Little Monster's Christmas Gift
Author: Lydia Jenkin
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Dave Parker is no rock star, but the 22 year old is fast becoming one of the most ubiquitous characters in the Auckland music scene. The producer/engineer spoke to Lydia Jenkin about creating his Little Monster Studio in his parents’ house, overcoming budgetary hurdles and bringing this year’s most delightful yuletide compilation ‘A Very Little Christmas’ to fruition.
When people round me hear the words ‘Christmas music’ they grimace. Apart from the cheesy carols and naff songs by American pop stars regularly forced upon us during Christmas shopping, there’s the endless repackaging of Christmas ‘collections’ CDs that convey nothing of what Christmas means to most Kiwis. Fortunately that’s about to change with the release of ‘A Very Little Christmas’ – an 18-track compilation of original seasonal songs by a collection of some of Auckland’s finest indie bands, ranging across genres from folk to rock, alt-country to lush pop, heart-felt ballads to sly duets.
“Not all of it is super happy, but it’s real. Trying to be a bit more sincere than Rock Around The Christmas Tree,” its creator Dave Parker muses.
While he has been trying to steer away from some of the pre-conceived aesthetics of your usual yuletide compilations, Parker doesn’t want people to get the false impression this is an ‘anti-Christmas’ album.
“When I told some [musicians] about it they really cringed because they were kind of expecting to have to write Jingle Bells or something, or really awful Christmas songs, or just that it would be one of those albums where they get someone from Shortland Street to come and sing a song. But I love Phil Spector, and his Christmas album is what I aspire to at all times. So short of getting a gun, I thought making my own Christmas album would be the next logical step. Guns next year maybe,” he laughs.
The idea was first floated in March, when Parker met up with Marty Jones from Border Music, who’d been thinking along the same lines.
“He was really good at pushing me to think bigger than what I was originally thinking,” Parker says. “And then half way through the process, again we thought much bigger than what we were thinking before, and I was like, ‘Well, why don’t I just not charge anyone any money for this, do it for free and then give it away for free download’.”
Yes, in the true spirit of Christmas, ‘A Very Little Christmas’ is being given away online as a free download, though sensibly there is also a limited edition run of CDs complete with beautiful artwork.
It has been a mammoth job, a great effort from all the contributing musicians, and from Jones – who Parker has high praise for.
“He’s pretty much a one man record label in his spare time and has helped put out a whole bunch of records in the past couple of years. Border’s not set up as a music label, so Marty’s ended up helping a whole group of bands and artists release CDs that might have never made it in to stores.”
But the album would not have been possible without Parker’s own dedication and unique set up. Not only has he worked with many of the musicians before, giving him the requisite connections, but running his own home studio from Auckland’s green-belt suburb Oratia has meant he’s been able to allocate the necessary time and space to the project. Little Monster Studio is actually run from Parker’s bedroom in his parents’ home, with the bathroom and hallway also occasionally seconded as recording spaces. Fortunately his parents and siblings are all supportive and mostly enjoy having the numerous musicians filing in and out, creating magic under their roof.
The family moved from the UK to the large delightful property in west Auckland six years ago. Having played guitar since 12, when he began joining bands Parker soon found he enjoyed messing around and recording demos more than he enjoyed actually peforming. After arriving here he quickly signed up to a MAINZ course, and “… it all snowballed from there”. He hadn’t yet graduated before The Coshercot Honeys were topping the bNets with his recording of their song We’re All Lions.
“When I was at MAINZ I borrowed some stuff to do a recording at home with Debutantes. They could only record in the school holidays and I really wanted to record them, so borrowed some stuff, borrowed some microphones and I had a computer… and yeah, it turned out alright.”
He began working on recordings for Debutantes and Bear Cat at MAINZ, but his course finished before the music was.
“Dan wanted to track a little bit here and there, so we did a few things at home. And then I bought another microphone, and another little interface, and recorded more here until we were wanting to record drums and we managed to work out how to record drums in my bedroom, so it just kind of evolved.”
As his reputation grew more bands wanted to work with him, which meant more and more hours spent in the studio. Working days and recording through evenings and weekends was not ideal and Parker wanted to quit his day job, though wasn’t sure if he could survive financially if he did. In the end he took a leap of faith and found that the studio work was enough to live on.
“Not all of it is super happy, but it’s real. Trying to be a bit more sincere than Rock Around The Christmas Tree,” its creator Dave Parker muses.
While he has been trying to steer away from some of the pre-conceived aesthetics of your usual yuletide compilations, Parker doesn’t want people to get the false impression this is an ‘anti-Christmas’ album.
“When I told some [musicians] about it they really cringed because they were kind of expecting to have to write Jingle Bells or something, or really awful Christmas songs, or just that it would be one of those albums where they get someone from Shortland Street to come and sing a song. But I love Phil Spector, and his Christmas album is what I aspire to at all times. So short of getting a gun, I thought making my own Christmas album would be the next logical step. Guns next year maybe,” he laughs.
The idea was first floated in March, when Parker met up with Marty Jones from Border Music, who’d been thinking along the same lines.
“He was really good at pushing me to think bigger than what I was originally thinking,” Parker says. “And then half way through the process, again we thought much bigger than what we were thinking before, and I was like, ‘Well, why don’t I just not charge anyone any money for this, do it for free and then give it away for free download’.”
Yes, in the true spirit of Christmas, ‘A Very Little Christmas’ is being given away online as a free download, though sensibly there is also a limited edition run of CDs complete with beautiful artwork.
It has been a mammoth job, a great effort from all the contributing musicians, and from Jones – who Parker has high praise for.
“He’s pretty much a one man record label in his spare time and has helped put out a whole bunch of records in the past couple of years. Border’s not set up as a music label, so Marty’s ended up helping a whole group of bands and artists release CDs that might have never made it in to stores.”
But the album would not have been possible without Parker’s own dedication and unique set up. Not only has he worked with many of the musicians before, giving him the requisite connections, but running his own home studio from Auckland’s green-belt suburb Oratia has meant he’s been able to allocate the necessary time and space to the project. Little Monster Studio is actually run from Parker’s bedroom in his parents’ home, with the bathroom and hallway also occasionally seconded as recording spaces. Fortunately his parents and siblings are all supportive and mostly enjoy having the numerous musicians filing in and out, creating magic under their roof.
The family moved from the UK to the large delightful property in west Auckland six years ago. Having played guitar since 12, when he began joining bands Parker soon found he enjoyed messing around and recording demos more than he enjoyed actually peforming. After arriving here he quickly signed up to a MAINZ course, and “… it all snowballed from there”. He hadn’t yet graduated before The Coshercot Honeys were topping the bNets with his recording of their song We’re All Lions.
“When I was at MAINZ I borrowed some stuff to do a recording at home with Debutantes. They could only record in the school holidays and I really wanted to record them, so borrowed some stuff, borrowed some microphones and I had a computer… and yeah, it turned out alright.”
He began working on recordings for Debutantes and Bear Cat at MAINZ, but his course finished before the music was.
“Dan wanted to track a little bit here and there, so we did a few things at home. And then I bought another microphone, and another little interface, and recorded more here until we were wanting to record drums and we managed to work out how to record drums in my bedroom, so it just kind of evolved.”
As his reputation grew more bands wanted to work with him, which meant more and more hours spent in the studio. Working days and recording through evenings and weekends was not ideal and Parker wanted to quit his day job, though wasn’t sure if he could survive financially if he did. In the end he took a leap of faith and found that the studio work was enough to live on.
