Interview with Anna Coddington

Following up from Computers Want Me Dead... I also interviewed Anna Coddington last week! It was cool that both my interviews were with people who've played down here in Dunedin recently...

Where and when do you write music?
I go through phases with it. When I'm in a writing phase I just write all the time. First thing when I get up mostly, then muck around in the studio in the afternoon and evening doing demos and arranging. But I do find first thing in the morning to be the most productive time for song writing, I think because my brain is always foggy and thinking in tangents...

Who would you work with if you were to do an album full of guest stars?
I kind of feel like I've already done that! I consider my band to be stars and they gave me exactly what I wanted for my new album Cat & Bird. They are Ned Ngatae (guitars/co-production), Riki Gooch (drums), Mike Hall (bass), and L A Mitchell (keyboards). Ooh but if Prince offered to produce an album for me I would say yes.

I read that you're also a black belt in karate. Do you find that balance in life is as important for you as everyone makes it out to be?
Yep. I'm pretty sure the same goes for everyone though. I divide most of my time between music and karate (Kyokushin karate), but all musicians and karate people I know have other commitments/interests/hobbies etc. Sometimes I feel like I don't have enough time left between the two, but after 12 years of training I've just come to accept that I'm better off to keep it up. I get funny in the head when I stop training for too long...

Is it important to be a singer-songwriter rather than just a musician?
Ummm... for me it's important to be a songwriter. That's where I get the most personal satisfaction. I love watching a song grow from an idea to a fully formed thing that other people enjoy. And it's fun to be a singer. I've done a few gigs where I just sing (no guitar). I used to think "shit, what do I do with my hands?!" but I enjoy it more now. I reckon that if you haven't written the song, singing and being a musician are the same thing, except your instrument is your voice. If it's not your song you are ultimately just helping the songwriter/producer see out their vision, same as the other musos. I think?! Maybe not for Britney Spears and people like that. Oh I don't know!...

What are your top 5 favorite foods?
Avocado, tofu, pineapple, smoothies, and coffee (technically not a food, but it's essential).

And top 5 favorite musicians/bands?
Ask me tomorrow and you'll get a different answer but for today I'll say: Michael Jackson, Billy Bragg, Band of Horses, Radiohead, and Julia Deans (who I am touring with through April/May!)
What are your pet peeves?
Burning my toast. My crappy phone. People who do not indicate!
Do you have specific hopes for your future?
Releasing the new record overseas and touring more and a few other music projects that are underway... just playing more music really.

As one of the top popular musicians in New Zealand, are you proud of what you've achieved?
Yes I am. People always ask me if I have another job- I don't. And that in itself is a good gauge for me. I feel lucky about that. And I'm very proud of Cat & Bird. It sounds how I wanted it to sound.

What's the coolest small New Zealand town and why?
Raglan! Because it's my home town. We recently did an awesome gig in Port Chalmers, just out of Dunedin, and that was pretty cool. I also love Wanaka. It's beeyoootiful.

How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man?
It is not the number of roads, but the journey that maketh the man... Something like that.

Wow I love my job!

Interview With Sam and Damien from Computers Want Me Dead

Heya! Here's my Tearaway interview from last week with Computers Want Me Dead. Fun guys, awesome music.

Sam picked up his cell phone almost immediately. He fetched Damien, closed the door to their Auckland office, and put me on speakerphone. This retro/indie/synth/pop duo who originally performed together at a friend's apartment- formerly a gay brothel- on K' Road in Auckland, are very modest about their music and success. Currently in the process of planning a world tour to Australia, New York and Japan in October, they've found that the key requirements for forming a band are like-minded individuals, patience, and similar ambition, although "you don't need quite as much skill, as everything is all computerized now."

With their first album coming out this year, the guys like to pretend they're not famous. Or, at least if their music is, not them personally. "We're relatively anonymous," Damien points out, "we're not featured heavily in our videos. We have friends in bigger New Zealand bands with much bigger attention. It's actually quite cool being able to walk down the street and not have that attention."

That's all well and good, but what's striking is that these guys are incredibly talented. Sam has designed the album cover and he also directed their first video. And with their EP cover comprising geometric shapes and a simple Computers Want Me Dead title, they joke that the ideal album cover is "simple but complex" (get your mind around that one!). Their films are about the "idea, not the budget. So they're quirky and out-there." The first video- a Youtube hit- is about a guy traveling back in time to visit his girlfriend, where the time machine is made out of crystals. The next one, however, was produced by Liam Barclay based on his interpretation of their lyrics. "Entertainment is important. It was cool how Liam interpreted the lyrics without being cheesy." On the idea of creating an image, they find that "a big part of it is attitude. We're not really into creating an image as such but we're addressing it more and more. By making a multi-media live show we're re-thinking things visually. But also, everything's about marketing these days and where people are looking."

It was April Fool's day when we had the conversation, so as for their best pranks? Earlier in the day, Damien had sent his girlfriend a link to a website for 2 hour dolphin rides. "She was really nervous about being in the open ocean with this dolphin. But she had told everyone in the office before calling (me about it) so she was really gutted (it was a prank)." As for Sam, when he was six his family had a boarder staying who was always fighting with them. So after one particularly bad evening, "I left something for him on his toothbrush. He left the next day."

Their main pet peeve is the same as any musician- instrumental gear breaking- but also people who can't take a joke. "We like people with a sense of humour and who don't have to be so serious all the time."
And on the subject of pet peeves- someone who's annoying everyone without fail at the moment gets an interesting rap. "I'm not into (Rebecca Black) myself. The case of point being that anyone can make a song and music and voila. There's always gonna be a market for what you're into. But she didn't have to do anything with her music and video. She just mouthed words. Good on her because she's doing what she loves just as any 13 year old girl would, but to be honest the music video is famous because it's so bad. I don't hate her but I hate the song. It puts a smile on my face just talking about it- it's entertaining for all the wrong reasons."

Thank goodness Computers Want Me Dead are entertaining for all the right reasons. 

And a few more random questions...

How many times have you been asked what your name means?
-Every singe interviewer has asked what our name means. We made an effort to have a unique name, it was catchy because of that and it's why we get asked our name so much.

Who's the coolest New Zealander you've ever met and/or want to meet?
S- Jordan Lake. Is there anything he can’t do?
D- John Campbell. I've met him serval times and he's the loveliest, coolest guy.

What's the coolest small town in New Zealand and why?
-We were really stoked playing in dunedin. Everyone down there is so ennthusiastic about gigs. Unless you go to McDonald's and get punched to death (this happened to them).
[this interviewer comments that he lives there]
Didn’t know you were down there...$5000 in your bank account.
Hamilton is also pretty rad, but I guess neither of those are small towns as such...

What do you guys make of the whole "Indie" ideal that's happening at the moment?
-"Indie is so broad and misconstruited and misinterpreted. We have a Pop element and Indie element. Basically, an underground thing becomes mainstream. It's not a fad- it's always been there. An independent thing becomes well known, something good becomes fashionable.

Buy the album people!!!


Love


xxx

Barnaby Weir

Hey'all!

I'm back after a looong break from the blogging world, excited as hell to get back into it. First and foremost, my thoughts go out to all those families affected by the devastating earthquake in Christchurch last week. It was certainly a sobering down-buzz to our Orientation Week at Otago University. The minute silence yesterday was a great way to think over it; to put yourself into the mindset of families who have lost loved ones and homes, the architecture which has been ruined (the cathedral even needs to be demolished), etc. 

Anyway, to try and bring a bit of positivity back to life: the very day that the earthquake happened I was due to interview Barnaby Weir. This was only two hours after the rumble and so all the phone lines were dead, but luckily the next day it was all sorted. The interview (along with a review which I'm yet to do) will be appearing in this year's second issue of Tearaway, but for now here's the title track from Tarot Card Rock:

Barnaby Weir is the go-to guy of New Zealand music; he would seem to be New Zealand's present-day equivalent to, say, Bob Dylan. His previous projects included the incredibly successful band The Black Seeds, followed by Fly My Pretties and the lesser-known Flash Harry. His music is wonderful and my mates were all willing to confess their jealousy at my interview opportunity. 

Here's to Christchurch, here's to starting Uni, here's to New Zealand Music, and here's especially to Barnaby Weir

xx

13 Most Beautiful

So, coming to the end of the year I've been reminiscing quite a lot. And as far as 'work' goes, by far the biggest thing which happened was winning the senior category of the New Zealand International Arts Festival review-writing competition for my review of Andy Warhol's 13 Most Beautiful. It was enough to get me a permanent writing position at Tearaway Magazine and what seemed to be the position of events-reviewer at Wellington College. What I still laugh about is the fact that I wrote it on a whim, in about 15 minutes, the night the competition closed, and there's aspects of it which I'd edit.

So here's my piece and here's to Andy Warhol!

Walking into the Wellington Town Hall with band equipment and a projector screen at the front certainly sets a different atmosphere. The audience were absolutely wired, and apparently it was contagious as everyone took their seats in anticipation. This was to redefine what we knew of Marilyn artist Andy Warhol. 

Amazing in its originality, Dean and Britta set the scene in style playing somewhat of an electronica theme song for Richard Rheem as the screen test of him- the former boyfriend of Andy Warhol- played behind the untouched instruments. The musicians, unnoticed, only arrived as Richard’s time came to an end, and from then on they treated the stage with the utmost confidence of ownership. They know their creation is quite the spectacle, and as it was unlike anything most of the very mixed audience had ever experienced before it was totally transfixing. 

The music throughout fitted naturally and instinctively with these intimate portraits of the individuals in Warhol’s life, evoking strong emotional response throughout as you felt somewhat of a connection forming between you and the Beauties with their demonstrations of pure, unrehearsed and spontaneous emotions. You pitied Dennis Hopper’s frown. You laughed at Ingrid Superstar’s perfected but insecure posing. Dean and Britta carried you through each of them by briefly outlining each Beauty’s life and their connections with Warhol. Mostly they were sad stories, and a thought-provoking commentary of the effect of fame upon the humanity of individuals. 

What you could easily pass off as black and white experiments by an artist well-known in the film industry for his Avant-Garde work, were colourised and brightened by the heartfelt performance of two incredibly talented and creative interpretive musicians. You couldn’t help but be transfixed by the depth of this show. It was a stunner. 

But yeah, basically Andy Warhol is amazing. I know that way too many people like him and I just sound boring and typical but really, he had something!

Love

xx

Life

., originally uploaded by Zaaane.

This photo was the one everyone seemed to like most out of my photography on display at the Zeal exhibition... I like it too and took a few more like it which can be found on my flickr (see the foot of this blog for my photostream and a link). Anyway, I'm keen to photograph these guys again in the new year! I have about two weeks in February back in Welly before heading down to Dunedin for university so must remember to have another day of this :)

Slash Still Rocks

When Slash released his self-titled solo album earlier this year, everyone sorta guessed the guest vocals list pretty well with the likes of Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper. But what people didn't guess- and were very quick to criticise- was an appearance by Fergie. And at the end of the day, everyone had to take a second listen because she has straight-up amazing rock vocals.

This here would be the new video clip for Beautiful Dangerous with Fergie.



It's a pretty cliche rock-star video clip to be honest, but it's still Slash. I'm allowing myself to post it simply because I'm celebrating that he called off the divorce with his wife.

The guy is frikkin AMAZING.

Strunz & Farah - Bola

At the moment, Rodrigo y Gabriela have kinda secured the popularization of contemporary Spanish guitar meeting world music. But before Rod y Gab, there was Strunz and Farah. This Costa Rican and Iranian duo play some of the most chill and shred-gasmic world music that demands respect and awe from causal listeners to professional musicians alike...

Moving Music

So, last night for Guy Fawks my brother had a huge group of friends around to watch the display in Wellington Harbour and have a few drinks/ mini party. Having been concerned leading up to it, I was madly impressed that a few of them were talented musicians! We took my guitars and keyboard from my bedroom to the living room and had a mean jam which reminded me how fun it always was to have a band. Oh why did I stop this year!?

Anyway, the dose of music got me thinking about talented and/or quirky guitar playing and inevitably Tommy Emmanuel. This song is gold...