Tuesday, 27 March 2007

INTERVIEW: with Tommy

By Charlette Hannah

Tommy Benefield, lead singer/songwriter of Tommy, and Tommy and The Fallen Horses, spared a couple of hours on a murky Saturday morning to have a chat with a long time fan about the new album, Tomorrow I Might Go, his upcoming tour, and opinions on far too many things to include on one website! Recorded at Bethells Beach, Tommy collaborated with filmmaker Stephen Walls to make an album and a documentary at once. Due to the length of the interview, I've truncated it somewhat, but if you really love Tommy, you can have the tape!

Charlette: So when's the documentary coming out?

Tommy: Well, it's an interesting one actually. C4 initially showed interest but they haven't actually gotten back to us about whether they're going to play it. It's been about two weeks now where they've said 'yeah we'll talk to you then' and still failed to get back to us. I'm uncertain whether or not they're going to play it. If they're not it's cool, 'cause there's obviously Juice, Alternative TV, and even Inside New Zealand potentially, so there's a lot of places we could shop if C4 aren't interested. I'd be surprised if they're not, not because I think our band is so well known that we were going to merit a huge audience of watching the documentary, but just the quality of the documentary itself. It's quite a unique thing. What this film maker Stephen Walls has done, is instead of focusing on the making of the album which has some interest, but I think a lot of the documentaries that I've seen have some sort of similiarities, generic techniques and generic content that people are looking for. To me it's not interesting. I've seen documentaries of great bands and I've just been bored. Whereas what Steve's done, is his interest is in the personalities and the hearts, and the emotions and the thoughts and dreams and creative processes of the musicians themselves. So the documentary is much less about making an album and more about a group of people coming together to achieve a common goal. So really we could have been painters or we could have been plumbers. It's about a group of people who are working together and have ego's and hearts and love and skills and wisdom and all that stuff, and it's all gone into a melting pot to create an album. So it's a much more intimate and personal and multi-dimensional piece of film than most of the rockumentaries I've seen. So to me it seems more interesting, and a really innovative thing for them to play. But they've been kind of apathetic about it. I guess everyone has different opinions.

Charlette: Did you know before making the album that Tommy was going to break up and it was going to be a farewell album?

Tommy: Yeah, to be perfectly candid about it I was at a point where I was thinking maybe Tommy should break up before we made the album. What happened was, I worked so hard on getting the first album done that I was burnt out. Because I hadn't been able to work on it purely from a space of non-attachment and love. I'd gotten into some sort of ego-stories and was identifying with my own mind too much and I was believing what it was telling me which was 'I worked so hard on this and no one helps me and I'm by myself and I'm the one taking all the risk' these kind of negative stories. I just thought you know what I want to do? I want to leave the whole Wellington reggae scene behind and I want to start playing alternative country music and I want to play intimate music and I don't want to be playing with these guys. I was negative about a lot of stuff and positive about only a little bit of stuff. What happened was I had a great experience on tour where I spent some time with my friend Jesse and had this beautiful night of talking all night and it just reawoke some things in me, some beautiful things and some deep things in me where I immediately got a new perspective of stuff. And what I thought was, ok instead of just doing one album with the band and then letting it go, why don't we get into the studio again pretty soon, let AJ produce the album the way he wanted to produce the first album, give the band a lot more creative freedom than I have in the past and let them really feel like they've created the album they wanted to create. So that the last memory of the band doing something together isn't of me feeling totally stressed out and burnt out and controlling the thing, but that everyone's last experience is that we all came together at this beautiful time and we co-created something. I thought that would be a beautiful last thing to do rather than ending it at that point. So what happened is the band came together and we made that album and it was a beautiful time. We recorded the album nearly two years ago and it's been finished for a year just waiting to be released. In that time both Iain and Paul decided to go overseas. And AJ the drummer has been working on his solo projects, one's called SOS Project and one's called Diwata. I've also gone back into the studio with my other band Tommy and The Fallen Horses and we're halfway through finishing our first album. The band kind of became even further apart after the recording of the album. So we're not even going to be touring the album with the same line-up. There's going to be some gigs that have Iain in it but most gigs it's going to be a whole new line up. Still under the name Tommy and still doing the songs from the albums, doing all that reggae, happy high energy good time stuff. So I didn't know or when the band was going to dissolve but I did know that for me it needed to end because musically I've been heading in quite a different direction for quite a long time.

Charlette: So it was quite amicable?

Tommy: Absolutely. Me, AJ and Iain just played a gig for the cosmic corner party just last weekend. Absolutely, we're all really close and we all love each other a lot and wish each other well in our current journeys, which for two of the boys is travelling round the world and for two of us is pursuing our music in more of a solo capacity.

Charlette: With Bethell's Beach, did you hear about this a while ago and decide to make an album or how did that come about?

Tommy: That came about because we met the filmmaker Stephen Walls when he came to see us play a gig at Lee Sawmill in Auckland. He really loved us and told us how he wanted to film bands at Bethell's Beach. None of us had ever heard of Bethell's Beach before. He wanted to do a series of concerts with great New Zealand bands and have a series of six one hour specials of having New Zealand bands play at this beautiful location. He was in the process of trying to make that happen. We said 'that sounds interesting, we'd be keen to be part of that' and we were really humbled that he thought we were good enough to be part of that line up, I mean, he was only thinking of doing six bands and he just really loved us. So that was a great feelig. I said 'look, it's really interesting that you're talking about this because we're actually going to record our second album soon, we're going to do it by ourselves, AJ's got all the gear we need. We're actually wondering where we're going to do that, maybe we could do that in this place you're talking about.' I don't think at the time it was actually what he had in mind but for some reason I was hearing that that was what he was after, and he said 'that's cool'. I thought my record company was going to get in touch with him to follow that up. Finally I asked the record company, we've got a date, we're going away in one month so can you tell him that's the date, and they said 'we haven't actually talked to him since that night'. So I kind of freaked out and they gave me his number and I rang him up and said 'hey bro, we're ready to record that album, it'll be in these two weeks and that's a month away, is that gonna work?' He hadn't heard anything about anything, and he wasn't sure, but within a day he got back to me and found a way to make it work. His film cost $40,000 to make or something so he got a lot of funding for it and invested his own money in it and invested his time for free. It's a big budget. It was two weeks of having a full time film crew. So it was purely through him that we chose Bethell's as a destination. I've since been up to the west coast of Auckland at least 2 or 3 if not 4 or 5 times a year so it's become a place that's really special to me.

Charlette: Did you find it intruded on the creative process to have the film camera's there?

Tommy: There's a certain funny factor which goes on whenever you push record on sound gear or on film. There's a certain self consciousness that you get. That self consciousness, it seems to be unavoidable. You do an amazing take of a song, and then you say 'ok, we'll record this one' and then all of a sudden it's a bit different. There's a tightness and rigidity and a fear of getting it wrong which goes on once you know that it's going to be there forever. And as soon as you know something has the possibility of being eternal rather than fleeting it changes how you feel about it. So what I think happened having a film crew following us around all the time is that we actually built up a tolerance to being recorded. Because everything we said or did was recorded, it didn't matter whether AJ pushed record or not. So after a few days of that, we got used to the fact that everything we said or did was going to be documented in some way, shape or form. In some ways maybe it actually helped us because we overcame our self consciousness of being captured.

Charlette: That's interesting. So it was more freeing than restricting.

Tommy: Yeah, I think so. I'm kind of an extroverted personality and I also have this part of me which always desires to reveal every aspect of myself, or my humanness. I've always fantasised about living with people or living in a way where nothing was held back and people were able to be completely present and open in every way. Even as a kid I remember thinking that. The friends that I've drawn myself to, and the lovers, over the years have all been people who have that high level of openness and that degree of intimacy. Again, for me being on film all the time, it was fine because I didn't have a policy of 'because I'm on film I'll be on my best behaviour or I'll only say these things'. It was like 'sweet, I've always wanted to be this open anyway'. So I wasn't self conscious because I didn't feel I needed to monitor myself.

Charlette: So would writing lyrics be a way of expressing all that openness and getting things out to so many people?

Tommy: Yeah. It's an interesting question. It's interesting relating those two together. I'm not sure. Definitely performing and writing are all forms of self expression. Absolutely. But actually I think there's a distinction. I think what I express through my music is... I think it's like an actor, you know, Johnny Depp plays a lot of roles, and there's got to be something of him in all those roles, even though they might be vastly different and he might be really sensitive, or really angry, or really wooden or really crazy, but there's always some element of him. My songs are kind of like that. There's always some element of me but I'm not really writing from my own personal... most of the songs aren't confessional or autobiographical at all. They're stories, they're metaphors. So what I'm expressing in my music is different to when I'm talking about myself on the radio or I'm being interviewed and I'm talking about my own experiences of life, that's actually much more intimate than when I'm singing a really heartfelt song. When I play I always like to have the emotion of when I wrote the song, so I can give it the most potent representation and really connect the audience into what that song's about, or what it was about for me at the time. So though I express those emotions and that comes from me the actual content of the song has often got nothing to do with me and it's just a metaphor, it's just a forum through which to explain some concept or its just a medium to paint a picture of a certain feelin. Whereas talking with you, or with a friend or a lover or my mum, or whoever it is, that's much more intimate in the sense that while it may not be so emotionally charged it is much more speaking about who I am. The songs are not always about me.

Charlette: Does the inspiration for the songs come from people that you know?

Tommy: It comes from the people I know in that it comes from the flow of lifeand the experiences I have with people, but I don't very often write about stuff that's happened in my life, or in my friend's life. The stories just come. Writing is not a conscious thing. I don't sit down and go 'ok I'm gonna write a song and this is what I'm gonna write about'. I've tried to do that 10, 20, maybe even 40 times and all the songs were terrible. That's not the way I write. What I write is I pick up the guitar and I'll play some chords and I'll find some that I like, the way they sit together and I start humming along. Not even humming along, I find the chords I like and I start singing and the words just come out. As soon as I have a sentence I like I'll put the guitar down and write the whole song. Then I'll pick the guitar up and play it. It takes maybe five, ten minutes. That's kind of how I write. There's no conscious thought of 'this is a story'. It's really quick and the sentences just come through me. If my mind is deliberately putting poetry in there, the songs are normally of a lower quality.

Charlette: Do you consider yourself a successful musician? What does success mean to you?

Tommy: I think my success would be measured for me by how true I am to my music. How true I am to the creative force that flows through me. To put it simply, I won't measure my success by how the external world responds to it, but by how true I am to the internal world from which it comes.

But I can also easily talk to you objectively in a superficial way and say I probably won't consider myself a successful musician until I have a sustainable capacity to financially support myself and a family which I one day intend to have, through my music. If I look at the external world for factors that would be one way of judging it. If I look at the part of myself that's highly ambitious and that wants to be a big huge manifest, I would consider myself successful when I've sold as many records as Eminem. I don't have a ceiling of 'I want to be as big as Fat Freddy's Drop', when I get into that headspace of how big I want to be, I want to be fucking huge. I want to be as big as Elvis or something.

I look around New Zealand musicians and there aren't many who are making a really good living from music. I don't think Bic Runga is. Neil Finn and Dave Dobbyn are. Wayne Mason, who wrote Nature, which was voted the best New Zealand song ever, has never earned a living from music.

Charlette: Do you think for New Zealand musicians to really make that kind of living it's necessary to go to Australia, the UK or the States?

Tommy: Yeah absolutely. I think it's difficult to do it purely here. And when we look at those who have done really well, who do make a living purely off music, like Neil Finn, he's made so many trips overseas and sells records all over the world. There's cities in Australia which have the same population in New Zealand, and you think about that in America, but actually just across the water it's like that too. I think you can make a good living, you know, just being Midnight Oil. I think they make a bloody good living. But being Shihad or Fat Freddy's Drop or probably even Betchadupa, I don't think any of those guys are making a living. Maybe Bic Runga, but probably more from selling her song to American Pie soundtrack more than from actual record sales. Even if her album goes triple platinum, it's still only 40,000 records.

Charlette: Do you see yourself in the future moving overseas to do more music?

Tommy: I definitely see myself making music overseas and performing music overseas, but there's a quality of musicianship in New Zealand which is really high. With the advent of affordable high quality sound equipment, New Zealand studios can compete fairly comparably with American studios and European studios but at such a fraction of the price it's ridiculous.

Charlette: Do you think there's still a big imbalance between male and female singer/songwriters.

Tommy: What I think is that the people who buy records for the last 50 years have been predominantly men and that the female market for buying music is increasing on a yearly basis. I think that's recorded, I think that's a fact, I don't think I'm making that up. I think women are buying more and more records, and historically they bought less. It's probably coming to a point where it'll be on a par soon. I think men are more likely to buy male singer/songwriters, and women want female singers. I think that's kinda cool, I think that makes sense. I mean, most men I know want to have a son and most women want to have a daughter, and if we want to have two kids, most people want to have a girl and a boy. I don't think there's anything sexist or inherently wrong about that. I think that just like in the acting business, just like in every fucking industry, women are getting paid less and slowly over the next century or the next millenia, that that'll probably balance out again. Definitely music as much if not more so has been dominated by men before.

Charlette: What sort of advice would you give to other bands?

Tommy: Maybe you should ask Fat Freddy's or someone who's selling more records! I don't know if I'd need to give them any advice about anything really. If I was going to give them practical advice I'd tell them to read a book called 'Everything You Need to Know About the Music Industry', it's written for the American market but it's just as valuable for New Zealand. I dunno man, I dunno. I could give them advice that is good advice for me. But that advice won't get them stoned and laid, and if their agenda is to get them heaps of girlfriends and use heaps of drugs, then I won't have, I'm not up to play on that stuff. My values are different and what I want to achieve by making music is quite different. I don't want to make an identity of myself as Tommy the musician. I don't want my self esteem or my whole identity to be based on the fact that I play music. Whether or not I sell 10,000 records in my lifetime, or I sell 100 million. I think I would like to tell bands to let their music be as truly or authentically them as they can, to get their ego's or their minds or their intelligence as far out of the way as possible and let the music come through.

I don't believe that there's any wisdom that's so palatable on a universal level that I could give it and they'd be able to receive it. I think there's some things out there that are universally useful, but I think the key for each individual on the planet to hear this wisdom in a way they can actually utilise it is so unique that for me to say any generic sentence like 'there's no strangers, there's only friends we haven't met yet', well most of us are going to puke when we hear that 'cause it reminds us of Christian fridge magnets. But there's some truth in that. Bob Marley could say it with a little slant and people would hear and say 'that's so wise'. The way things are presented often really impacts on the way they're received.

Charlette: Is music a spiritual thing for you?

Tommy: No, music's not a spiritual thing. I mean, music is a spiritual thing in that, if I was a plumber, plumbing would be a spiritual thing. Music is not intrinsically more valuable to the world on a spiritual level than growing oranges or finding wood for the fire. That's what I'm good at, so it's spiritual for me. If I was really good at rallying support for things I'd be a campaigner. I don't think makers of music have a special status as being spiritual. I think you focus on the outside world or you focus on the inside world, and you come from a space of love and generosity or you come from a place of fear and greed. And there's heaps of musicians doing both, heaps of plumbers doing both. And there's heaps of people doing, you know, traffic patrol of the roadworks doing both. No, music doesn't make me spiritual.

Charlette: But for you, because that is what you're skilled at, is it spiritual?

Tommy: I think doing what you love without attachment is spiritual, absolutely. And whether that's making love or being a mother, or being a bus driver who just smiles at everyone who comes on the bus and makes eye contact and just lets them know he's there, and they're there too. Absolutely, doing what you love without attachment. Because doing what you love when you're attached to the outcome there's a very different energy attached to it.

Charlette: Do you have a day job?

Tommy: Yes, I work as a counsellor and I've been training in psychotherapy for four years.

Charlette: Would music be what you'd ideally like for a career or are you happy to string both of them along?

Tommy: Ideally, at the moment what I'd want to be creating is a capacity to create enough financial abundance from music to be able to just do music full time. So my priority in terms of the way I would like my life to be supported would be through music, not as a counsellor. But I do love working as a counsellor too. I say that, and I immediately think of the clients I have and I really enjoy being part of their lives.

Charlette: What's your opinion on the record industry these days, in terms of burning CD's and downloading etc?

Tommy: All I can talk of is at a personal level, and at a personal level, I don't feel guilty burning CD's. I don't feel guilty doing that. But the flipside of that is, is that all of the artists who I really love, the alt-country artists who I just really adore, whose music really inspire me, if I've dubbed one of their CD's, I'll always buy one or two of their CD's as well, or I might even buy a CD that I've already got of theirs. Not so much for the artwork, because that doesn't matter to me so much, I might even put it on my ipod or my computer anyway once I've bought it, but just because I want to be supporting them at a financial level. Like most people in New Zealand I have a policy of generally not burning New Zealand music.

Charlette: So you've got quite a big tour coming up?

Tommy: Yeah, we're going to be playing heaps.

Charlette: What kind of music will you be playing for people?

Tommy: That's purely the Tommy stuff. There'll be a few new songs on there, but basically it'll be the songs off the two albums that people know. When it comes to touring, people have come to see me play based on the strength of the album or the song on the radio. I think it would be disrespectful, I think it would actually be false advertising to not play the songs that they want to hear. I'm not a jukebox, and I'm not going to play whatever anyone wants to hear, but I want to give the people who are showing up to our concerts, buying our albums, I want to give them the utmost love and respect I can at every show. I want to deliver them at least 150% and give them a really emotionally charged inspired performance.

Monday, 26 March 2007

Paul McCartney signs with Starbucks

The almighty Paul McCartney has signed on to Starbucks’ new record label Hear Music and is set to release a new album in the northern hemisphere’s early summer. While I’m excited about the idea of a new Paul McCartney album, I really can’t decide whether or not I like this idea of a coffee company having an ex-Beatle on their new record label, especially as it has such a stupid name. Hear Music. What were they thinking? Obviously not much in their coffee addled brains.

Paul McCartney has been with Capitol Records for 43 years, apart from a short time with Columbia in the early 80’s. Personally I have no loyalty to Capitol, or any record labels – obviously they haven’t had the wisdom to sign ME yet! But you’ve got to wonder about a 43 year loyalty switch.

Capitol have been doing very little to sell and promote Paul McCartney’s albums, and more fool them. Non-coffee merchandise sold in Starbucks is apparently quite popular – I wouldn’t know as I don’t drink coffee. With the decline of CD sales due to online access and pirating, I guess ol’ Paul’s clutching at straws. Or coffee mugs.

If we get another Paul McCartney album, all well and good. It just seems weird to me. Does anyone else think this? Perhaps I’m just not ‘with the times’, where coffee houses release albums. What’s next? McDonalds and art galleries? Oil companies and kindergartens?

Wednesday, 21 March 2007

And stuff...

Over the years I’ve done like, a lot of interviews and stuff. From businesses, to schools to musicians to atheletes and stuff. I’ve kind of come to realise that there are pretty much four key phrases, aside from the celebrated and infinitely popular ‘um’ that we like to liberally spread through our sentences. In case you hadn’t, like, picked up on them already, these are: ‘pretty much’, ‘kinda’, ‘like’, and ‘and stuff’. My favourite one is ‘and stuff’. I’ve come to realise that you can pretty much stick it on to the end of every single sentence you say and stuff. I don’t know why it has such a versatile usage, but it honestly works and stuff. Try it next time you’re talking to someone and you’ll find whole new worlds open up to you and stuff. Like a kinda loneliness you never thought possible when you drive people pretty much mad by tacking the same phrase on to the end of each sentence and stuff. Try it, you might have, like, fun and stuff.

Monday, 19 March 2007

REVIEW: Tommy

FRIDAY 16 MARCH
CD AND DVD STORE
SUNDAY 18 MARCH
CIVIC SQUARE
TOMMY
By Charlette Hannah

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Tommy play – too long in fact. This week I got a double dose, in two very different situations.

On Friday I took an extended lunch break to see Tommy play solo at the CD and DVD store in Cuba St. Sadly, for there are many good solo artists, it is hard to pull off a gig when it’s just you, the mic, and the guitar. Tommy is one of the few who can. His intense vocals – both his lyrics and the quality of his voice – are arresting, and hold attention, while his confident guitar playing backs them up. Playing a selection of songs including one he had written that morning, some from the new album, and a couple of old favourites, Tommy sang to a small but appreciative crowd. At one point a woman ran in, saw Tommy, started screaming ‘no, no’ in excitement, and ran out again. Most interesting.

On Sunday, I strolled along to Civic Square for an unadvertised gig including Spartacus R, Tommy, and a hip hop dance troupe. The debut of the new Tommy line-up in the sunshine, surrounded by high school boys and girls, was a situation I wouldn’t necessarily have placed them in. Sunshine, yes, as the music is bouncy and upbeat and easy to dance to, but the crowd? As evidenced by the lack of dancers (I’ve never been to a Tommy gig before where it’s taken longer than the first song to get people up and dancing) it was perhaps not the ideal gig.

Having said that, they played well, the songs were great as always, and I look forward to seeing them again when they begin their New Zealand tour.

Note: On Saturday I caught up with Tommy for an in-depth interview – watch this space for the full thing.

Thursday, 15 March 2007

Pinstripe Suits and Modern Art

I really think that men should absolutely not in any situation wear pinstripe pants. And not on pain of death should they ever wear a pinstripe suit. Another thing that should not be worn, especially by males, is a shirt with collar and cuffs of a different colour to the rest of the shirt.

Sadly, today, I have to endure this, as one of the guys from work is wearing these two monstrosities in combination. He’s a nice guy, and it's not that he himself is unattractive, it's just the outfit (I sure hope he doesn’t read this blog!). But it’s so far from attractive I want to exhibit him as a nouveau piece in one of those art galleries that get away with ugly art by calling it modern. Now I like some modern art, and I can certainly appreciate originality, but some stuff really is just crap done by people who smoke cigarettes through an Audrey Hepburn-style holder and call everyone darling, or who slash their clothes and skin into pieces and throw paint around the room.

You’ll never hear me advocating a restriction on freedom of expression – every plum has it’s peach and I think people should be able to fully express themselves in whatever way floats their proverbial boat. But when studious art critics pass by a beautiful work of art made by someone who has worked for years on their talent for a canvas that someone has thrown brown paint all over, I really wonder why. I think that’s my pet peeve with art – a one or two colour painting. If it had form, fine. It’s like a different take on a black and white photo. But if it’s just a colour drawn in a square, why bother?

One of my first favourite pieces of art was actually made my high school art teacher, Mike Howell. As far as I can remember, it was a large board with various squiggles and shapes in different shades of pink and white, with bits coming off the side and a wooden frame stuck on it. The words on the painting said ‘of course it’s art, matches the colour scheme and it’s got a nice wood frame’. To my 13 year old mind that was brilliant.

Art means different things to different people, to be sure, but to my aesthetic sensibilities (such as they are) I would rather not look at a sloppy sculpture of mud or a canvas with one colour or someone’s bed surrounded by beer bottles. I saw a beautiful exhibition a few weeks back at the City Gallery in Civic Square by Peter Madden called Escape from Orchid City. It was highly original and lovely. There were butterflies, there were skulls, there was a wardrobe covered in gold leaf and glass, and I thought it was beautiful.

Goodness, I didn’t realise I would get into discussing modern art vs. beauty when I started out talking about my colleagues bad outfit.

COMING UP – Watch this space for an interview with Tommy Benefield, previously of Tommy, now of Tommy and The Fallen Horses, one of my favourite New Zealand artists.

Wednesday, 14 March 2007

INTERVIEW: with Matt Langley

By Charlette Hannah


For a newly formed group, The Matt Langley Band can do some serious work via the ears of an audience, apparently gently, but the music sinks in and adheres to your sinew and bones. The star of the show, Matt Langley, spared an hour on a wet Tuesday evening to have a chat to me about the journey that's led him to this band and Wellington. A Dunedin-ite from way back, Matt's easy going personality and music talent finds him happiest when playing music, an experience he just can't avoid when he finds himself drifting into “Matt-land”.

Two years ago Matt was in Korea teaching English, a trip which was cut short when he broke his leg in an amusing event he tells later in the interview. He returned to New Zealand to live in Wellington so his family could “babysit” him while he was in a cast. He says most of the songs the band is currently working on were written in that period, as he was getting cabin fever from the immobility caused by his leg cast.

During this time he was in contact with old friend Dylan Galletly, owner of the Hometown Records label. Dylan told Matt to “get on your crutches and come down to the studio for a jam” which set in motion the idea of forming The Matt Langley Band.

For the last year Matt has been in Dunedin studying for his teaching degree extramurally through Victoria University and working on his songs. He recorded a demo of about 30 songs which he sent to other band members – brother Jake Langley on drums, Scott Mead on bass and Dylan on keys - to learn. Saturday 10 March at Bodega was the band's first gig, and promises good things from the boys in the future.

Currently in Wellington recording an EP with Hometown Records, Matt intends to travel between Wellington and Dunedin, playing music whenever possible.

Charlette: How would you describe the music that you play?

Matt: It's an ever changing thing. It's something I'm conscious about having something different happen each time I'm getting a band together or making an album or whatever. This time around - I'd kinda done the two guitar rock thing before, I'd done the acoustic album a couple of years back with the Patsy's - and I thought this bunch of songs would be cool to get the keyboard in on it. So there's that kind of element in it this time around. There's a rock thing there but it's more of an undercurrent this time around. I think it's more of a folky element and almost country, my interpretation of those things. I had someone at the gig the other night point out that there's almost a 50's rock feel to some stuff, and for some of the ballads there's definitely that kind of approach. So it's a bit of a melange. There's a bit going on.

Charlette: As the best bands are.

Matt: Yeah I enjoy that, you know what I mean? I like hearing changes song to song with a band if they can pull it off. Instrumentation can lead you to that. My thing with songwriting is always changing as well dependent on where I'm at, what I'm writing about.

Charlette: So, a brief history of your band...

Matt: Well it is a very brief history. We played our first gig last saturday. We've been practicing – I've been in Wellies for two months – but to be fair between people's jobs and schedules we've probably had sort of a couple of weeks practice. It's also been quite a divided practice. I've been jamming with the rhythm section up the coast, and then I've also been jamming in town with Dylan on keys, and we actually only got the keys and the rhythm section together a couple of weeks ago. I was really happy with that, 'cause that's what I wanted to hear. That all had to click. Other than that, what can I say about the history of the band? Jake comes from El Schlong and he used to play in the George Street Patsy's with me. Scott's with a band called The Learn. And myself and Dylan. It's all still very new so there's not much back history.

Charlette: So it is more of a part time commitment with these guys being based in Wellington and you swapping between Dunedin and here?

Matt: Yeah, I kinda hope not. Once you sort of have people learn up the songs you hope they'll stay with you and do them and do them. We haven't reached the point where we're thinking of rushing out on the road yet, so there's no major commitments being made, oh, there has been a major commitment in that these guys have said right, we like these songs, we want to do this and get some gigs going and get the EP finished, so that's where the commitment lies at the moment.

Charlette: What's in the future for you as a musician yourself, and as a band?

Matt: Mmm, it's hard eh. Well, I know I'll always be making music in one form or another. It's pretty much a part of my daily thing whether I'm writing or performing or thinking about it. Things churn around in the studio in your head. But yes I'll be playing some form or another. I'd really like to get these songs together and get them out, do some touring, do some gigs. I think with this batch of songs I can see really really enjoying playing them for an extended period of time as well. Especially as they've had an incubation of a year where I was playing them solo acoustic, and now they've been fleshed out a bit and that's brought a whole new lease of life to them for me. It's a whole lot of fun, and it's not so lonely on stage now I've got the other boys up there playing.

Charlette: So what are your songs about?

Matt: Ok. The majority of these ones were written off the end of a large relationship, so they're a lot more personal, a lot less cryptic than songs I've written in the past. Some of them are very much a communication between me and that person. Others are a reflection of the relationship and my part in it. At the same time I tend to write from my perspective initially and then I try to see that in a macrocosm, in a larger picture, whether it be in what I believe or my perspectives on things. Songs can very quickly encapsulate and intense personal feeling. And then also be an attempt to explore a larger picture as well, which is kind of interesting, and sometimes I'm not aware of it until the song's been written. I might come back to it a month later and oh yeah ok, that's kind of dabbling in something else there.

Music's also a conversation with myself. It's definitely my kind of diary or journal. It can be intensely personal or I can keep it to myself. But I think these songs are just about really basic human relationship stuff. Anyone can identify with that.

Charlette: What's your opinion on downloading music online?

Matt: Downloading music online... Illegal?

Charlette: Either. Do you think there's much of a potential for the industry or do you think it's just going to be overtaken with illegal downloading?

Matt: I'm hoping that people will be downloading it online, 'cause we're planning to put MP3's up on sites and give people the opportunity to grab real media and buy CD's or do it online. It's just had a huge impact, and it will continue too. I'm funny 'cause I like old stuff, I like old media like vinyl. I'm not a fan of CD's. I think they're bad media. I think they're shockingly packaged. They fall to bits and really piss me off. (Laughs). Better find out how we're packaging our album before I slag them off!

Charlette: So are you going to be releasing a vinyl as well?

Matt: Yeah we've seriously thought about that and been tracking down local vinyl makers. What we've been finding out is that some people are making real vinyl and some aren't and cost is definitely a thing. It's a bit of a vanity thing to be honest, to make your own vinyl. For me the artwork is bigger and nicer. I grew up with vinyl, I've still got heaps of it. I just like them. I'm not a fanatic about things like pristine digital sound, I don't mind hearing a bit of hiss. I like the idea that if I put on LA Woman, I'm almost getting the feeling of what it would have been like back when that got released on vinyl and you were alive at that time and you rushed to a record shop and read the packet and put it on and that hiss is kind of a comforting hiss of the music journey you're about to take. So I like that and at the same time I like the fact that with downloading, people, like what Dylan's doing with Hometown, can control it, make it readily available.The thing from my perspective as an artist is I could get things up on there like a wee acoustic demo or go into the studio and actually record a new song.

Charlette: And burning CD's... As not so much of a CD fan, do you have burnt CD's in your collection?

Matt: I do, I do, I'm a shocker. Mostly because people give them to you. I have to say I encourage people to burn other albums of mine, like if I haven't got a copy to give them. I tend not to have copies of my own albums 'cause I give them away and someone says 'have you got anymore..?' 'nah I haven't, you can have my one'. You know they're rushing off and burning it. To be honest I don't have a lot of CD's. I pretty much put all the music on my laptop and between that and my record player that's what I've got.

Charlette: From the very old fashioned to the very modern.

Matt: Yeah, not much in between. I guess I'm sick of the bloody CD's falling out of their cases, that's a big thing for me, I just hate that.

Charlette: What's your claim to fame?

Matt: There'd be many things I wouldn't be prepared to talk about! I played rugby on an American military base against American G.I.'s. And broke my leg.

Charlette: Was that when you had to come back from Korea?

Matt: Yeah, I was staying at a military base, South Korea. I'm a skinny kid and I thought I was quick enough to get around these big guys, yeah they kind of did the gridiron pile on, and snap went my wee leg. The kicker being it was my birthday.

Charlette: What inspires you to do what you do?

Matt: Music? Yeah I've thought about this 'cause I actually read an article about audio hallucination. I read the symptoms and thought well jeez, I don't hear things during the day other than things that are in my mind, little bits of music. It's like a wee studio – things get played and I listen. I do, I dream it. It's not unusual to have a dream about a new song, and even a dream about going to a concert of a band and hearing their new song.

Charlette: Do you remember these songs?

Matt: That's the hard bit, bringing it back. It's really tough. I guess we've all read the story about Keith Richards and the Satisfaction riff, and he woke up and had a little tape recorder handy. My thing is if it's really good it'll stick, and once it's there it's accessible. So to some extent it's almost compulsive. I can't help it. I quite often drift off into Matt-land in conversations. I'm not the person you want to take to the meeting.

Then there's the drive and the want to do it and to work at it as a craft, as a songwriter or as a singer. And chasing beauty. Something that I think has an emotional quality that has an emotional quality, makes me feel good, or sad, helps me work through, or discover something. Certainly got that element to it as well. I'm just inspired by music. I'm quite in awe of it. One of the things that makes being on this planet worthwhile, gets me out of bed each day.

Charlette: So is music a spiritual thing for you?

Matt: Spiritual element. I'll just go into my full lotus pose. No, I'm taking the piss here, but I'm not, it definitely is. For some people. For some people unfortunately music is a business transaction. But that's not really here nor there, because for whatever amount of people are doing things for what I might think are not great reasons, there's plenty of people making wonderful music. It does get you out of bed in the morning, makes you feel good, gives you a sense of something else. I couldn't put my finger on it. I could be a music guru and say it does this and that, and it can change this and that, and it can, I do believe it. I think that's why music from certain artists endures long after all the dross is swept down the drain, the real good stuff is still there and it's that stuff people keep coming back to. It contains the opportunity for people to address that [spirituality] too, in a comfortable way without feeling silly talking about it as people often do.

Charlette: What advice would you give to fellow bands? Overcoming some of the biggest obstacles and that sort of thing...

Matt: Band life's hard life. All the cliches are true about bands, it's a relationship, it's a big commitment. I've heard the phrase 'herding cats' to describe something that's quite difficult. Being in a band can be like herding cats. It's a tough one. It works differently for different people. I work well in a comfortable creative environment where we're sharing things and people are free to say what they want without ego's running around the room like rampant rhino's destroying everything. I don't work well in that environment. It can work for some people, that tension. You've gotta get on as people for a start. You've gotta have a common vision or reason to be there. And be giving something to it and not particularly expecting to be getting something back. It's a privilege to be playing music. It awes me sometimes that I'm standing in a room with two other people and we're doing different things with our hands and our minds but there's something communally happening that's beyond what we're capable of individually. Other advice for bands... Get decent mikes! And you just gotta have fun. Because you're putting yourself up for public disdain, ridicule, or very worst just total disinterest. You have to have a really strong sense of why you're there. I'd recommend it to anyone. I mean every bugger and his dog's in a band nowadays anyway. You'd be hard pressed to throw a stick and not hit a muso. And that's cool. There's a nice kind of community and sharing of ideas. Anything from open mic nights to jams to gigs like the other night. You just gotta stick at it, enjoy it, and love it.

Charlette: So what do you think about the state of rock music? In a lull, dying, or does hip hop have everybody fooled? No offence of course to hip hop fans.

Matt: No, no, hip hop, great. Rock. I started out playing in blues and rock bands and I thought that was the be all and end all and I love rock bands. For me the vintage stuff from Hendrx to Cream and The Beatles and all those rippers define what I think rock does. I think by every other form of music there's diluted forms of, but I think people still feel the real thing. I always get a kick out of reading a review of a rock conert where a reviewer's been surprised by the visceral response of the audience, the bands actually kicking some ass. I've shuffled out stage left on the rock thing a bit. I wasn't trying to be first rat off the ship or anything, just through my own sensibilities I wanted to try other things. I wanted to sing differently, try other melodic approaches and try different instrumentation. Rock's about risk, I think rock's like elastic, it'll always be able trito do that. I don't think it's dead. A lull? Yeah. There's some good rock bands.

Charlette: Who are your favourites?

Matt: I'd still happily pay my money to see Shihad play, and I've seen them play quite a few times, they're just a fantastic rock band. Favourite band of all time... It would be The Beatles for me. I love them. I grew up with them. My Dad can play every Beatles song ever written and he'll still tell me off if I'm not singing the harmony right. I love bands of that era. They just made magic on a regular basis, I don't think anyone else has ever done that. I still listen to Cream, listen to my Zep, I'm a big fan of Jimi Hendrix. I came from starting out playing and listening to blues. I still get a kick out of listening to Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Everly Brothers – beautiful harmonies. Buddy Holly.

Charlette: What's a funny incident that's happened to you while performing?

Matt: Oh man, there's a couple! By degrees. There's been some beauties, like the drummer's going for the big roll and falling off his drum stool. I needed four stitches after doing the big rock and roll jump off the kick drum one night and the bass player whipped around in a frenzy and accidentally smashed me in the head with his Fender. Foot went through the stage one night from jumping up and down. Probably the funniest one though was we had a break, it'd been a long night and we came back and we were in a bit of a state. My bass player and I picked up what we thought was our leads and plugged them in to our gats, and actually plugged in opposite ends of the same lead into our respective instruments. We were joined together like never before but we weren't making any noise.

Charlette: One more question. You've got teaching, but is music what you'd ideally like to do as a career?

Matt: Sure, yeah absolutely. It's a part of what I do when I'm teaching anyway, I draw heavily on the music thing. Yeah, I'd love to, mate. I've been playing for a long time and I've done my stints with music as the main thing and I've done my stints playing the weekends and nights and doing my day job.

Charlette: Do you think it's very viable for bands these days especially in New Zealand?

Matt: It seems to hit a certain point doesn't it where its time to go, pack camp and get over to Aus and the UK, have a crack at the States or whatever. I guess our friend the internet is gonna make quite an impact there as well in regards to even having performances online. You've still gotta get out and play though, that's the thihng. That doesn't change, you've got to get out and meet people and enjoy the vibe. I love it, I love playing. So I'll be doing it anyway, regardless of how many people turn up and what's going on. But yeah, if I could do that everyday I'd be extremely happy.

Tuesday, 13 March 2007

SPCA volunteer

After a long wait I have now been accepted as a volunteer with the Wellington SPCA. I was one of those kids who picked up half dead animals and tried to feed and cuddle them back to life, and had a heart attack each time the car drove to close a bird. In the old age of my early twenties I have become resigned to the fact that some little animals are just going to die.

However, there are some that can be saved, and some that should be saved, and so I’m quite excited to be able to work with an organisation like the SPCA.

The way some people treat animals horrifies me, and while I’m not the sort of person to create a menagerie in my house, I do love animals. There are many urban myths about animal cruelty, and many that are true, but even something like having a big active dog and not walking it is a bad way to treat a pet. Or never having fresh water for your cat. It seems relatively minor in comparison to things like flogging a horse or leaving a dog tied in a small cage for it’s entire life, but even not treating your cat for fleas or worms is mean.

To start with I’ll be working with puppies (aww). Being more of a cat person myself, I’d prefer kittens, but I prefer puppies to dogs, or rabbits or birds. My Mum has kept rabbits for the last five years or so, and honestly, you can’t do anything with them, they’re boring. They’re cute, but the fact that they happily make babies with their siblings offends my sensibilities, and they tremble if you cuddle them, and you certainly can’t let them run free or hang out in the house with you. Guinea pigs are even worse, it’s beyond me as to why anyone would have guinea pigs as a pet. It’s just paying lip service towards the idea of having a pet. Guinea pigs are for parents who hate animals and have children who want a pet. My cousins have had serial guinea pigs for most of their lives – when one dies, they replace it with a new one. I guess they are cute, but it doesn’t seem like much fun, does it?

Monday, 12 March 2007

IMPORTANT: Apology, disclaimer, comments, etc

Now is the moment I get down on my cyber knees and apologise. Yesterday I posted a review of Miss Conduct at Bodega on Saturday night, and, shame of shame, got the band wrong. The line up was different from what I had heard, so I thought the second band was Miss Conduct, when it was actually Hellserpoppin. Everything I said about Miss Conduct I should have said about Hellserpoppin. How could I get something wrong like the band name? A few factors come into play. As you will see in the review posted below (updated to the correct band) words were inaudible. I don’t recall the introduction, and don’t know how I managed to get the band wrong. I guess I didn’t want to stick around to talk to them which would obviously have clarified the information!

Let me take this opportunity to apologise in advance to all musicians I offend. Some bands are great, some just average and some truly awful. Thankfully, there are few truly awful bands, and most can improve, so even if some jumped up music reviewer like myself says they don’t like it, don’t take it too much to heart. As a musician myself, I understand that some gigs are better than others, it takes years of gigging to achieve consistency.

The reason I’ve set this up as a blog rather than a website or as part of a print publication is for the comments function. If you have an opinion on anything I’ve said, or you were at a certain gig and want to add your bit – please do! It makes for a well rounded review if more than one person gives their opinion.

REVIEW: Hellserpoppin pips hell

SATURDAY 10 MARCH
BAR BODEGA
HELLSERPOPPIN

By Charlette Hannah

Last night there were three bands playing at Bodega, The Matt Langley Band who I've already reviewed, Miss Conduct, and Hellserpoppin. Unfortunately, I didn't get to hear Miss Conduct, as I just couldn't sit through Hellserpoppin. They lost me from the first moment lead singer Joe stepped on to the stage with a beer bottle in his hand, which he proceeded to nurse for the three songs I endured, and started swearing about something. Ok, so this is rock and roll right? But is it necessary? An image can't carry a band (although Westlife would beg to differ) and if the music falls down, drinking and swearing probably is all that's left. The first song started weakly, with a half decent guitar riff being overshadowed by the bass. Joe went from standing on stage and humming to screaming. There was no build up, and no power in the music. The drummer merely kept time, though he was solid and kept time well. Metal/punk/rock music really needs good strong interesting beats to hold it together. The guitarist was so quiet I could barely hear what he was doing. By the second song they had warmed up a little, and the singing improved. I think Joe has a good voice, but on the whole the band seems slightly misguided. From their website: "We give eternal thanks to our followers for always holding such devotion, in our hearts you are the loving masses against smoky lights and the Hellserpoppin symphony. You channel our venom; you are the water to our thirst, the lifeblood in our veins. And we extend it to you all always."
Like I said, I couldn't listen to a whole set.

Sunday, 11 March 2007

REVIEW: The Matt Langley Band

SATURDAY 10 MARCH
BAR BODEGA
THE MATT LANGLEY BAND
By Charlette Hannah

I have to admit, it's been a while since I've been to Bodega. A friend of mine used to work there, so I could get in for free (don't tell management) which was great, because if the band sucked, I wouldn't mind leaving. Unfortunately, it's often hit and miss with Bodega. I applaud that they give so many up and coming bands a go, but sometimes the bands really should just up and go.
Thankfully, this wasn't a case in point. I was more than happy after watching the Matt Langley band to have paid my $5 to get in. In fact, I wouldn't have felt ripped off paying $10.
I haven't seen Matt play before, as he is from Dunedin and I have spent a total of three days in Dunedin in my whole life, but I was well impressed with my inaugural hearing.
A relaxed and natural performer, Matt looks intimately at home on stage, and his stage presence extends throughout the bar. Unfortunately there wasn't a huge crowd at that stage, but there was obvious enjoyment from those assembled.
Matt's finely crafted songwriting and easy going guitar style is easy to listen to, but by no means boring. He had my attention right from the first song, and held it for the whole performance. A fantastic voice, matched by a fine rhythm section from brother Jake Langley on drums and Scott Mead on bass made it an overall inspiring show, and one that restored my faith in going to see original bands I don't know. You don't know til you go right? Alternative, country, folky rock with a unique flavour is how I'd describe Matt's music. It's pleasant, and interesting, and from what I could distinguish, lyrically good as well as melodically solid.
I've contacted Matt about an interview - so watch this space. Check him out if you get the opportunity!

Friday, 9 March 2007

One thing

If there's one thing that annoys me, it's repeating myself. Like saying 'if there's one thing that...' Obviously there's a whole lot of one things and I really shouldn't go around speaking such nonsense.

Thursday, 8 March 2007

Free food is the curse of the dieter

If there's one thing that annoys me, it's irregular bloggers. Actually, on the list of things, that one's pretty low, nonetheless, when you have a favourite blogger and they don't post, you feel bereft of something. At this stage, I don't think anyone reads my blog anyway, but I last posted a month ago, so I will try and do better from now on.
While we're on the subject of blogging, I'm just going to mention my favourite blogger. Scott Adams, who writes the Dilbert Blog (and Dilbert, obviously) is great! He's funny and random and intelligent and careless. It's brilliant.
I feel like writing about earthquakes again, even though I did on my last post. We've been having a lot in Wellington lately. I tend to notice them, although sometimes I convince myself it's just the rumble of trucks working on the bypass. Apparently a series of smaller earthquakes is a lead up to the big one, as the plates reshuffle themselves. Yay. Makes me think I should take out insurance. Or a sabbatical and go to Africa. I don't mind the little tremors in the slightest. But the thought of any building I'm in imploding and sinking to the depths of the earth... well, let's just say it doesn't sound like as much fun as fun is.
On other news - I'm trialing a gluten free diet. I'm not doing it for any vain lose weight reason. I'm hoping I will have more energy and less stomachaches. So far it means I can't have Tim Tams, my favourite little Le Snak's, soy sauce, and spaghetti bolognese. I don't eat much bread anyway, so that's no loss. I've realised the most difficult thing to stand in the way of diets is free food. Yesterday it was a workmates birthday, and he shouted us all morning tea. He purchased ridiculously large platters of sausage rolls and vege samosas (they lasted eight of us the whole day) and I was tormented for all of 20 seconds before I dug in. I managed to convince myself that the samosas were authentic and were made using chick pea flour and no wheat starch anywhere. I'm not much keen on sausage rolls but damn the samosas were tasty. Why does free food always taste so much better?