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September 25, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 181 On The Air – Part Two

rnz 3When I got the call to be interviewed on the national radio station on a music subject that I knew well it was always going to be about Wellington. I did toy briefly with the idea of talking about Todd Rundgren for half an hour but got talked out of it.

I really loved the 1980s in Wellington and the music scene in particular and I knew a lot of the stories and the people.

The Wellington bands had their own different streams of influence and we tended to get most of the artists passing through. It could be a difficult place to play, with factions of staunch fanatics of one form of music or another who turned up to gigs and made their feelings very clear.

In Touch was the local version of Rip It Up and was right on the pulse of the city’s independent music scene. The quality of the writing was high with writers like Gary Steel, David Cohen, Steve Braunias, Redma Yeska all kicking off their careers there.

The venue owners too and the people who booked the gigs were influential as well – they brought an energy of their own. And the recording studios and independent record labels.  I didn’t know how much of all that I’d be able to get in.

Making the track choices was important to me. I picked bands that I was close to in some way – to their inception or creative process and would lead to stories. They had to cover a wide range of styles too to try and present a picture.

I caught a bus and thought it all through while looking at the city as it is now. Then I took an elevator to the Terrace and the Radio New Zealand building…rnz1

Being too early I went back out and bought a cup of coffee outside.

All the talk of leaving the “Umms”, “Yeahs”, “Kind ofs” and stutterings went out the window straight away. I had recent experience at RadioActive and from Simon’s podcasts of talking about music and hearing my own voice back so I just relaxed my guard.

Jesse, the host, I knew would be in the Auckland studio so I’d be looking through the glass at an engineer and producer. It was an odd sensation talking to a disembodied voice that I knew so well – like being in two places at the same time holding a conversation at work listening to the radio.

He asked about the Spines a lot more than I thought he would and it was sweet to hear Lily And I and talk about why I wrote it.rnz 4

I got to mention some of what I’d put together in my head but we got taken off on tangents entirely and they led to other stories. The choice of songs held it all together.

I’d had this big plan of mentioning the fact that Jesse and I had been to the same high school in Hillcrest but that never came to anything. When I’d arrived the RNZ building I’d seen  Duncan Smith who I went to Hillcrest Normal Primary with and Kim Hill was in the lift on the way down when I left…

Click here to read On The Radio (part 1)
rnz2rnz 5

The Ghost of Electricity – War Stories by Jon McLeary is a new initiative at Off The Tracks, a series of stories and reflections from painter, writer and musician Jon McLeary

To read any of the first 180 in the series click here

Posted in Blog, Miscellany and tagged with 1980s, Chat, Conversation, Duncan Smith, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Hamilton, Hillcrest, Interview, Jesse Mulligan, Kim Hill, Lily and I, Music, On The Air, On The Air - Part Two, Part 2, Podcast, Radio, Radio NZ National, RNZ, Spines, The Ghost, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 181, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 181 On The Air - Part Two, The Spine, The Spines, Todd Rundgren, War Stories, War Stories # 181, War Stories by Jon McLeary, Wellington, Wgtn. RSS 2.0 feed.
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Off The Tracks is the home of Sweetman Podcast, a weekly interview/chat-based pod. It's also home to my reviews across film, TV, music and books and some creative writing as well.

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