Mutton Birds

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November 9, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

It Was The Best Gig Ever # 23: Violent Femmes, Wellington 1995

I’ve seen the Violent Femmes a couple of times. Great fun always. I’ll go again I’m sure – I hope. If we ever get past this Covid-thing to the level that we bring the international bands back in, as promised, then the Femmes is one of the bands on the cards – and one I’ll […]

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September 19, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

Interns: Headbanger (ep)

Interns Headbanger (ep) 1133265 Records DK Wellington’s Interns have here done what any band should do I think – that is to say, release the good songs, go EP over album. So here we have seven smugly cynical, sharply satirical pop songs. Good fun.

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May 29, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 164 Me and the Don

The first time I saw Don McGlashan, well it might have been in the Plague or the Whizz Kids. I saw the Plague several times in the late 70s as they played some of the same gigs as Negative Theatre – Nambassa, Christchurch students’ art fest and I saw them in Hamilton and Wellington too. […]

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May 5, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Carving It Out: Backstory and Economy in Songwriting

A couple of years ago I had a chat with Anthonie Tonnon –it was in the lead up to his then-new album, his first solo record and we got to talking about economy in songwriting, the ideas around narrative, songs that seem to be stuffed with back-story, but done in a subtle, stirring way. There are certain […]

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March 9, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

Dave Dobbyn: Harmony House

Dave Dobbyn Harmony House Dave Dobbyn Here is the new Dave Dobbyn album – his first in eight years. Yes! If you’ve been waiting, you’ve been waiting too long… Beginning with Waiting For A Voice, its title perhaps giving us a clue behind the delay between records, we’re in a different world, particularly as album […]