NEW GUM SARN
Mon 19 Oct Town Hall, Auckland
Thu 02 Jul Whammy Bar, Auckland Fri 17 Jul The Darkroom, Christchurch Sat 18 Jul The Sherwood, Queenstown Thu 23 Jul Chicks Hotel, Port Chalmers Fri 24 Jul Eyegum Music Collective, Wellington Sat 25 Jul Moon, Wellington Sat 01 Aug Winecellar, Auckland
MADONNA (US) Sat 05 Mar Vector Arena, Auckland Sun 06 Mar Vector Arena, Auckland
MAROON 5 (US) JOAN BAEZ (US) Thu 15 Oct Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch Sat 17 Oct Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington Tue 20 Oct ASB Theatre, Auckland
JOHNNY MARR (UK) Thu 16 Jul The Powerstation, Auckland
Thu 01 Oct Horncastle Arena, Christchurch Sat 03 Oct Vector Arena, Auckland Sun 04 Oct Vector Arena, Auckland
MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK (US) Wed 26 Aug Studio, Auckland
NADIA REID
THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION (US)
NZ INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Fri 31 Jul The Powerstation, Auckland Sat 01 Aug Bodega, Wellington Sat 02 Aug Allen St Rock Club, Christchurch Tue 04 Aug Chicks Hotel, Dunedin
KISS (US) Fri 16 Oct Vector Arena, Auckland
Thu 25 Jun Wine Cellar, Auckland Fri 26 Jun The Rogue Stage, Rotorua Sat 27 Jun Pop Up Gigs Taranaki, New Plymouth Sun 28 Jun Meow, Wellington Thu 02 Jul Darkroom, Christchurch Sun 05 Jul Taste Merchants, Dunedin
KITTY, DAISY & LEWIS (UK) Thu 30 Jul The Powerstation, Auckland
NEIL DIAMOND (US) Mon 19 Oct Vector Arena, Auckland Sat 24 Oct Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
LAURA MARLING Fri 23 Oct The Powerstation, Auckland
NEIL FINN Sat 18 Jul Town Hall, Auckland
Thu 16 Jul - Sun 02 Aug Auckland Fri 07 Aug - Sun 23 Aug Christchurch Thu 30 Jul - Sun 16 Aug Dunedin Thu 20 Aug - Sun 13 Sep Hamilton Thu 03 Sep - Sun 20 Sep Hawke’s Bay Wed 02 Sep - Wed 16 Sep Masterton Thu 06 Aug - Sun 23 Aug Nelson Thu 03 Sep - Sun 20 Sep New Plymouth Thu 20 Aug - Sun 06 Sep Palmerston North Thu 20 Aug - Sun 13 Sep Tauranga Fri 24 Jul - Sun 09 Aug Wellington
NZSO PRESENTS: POWER AND PASSION - LISZT AND MAHLER Fri 10 Jul Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington Wed 15 Jul Horncastle Arena, Christchurch Fri 17 Jul Town Hall, Auckland Sat 18 Jul Founders Theatre, Hamilton
NZSO PRESENTS: CLASSICAL HITS Thu 17 Sep TSB Theatre, New Plymouth Fri 18 Sep Regent on Broadway, Palmerston North Sat 19 Sep Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington Sun 20 Sep Floor Pride Civic Theatre, Blenheim Wed 23 Sep Napier Municipal Theatre, Napier Thu 24 Sep Civic Theatre, Rotorua Fri 25 Sep Founders Theatre, Hamilton Sat 26 Sep Town Hall, Auckland Sun 27 Sep Forum North, Whangarei
PARKWAY DRIVE Wed 07 Oct Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland
RACING Fri 10 Jul Spacemonster, Whanganui Sat 11 Jul The Mayfair, New Plymouth Fri 17 Jul Cabana, Napier Sat 18 Jul Bodega, Wellington Fri 14 Aug The King’s Arms, Auckland
RIPITUP.CO.NZ
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45
Passion Productions and Auckland Live present
UPCOMING TOURS & EVENTS SEBASTIAN BACH (CA) Fri 18 Sep The Bedford, Christchurch Sat 19 Sep Studio, Auckland
SEMI-PERMANENT AUCKLAND 2015 Fri 03 Jul - Sat 04 Jul Victory Convention Centre, Auckland
SHLOHMO (US) ROBBIE WILLIAMS (UK) Sat 31 Oct Basin Reserve, Wellington Tue 03 Nov Vector Arena, Auckland
Thu 23 Jul The Kings Arms, Auckland Fri 24 Jul Bodega, Wellington-
ROYAL NZ BALLET: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM Thu 20 Aug - Sun 23 Aug St James Theatre, Wellington Thu 27 Aug – Sun 30 Aug Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch Wed 02 Sep – Sun 6 Sep ASB Theatre, Auckland Thu 10 Sep Civic Theatre, Rotorua Wed 16 Sep Regent on Broadway, Palmerston North Sat 19 Sep Napier Municipal Theatre, Napier
SOULFEST 2015 Mon 26 Oct Western Springs Stadium, Auckland
SUMMER CONCERT TOUR Sat 23 Jan Gibbston Valley Winery, Queenstown Sat 30 Jan Taupo Amphitheatre, Taupo Sun 31 Jan Whitianga Waterways Arena, Whitianga
TONI BRAXTON
Love in a warming climate
Thu 17 Sep Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland
THE WARRATAHS
RUSSELL BRAND (UK) Wed 14 Oct Vector Arena, Auckland
RYAN ADAMS (US) Tue 14 Jul Town Hall, Auckland Thu 16 Jul Opera House, Wellington
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RIPITUP.CO.NZ
Tue 07 Jul King St Live, Masterton Sat 18 Jul The Thistle, Wellington Sun 19 Jul St Peter’s Hall, Paekakariki Thu 30 Jul Le Cafe, Picton Fri 31 Jul The Boathouse, Nelson Fri 07 Aug The Tuning Fork, Auckland
TUE 4 — SAT 15 AUG
Tues — Thurs, 7:30pm | Fri & Sat, 8 pm | Matinee Sat 8 Aug, 2pm
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre Tickets* Adult $35 | Conc $30 | Groups 4+$30 | Matinee $25 Book at ticketmaster.co.nz or 09 970 9700
presents
with DeaD
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t s O h G a m OAD 015 KissnZFr tOur 2 thurs JuLy 23
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