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March 25, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast # 213: Mike White

Welcome to episode 213 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T and Yeastie Boys .

Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library.

Mike White is one of New Zealand’s best longform writers (he hates the term “longform” but we all use it now). He started on newspapers and one of the stories that has defined him – and that he has helped to define for all of us – that of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope’s disappearance, started as one of his jobs early on in his tenure at the Marlborough Express. He left New Zealand to freelance, including war correspondence, and returned to the role he has held ever since, as feature writer for North & South. There he has revisited the ongoing Ben and Olivia story, brokering a meeting and reporting on it between Olivia’s father Gerald Hope and accused murderer Scott Watson. Read More »

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March 18, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast # 212: Sameena Zehra

Welcome to episode 212 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T and Yeastie Boys .

Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library.

Sameena Zehra is a writer, director, actor, storyteller, comedian and “extreme doodler” – it was my first time meeting her, to have this chat. I was interested in talking to her because of the many things she’s done and because she divides her time now between England and New Zealand, having fallen in love with Wellington just a couple of years ago. Read More »

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March 11, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast # 211: George D. Henderson

Welcome to episode 211 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T and Yeastie Boys .

Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library.

George D. Henderson – singer/songwriter – is best known for his catalogue of songs at the helm of The Puddle. There are other bands and projects too. There’s his work, also, as an academic research – you can read some of his ideas and articles at The Spinoff. He’s also posted a few guest blogs on my site – most recently a wonderful piece about the lost world of female composers. Read More »

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March 4, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast # 210: Jordan Luck

Welcome to episode 210 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T and Yeastie Boys .

Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library. The podcast is also available on Anchor and the various platforms it links to.

Jordan Luck needs no introduction…but it’s rude to not give him one. You know his voice and his songs from his time with The (Dance) Exponents and now he’s at the head of The Jordan Luck Band. He’s one of New Zealand’s greatest songwriters with a 40 decade recording and performing career.

The Luck Band is almost always touring – or at least it seems that way – but you can catch them around the country over the month of May in their latest extensive set of shows.

I first met Jordan a decade or so ago (when I was working on my book) but we have had several formal and informal conversations over the years. This was my first time catching up with him in a while and he’s long been on the ‘want’ list for the podcast. I love Jordan’s enthusiasm and spirit – as well as his own great songs he’s simply a fan of music.

We get to some of that in this conversation. We talk too of his sobriety and his plans to keep on rocking.

This conversation was recorded last month back stage at a gig the Luck Band performed in Paraparaumu, Wellington.

It’s a great pleasure to (finally) host Jordan Luck on Sweetman Podcast. I hope you enjoy hearing this chat.

Here now is episode 210 of Sweetman Podcast – my conversation with Jordan Luck.
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February 26, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast # 209: Lucien Johnson

Welcome to episode 209 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T  and Yeastie Boys .

Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library.

I can’t remember exactly when I first met Lucien Johnson but it was probably close to two decades ago. He was one of the crew I used to watch at The Space in Newtown, Wellington; a performance venue – home to free jazz and spoken word gigs, to ‘other’ and outside music. It was such an education – and many of Lucien’s mentors (including previous podcast guests Jonathan Crayford and Ant Donaldson) were part of the mind-blowing education for me as a listener, just as they were for him as a player. Read More »

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February 20, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast # 208: Charlie Wallace (Guitar Mastery Method)

Welcome to episode 208 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T
and Yeastie Boys .

Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library.

Charlie Wallace is the founder of Guitar Mastery Method and the lead guitarist in the band Black Smoke Trigger. I met him in the earliest days of 2020 – having enjoyed his band’s debut EP and being intrigued about his story: A high school dropout that taught himself almost every aspect of web development to build an online business selling guitar lessons bundled up with supplemental teaching materials. Read More »

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February 15, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast # 207: Meg Williams (NZ Festival)

Welcome to episode 207 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T and Yeastie Boys .

Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library.

Meg Williams is the Executive Director of Tawhiri (Lexus Song Quest, Wellington’s Jazz Festival, Second Unit and The NZ Festival). This year’s NZ Festival runs from February 21 – March 15. But this conversation wasn’t just about plugging the event and talking through the line-up (I did that recently with Marnie Karmelita – so click that link to check out that conversation). This was a chance to find out about Meg, her involvement not just with this festival but her background in the arts. Read More »

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February 7, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast # 206: Kev Fitzsimons (Anxiety Club)

Welcome to episode 206 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and La Petite Chocolat.

Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library.

Kev Fitzsimons is now the lead singer of the band Anxiety Club – I’ve reviewed their EPs Black Heart and Francine. (Click those links to check out the reviews). Read More »

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January 29, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast # 205: Steve Gunn

Welcome to episode 205 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and La Petite Chocolat.

Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library.

Steve Gunn is an American guitarist and singer/songwriter. He has toured New Zealand fairly regularly across recent years – I met him very briefly a couple of years ago, ahead of one of his shows. I had interviewed him on the phone ahead of that tour and it was literally just a quick handshake at the bar, the promoter put us together in that moment – said, “Steve this is Simon, you guys spoke on the phone a few weeks ago”. We shook and both said something like, “oh yeah, that was a nice chat”. Read More »

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January 22, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast # 204: Margo Timmins (Cowboy Junkies)

Welcome to episode 204 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and La Petite Chocolat.

Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library.

This one is a little different – it’s a phone conversation. I recorded this in the second half of 2019 and haven’t as yet written it up so decided to share it as a podcast over summer. It’s my conversation with Margo Timmins – the voice of Cowboy Junkies. Read More »

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January 16, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast # 203: Dave Armstrong

Welcome to episode 203 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and La Petite Chocolat.

Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library.

Dave Armstrong has such a long list of credits that it’s arriving in a separate podcast series that will run for dozens of weeks… Read More »

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January 8, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast # 202: Matthew Bannister



Welcome to episode 202 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and La Petite Chocolat.

This is episode 202 of Sweetman Podcast – my conversation with Matthew Bannister.

Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library.

Here we are in 2020 and here’s a conversation from late 2019 – a chat with Matthew Bannister. You know him from Sneaky Feelings, maybe you read his fantastic memoir of the Dunedin years/sound, Positively George Street.

There’s been more music under other names (Moth, Dribbling Darts) and most recently he’s released two cover-albums reworking famous Beatles records track-by-track, first he made an album based on Revolver, called Evolver and then last year it was time for Rubber Soul to be recast as Rubber Solo. Both of these albums were recorded under the moniker One Man Bannister, both are excellent and you can click those links to read my reviews.

This was my first time meeting Matthew – though we have corresponded a bit over the years. He was in Wellington in late 2019 to play a show promoting his Rubber Solo record. So I jumped at the chance to get some of his story on tape as part of the podcast. The show was great. Matthew and band played a blinder I thought. And he is promising new Sneaky Feelings material soon. And maybe another Beatles cover-record.

We talked about his life and music and times. And I’m grateful he made time for me on his weekend in Wellington.

Here now is our chat. I hope you enjoy it.

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