In late 2009 Flip Grater arrived back home from a European tour, split with her partner and moved city. Some rather stressful circumstances, to say the least. But Flip didn’t withdraw to lament her situation, instead she channelled her feelings into the 11 songs that make up her latest album ‘While I’m Awake I’m At War’. ...more

During much the 1990s Greg Fleming was a prominent and idiosyncratic figure on the Auckland new music scene, both as a solo performer and with his band The Trains. Credited as a pioneer of alt-country rock here, the title song from his 1993 debut album ‘Ghosts Are White’ was Jonathon King’s first ever music video. The album deservedly earned critical acclaim – though it was on stage that Fleming’s star shone brightest. History will have it that the light faded abruptly just a few years later with his considerable potential unrealised. But history can be re-written, and the release of a two-CD set of Fleming’s extensive song catalogue on a new independent label heralds the return of this stylish singer/songwriter who is also an accomplished poet and writer. Richard Thorne talked with him about the album he started in 1995, which is finally available to be heard 15 years later. ...more

Two years ago Lewis McCallum released his debut solo release ‘Wake’ to critical acclaim, impressing with his refreshing concoction of electronic beats, fused with jazz, topped with some excellent vocal contributions from talented friends. His sophomore album ‘Syntheology’ is now earning similarly high praise and deservedly gaining wider coverage. The talented saxophonist talks to Lydia Jenkin about putting down the horns, charging up the synths, and letting the music emerge in an easy flow from his sub-conscious to the studio. ...more

Mike Hall didn’t intend to start a band. Or, rather, another band. As bassist in the much-loved Auckland outfit Pluto he already had an incredibly successful outlet for his collaborative tendencies. But during the year-long process of putting the Nightchoir album '24 Hours of Night' together, another band is exactly what he found he had. A revelation that surprised him as much as anyone. ...more

I’d been trying to get jazz/soul vocalist Raashi Malik in front of a microphone for nearly a month. First I cancelled, then she forgot. But third time lucky. Mrs Rhian Sheehan finds a window of time to pop into my Wellington radio station studios to talk about her new EP. ...more

Based in Christchurch, Gabriel ‘Messenjah’ Calcott is a long serving jack-of-all-trades within the music scene. Best known for his role as both DJ and record producer in seminal local dancehall reggae collective Dubwise (alongside David ‘Papa’ Levi and others), over the last 13 years, Calcott has also turned his hand to event promotion, studio/live sound engineering, record label operation and more. He spoke to Martyn Pepperell about his Reality Chant business and collaborative international release ‘Kings Highway’. ...more

Early this June two former Screaming Meemees members, Peter van der Fluit (right above) and Michael O’Neill, were guests of honour at the world debut stage presentation of ‘Romeo and Juliet - The Rock Opera’, seated among a who’s who of London’s West End stage musical producers and directors, including the esteemed likes of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. The programme for the production credited these two affable Auckland musicians as the writers (and owners) of what could prove to be the next big, international hit rock opera. If so it has billion dollar-earning potential, but far from some calculated attempt at fame or fortune, their Romeo and Juliet is rock opera as therapy for workplace boredom, as they tell Richard Thorne. ...more

Having made a striking impression with their debut and subsequent EPs (‘This Machine’ and ‘No Light’) in 2008, The Naked and Famous have since developed their live skills with performances across NZ along with shows at New York’s CMJ Music Marathon and a local support slot for their heroes Nine Inch Nails. With a now solidified band line up they have thrown themselves into writing and producing their debut album ‘Passive Me, Aggressive You’ which is due out in August. Lydia Jenkin spoke to the highly vaunted band about the dilemma of endless possibilities, finding their own business model and forging a more expansive sound. ...more

As their name itself directs, it can be hard to know quite where you stand with The Pyramid Scheme. Despite haunting the nation’s capital for much of the noughties, they have had little manifest to show for it. And now they do they are cashing up. NZM’s own spectral specialist Martyn Pepperell boldly undertook to track them down and ask about ‘Massive Reminders of a Virile King’, their newly released album, before the Schemers dispersed further beyond the metaphysical. ...more

Young Sid experienced the full range of highs and lows over the years following the release of his first album ‘The Truth. He has resourcefully catalogued the journey on his sophomore effort, ‘What Doesn’t Kill Me’, and the result is a strikingly sincere hip hop release. Gareth Shute finds out how Sid (born Sidney Diamond) has sought to channel even his worst experiences into his music. ...more