100 Issues - 100 Covers

Evermore  August/September 2004

Nesian Mystik  December/January 2003

Since coming off the promotion of their four-times platinum selling album ‘Polysaturated’ released in 2003, theNesian Mystik boys have been pursuing their own business ventures. One of those is the band’s own record label, Arch Dynasty. "We liked a lot of music that was coming out and they just weren’t getting out there. So we signed them up and we’re getting ready to bring them out," says vocalist Feleti Strickson-Pua. "We’ve got two artists coming out - Flow On Show and Tyna & J.B. Those two groups have actually got their songs on the latest Indie Hit Disc and their singles are dropping in the first week of April." The Nesians have also developed NM Audio, a small studio set up with the intention of developing musical scores for commercials, among other things. "We did the score for Bro’ Town," boasts Feleti. Work is well underway on the next Nesian Mystik album, with most of the recording already completed. "We’ve got our first two singles down and we’re just waiting on confirmation of release dates." Manager Dean Godward hopes to release the album before the year’s end. Feleti describes the singles as somewhat different to their previous material. "There’s a lot of good music coming out and it’ll be interesting to see where we fit in," he says. The group recently took their sound to the UK. "We put on a showcase for people in the London music scene. We got to mix with the head of MTV. It was a good experience and we had some good feedback. If anything, I’d have to give props to London for being open minded to foreign music."

Te Vaka  February/March 1999

Te Vaka have undergone something of an overhaul since featuring on the cover of NZM in 1999. Only six of those performers remain in the group which has upsized from 10 performers to 12. Not that it has slowed Te Vaka down one bit. They have since been nominated for several awards, both national and international, and released a further two albums, with a fifth scheduled for release before the year’s end. 2003’s ‘Nukuheke’ was a finalist in the Roots category of the NZ Music Awards in 2003. Fourth album ‘Tutuki’ won Best Pacific Music Album at the Tuis in 2004 and also placed third in the Best Polynesian Album category at the Hawaiian Music Awards. ‘Tutuki’ entered the European World Music Chart at number four , and was a creditable #50 in their Top 200 albums of 2004. Band leaderOpetaia Foi’a got two of his songs in the final round of this year’s International Songwriting Competition. According to manager Julie Foi’a Te Vaka is in constant demand all over the world. "They will perform in Auckland and Wanaka before heading off for a return tour to Hawaii, Fiji and Samoa with a return to Europe planned later in the year," she says. "The band is constantly working to better any previous achievements, and still has its eye firmly fixed on the international marketplace."

Lucid 3  June/July 2004

Life has been just peachy forLucid 3 since appearing on NZM’s cover. With over 3000 copies of their second album, ‘All Moments Leading To This’, nestled in CD racks around the country, front-woman Victoria Girling-Butcher says sales are going well. "It’s already outsold the first album." According to Mark Roach, the band’s manager, it is outselling the debut ‘Running Down the Keys’ at a rate of four to one, and the radio support and publicity they have garnered points to further local success. Well received performances at the recent WOMAD festival have led to a plan to seek more WOMAD opportunities worldwide. "We've been pursuing international networks, mainly in America," says Victoria, but that’s all we can get out of her. Between day jobs Lucid 3 have been promoting the new album and planning for the future. "We’ve toured extensively through NZ with Dave Dobbyn andBrooke Fraser," says Victoria. "We’re pleased with how the album went, and we’ve been working on projections for our next album. I’ve already written lots and lots of songs." Production duties have so far been handled by drummer Derek Metivier, but the trio are thinking of using a different producer for the next album.

The Windy City Strugglers  April/May 2004

The Windy City Strugglers earned a presence on NZM’s cover this time last year largely on the strength of their very impressive longevity - 36 years and counting. In September, the band provided the soundtrack to a short film by director Costa Botes, which was entered in the third Annual River City Film Festival in Wanganui. The film, ‘She Drives’, won the award for Best Original Music. "In other words, it was judged as a short film rather than a rock video, and the Strugglers’ song provided the soundtrack," says double bass player and music journalistNick Bollinger. "The prize was a day recording in Stebbings, which we haven’t used yet." Through retail the group’s 2004 album ‘Kingfisher’ has sold over 500 locally, a good result for The Windy’s, and was released in Europe in March through French label Last Call. According to Nick, they intend to record a new album in the next year, "... perhaps emphasising the more raucous and unhinged material we often perform at parties or towards the end of the night". That album is currently under the working title ‘As Is, Where Is’. Having just completed a stint of gigs around their hometown of Wellington, the ‘retro blues’ band is planning to tour the South Island later in the year, with trips to Australia and Europe also on the cards.

Concord Dawn  October/November 2003

In 2003, our very own drum’n’bass superstars, Concord Dawn, had just released their third album ‘Uprising’. It went on to sell an impressive 12,500 units in NZ and a similar amount abroad. For Matt Harvey, this is only the beginning of what he hopes will be a Concord Dawn global invasion. "We’d like to do more overseas," he says. "We want to take it to the next level. It’s definitely a start - it’s the first time we’d really done a proper release overseas." Concord Dawn, completed by Evan Short, has been promoting the album with extensive touring. "Evan did a tour of Europe and I did a tour of the States. We did the BDO tour in January. That was nuts. We did something like 11 gigs in 16 days." If that’s bad it’s about to get even worse for Matt. "I’m going to the States and playing 16 gigs in 18 days. I get Sundays off so I can go to church," he jokes. "After that we’ll probably try and chill out on the gig side of things and work on another album. We’ll try to step it up a gear, and go a bit more hardcore." The duo, serious about cracking foreign markets, plan to relocate to Vienna in the near future. "It’s in the middle of Europe, so we can go to Eastern Europe, Western Europe and neither are too far away," says Matt. "It’s also very nice, and has good sausages and great vegetarian food."

Tadpole  February/March 2002

Today’s Tadpole is a very different beast from the trampolining three seen on this cover, when the band was still recording its second album. Radio unfortunately didn’t take to ‘The Medusa’ and this was directly reflected in sales. The debut album ‘The Buddhafinger’ is triple platinum - nearly 50,000 sold - while ‘The Medusa’ still sits below gold with about 7000 sales. Front-woman Renee Brennan, now a DJ on the new Kiwi FM, sums up the band’s last three years. "We put the album out, we lost two band members - our guitarist and bass player left. We got a couple of new guys in, and in 2003 we did a European tour." She describes that tour as "wicked", and not just because they got to take their sound to another continent. "We met lots of contacts including the guy who’s recording our third album. We liked what he did in Germany and we decided to take a risk and try him out on the third album." That album is currently in pre-production. Renee says new members Henry Penny (guitar) and Oliver Gordon (bass) have reinvigorated Tadpole’s sound. "Less nu-metal, more straight rock." She describes the upcoming album, simply titled ‘Tadpole’ as a "statement of intent" - being the first time Tadpole will maintain the artists who recorded the album! Once released (independently, around September), a widespread tour is on the cards. "We’re definitely going to do a big national tour, and we’re looking at heading back to Europe at some stage this year."