NZMM: Favourite Wellington Music Moment – Ebony Lamb/Eb & Sparrow

For New Zealand Month last year we asked a bunch of people what they thought made Wellington music unique as well as what their favourite albums by Wellington artists were.

This year we thought we would do something similar, but slightly different. This time we’re asking people for a favourite memory of making music in Wellington. It could involve a favourite gig, a funny story from the recording studio, a moment that led to the inspiration for a song, the fond recollection of a defunct venue, or the piece of music or lyric that they are most proud of creating.

Slightly late in posting, this is the last in our series for this years NZMM with Ebony Lamb of Eb & Sparrow. After 3 EPs, Eb & Sparrow released their full length debut in 2014. Their latest album, the critically acclaimed Sun/son was one of the best Wellington (& N.Z) releases of last year and is currently a 2016 Country Music Award finalist for Best Song & Best Album. Eb & Sparrow are part of the Wellington music collective HomeAlone Music (also home to French For Rabbits, Timothy Blackman and City Oh Sigh).

My most cherished memory is really a bunch of gigs in Mighty Mighty, especially the last 2 years before she closed her doors. It was such a step up to play there and they were the first venue to pay us properly and they really made the whole thing so wonderful, it was like a playground for adults, bloody great music, great people, you could easily dance all night. I still miss it in the Wellington music venue scene, nothing really takes its place yet. It was the best place to watch Delaney Davidson and Marlon Williams, The Eastern, Tami Neilson, international and local acts.

One of my favourite memories was going up on a really cold awful Wellington stormy Thursday night, I actually didn’t want to leave the house, but I wanted to support my friends French for Rabbits, who had this gig. I walked up worried no one would come out and walked through the big velvet curtains to find the place absolutely packed, people sitting on the floor all the way back to the end, quietly listening, it was magic for a place like Mighty to have that experience.

One of my favourite Wellington acts currently is Womb – AKA Charlotte Forrester and her band, they made a beautiful EP with my favourite being Airplane. She makes me find my happy place every time I hear this.

Follow Eb & Sparrow here. Buy some of their music here.