The morning after the X Factor final a workmate told me he was on his way to interview Beau Monga. “Oh yeah?” I said. “What’s Boh been up to?” “Uh… winning X Factor?” Ah shit. Why had I assumed he was talking about Boh Runga, who fronted the band Stellar* 15 years ago, rather than … Read more
Joseph Moore discovers The Bros NZ, an acoustic supergroup lurking in Grey Lynn that features Step Dave from Step Dave banging on a box. And so much more. The journey from mildly well-known Shortland Street star to legit-as-musician is a path that has been often travelled, yet seldom nailed. There have been valiant attempts. Paul … Read more
In the wake of the X Factor NZ finale, Claire Adamson rewatches Popstars – and discovered much more compelling insights into the world of manufactured superstardom. The weird thing about rewatching Popstars – the Kiwi show that started it all – is the fact that it’s not a reality tv show as we know them today. It’s … Read more
For this Music Monday, Robyn Gallagher samples the various global tunes on offer in this year’s Eurovision competition. The Eurovision Song Competition is massive. It’s like a cross between an Olympic Games opening ceremony, the Super Bowl halftime show and an American Idol final – all in aid of determining the best new song Europe … Read more
A couple of weeks ago I was asked to write a short piece about my favourite X Factor contestant Lili. In the piece (which actually turned out to be very long) I retold the story of the first time she spoke to me. I’m no great writer and as I was writing it, I felt … Read more
With the X Factor NZ going from bad to worse, Alex Casey watches Sesame Street’s Singing With the Stars in an attempt to get back to the music. Sesame Street first began in 1969, and in its first season featured the cameo appearances of BB King, Don McLean and Carol Burnett. Over the next few … Read more
Paul Williams takes us on a heartfelt journey through his ongoing online courtship of Lili Bayliss from The X Factor NZ. // Episode 13 of the second season of X Factor NZ will widely be remembered for one thing: Natalia Kills firing up at Joe Irvine for wearing a suit and combing his hair. While … Read more
For this Music Monday, Alex Casey finds a totally normal way to excuse yourself from devastating cricket chat with help from The Mighty Boosh. // Yes, the cricket final happened last night and some bad things happened. We were all there, no need to dwell. Actually, let’s. As someone who has struggled with watching sport … Read more
After a sorry week on X Factor, Robyn Gallagher heads way north to televised music comp perfection. // The Eurovision Song Contest is easily the greatest television musical extravaganza, but a couple of months earlier there’s another show that’s almost as good. It’s Melodifestivalen, the Swedish national competition to select their Eurovision entry – and … Read more
With the shocking departure of Jazzy “Jazzy” Acton from our screens last night, beaming Archie Hill represents the last of the 14-year-olds standing on stick thin, vinyl-trousered legs at this year’s X Factor. He absolutely ripped Ed Sheeran a new one at the auditions, before walking on stage and into our hearts with ‘Blank Space’ … Read more
This Music Monday, Alex Casey draws parallels between a fake singing competition featured within The Office and all the thrills, spills and celebrities of X Factor NZ. // The past few weeks have been filled with a literal and metaphorical airing of X Factor NZ‘s dirty laundry. We have had Slim Shady killers being edited out faster … Read more
Checking in With… is a regular column which features a Spinoff writer watching one or more episodes of a current show and attempting to decode its appeal. This week: Kina’s K9s. // Episodes Consumed: One – the series debut on Maori TV last Friday. What’s it about? It’s a show about “the world of dogs … Read more
Tonight Drake plays Vector Arena in Auckland. Half his life ago he played Jimmy Brooks on Degrassi: The Next Generation. Duncan Greive watched his first appearance on the show to see where it all began. // Imagine if Frankie Adams quit Shortland Street and became Lorde. That’s basically what happened for Canada when Aubrey Graham left the Degrassi universe after … Read more
This Music Monday, Alex Casey rediscovers the music video for ‘This is Outrageous’, the ridiculous debut single from Jez of the British comedy Peep Show. // The first ever episode of Peep Show still stands as an example of pure heart-attack-inducing hilarity. Part of it’s tremendous success, for me anyway, is the way it perfectly introduces our … Read more
Before Breaking Bad, the world’s sharpest look at the scourge of methamphetamine was written by Deja Voodoo. Ten years on, songwriter Matt Heath recalls the fallout from their hit single ‘P’. ‘I smoke P and I’m alright’. It’s the first line of the fourth single from Deja Voodoo’s debut album Brown Sabbath. We wrote the … Read more
This Music Monday, Alex Casey finds beauty in the horror of American Horror Story: Freak Show’s bizarre musical numbers. // If there is one thing that Glee, Nip/Tuck and Popular have taught us, it’s that producer/writer/director Ryan Murphy loves a good pop soundtrack. If he can integrate that soundtrack into the diegetic world of his TV … Read more
David Farrier tearfully recalls the Six Feet Under finale, and makes the case for Sia’s ‘Breathe Me’ as the most perfectly deployed piece of music to ever close out a show. At some point while TV3’s Nightline was still on air (still the best job I’ve ever had), our producer Angus Gillies got ahold of all five seasons of … Read more
Elle Hunt takes a walk through the top ten rubber-legged lipstick-smeared music moments to grace our TV screens this year. // Acknowledging that there are few things more boring or redundant than remarks about how fast this year has gone, how fast has this year gone?! To think that this time 12 months ago, we’d just … Read more
Aaron Hawkins remembers when acid house came to Ferndale via the Shortland Street Theme Club Mix. // “This is rock’n’roll Nurse Burton. Not that hippy dippy folk stuff or whatever it is you’re into.” At the tender age of nine, I had no idea what ‘acid’ was, let alone ‘psychedelia’ or ‘club mixes’. It seems likely … Read more
Last week TV3 premiered the first X-Factor 2015 promo to feature its full lineup of judges. The concept is basically ‘the end of the judges’ commute to work, and then them walking a bit’. Here is the clip. Here are a few takeaways from this piece of promotional footage. 1. Willy Moon is a big Willy Moon Fan and … Read more
This is Sci-Fi week at The Spinoff – we’re running a bunch of content devoted to the most ambitious genre of them all. First up: Andrew Todd defends the much-hated theme song to Star Trek: Enterprise. // Star Trek: Enterprise, the sixth and thus far last TV show to bear the franchise’s name, was initially met with some … Read more
This Music Monday Henry Oliver and Duncan Greive discuss an underrated element of the phenomenal Transparent: its unnervingly sharp portrayal of LA’s music industry. // Henry: Transparent was an interesting show for so many reasons, all of which could/should be discussed at length. There were issues in the show: gender (obvi) and the ‘new’ American family … Read more
This music monday, we visit the catchiest musical moments to come from the good folk at 30 Rockerfeller Plaza. // One of the greatest things about 30 Rock (aside from the dickey shirts, the sandwiches and the jokes about Kenneth being 100+ years old) is the musical element of the show. Set behind the scenes of a … Read more
Everything that’s said about The Knick is sounds like an overstatement. People love it or hate it. It’s the best thing on television or the whole premium-cable anti-hero thing gone one step too far. Me? I’m a believer. Sure, there’s some less-than-genius writing, but, in nearly all other facets, The Knick is the most masterfully … Read more
Joseph Harper falls deep into the pit of fake Parks and Recreation band, Mouse Rat. // I always loved a good fake band. Whether it was Doug’s beloved Beets, Uncle Jesse’s unbelievably sensual contributions, Landry’s borderline unlistenable Chirstian Metal outfit, Crucifictorious, or even Drive Shaft, with their surprisingly believable take on waning Brit Pop. All … Read more
Luke Ward started life on The OC credited only as a guest star, an All American tough guy jerk dating Marissa Cooper, the troubled rich girl neighbour of the central Cohen family. He had two core functions to perform on the show, both of which required garden variety jerkiness performed to an extremely high level. Firstly … Read more
Slaying vampires and tunes is all in a days work for Buffy. // Although it may not feel like it, there was a time before Glee and High School Musical. This was back when audiences were still unaccustomed to a sentence turning into a five minute melody, or a character casually whipping out a guitar as the gymnasium … Read more