The Famous Elsewhere Questionnaire
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THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Gianmarco Liguori of Salon Kingsadore
15 Mar 2012 | 2 min read
Guitarist/composer Gianmarco Liguori has cut a sleek but subtle path between tripped-out jazz and spaceflight rock with the band Salon Kingsadore and also on a number of fascinating solo releases (see here). Given the nature of his music, it was no suprise that recently he played at the Auckland planetarium with Salon Kingsadore. Just sit back, watch the stars and constellations above and... > Read more
Translucent Formlessness
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Adam McGrath of the Eastern
12 Mar 2012 | 5 min read
Over two previous albums – their self-titled debut in 2009 and Arrows the next year – the hard-working Eastern out of Lyttelton firmly established themselves as poets of the public bar, a band which had heart-aching melodies to burn, moving lyrics which could give you a catch in the throat and some tough-minded alt.country rock which stood the comparison with Bruce... > Read more
The Waterside
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Chris de Bazin of the Sky TV Arts Channel
1 Mar 2012 | 2 min read
Chris de Bazin has the job that many Elsewhere readers might want, he is manager of the Arts Channel on Sky TV in New Zealand. Some people are well read, Chris we must guess is well viewed. Amidst the intellectual drought that is New Zealand television -- yep, we all like a bit of trash, and there's so much to choose from, right? -- the Arts channel (see programme details here) offers... > Read more
I Was Young When I Left Home
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Ryan Prebble of Spartacus R
15 Feb 2012 | 2 min read
Interesting photo of Ryan Prebble, isn't it? He seems to be staring off into space with some amusement . . . and on the evidence of the new album The View by Spartacus R -- in which he plays and sings -- deep space (and deeply spaced-out) seems to be his natural home. Prebble is something of a musical shapeshifter too and also plays with Fly My Pretties as well as the Nudge out of his... > Read more
Golden Sands
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Mark Lanegan
13 Feb 2012 | 2 min read
Mark Lanegan has, as they say, been putting himself about a bit. Formerly of Screaming Trees who rode the grunge wave out of Seattle, he joined Queens of the Stone Age in 2000 when the Trees broke up, but has more recently appeared at Elsewhere as part of the Gutter Twins (with Greg Dulli of the Twilight Singers) and has appeared as a guest on albums by the Twilight Singers and Soulsavers.... > Read more
Ode to Sad Disco
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Julian Cue of The Barons of Tang
10 Feb 2012 | 4 min read
Melbourne's Barons of Tang are one of those groups who hit heads, hands and feet. They deliver up an intoxicating brew of gypsy melodies and rhythms with a post-punk rock attitude. "Gypsy deathcore" they call it. You can check out their very special danceable solution here. The band is currently on a New Zealand (see dates below). Bassist Julian Cue took time out to join... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Bannerman
7 Feb 2012 | 2 min read
In one part of his life Richard Setford is a member of the rock-meets-big band-meets Latin ensemble Batucada Sound Machine (whose most recent album is reviewed here). But he also has an independent life as Bannerman whose two albums -- the earlier The Dusty Dream Home of 2010 and the recent Dearly Departed -- have had enthusiastic reviews everywhere and at Elsewhere. Elsewhere called... > Read more
I Was Only Having Some Fun
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Vorn Colgan of Vorn
31 Jan 2012 | 9 min read
In a country where pop music is often slightly bent and off on a tangent, and "alternative" act are frequently in the mainstream of public attention, New Zealand's Vorn still manages to exist on the margins. Not for want of trying to get a wider audience however. No one keeps releasing albums -- up to seven now -- without hoping that something will stick somewhere. Let's hope... > Read more
Stop Making Bedroom Albums
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: James Hughes of Batucada Sound Machine
26 Jan 2012 | 3 min read
Batucada Sound Machine -- who deliver a boiling blend of Latin, African and Afro-Cuban rhythms with rock guitars and a stabbing, funky horn section -- have really hit their straps with their new album Don't Keep Silent (see review here). They have also enjoyed a global reach and have played in Britain and Europe frequently where they won glowing -- burning, in fact -- reviews. And last year... > Read more
The Best for You
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Tiki Taane
16 Jan 2012 | 3 min read
Nobody could say Tiki Taane -- formerly of Salmonella Dub and with the multiplatinum selling solo album Past Present and Future of 2007 behind him, and the country's biggest selling single ever in Always on my Mind -- had a quite year in 2011. In April he was arrested after singing NWA's Fuck Tha Police when police appeared at his Tauranga gig as part of a routine patrol. He was charged... > Read more
Light Years Away (ft Crushington)
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Victoria Girling-Butcher
16 Dec 2011 | 4 min read
Victoria Girling-Butcher fronted New Zealand's Lucid 3 for a decade but recently stepped out with her first solo album after a four-year hiatus. The delay in launching herself under her own name was largely due to diagnosis with a rare disease (Sjogren's Syndrome) which causes fatigue and has symptoms like arthritis. Some artists might give up at that point or turn the complaint into their... > Read more
Avondale Nights
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Bic Runga
28 Nov 2011 | 2 min read
New Zealand singer-songwriter Bic Runga must have approached her fourth album Belle with some trepidation. Right from her award-winning debut album Drive over a decade ago, she had been hailed by cynical critics and the mainstream media, as well as being embraced by the country. At an impossibly early age -- in her mid 20s -- she was touring with heritage artists like Dave Dobbyn and Tim... > Read more
Darkness All Around Us
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Ed Knowles of the Checks
21 Nov 2011 | 3 min read
Some people -- Mick Jagger, Jim Morrison, Patti Smith, Liam Gallagher and so on -- seem born to front a band. They have some innate and intuitive understanding of their audience, how central they are to the band's focus, a confidence that seems almost unnatural to more retiring types, and can deliver as if this is the only thing in the world that matters right here and right now. Ed Knowles... > Read more
Ready to Die
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Lindon Puffin
14 Nov 2011 | 4 min read
Lyttelton-based singer-songwriter Lindon Puffin has been around the traps for a decade now, first in the glam-tinged band the Puffins and for the past eight years as a solo artist. He has been quietly building a steady reputation as storytelling musician who has something to say. He's also opened for some of the brightest and best, among them Billy Bragg, Shona Laing, the Warratahs, Gin,... > Read more
Outta Reach
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Will Waters of Kerretta
27 Oct 2011 | 3 min read
The Auckland-based three-piece instrumental outfit Kerretta have taken a big step up with their atmospheric, intelligently programmed second album Saansilo and -- although their debut album Vilayer was nominated for the Taite Music Prize in 2010 -- they are probably winning more acclaim in the States and Europe than on home territory. They played the South x Southwest Festival in Austin last... > Read more
Shepherds Thread
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Paul Kean of the Bats
17 Oct 2011 | 3 min read | 1
Standing next to Flying Nun founder one night at the Gluepot in about 1990 and the Bats are playing. The place is packed and jumping to the band's melodic guitar jangle where one song merges into another -- frankly every now and again I thought "didn't they play that earlier?" -- when Shepherd turns to me and says, "this is why I started the label". There is a smile... > Read more
Simpletons
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Jeff Kelly of Green Pajamas
12 Oct 2011 | 6 min read | 1
Jeff Kelly from Seattle has made some of the most eerily beautiful and economic psychedelic pop-rock with his long-running band Green Pajamas although his reputation travels below the radar and usually by word of mouth between loyal fans. Kelly/Green Pajamas have released a couple of dozen albums since 1984 (which includes the handsome box set of home recordings Melancholy Sun), and Kelly... > Read more
Dark Water (in the Wires)
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Andrew Fagan
10 Oct 2011 | 2 min read
Andrew Fagan's first band was called Ambitious Vegetables, but that was in the period which rock historians refer to as "a very long time ago". Everyone is allowed silliness when they are still at school. But Fagan was made for better things and some of AVeggies formed the Mockers, one of the great pop-rock bands of New Zealand in the Eighties which -- propelled by Fagan's... > Read more
Religion
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: Jess Chambers
23 Sep 2011 | 2 min read
Wellington-based singer-songwriter Jess Chambers and been around and seen around in her short life. Born in Dunedin, growing up in the US, back to New Zealand at 12, settling in the capitol eight years ago . . . And along the way making diverse music: Wistful alt.country in a hushed voice; working with electronica artists like Module and Rhian Sheehan; the debut album Jess Chambers and... > Read more
Hopeful Dreamer
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: David Donaldson of Thrashing Marlin
19 Sep 2011 | 6 min read
Bassist David Donaldson has had a very long career in New Zealand music dating right back to the first albums on the Braille label out of Wellington in the early Eighties. Donaldson appeared in the bands Primitive Art Group, Six Volts, the Brainchilds and others -- but, with Steve Roche, has also been in Thrashing Marlin who have, with Donkey Deep, now released four albums. Donaldson and... > Read more