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The Eighth Note: Callum Allardice

‘The Eighth Note’ is 8 quick Questions with Wellington Musicians.

A chance for us to catch up with people & see what they’re up to, or introduce you to a new musician/band and their music.

Today’s guest is the 2016 and 2017 Jazz Composition of the Year winner Callum Allardice.

Who are you? Tell us a bit about your music:
I’m a guitarist/composer working out of Wellington, I write mainly contemporary jazz stuff which draws influences from various places such as classical music, pop, contemporary jazz from New York, film score and even music from anime. Basically if I hear something I like I’ll usually try and incorporate it in the context of what me and my bands do.

What have you been working on lately? Any new tracks or albums on the way?
At the end of last year I recorded an album with my band Antipodes, which consists of my good friend and fellow Wellingtonian Jake Baxendale, Luke Sweeting a killer pianist from Sydney, as well as some other great musicians also from Sydney. The album features music from Jake, Luke and myself, and will hopefully be out later this year! I also have another band with Jake called The Jac which we are hoping to record with in Auckland later in the year.

Where is the best place people can follow you & find your music?
I’m pretty bad at the self promotion and social media side of things, so I don’t have a Facebook page or website as such. But you can find pages for Antipodes and The Jac on Facebook, as well as on Jakes Website. Both bands are also on band camp!

What were the 3 most influential albums to you growing up?
It’s pretty hard to knock it down to 3 albums, but anything by Led Zeppelin had a massive influence, it’s basically how I learned to play the guitar. The Next Step by Kurt Rosenwinkel opened my eyes up to what was possible (at least for him anyway) on the guitar as well as compositionally. I remember thinking that there were two guitars on that album when I first heard it. Maybe Lateralus or 10,000 Days by Tool? Either that or something by Steely Dan. It’s too hard to choose!

Which other Wellington musician (s) would you most like to work with?
I feel pretty lucky that I get to work with pretty much any and all of the Wellington Musicians that I want!

What’s your favourite Wellington venue to play in?
The Rogue & Vagabond. Always a great vibe and a great hang, they treat musicians really well!

In your songwriting or composing (or the band’s songwriting) how do the compositions and songs take shape?
In any of the bands I play in, we all write separately. Whenever a tune is brought to the table, it’s more or less complete, maybe a wee bit of workshopping if I haven’t quite got it all figured out.
Usually when I write something, its been in my head for ages, and even without knowing it I’ve probably been working on it in the back of my mind. It’s not very often that I sit down to write without any clue of what I’m going to do.

Where/when is your next gig?
Well with jazz fest on this week I’ve got a bunch gigs lined up, but the one I’m most excited about is playing a bunch of new material with my Quintet. The music is really challenging so it’s fun (read stressful!). We’ll be playing at Caroline on Manners at 6pm on Friday June the 8th.


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