“The Have” are truly having it.All grown up at the average age of 22 “The Have” have come along way, since their days jamming in Wanganui. With songs licensed for movies (The Devil Dared Me To), sports (Rugby 2007 and Burnout 2007) and TV ads (X Box, Canterbury for Rugby World Cup, Super 12’s in Australia), what have these boys not been up to? Their debut album “Back To The Burning Wreck”, sees them on their first nationwide rock n roll tour. Hot, young and awesome live, these boys seriously should not be missed. This time believe the hype, they certainly rock.
Lucy Wyatt speaks to Peter Mangan, to find out more.
Lucy Wyatt: Bet you are looking forward to promoting your debut album “Back to the Burning Wreck” to a
Peter Mangan: Can’t wait. We did a few gigs a few months ago, but it’s going to be great to cover both the North and the
Lucy: It’s fantastic that the
Peter: It was something totally new for us working with an international producer. He has such a strong background and great advice. He had some really great ideas and we had fun trying lots of different recordings. The whole band really learnt a lot from him.
Lucy: He obviously influenced your finished sound with his
Peter: Black Rebel Motor Club is really doing it for me this year and the blues. We’re all influenced by lots of different bands and styles, I guess it changes a lot each year.
Peter: It’s interesting you ask about that. It was Blair’s idea at High School, he just came out with it, we all agreed and “The Have” it was. Just came out of nowhere really.
Lucy: I heard about the cameraman in
Peter: We’ll have to wait and see, hopefully they’ll get down like they have in the past and in like the crowd in the
Lucy: You’ve come a long way quite quickly, where do you see yourselves next year? Any plans overseas?
Peter: We’re heading to Aussie in a few months to do some gigs, and we’ll probably relocate in the near future, as most Kiwi bands eventually do, but not quite sure yet.
Lucy: Back To The Burning Wreck has had very positive reviews. Was it hard to edit down the tracks? Do you have a favourite?
Peter: Yeah it was hard. We had 23 to edit down and we decided on 13 in the end. I guess my favourite is Oh, Oh, My, My.
Lucy: You guys are all pretty young and charging ahead nice and smoothly. What age were you when you looked at your idols and thought I can do that?
Peter: We were 16 at High School and we all had the same passion, tastes and ambitions. We started young. When you’re young it’s about having fun, now it’s paying off.
Lucy: Myspace has helped lots of bands worldwide, do you feel it has had much of an impact on your success?
Peter: I think it’s a great tool to use. It’s excellent to hear from our fans and keep in touch with them wherever they are in the world. Also for photos, so people can see what’s been happening at the gigs. It’s free advertising and access to our music, perfect.
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4 comments:
I hate to be leaving negative comments about New Zealand bands (and I dont know the members of The Have personally, so they could well be very lovely chaps!). But is anybody else a bit confused as to how much publicity these guys get?. There are countless unknown bands in this country that play more original music and are better live acts than these guys. Maybe The Have should take a leaf out of their heroes (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) book, and actually write some decent songs before trying to act too cool for school.... No-one cares about the Datsuns or the D4 anymore ( and The Have are at best just a poorer version of those 2 bands), so why are we still hearing about these guys?....erm yeah im done now
I'm not personally familiar with The Have's music, so I can't comment on the quality of it. I remember them from high school I think - were they in Rockquest?
It's an interesting discussion topic though, aside from The Have - why is it that mediocre is applauded? It's basically the whole culture of pop music, and blockbuster movies. Apart from pop acts such as The Beatles, who genuinely were brilliant, it seems that wishy washy trying too hard is the name of the game.
Ah well, art will always suffer for itself.
hmmm yeah, The Have are a textbook case of style triumphing over substance. guess its nothing new huh?.Its always been a fundamental problem with the music industry. (and every other industry for that matter). Its very frustrating that a band can get away with playing such boring and predictable music because they have the right "look".
I think NZ music journalists need to harden up and start telling it like it is. Rip it up and Real Groove for example rarely give NZ bands bad reviews. I dont know why this is the case, whether they think they are helping NZ music or just afraid of bumping into these bands at somepoint?, who knows!!!. Its good to see you being honest and stating your opinion in your interviews without taking into account the backlash you may recieve from the artists. Keep it up!
It is difficult to criticise something people put so much hard work into. However, I don't believe in being nice just for the sake of it, so I'm glad someone appreciates honesty :)
Feel free to send through your opinion of bands at anytime!
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