​I’ve still got my CD’s and my dad’s records but losing the Wizz Kids EP made me ask questions about the legitimacy of ownership of art, particularly music in the modern age. There was a time when publication was final, but no more. Is that fair? And I am aghast partly because this isn’t the first time this has happened. I’m looking at you Nadia Reid. And I’m out for answers PNC!

Nadia Reid has shot to stardom recently, but what hooked me on her soulful folk music and striking voice was a track called 'Good Things'. She put up a live recording on bandcamp and there is a brief intro where she explains that a friend of hers told her that all her songs in a minor key were depressing, so she wrote this one in a major key and it was really sad. Someone close to me had just committed suicide and I sat at the top of the hill between Raglan and Hamilton having just heard the news of his passing and listened to that song on repeat. I think I listened to it approximately one katrillion times over the following months. Now, gone.

​A lighter example is the Who Betta Then This Remix that PNC put out with NZ’s best MC’s spitting verses over a 41 instrumental. Louie Knuxx, Scribe and Sid Diamond might give the verse of their careers on that number, but can I get it on Spotify? Nope. PNC (most underrated rapper in NZ anyone?) has some stuff on bandcamp, but not much and I can get it on Youtube so not all is lost, but hardly ideal. I bought his album 'Under the Influence' on CD, which was dumb as he was giving it away for free online, but it meant that I could throw it on when I wanted. I actually was in control of recorded music.

​Perhaps I am looking at this all wrong. I can’t get back those gigs I saw as a younger person. I hold in my head the time the lead singer of Diediedie swung from the light fitting at Soul or the stage dive at a Sommerset concert that ended in concussion, but I can’t replay the music. Those memories are some of my favorites. Perhaps my desire to hold onto something tangible is born out of consumerism, addiction, a need to have control of the environment in order to what? Feel something?

I guess what I am missing is the ability of the Wizz Kids, Nadia Reid and PNC to make me feel something and because they did it so well in the past, I’ve become reliant. I should really thank them for sharing their artistry with me in the first place, but the selfish part of me is like, HEY, WHERE IS MY MUSIC?

Thanks/Chur

A R T I C L E
'Ruined Redbirds for Fugitives': What would Inchworm's next album have sounded like if they hadn't gone their separate ways?

Inchworm held the torch for indie-pop in Hamilton in the mid- to late-nineties. Their debut EP, ‘Looper’, was released in 1994, and they followed this up with the albums ‘Shiny’ (1996) and ‘You Are Only Here’ (1997). By the time the latter was released, the sound of the band had evolved to an extent where it was felt that they might be on the edge of something bigger, and that they might gain some well-deserved national respect. In 2000, however, Scott Brodie (bass, vocals) and Rob Talsma (drums, vocals) left for the UK, in the expectation that Justin Harris (guitar, vocals) was to join them and that the band was to continue. Harris, instead, went to Japan, and the band effectively ended.  

But what if it hadn’t ended there? What if Harris had moved to the UK, or if all the members had stayed in New Zealand? What album might have they created next?
​
It has not been uncommon for this question to be posed for other bands, such as… The Beatles. Which tracks from the solo outings or other projects would have been suitable for inclusion on a future album that never happened? So, ignoring the fact that Inchworm spent time at The Porch Studio in 2016 recording new songs for a potential future release that hasn’t happened yet, we peruse the post Inchworm releases of the three members to create an album the band might have released in the 2000s; 'Ruined Redbirds for Fugitives'.
 
Ruined Redbirds for Fugitives
Track 1: 127 Seats (Inchworm; 2007, 2016)
Okay… so this was recorded by Inchworm, probably in 1999, but it didn’t get an actual release until post-2000, firstly on ‘Tapeworm’ (an obscure release by the band on cassette in 2007 on an Italian label) and eventually digitally via the 2016 Hamilton Underground Press (HUP) compilation ‘Life Beneath a Gravel Streak’.  
​

​Track 2: Lift (Elider; 2017)
From Harris’ 2017 solo album ‘Redbird’, this song makes another appropriate bridge between Inchworm-past and future. This, perhaps more than any other song from later projects, harks back to the final Inchworm sound; it was a previously unrecorded Inchworm song, and besides Harris fronting, it features Scott Brodie on bass.
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​Track 3: Pink Shirt (Grok [UK]; 2008)
Perhaps Grok’s poppiest number, this track was released on their 2008 ‘Ruined Music for Everyone’. This version of Grok – the UK based Grok - features both Brodie and Talsma.
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​Track 4: Hand Model (Five Second Burn; 2015)
The mid-point of past Inchworm albums were commonly dominated by Talsma-fronted songs. ‘Five Second Burn’ was another London-based project of Rob Talsma, along with English guitarist Chris Ayles (who also featured with Talsma and Brodie in Girlinky and the UK based-Grok).
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​Track 5: It’s Times Like This (Elider; 2017)
Moving away from the more overtly poppy openers, this was the first track from Harris’ 2017 solo album Redbird; this is another strong track from what was a pretty solid album (go and listen to the whole thing, if you haven’t already).
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​Track 6: The Thrill of the Caucasus (Grok [UK]; 2016)
Recorded with Brodie, Talsma and Ayles in the UK in 2013, this is an as-yet non-album track, to date released only on HUP’s ‘Life Beneath A Gravel Streak’ compilation. This song is an ode to Mikhail Lermontov, the Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes referred to as "the poet of the Caucasus". 
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​Track 7: Difference (Elider; 2017)
The start of side B, perhaps, this is a return here to some more straight-out pop. Coming in at only 47 seconds, another great track from Harris’ Elider.
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​Track 8: It’s the Sugar Rush (Girlinky; 2005)
This was the last of Girlinky’s four singles, released on 7”. Girlinky existed between 2001-2006, and featured Talsma, Brodie, Chris Ayles and Sarah Ferguson (who was a guitarist and vocalist in Hamilton’s Tobermorie and Inspector Moog, before also leaving for the UK).
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​Track 9: Transmission from a Dying Civilisation (Grok [UK]; 2008)
Inchworm had some fantastic closing songs on their albums; Wish on ‘Shiny’, and You Get to Me on ‘You are Only Here’. The same applies to the albums the members went on to, and so this Inchworm fantasy album closes with a couple of those. Again, from Grok’s ‘Ruined Music for Everyone’ album, ‘Transmission from a Dying Civilisation’ was the fantastic closing track from that album.
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​Track 10: Your Silent Face (Elider; 2017)
Finally, the closer from Elider’s ‘Redbird’ album. Again, magnificent, and an appropriate closer to this fantasy ‘what-if” album. 
​

Back in 1965, the world was, well, a bit mad. Not like the sane, accepting, gentle society we have today. Arf! The Vietnam War was in full swing, Mary Quant was helping the decade swing, and Martin Luther King was victorious in winning the right for African Americans to vote in the United States. Here in New Zealand, Waikato University opened, Mt. Eden prisoners rioted, TEAL became Air New Zealand and Ray Columbus and the Invaders won the Loxene Golden Disc Award for 'Til we kissed'. A shitload of classic albums were also released that year - The Who 'My Generation', The Byrds 'Mr Tambourine Man' and The Beatles second album of that year, 'Rubber Soul', were all set free into the world.

Now, over half a century later, Matthew Bannister, of Sneaky Feelings and The Changing Same, is on the verge of releasing his cover of The Beatles classic, entitled 'Rubber Solo'. Julian White (The Scones, Bitter Defeat) caught up with Matthew to find out more about the making of the album and the plans for its release. 

JW: You have been a prolific songwriter for many years, and have an extensive back catalogue of original songs. But your upcoming release is a covers album. What is your general approach to covering other artists’ songs?

MB: With the Evolver and Rubber Solo albums it’s basically about using my knowledge as a Beatles fan to rearrange the songs in a style the Beatles might have done them. I try to leave the lyrics and melodies alone, but change the rest. Sometimes I take a lick from one Beatles song and apply it to another, like the Travis picking John uses on “Dear Prudence” and apply it to “Here There and Everywhere” on Evolver. On Rubber Solo, I borrowed the intro of Strawberry Fields for my cover of Girl. It helps that Logic Pro 10 now has mellotron sounds.

JW: What is it about Rubber Soul which attracted you to covering those particular Beatles songs?

MB: I dunno, I’d already done Revolver, and Rubber Soul kind of sits beside it. Sgt Pepper would have been too complex, plus it’s as much about the sequencing and sound effects as about the songs. White Album would’ve been too daunting. I guess I should’ve done Abbey Road, it would have been the most sensible move commercially. The early Beatles albums aren’t as well-known, although for my money, Hard Day’s Night is as good as they ever did. Rubber Soul has a few more naff songs than Revolver, like Run for your Life, but we turned into a sleazy glam-rock thing, which kind of suits it.

JW: You have called the album Rubber Solo. Do any other musicians perform on the album?

MB: Like Evolver, I did it all at home on my computer alone, it was kind of a stress relaxation project. The only difference is that this time I had Logic Pro 10 which has better sounds than what I had for Evolver. At the same time, I’m worried that better sounds give you too many easy options. But live, I have a full band, with Albert (my son) on bass, Bruce Dennis on drums, Nick Braae on keys and Mef Storm on guitar and vocals.

JW: Have you employed any special musical instruments?

MB: Nope, bit of mandolin here and there. Overall, it’s a bit mellower than Evolver. More of a 70s feel.

JW: Is there a track you feel particularly proud of, and if so, why?

MB: I borrowed the intro of Strawberry Fields for my cover of Girl. That works well and it’s pretty funny. I’m also pleased with If I Needed Someone, which I converted into 7/4 meter. I’d been singing in World Voices choir with Kristoff Maubach and we did a lot of Eastern European folk, which is often in weird time signatures. So I was pleased to be able to apply it to the Beatles.
​

Arpie was fortunate enough to catch up with two of Aotearoa's finest underground bands - Swallow The Rat and Threat.Meet.Protocol - ahead of their show at Nivara Lounge this coming Friday, Sept 27th 2019. The key participants in what follows are...in the red corner, representing Taurangans T.M.P, none other than THE Austin Cunningham, and in the blue corner, all the way from Austin, TX via Auckland, is Brian Purington of Swallow The Rat. If you didn't read that in a wrestling announcer's voice, please re-read appropriately.

Just before we proceed, reader, I feel I should share with you that as I typed the above it occurred to me that someone in this godforsaken world of ours needs to pen a song entitled 'Two Taurangans don't make a right' pretty jolly quickly please and thank you. Enough mindless digression. On with the show...
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Gidday fulluhs! You are hitting Hamilton this Friday as part of an interesting tour...tell us more about it…where/when/with whom?
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AC: Oh it could barely be called a tour but think of it more as a family holiday for a few bands: Swallow the Rat/Threat.Meet.Protocol and Hemordroid who need to get away from our jobs/families/daily stresses and to play and hang out with our good friends at our favourite venues Nivara Lounge and the Vault in Auckand. With guest appearances from extended family members like the awesome Silver Surfer and Fritchley juniors The Pope. 

What are your favourite things about each of the bands playing?

AC: With the exception of Brian who’s an outsider that we all secretly resent for taking gigs off hard-working New Zealand musicians [build a wall], these are bands whose members have been around in various guises for the last decade or more. In their current formations both Hemordroid and Swallow the Rat have finally found not only the success they all deserve but the musicians and friends to do it alongside they should have always had. It’s nice to see.
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BP: I like that we all play loud Rock n roll musics.

Both your bands have had some fairly exciting overseas tours in the last year or so, STR to SXSW in the US, and T.M.P over in Japan. How was that as an experience?

AC: SXSW was great thanks! Oh wait….. Japan had long been an ambition of ours to tour so to finally do so was an achievement in itself. And to do so without entering financial ruin was an added bonus.

BP: SXSW was pretty decent thanks! We ended up playing 8 shows over 7 days and sharing the stage with some amazing bands. Also we met the label, (Shifting Sounds), that will be releasing our record, so I would count that as a win.

What was different about those shows compared to playing here in NZ? Would you recommend it to other bands?

AC: Every band should play Japan, such a different experience from the New Zealand one. Audiences are bizarrely respectful to the point that you aren’t sure if they even like you as they aren’t responsive like western crowds. Less drunken ‘whooing’, awful dancing and mass venue exodus come mid set so they can smoke/talk outside. A lot more respectful hand clapping though.

BP: Being in a band in NZ is a bit like Groundhog Day. You end up seeing the same bands in the same venues over and over again. It’s life affirming to go abroad and meet/play with other musicians/fans.
​

Would you go back? Or do you have plans to go further afield?

AC: We would love to but due to Evan's addiction to buying snare drums we will struggle to pay for the gas to Hamilton let alone Japan again. However we plan to send him to rehab for his dirty vice so if he comes out clean we will aim to head stateside next year for a run of shows.

BP: We will be doing some shows in The Land of the Free and The Home of the Brave sometime next year. How we will pay for this remains to be seen. All four us could probably spare a kidney or lung. We just need to find some buyers.

Austin, you recently organised a(nother) ginormo Fest over in Tauranga…how did Loserpalooza go and did it achieve what you had hoped to? Would you do it again?

AC: - It did mate, we raised 4.5k for Lifeline and brought a lot of joy to attendees and participants. I will do Loserpalooza again for sure, annually even and hopefully for ever growing proceeds to Lifeline.

What does the rest of the year/2020 hold in store for your band?

AC: We are in the process of recording a 7” for release early next year and between you and I hopefully replacing our bass player as he is abysmal and kind of an asshole.

BP: hmmm, we will be supporting Gang of Four 12th November at the Tuning Fork and releasing our debut LP in early-ish 2020.

Shit that is pretty cool! Finally, encourage the good gig going public of Hamilton to get along to Friday’s gig in ten words or less…

Brian's gonna get out his weiner…. & expel sweet smelling spores 
​

​Heavens above! Will if that doesn't entice you out on Friday night, Hamilton, I don't know what will. In all seriousness these are two fantastic live bands, and the fact that they will be joined by two more bands in Hemordroid and Silver Surfer ought to be enough to convince any potential fence-sitters to get along to the show and cut loose. TTFN.

​I N T E R V I E W
‘Screen Variations’: An interview with GROK about their new album
With Ian Duggan 

GROK took out Hamilton’s Contact 89FM Battle of the Bands competition in 1996, and released their debut album ‘Bubbles and Noises from the Aquarium’ the following year. Reforming in London in 2006, they released two further albums, 2008s ‘Ruined Music for Everyone’ and 2011s ‘Create a Diversion’, both featuring studio improvisations. Following a brief reformation of the original GROK in Hamilton in 2014, the again UK based band have just released their fourth album, ‘Screen Variations’. We talked to GROK’s Scott Brodie about the album, and their residency at London’s Genesis Cinema — where they have been providing the soundtracks for silent films, on which the songs on the new album are based.

HUP: The songs on ‘Screen Variations’ are quite different to GROK’s previous albums. On the new album the songs are more soundscapes, and lack vocals, as might be expected from a soundtrack to a silent film. Many of the songs start quietly, and then build in intensity, which I guess is reflective of the scenes they were associated with. What can you tell me about the songs, and how representative are the songs on the album relative to those that were in the original performances?

SB: They turned out not to be too representative of the original ideas. We listened to the original improvisations before heading into the studio and at times may have latched onto a motif that worked. When we were in the studio we improvised two versions of each song. We didn't really plan to start quietly and then go loud - it's the movie we are following. I think maybe just one song follows this arc; in the others it's more that the mood changes from synth based to bass/guitar/drum based.

HUP: What films were you asked to provide soundtracks for? Had you watched the films previously, or did you go in to each unprepared?

SB: The Genesis gave us a pretty free reign in the residency. We would watch a few movies and then suggest ones to do. We watch the movie once together - just to enjoy it. Then we watch again and break it up into 'songs'. In the past we would improvise over the whole movie, but we realised pretty quickly that there needs to be variation in instrumentation and differentiation to add interest, and to mark boundaries between the scenes. So, we think of these as songs. After we break the movie up into songs, we categorise the songs and the action. We create a little flash animation so that when we are playing and improvising we can see that some increasing action is coming up, or perhaps a plateau of gloom. Rob [Talsma] and Chris [Ayles] do this and we have a process now. It takes a bit of work to categorise, but it's essential to have these guardrails when you are improvising. Otherwise, you could be preparing for an ‘Explosions in the Sky’ type section, and suddenly you realise things changed to a pastoral scene that you just forgot about.

All the soundtracks we did are on the website, except for Mocny Człowiek' / 'A Strong Man' — a great silent Polish movie — and David Lynch's Eraserhead, which we did in March. We have a few more coming up. We are just confirming them at the moment.
​

HUP: So, when you were doing the rerecording, were you re-watching the appropriate segment of the film again?

SB: Yes, we had the scene playing as well as the original flash animation running to see the peaks and troughs coming up.
 
HUP: How and when did you come to be involved with Genesis Cinema, and how did the residency come about?

SB: Rob's sister Amanda called in there one day and talked to the manager, who she had met before I think. We had previously only done soundtracks in pubs. We then went and had a talk with them. Following that, we played a couple of movies and they offered a residency, which was really great, but pretty full-on doing a new movie every month. We've been having a break this year. It was excellent - we learned so much. Our soundtracks are much more controlled now and we have added so many more electronic elements.
 
HUP: You look to be down to a three-piece now. Who plays in GROK now, and does being in a pared down line-up provide challenges?

SB: We have gone electronic... Chris plays guitar and has a hundred or so pedals over a two layer pedal board, and maybe three synths to go with that. He uses different ones each time. He has an MS20 and also his own drone synth machine that he designed and built, and many others. I have my bass with some synth pedals and a harmonic generator. I also have a Nord G1 modular that I use, with a Beatstep pro for sequencing. I have a Eurorack modular setup in a Doepfer road case: a couple of oscillators and voltage generators and sequencers along with some filters and other modules to mess with the sound. The modular is so much fun but difficult to improvise with. I need to have a few generative patches ready with options to change the sound based on the movie and the improvisation. Rob has his drums, a Novation synth, and a Roland drum pad with samples he's put in, and also a Volca sample. So, we have filled up the space by multitasking really.
 
HUP: Are the band still playing other gigs, or is silent films now your specialty? What is the future for GROK?

SB: We haven't played a 'normal' gig for a year and half (one completely improvised with our ‘wheel of chordal destiny’, to determine the key and lyric suggestions from the audience). We think we will do one shortly - we were talking about it. We will do a release party at the Betsey Trotwood in Farringdon in the next few months where we DJ songs that relate to films. We are also thinking about the next album, which will be completely electronic. No bass, guitar or drums. Let's see what happens.
​

​HUP: Back on 2016, you reunited with the former members of Inchworm and recorded some new songs. Should we still expect those to see the light of day?
 
SB: Yes. It will see the light of day. We [— The UK-based GROK —] also have an unfinished album from 2013, which we were talking about making into an EP recently. One of those songs [The Thrill of Caucasus] went on the HUP compilation [Life Beneath a Gravel Streak (2016)]. The other album is quite nice and raw it doesn't need too much. I would just need to redo the vocals. We think it will be called ‘GROK Make Music With Friends Vol 1’, opening the door to a series of future collaborations, maybe. When you work with computers all day you can't really face hitting Pro-Tools in the evening. That's part of why I love the modular stuff so much; you can plug in cables and twist knobs and don't need to look at a screen. If it's a cold winter - I'll try and finish GROK ‘Friends’ this year.

Harry and the Potters have recently released their fourth full length album, ‘Lumos’!

“Who are Harry and the Potters?”, you might be asking. Harry and the Potters were the first ‘Wizard Rock’ band, formed in 2002 by two brothers from Massachusetts, USA; Joe and Paul DeGeorge. Their lo-fi indie pop group, who perform songs about the Harry Potter universe, has spawned many others, including Draco and the Malfoys, Ministry of Magic, The Moaning Myrtles, The Mudbloods, and The Whomping Willows. I am not aware of any bands in the genre originating from New Zealand, however.

I got into Harry and the Potters, along with the rest of my family, only recently. This was firstly through rewatching the first few films with the kids (5 and 7), and noticing Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker fronting the ‘The Weird Sisters’, the band that plays at the Yule Ball in the ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ movie. From a search to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me (and finding the band also featured another member of Pulp, and a couple of members of Radiohead), I also discovered the world of ‘Wizard Rock’. After posting on Facebook about my discovery, I then learned that Julian from local bands The Scones and Bitter Defeat had not only seen the band play in Canada, playing with Draco and the Malfoys, but also owned the bands second album, ‘Voldermort Can’t Stop the Rock’. This CD has been living in our car stereo, on repeat, providing the soundtrack to every journey taken with the kids on board (as well as many without) ever since. 
​
‘Lumos’ represents Harry and the Potters first new album in 13 years. Like their previous albums, the lyrics are written in the first-person, from the point-of-view of Harry Potter himself. Songs on this album cover material almost exclusively from the final book in the series, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’, while previous releases covered the preceding books. Overall, the songs on this album are more ‘hi-fi’ than the previous efforts, the brothers having clearly become more proficient on their instruments, and the tracks are overall varied in style. There appears to be something for everyone on here, as members of our family all have their own favourites. [continued below]

Kia ora koutou katoa! After a lovely wee hibernation HUP has emerged from its acorn-filled burrow and is ready to go for another year! In a somewhat lazy but ultimately genius move, HUP asked Nicola Edwards, bassist and vocalist in Repairs, and Harry Lilley of First Move, to question each other ahead of their show at Nivara Lounge tomorrow night, August 16th, with Flogging A Dead One Horse Town and locals Bitter Defeat. First up, Nicola put four questions to Harry...

Nicola: Congrats on your EP "Provincial Blight" which you've recently released! How has growing up/living in Palmerston North shaped your approach to writing music and lyrics?
 
Harry: Thanks! I think living in Palmerston North has imbued us with a kind of outsider headspace. We’re not Wellington, we’re not Auckland, we’re not rural really. Something in-between. From the provinces? In some ways its really cool, there are some incredible and way under-rated bands that have emerged from these parts, think Skeptics but also think of all the amazing hometown hero bands we saw growing up here. I feel like here we get this cool freedom to make whatever we want to and all the music community here are into it (or at least the idea of doing your own thing). Not being so worried about keeping up with the latest thing has been great for exploring music from the past and bringing the stuff we love to this band and our new songs. Fraser, Jono, and I are all interested in ‘politics’ and are cognisant of the tensions around us. There’s a continuous clash of old and new, country and town, progressive and conservative attitudes. The songs that make up Provincial Blight have been a great way to explore and express that over the last year or so.

Nicola: The first song off your EP is called 100 Percent. Using 100 characters, how would you describe First Move to the uninitiated?

Harry: We’re Aotearoa noise-rock from Palmerston North. We like big guitar sounds, tight rhythm, and space.
​

​
​Nicola: You and Martin (Phillips, guitar/vox in Repairs) go back a long way, to his days in god bows to math. Is there anything about the musical direction he's taken with Repairs that surprises you?

Yeah! praise be to god bows to math (re-union tour one day please). When Martin told me he was playing with Repairs I was stoked with his description. Something along the lines of ‘gbtm but inserted some pop’. True to form everything I’ve heard since has been great and it’s been cool to see some of the old ideas and musical idioms infused with a dose of Nic’s thundering bass, healthy accent, and James’ pounding drums.

Nicola: Finally, Shellac, Bailterspace and Slint: steal riffs, steal production or steal members?

Wowee, that’s a good one. We could spin that so many ways. I reckon something like:

Bailterspace - I can’t get enough of the riffs (you can probably tell). Last night I had Capsul play through twice while driving home late.

Slint - Though their members may have slipped into a kind of obscurity since Spiderland, they played some incredible songs with an unparalleled tightness. Don’t ask me which members we’d pinch though, that’d probably change every time we talk about it (they’re all so cool).

Shellac - steal production. Do I really need to explain that any further? (actually don’t ask, the ramble would go on for weeks).

And then, it was Harry's turn to question Nicola about Repairs...
​

Harry: Since the first (v. awesome) demos you sent through I’ve wondered how your song-writing works. I hear bits of everyone, but does someone write out the song or do you generate them collectively? 

Nicola: Our songs are a mixture of approaches! Sometimes Martin will have a partially or fully formed idea of a song, sometimes James or I will start jamming on a riff and a song will just “happen”. Other songs have been more of constant work in progress, where what we started with ends up being very different in both structure and in lyrics. Playing live can be a great way of testing songs out, and developing, tweaking and improving them.  

Harry: Tell us about three bands/artists you really admire and draw upon for Repairs that we might not have heard of?  

Nicola: Martin has a great playlist on Spotify called “Reference” which is a good starting point for getting an idea of tracks or artists that he in particular will get inspired by. Tropical Fuck Storm is a big one at the moment, as is Bench Press who just came over from Melbourne and all three of us can’t stop raving about! Ditto with Moody Beaches, who have been a bit of a band crush of mine since they played at Whammy earlier this year.
 
We definitely wear a lot of influences on our chests with our band t-shirt collections though. Plus we seem to be going through a period where working titles for songs are the name of the band that influenced that song. We have one called “Shellac” that we’re hoping to try out live for the first time at Nivara!
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​Harry: What was the last thing that any of you repaired?

Nicola: Not sure if it counts as repairing… James recently did some much needed maintenance on our car for us that we had no idea needed doing! (thanks James, you’re the best)  

Harry: I had the pleasure of listening to your latest release, a split 7” lathe with Flogging a Dead One Horse Town. Could you tell us more about the interesting concept for the split and how it all came together?  

Nicola: Initially the lathe cut was thought up as a way to support Peter King. But Martin was the one who came up with the idea of each band covering one of the other’s songs without ever having heard it first. So we sent Flogging the tabs and lyrics for Boxer, and they did the same for us with Shits – it’s been really interesting to hear the similarities and differences between the versions. We’re so excited to be doing the same concept with First Move for another split later this year!

Big thanks to Nicola and Harry for the Q and A! The show takes place tomorrow night, Friday August 16th at Nivara Lounge, doors at 8pm, first band shortly afterwards. Also playing are the wonderfully named (and wonderful sounding)  'Flogging a Dead One Horse Town' and Hamilton's lo-fi indie popsters 'Bitter Defeat'.
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​​I N T E R V I E W
‘Hope for the Best’: A Q&A with Yann Le Dorre of YOLK
With Ian Duggan

Another whose music we have been loving up here is Wellington’s ‘YOLK’, having featured a couple of his tracks on our Hamilton Underground Press/The Hum 106.7FM's Tekau Nga Waiata Pai Top 10; ‘Angels are Real and I Know Them’ in February and ‘Losing Day’ on our May countdown. On the back of a brand new release, 'SADEGO', we talked to the person behind the project, Yann Le Dorre, about the change from high-fi to low-fi between albums, his high musical productivity, and more!

HUP: I particularly like your ‘Bad Water’ album, released in November 2018, and especially tracks like ‘Angels are Real and I Know Them’ and ‘Your Independence Will Kill You in the End’, which remind me a lot of Australian band Gerling. Who are your influences?

Yann: Thank you! ‘Angels’ was written during a period when my son and I were temporarily homeless. A couple of friends really dug in deep for me so that song is pretty much a complete ode to them (shout out to Casey and Grace). Musically I had been thrashing ‘White Light/White Heat’ by The Velvet Underground, so the almost abrasive ‘pop’ style of the song could be attributed to that and the weird vocal treatment was reminiscent of ‘Sandy (Alex G)’. ‘Your Independence Will Kill You in The End’ began its life as this soft little country number but once again after White Light, I really wanted something completely overdriven with high energy. I thought it was a nice contrast to end the album on; you gotta dig through the shit to get to the gold. As far as general influences go, I am huge Neil Young fan, alongside Dylan, Springsteen, etc. ‘90s alt-rock is cool too; Silver Jews and Smashing Pumpkins (weird contrast) though local acts such as Womb, Seth Frightening, and T.I.M.E. have been huge inspirations to me also.
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​HUP: Your recent album, ‘Sadderdays’ (and new one SADEGO) is so different to ‘Bad Water’. ‘Sadderdays’, in particular, is super lo-fi, to the point of having the clicks on it at the start of songs, which seem to be where you have pressed record on a tape deck. Why the massive change in sound between releases?

Yann: ‘Bad Water’ was a very experimental album for me, not only in terms of instrumentation but also production. It was the first album I had gotten somebody else in to master. I wanted to get as close to high fidelity as my means (small bedroom studio, limited knowledge - hah) would allow. It was a very bright record but in hindsight, I didn’t feel it was a true representation of my ‘sound’, or what I want to sound like. ‘Sadderdays’ was essentially a rebellion against ‘Bad Water’. I wanted to throw the subtle nuances of hi-fi mixing out the door (as they were beginning to drive me insane) and just make something as raw as possible (within reason). My dear friend (New Zealand’s best kept musical secret) always recorded straight to tape through a Panasonic dictaphone he brought for a couple bucks at the op shop. While hitchhiking down south I was just playing his tapes all day, something about the raw quality of the audio just made it sound like god to me. So when the chance came for me to buy one it was a no brainer. The entire EP was recorded and ‘mastered’ in about five hours, all of the songs were intended to be throwaways so I felt like I didn’t really care too much about the production and the tape just made it sound super lo-fi regardless. I left the clicks in there because I’m lazy. If you listen closely on pretty much all my albums you can hear mouse clicks and spacebars, but it also just adds a nice Cobain home demo element to it.
 
HUP: Do you play all the instruments on the recordings?

Yann: Unfortunately, yes… I have a live band though consisting of some pretty competent musicians, Baxter Perry (STINK) on guitar and Josh Brown (Heavy Chest) on drums. I would love to record a live album but the allure of my bedroom can prove too strong sometimes, haha. However, Baxter and I have been trying and will eventually succeed in recording and releasing the songs we play together.

HUP: You have released five albums over the last two years. How have you stayed so productive?

Yann: Hmmm, it's kinda crazy when you put it like that! I’m kind of an O.C.D. songwriter. I'll write at least one a week and I get these ‘periods’ in my head where I feel the songs of a specific time are all meant to be together on an album. I record with these grand concepts as quickly as I can so I don’t lose any of the magic or excitement, in hopes of capturing sonic timepieces of my life. I firmly believe “we only leave behind what we create”, so it’s some weird cathartic madness I live by. I am planning to release two more full-length albums by the end of the year.
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HUP: What is your background? Have you been in bands previously?

Yann: Well… it’s a long convoluted story, haha! I was born and raised in Nelson, went to a Pearl Jam concert when I was 15 and saw the video for [Nirvana’s] ‘Heart Shaped Box’ on C4 that same weekend, and I guess it was all over from that moment on. My uncle Bob Heinz (Christchurch Jazz master) brought me my first guitar around then and I haven’t looked back. I played in a two-piece acoustic grunge band (Selfless Selfish) for a couple of years just after high school; we were really. really raw. The birth of my son in 2014 forced me to change pace as the guttural screaming wasn’t really a pleasant thing for him to sleep through, and thus I began my journey down the deep hole of folk music. I was in enamoured by artists like Nick Drake and J. Tillman. Their super-soft delivery with this emotional intensity seemed to fit nicely into my pastoral life I had begun living at the time. I moved to Wellington shortly after and formed this crazy psychedelic punk band called LEFT; we played only one show and broke up but rocked nonetheless (ha ha). All the while I was recording and releasing albums under another moniker (Lightpaw), which was super introspective alt-folk - and though it was beautiful music, it felt pointlessly vague or too poetic for its own good. YOLK was a decision to cut the crap, shoot the shit, and bring all of my influences together. I wanted to try and write the real and just go nuts with the music. I don’t want to be held down by any genre constraints or whatever, so this moniker embodies that.

HUP: How do you see the music scene in Wellington at the moment?

Yann: The scene is always changing. It felt like a couple of years ago things were a lot more gothic sounding, whereas these days I hear a shit load of good times indie. Bands exist for a minute then disappear; the life span of a university student seems to be three years or so, which often translates into these groups of bands all playing together while everybody is at school and once that's over they dissipate into the void of real jobs or travel, etc. In saying that, it’s always a healthy and positive experience. Everybody likes everything and the bonds of fellowship seem to be pretty strong around here.

HUP: What are your aspirations for ‘YOLK’?

Yann: To keep rocking in the free world, release another hundred albums, play some shows, a tour would be cool? I’m happy to be heard, but I’d be here no matter what the weather. I don’t see music as some lucrative business and I am aware of the small niche in which YOLK appeals to, so to just keep trucking and stay alive is a fair aspiration. Hope for the best, expect the worst.

​Visit YOLK's Bandcamp HERE, and his Facebook HERE.

I N T E R V I E W
The End is Nigh: An Interview with Milpool
With Ian Duggan
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We have featured a couple of tracks by Dunedin band ‘Milpool’ on the HUP/The Hum 106.7FM's Top 10 over the last few months; Mydriasis was #7 in March and Ambulance Driver made #7 in our May countdown. We talked to guitarist Tom Monaghan about their evolving sound, the band’s future, and the ‘The Simpsons’ connection in their moniker. 

HUP: Tom, I was reading that you were leaving the country in May. But looking at your Facebook, you have still been playing the last few days! Are we soon to see the end of Milpool? Or are the reports of your death greatly exaggerated?

Tom: I am leaving the country in a couple of weeks, slightly later than expected. But yeah, we just finished playing our last couple of Dunedin gigs this weekend and will be playing our last two gigs in Auckland and Wellington on the 7th and 8th of June.
 
HUP: The band was aiming to do a lot of recording before you left, and you have just released another EP in late May called ‘BLOOD/​TAR’. Are there some more releases to come soon?

Tom: We're about halfway through recording our fourth and final EP, which should be released within a few weeks. After that we're planning to release a compilation album of the best tracks from the four EPs plus some new/rerecorded songs.
 
HUP: Do you feel your sound on ‘BLOOD​/​TAR’ has changed since ‘Down’, released in January, or ‘START’, released on October last year?

Tom: We recorded ‘START’ before [vocalist] Adelaide [Dunn] joined, and as such the songs were a lot punkier and noisy as I can't sing. After Adelaide joined things got a lot more melodic and atmospheric. Between ‘DOWN’ and ‘BLOOD/TAR’ we've gotten a lot more collaborative; most of ‘DOWN’ was written by Adelaide and I and then taken to Hamish and Josh to get fleshed out, whereas pretty much all of ‘BLOOD/TAR’ was written with all four of us jamming together. Adelaide also wrote a lot more of the lyrics on ‘BLOOD/TAR’.

​HUP: Are there bands that have influenced your sound?

Tom: International bands that we enjoy/have ripped off include Cate Le Bon, Hop Along, Women and Charly Bliss. Local bands that we enjoy/have ripped off include Koizilla, The Mint Chicks, Ha the Unclear and Wet Specimen.
 
HUP: The ‘Milpool’ name comes from a Simpsons episode, with Milhouse misspelling his name due to getting distracted. Who is the Simpson’s fan, and why did you choose this name?

Tom: I am the obsessive Simpsons fan - of the first eight seasons - and decided early on that the name was going to have to be a Simpsons reference. It was actually my sister Laura that suggested Milpool, and we felt really clever and original until we made the Facebook page and realised that there were ten other emo Bands also called Milpool!
 
HUP: How long are you gone for? Is it possible new bands will evolve out your departure, or will the band be sitting around awaiting your return?

Tom: Sadly, I am leaving indefinitely to go to Bristol with my other band 'The Rothmans', and I do not know when I'll be back. I imagine we'll keep making music under the Milpool name as soon as we're all in the same country again, however long that'll take. I know Adelaide, Hamish [Morgan; drums] and Josh [Howley; bass] plan to keep making music together under some new guise, so it'll be interesting to see how that goes.

Everyone also has other bands on the go. Hamish plays drums in Marlin's Dreaming, Adelaide produces/sings/plays keys in Repulsive Woman, and Josh has been secretly growing a new band called G.I DRO. So, I imagine everyone will have a lot to do while I'm gone.
 
HUP: What is behind The Rothmans moving to Bristol?

Tom: It feels like it's time to leave Dunedin/New Zealand, haha! Half of us have British Citizenship and Bristol is a cool town, so it seems like the logical place to go.