News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

Did you know you can watch 100 classic New Zealand music video clips on the Film Archive’s website? The project is called Ready to Roll and clips are organised by title, author, year, label or director. The oldest clips available are from 1967; the most recent are from 2008.

During New Zealand Music Month in May people on the site have also been voting for their favourite clips. Voting unfortunately closed at the weekend so you can no longer register your vote – but you can see NZ’s top 10 music video clips as voted on at the Film Archive. Have a look!

The Film Archive collects, protects and projects New Zealand’s film and television history, and their website is worth a look – they have some quite incredible content. Just as one example, you can view New Zealand’s earliest surviving piece of film, of soldiers departing for the Boer War in 1900. Wow.

A dedicated crowd turned out to quiz Lee Prebble and Age Pryor on all things music…

…and now you’ll get another chance with Samuel Flynn Scott and Luke Buda of The Phoenix Foundation in the Wellington Central Library TONIGHT at 4.30pm.

How did a collaborative project such as the ‘Woolshed Sessions’ come about?

Many of the Woolshed musicians had been having a very social winter, having potluck dinners and cosy get togethers that also involved having a wine or two and a sing song. We thought it was worth a crack recording some of the songs, and so Justin and Age sorted out a good venue, being a friend’s bach in East Takaka that they used to go to for holidays as teenagers. (more…)

Reminder… Reminder… Reminder…

Music producer Lee Prebble from The Surgery and his musician buddy Age Pryor from the Wellington Ukulele Orchestra and The Woolshed Sessions, will be at the Wellington Central Library TOMORROW 26th May at 4.30pm

They will be talking about how you can make it as a musician. All the inside tips and tricks.

It’s FREE! Brave the weather and we’ll see you there!

On Tuesday at 11am, join Marg, Odette, Ellie and Monty for a children’s ukulele musical storytime!

They’ll be presenting some of New Zealand’s most well known songs and stories.  All dancers, singers and ukulele players welcome.

How much of your income is derived from record sales & how much comes from touring/live gigs?

I would say record sales probably account for about %5 or less of my total income. Live gigs maybe more like %20. Most of my income as a musician comes through licenses for film and TV.

What advice would you give young musicians just starting out?

Work on your songwriting and take that side of things very seriously. Songs are what all music is based on and without good songs a great singer or guitarist will never make any impact.

How does being on a major label differ from being on an independent? In today’s musical climate is one better than the other?

I don’t think it makes much difference anymore. But I could be wrong. Certainly majors have a lot more sway with radio and they have more money to spend on advertising but there are advantages to small labels too. You usually get better deals from small labels and you get a team of people working on your product who are very passionate about what you do. Ultimately the choice between the two comes down to who is making offers and who has the best vibe. Working relationships are paramount.

Who would you cite as your biggest musical influence/influences?

That is almost impossible to answer. For me it might be the Velvet Underground who are a great 60’s underground rock band. The Beatles are pretty hard to beat when it comes to stealing great ideas off a great band!

Do you have any future projects/new recordings in the works?

Yes we are working on a new Phoenix Foundation album at the moment.

Check out Samuel Flynn Scott and Luke Buda from the Phoenix Foundation at the Wellington Central Library on Thursday 28th May 4.30-5.30pm

“… can I say that Split Enz are chiefly themselves and so unusual that after the first listen I really didn’t know what to say; like a stargazer suddenly confronted with a UFO I knew it was good but I just couldn’t find words to describe it. I trust I’m starting to get them sussed now. And they’re going to be BIG…. ” -

so said Phil Sutcliffe about Mental Notes, Split Enz’s debut album – in the August 1976 issue of the UK magazine Sounds.  Read the full review – plus other Split Enz interviews and reviews in the excellent Rocks Backpages database, part of our mygateway.info suite of online resources.

We put a few key questions to our lovely (and knowledgeable) Wellington Library staff about New Zealand Music.

The most under-rated NZ band or musician: The Rabble are a great up-and-coming NZ punk band.

Your favourite NZ band or musician: Goodnight Nurse rank highly. their songs are catchy and their gigs are consistently fun and entertaining.

Your favourite live NZ music act: Streetwise Scarlet are wonderful live with high energy and great interaction with the crowd. Also, Wellington-based covers band, The Business are guaranteed to get everyone dancing. 

Thanks Theresa!

It was a cold wintery night,  but a small group of music groupies braved the cold to see Brad Dring from Rapture Ruckus talk about is career path to becoming a famous musician at the Central Library on the 8th of May.

Don’t miss the next New Zealand Music Month session- Music Producer Lee Prebble, from The Surgery, and musician Age Pryor, from the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra and The Woolshed Sessions, will be at the Central Library on Tuesday 26th May at 4.30pm.

The staff at Wellington City Libraries, being into all things Kiwi, have come up with a list of the most underrated New Zealand bands or albums of all time.   Check these out, and let us know if you agree with our picks:

Bressa Creeting Cake by Bressa Creeting Cake (more…)