ARTICLES

PICK6 - Martyn Pepperell

08 May 2012

It's a brilliant four weeks and believe me, we're all for it, but to be honest, it can be hard to know just how to actually celebrate NZ Music Month, when our daily/weekly/monthly/yearly focus is NZ music!

This year we decided we'd ask a bunch different local music industry participants to give their thoughts on the current state of play. We wanted to cast the net wide, and that turned out to mean a whole heap of questions and lots of pollsters – which all threatened to get right out of hand.

A quick refinement of the concept and we came up with PICK6, in which six commentators/players/opinion holders, from a variety of industry backgrounds, will get given a dozen questions and asked to pick the six that they are most keen to answer. We've asked promoters, bloggers, musicians, journalists, record company types, retailers – all sorts really.

We'll be posting their answers up here throughout the weeks of NZ Music Month and reckon PICK6 should make for some interesting reading.

First up..Martyn Pepperell

Based in Wellington, Martyn Pepperell is a freelance music, arts and culture journalist, copywriter, radio host and event strategist. Over the last fifteen years his work has appeared in over 20 different magazines and newspapers across New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the UK and Europe. Martyn blogs on a regular basis for vanguardredmagazine.co.nz and wordonthestreet.co.nz and holds down two regular radio slots on Radio Active 88.6 FM (www.radioactive.fm).

Are you doing anything special this NZ Music Month?
Hmm. At present my contribution to New Zealand Music Month is a series of online interviews with local musicians at ripitup.co.nz, an all NZ music radio show on Tuesday May 22 on Radio Active 88.6 FM and tweeting incessantly about the need for a Darcy Clay hologram.

What has been your favourite local album release or artist arrival so far in 2012.
My favourite local album release this year is 'Subtitled' by Montano. It's an eleven song cycle of field recordings restructured as music by Shanan Holm (Octif) and Michael Upton (Jet Jaguar) working together as Montano. It's the second time they've released a record together and it terms of atmosphere and environment, it's a record you can really and truly sink into.

What social media platform do you find the most useful?
Twitter. People use it as a newsfeed and go there looking for information. As a result you can put your output pretty hard and not really piss that many people off. I also like how it is just an endless series of statuses, comments, responses, retweets and favourites plus some brief biographical material. Twitter really takes the stalkerish nature of social networking out of the equation.
In saying that though, If Sartre were alive today, NO EXIT would have been set inside an endless comment thread. Again; go figure.

What music related blogs or websites do you frequent the most?
1. duttyartz.com, because they cover some really interesting fringe content. 2. thefader.com, because they deal in a great mixture of mainstream and underground music, and often get the early jump on a lot of places in terms of exclusives/fresh releases. 3. cocaineblunts.com, some people watch action movies for light brainless entertainment, but when I need some downtime I listen to street hip hop from places like New Orleans, Chicago and San Francisco. Cocaine Blunt's editor Andrew Noz is a funny writer, covers these areas well, and injects some much needed intelligence into the conversation on a regular basis as well.

What’s your favourite live music venue?
San Francisco Bath House in Wellington hands down. Great staging, good sound and a setting which allows everyone to see the stage well. The bar service is good, the bouncers are friendly, the back end staff are on point and the place always books quality entertainment. A+++ WOULD TRADE AGAIN.

The one question we really should have asked you is… Who are some NZ bands, solo acts and beatmakers I think more people should know about?
The answer is The All Seeing Hand, The Shocking And Stunning, Delaney Davidson, Heart Attack Alley, Homebrew, @Peace, She's So Rad, Scratch22, The Vietnam War, Orchestra of Spheres, D:UNK, Nat Walker, Purple Pilgrims, Pumice, Luckless, Opposite Sex, Electric Wire Hustle, Loui The ZU, Dudley Benson, Mellow Grave, Chaos In The CBD, Ipswich, Nadia Reid, The Golden Awesome, Surf City, Ghost Wave, Kraus, Street Chant, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, James Duncan, Team Dynamite... The list goes on, too many to name really. We got A LOT of good talent in this country. A LOT. I find out about cool new acts most weeks.