Ex%20Pat%20Files

Dion Lunadon (Palmer) just loves being on the rock’n’roll stage. He played pivotal roles in The Snitches, Marty Sauce and The Source, Nothing at All and The Rainy Days before forming local heroes The D4, following that with The True Lovers and now seminal (and serious) New York noise merchants A Place To Bury Strangers. Born March 1976 at Auckland’s North Shore Hospital, to parents more interested in Abba and Barry Manilow than Elvis or the Stones, he was forced into piano lessons from the age of six. It wasn’t long before the leather clad grip of rock’n’roll took hold. Picking up a guitar in his early teens he figured out his first song – Motley Crue’s Too Fast For Love, obviously. ...more

Brothers Matt, Kent and Chris Brooks of Vancouver-based Kiwi anthemic hard rock outfit, Like A Storm, have been back in New Zealand to escape the real storms of the northern hemisphere winter, catching up with friends and family and shooting footage for a DVD for their North American fans. Tony O’Sullivan took the chance to catch up with Matt, the youngest of the brothers, to find out how they have been weathering the last year or so. ...more

With a few days spare while in London, Amanda Mills caught up with not-from-Wellington musician Connan Hosford, whose quirkily unique songwriting, production and performances have led to a growing global reputation. In the five years since he first headed to London with his fellow Mockasins he has played alongside Liam Finn, sung for Fatboy Slim and toured with Warpaint. That’s quite some high profile admiration society, and as Amanda found out, there’s plenty more to come. ...more

With three NZMA ‘Producer of the Year’ wins in the 1990’s and mega platinum sales of his productions for The Feelers (‘Supersystem’, 1998) and Supergroove (‘Traction’, 1994) Malcolm Welsford is one of the most successful producers in NZ music history. Yet that somehow doesn’t even begin to encapsulate his achievements, Welsford above all, has always had foresight. ...more

Born in Liverpool, Allan Evans spent his formative years in New Zealand, his parents first arriving from Britain in 1964 – prime Beatles’ inspiration era. Attending Penrose High he played bass in the school band and recalls making it to the finals of the NZ Battle of the Bands contest covering Gladys Knight & The Pips. By the late ’70s punk explosion days he was in Auckland R&B band The Snipes and his professional musical journey had begun. He toured around the country with various groups, including one called Who Slapped John, back in the early ’80s. Evans has been living in London since 1987, and these days records his songs under that same banner – Who Slapped John – releasing an album called ‘Daily Dilemmas’ in 2009 and more recently ‘She had Picasso’s child’, available here through Powertool Records and Amplifier. ...more

For Jayson Norris, making music is a full time occupation. He may not be world famous, but the singer-songwriter makes a living writing and recording his songs, playing gigs across London where he is now based, and touring relentlessly. It’s a position that many Kiwi musicians might dream of, but has been a path of tremendous hard work and tenacity for Jayson, and is certainly not the glamorous lifestyle of a rock star. He returned home to New Zealand last summer to promote his latest album ‘Freedom Twenty Eight’, and tour the country as a solo artist and as part of the Fly My Pretties collective. Jayson spoke to Lydia Jenkin about the importance of family, and making the most of his versatile talents. ...more

Now closing in on 70, Max Merritt was a genuine pioneer of rock in Australasia who scaled numerous previously unknown peaks and continued a successful stage career across four decades and as many territories. John Dix, in his encyclopaedic history of Godzone rock’n’roll, rightfully identified Max Merritt as being ‘Australia’s undisputed King of Soul’ at the end of the 1960s. Merritt first features on page 27 of Stranded In Paradise, in a section entitled ‘The Devil’s Music Rocks Godzone’. He was right at the forefront. Fellow LA-based Kiwi musician Johnny Kempt talked with Max about his health, his role in Kiwi rock’s history and that song… ...more

For a man who has operated at the very peak of the music business, Alan Niven is disarmingly modest about his own abilities and achievements. Pivotal in the careers of Motley Crue, Berlin and Great White, this former Kiwi managed Guns N’ Roses from a drugged up Los Angeles shambles, all the way up the slippery slopes to being the world’s biggest selling rock act. Along the way he faced down notorious ball-busting label owner David Geffen to unprecedentedly re-negotiate an extreme second album deal for GN’R. Perhaps it is some innate Kiwi self-awareness and healthy scepticism that has allowed Niven to climb the mountain and somehow come out the other side still maintaining his sense of self, as Trevor Reekie discovered. ...more

If your career was as a backing musician to a variety of Australian artists you’d rightly be pleased to be able to list Tina Arena, Marcia Hines, James Reyne and Wendy Matthews on your CV. Christchurch-born drummer Kere Buchanan has that, and much more besides; musical director, arranger, composer, covers and originals bands and most recently solo recording artist. He filled Richard Thorne in with some of his back story and future hopes. ...more

Even if you haven’t heard of them, you will almost certainly have heard their music. Australian band The Temper Trap have become a worldwide sensation over the past six months. Having released their album ‘Conditions’ midway through last year, they’ve toured the world, had their single Sweet Disposition placed in hit American indie movie 500 Days of Summer (along with a bunch of other TV shows and ads) and played an impressive list of festivals. Closer to home they recently played the Big Day Out tour and their music will be seeping into your subconscious via placement in some TV3 promotional ads. Why are we interested in even a hugely successful Australian band? Well we’re actually interested in Joseph Greer – a Kiwi who became a touring member of the band in March 2008, playing guitar, keys and percussion for the five-piece. NZM asked Joseph to fill us in on how it all happened. ...more

Despite what people say about modern technology making the world a smaller place, London will always be a very long way from Auckland when you’re barely 20, have a dream to pursue a musical career, no band, and when everything you possess (other than your beloved guitars) fits in a suitcase. ...more

Leila Adu spent the last few summer months in New Zealand, returning to her current home in Rome shortly after a couple of performances at the Auckland Festival 2009.One was solo, the second with a high-quality and evidently familiar three-piece band of Chris O'Connor, Tom Callwood and Jeff Henderson. She might equally well have featured as part of Wellington's Jazz or Taranaki's WOMAD festival - or for that matter, anywhere else's fringe/avant-garde festival, such is her accomplished yet uncategorisable combination of voice and piano. Pictured here in a Joan of Arc-pose, which fits well with one of her live performance favourites, Leila blends 'Jean d'Arc' fortitude with artistic pragmatism and a surprising Kiwi realism. ...more

He was born in Auckland in 1973 and a decade or so back was the face of electronica and hip hop on Auckland music television station Max TV. Outside of that realm, Zane Lowe was a member of pioneering Auckland hip hop group Urban Disturbance, the producer behind Dam Native's classic debut album 'K.D.R.U' and half of electronic-turned folk/soul outfit Breaks Co-Op. These days Lowe resides in London where he is the Monday-to-Thursday DJ host of BBC Radio 1's 7-9pm evening show, a presentation dedicated to breaking new and emerging music of quality into the British market. Validating his influence, past alumni of the Zane Lowe experience include The Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, Gnarls Barkley, Dizzie Rascal, Cut Off Your Hands, Die! Die! Die!, P-Money and Fat Freddys Drop. Aside from Radio 1, Lowe is also a VJ on MTV Two show Gonzo and takes part in regular UK nightclub tours as a DJ under the Home Taping Tour brand. When he has time spare he hits the studio to work on his own original productions and remixes for other artists (most recently P-Money/Vince Harder's Everything). Oh yeah, he's also a husband and father. Over late December and early January Lowe was home for a holiday and a few DJ gigs around the country - providing NZM the opportunity to book in a bit of a shop-talk session with one of the most successful ex-pat Kiwis actively involved in the UK music industry. ...more

Just 15 years ago Nick Maddren was an audio engineering diploma student at Tai Poutini Polytech in Greymouth. In September this year he was representing Britain at the Olympics – and again at the Paralympics which followed. Not as a sportsman mind, he was there as sound designer and consultant for the London 2012 Olympic handover ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. Nick is working evidence that in the music industry a little initiative can take you a long way. ...more

Born in Mombasa, Kenya, Brendan Power was nine when his family moved to NZ in 1965. Growing up in Nelson he attended Nayland College, then Canterbury University where he gained a BA in English and MA in Religious Studies. ...more

London-born, Christchurch-raised Jamie Greenslade, aka Maitreya, has recently returned from New York to New Zealand to launch his debut album titled (perhaps wistfully) 'Close to Home'. ...more

Apart from time spent in Australia when he was two, Andrew Dubber lived in Auckland until his 37th birthday, which he celebrated on a plane on the way to a post at Birmingham City University. Initially contracted for a short term research project, he has made Birmingham home, bounded further up the academic ladder, and in just a few years established himself as an international (and local) authority on radio, a global music/radio industry commentator and top drawer blogger. ...more

Over the first few months of this year virtuoso guitarist and singer/songwriter Andrew White has been travelling round New Zealand on a 25-date tour, promoting his new album 'Traces of Silver'. ...more

Jeremy Hammond has clearly worked with some of the biggest acts in recent rock'n'roll history, so naturally we asked him to share a few salacious or revealing stories with our NZM readers. ...more

I went on tour with The Very Things for a time and then met another band called the Young Gods at an amazing festival that used to be held annually in Rotterdam called Pandora's Box... ...more

Playing to sell out crowds in Denmark, sharing venues with The Datsuns and Coldplay, collaborating with Mongolian throat singers and selling CDs in Japan - boy do these folk know how to mix it up. ...more

Just how did a white Kiwi guy like Tony Backhouse wind up living in Australia and becoming one of the world's foremost proponents of black gospel music? ...more

When Nathan Haines returned to New Zealand for his summer tour this year he was joined by another ex-pat who has been making an impression overseas - Tama Waipara. ...more

Bruce Kirkland was back here recently for the NZMIC's Warrant of Fitness seminar series. Invited as the founder and president of Tsunami Entertainment, his international music industry experience and is extensive and valuable. ...more

As one of the industry players behind Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson it's quite likely Simon Baeyertz has some of the more interesting stories of any ex-pat we've talked with. ...more

Mat Fieldes was told at his first bass lesson in New York that he was obviously a very good musician - but no bass player yet. He admits that after being at the top of the game in New Zealand, moving to the Big Apple really put him in his place. ...more

London-based but all-over-busy, Emily Crowther was back home in Auckland early this month as an international speaker in the NZMIC seminar series subtitled 'Driving International Success'. Seems she doesn't get much time for driving herself... ...more

It is a good indication of the international success Mark de Clive-Lowe is currently enjoying that he had only returned minutes ago from a two-day trip to Italy when I knock on the door of his West London home. ...more

The parking meter has just half an hour left and Darryn Harkness is in a hurry to get out of there - there are parties to attend, flights to catch and albums to mix. ...more

It was a generous sprinkling of assorted family members, friends, regular punters and curious scene fiends that looked on, absorbing the tunes of Zillionaire in Wellington last month. ...more

Where do all those New Zealand Gold Guitar winners go? Well, one at least is in West Texas - playing jazz. ...more

The unlikely name given to ex-pat Kiwi Angus Vail's New Jersey-based music business management firm stems from an equally unlikely story. ...more

Trying to get ahead in the music business is not the easiest way to go about making a living, not here or anywhere, at least in the Western world. ...more

Tali may be one of the rising stars of the UK drum'n'bass scene and a key member of Roni Size and Reprazent's influential Bristol-based Full Cycle collective but the Taranaki-born MC hasn't forgotten where she came from, or who helped her out along the way. ...more

When Carla Werner played Auckland as support for The Pretenders here in February, it was the first time she had played her original jazz tinged-pop songs in her home country. ...more

Gaylene Martin, London-based Kiwi publicist-to-the-(reggae)-stars has astounded me once again with her sheer efficiency. ...more

If you are into noise as an artform, as opposed to as ear-piercing heavy metal, the name Dion Workman might ring the faintest of bells. He was one of three in Auckland experimental noise outfit Thela, which released two records on Sonic Youth' Thurston Moore's label in the early '90s. ...more

Having been integral in the development and success of Supergroove, Urban Pacifika and Che Fu through his A&R with BMG NZ Ltd in the mid '90s, Kirk Harding left NZ for bigger things late in 1999. He had been offered the significant role of Senior Vice President (International) of New York hardcore hip hop label Loud. ...more

Following the release of Dave Long's 'Come On In', under the moniker Slim Volume earlier this year, bassist Alan Gregg has become the latest former Mutton Bird to show up with an album of his own. ...more

South London-based ex-pat Aucklander Darin McFadyen, aka FreQ Nasty, has become one of the international breakbeat scene's leading producers. ...more

Sound engineering is a challenging profession by anyone's standards. As the technology used in today's studios and live sound venues increases, so do the expectations and demands placed upon the men and women who operate these daunting rigs. ...more

Words of encouragement from a Grammy-winning songwriter catalysed Kiwi singer-songwriter Donna Dean to head for the greener pastures of the European country music scene. ...more