The official history of New Zealand music is filled with songs by artists we all know and love. But what about the artists we’ve forgotten? Or the hits by our most loved artists that remain overshadowed by other, bigger hits? Henry Oliver traces an alternative history of New Zealand music via songs featured on the … Read more
Delaney Davidson, whose album release tour starts today, talks to Henry Oliver about storytelling, collaborating and his new album Shining Day. Delaney Davidson sees himself as a travelling salesman. He has slicked back hair and a couple of days’ stubble. Suit, tie, hat when he’s performing. Clean shirt tucked into clean jeans when he’s not. … Read more
It’s competitive out there for high schools these days. It seems like there are a million exams schools claim to prep their kids for in order to propel them to global dominance. But which high school has produced the most number one albums in New Zealand music history? James Dann investigates. High school can be … Read more
RIP Buster Stiggs. The legend who played in New Zealand’s first punk band, Suburban Reptiles, and later with his old schoolmate Phil Judd in The Swingers, died this month aged 63. In 2016 we excerpted a memoir in progress that he wrote for Phantom Billstickers magazine Café Reader. We reprint it below. Hastings Boys isn’t … Read more
Henry Oliver watched ten hours of Neil Finn live-streaming in case you didn’t have time to. These were his highlights. Every Friday evening for the past four weeks, Neil Finn has live-streamed a recording session from his own Roundhead Studios, joined by, in his words, “a loose knit collection of impassioned and slightly random people, … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, this week featuring Neil Finn, P!nk, Robert Plant, Kings and more… SONG OF THE WEEK Neil Finn – ‘Second Nature’ The second single from Neil’s month-long live-streaming project Every Friday this month, Neil Finn and a handful of his friends have been getting together to rehearse and … Read more
Neil Finn talks to Henry Oliver about his forthcoming album Out of Silence, likely the first studio album ever to be recorded live in front of a livestreaming audience. Last week I spent an afternoon watching Neil Finn, the cool dad of New Zealand music, and twelve singers rehearse two songs from the album he … Read more