Posts by Simon Grigg
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so bringing it back to the original point re Niel Finn's comment, do you think the govt is justified in taking credit for the successful 'turn around' of nz music (if that is infact what Helen Clark was doing).
Interestingly enough, I believe Phase 4 was actually approved by the outgoing Nat government, in time for Labour to announce it. The approval though was given reluctantly after much pressure and politiking by Brendan and others. That reluctance to support is now gone and the government consciously leans the other way. Regardless of what I feel about any NZoA (and I hold Brendan, as I've told you, in some regard) that is a mighty fine thing for NZ...the fault as I said, seems to be in the current execution of the detail...reform is needed.
In 1996 in London with OMC, we were denied facilities at NZ House...access to Fax / Email etc as it wasn't policy (had to use the TVNZ office). That would not happen now I'm sure. There is a degree of support that we have never seen before..ever...and being politicians I guess they want maximum bang for their buck so they make the most of it.
I do feel that HC's speeches feel like tokenism (the speech not the policy) when you hear them over and over again...but I'm grateful she's been there for 8 years to make it, and don't think you can expect such from John Key, which scares me.
Talking of dodgy old records..can I plug my new Ripper Records page here? Of course I can....
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which they did in the late eighties.
whoops... late nineties!
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And the chanting at Sweetwaters, or was I dreaming..."Peeeeta, Peeeta, Peeeta..." Like Miles Peter played on with his back to the crowd.
Ha...yes I remember that day...we had a radio backstage and the cricket score came thru...NZ had won or was close to it, I pulled Tony aside and told him to mention it....8pm Saturday night...it worked.
Peter was probably grinning at then popstar-girlfriend 16 year old Charlotte Dawson. The Meemees went nowhere without girlfriends...it was an issue.
What do you think lead to the major change in attitude to embracing local music in the 90's? (up till Mr RIANZ made everyone hate it again) I think we agree it wasn't nz on air, and I don't even know if it was radio play so much.
I think it was simply the wave reaching the shore. It had slowly built throughout the eighties and into the nineties, there was no one factor but when you layer the early indies including Flying Nun's growth and the likes of Pagan and yourself, with the increasing professionalism and recording quality, it was inevitable. I'd also like to think that How Bizarre made it seem financially viable for majors to invest in acts, which they did in the late eighties.
You once said to me in an email that you thought that The Blams and Meemees albums made it seem possible to make independent albums, which I took as a huge compliment. But also other indies ran with that and the Hood / Knox 4 track thing meant that acts didn't have to bankrupt themselves to at least get a start. They didn't have studio bills hanging over their heads to make a 45. NZ Bands made records....a big big thing...it's hard to imagine now how big...By the mid to late eighties NZ albums were very common, and the swell continued until a Bic Runga from somewhere was inevitable....and Bic, bought to the world courtesy of NZ's rock kingmaker, Trevor Reekie, opened radio doors a little. But it was the 20% threat that pulled them wide open. When that was enacted it was still only 3-4% as I recall.
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the stick I'm talking about was the threat to legislate a 20% quota if it wasn't voluntarily met..I'm not giving that credit to NZoA but to Helen's government.
That threat is still implied today but I think the only potential party of government after the next election that would continue to wave it would be Labour. And without it...watch all the AOR / CHR stations slowly pull their percentages back.
Not sure what Fur Patrol sold but Cool Bananas sold 50k and the Dance Exponents over 60k of their debut, plus close to 100k of their comeback...bigger than most of the biggies in the 2000s apart from Bic I think.
You had to be a teen in Auckland to really get See Me Go...it was as much a symbol of the massive band surge that came post punk and the street pulse that followed it. They still held the Mainstreet attendance record of over 2000 when the walls were knocked down...and I think See Me Go probably still hold the biggest one week sales of any NZ single since the sixties...Scribe was number one for 16 weeks but still only sold about twice the See Me Go number. The people spoke...but radio ignored it. Indeed Hauraki had a show poking fun at it and laid a formal compliant with RIANZ of chart rigging.
and this is what All Music guide says (I'm being defensive now):
Their work for the album brought the Screaming Meemees closer to what U.K. groups A Certain Ratio and Rip Rig and Panic were up to. "Stars in My Eyes" was the last single the group released, which came out as a 12" EP with extended versions. The Screaming Meemees were as essential to the history of New Zealand rock as Split Enz and Blam Blam Blam. Their sole album is well-worth seeking out for fans of post-punk
We sold quite a few in the US after a rave review in I think, Trouser Press or Bomp or one of those.
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- key bands who just would not give up. Shihad, Goodshirt, etc who grew such a large and vocal fan base that it was frankly embarrassing for radio to not be aware of these acts.
I'm not sure how that was new.....we sold close of 5000 copies of See Me Go in a week on release in 81; DD Smash were pulling huge crowds and selling more records in NZ than Shihad have ever done; Citizen Band sold out the Auckland Town Hall in 1981 etc etc...Mainstreet was pretty full (1500 people..how many bands could do that now) with local bands every night in the early eighties...all without commercial radio of any sort. Radio simply ignored it. It was the stick around the turn of the decade that forced the seachange. I remember the massive fuss before the quota....radio saying repeatedly there was nothing to play.
I know Z made a (small but noticeable I think) difference, although to be honest, their ratings were not good in Auckland, where I would suggest Mai made far more of an impact and are due some credit. But to get to that middle mass...the More FMs and the like who would never have caved in (and will stop playing NZ music if the stick is removed), a threat was necessary...and Clark provided that. It was crucial.
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And back to the original point re Neil Finns comment about Helen Clark taking credit, he does have a point if he was referring to nz on air taking credit for the decline in cultural cringe when the phrase New Zealand is placed in front of an art form.
She can take as much credit as she wants, she, and her government are the first arts friendly government in my lifetime....I don't agree with the detail of where we are now but without Labour there simply would be no NZ music on the commercial radio now full stop. It's the detail that needs to be addressed.
And the collapse in sales of NZ music in recent times strikes me as a positive correction....largely it's scared the majors away from process, a little burnt, and pushed the control back into the hands of the indies, which is the global experience too.....I received the NZ Hit Disc (93) today and the interesting things on it are all, without exception, from indies, some distributed by majors, but all locally A&Red by independents....
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Coming from someone I've seen with my own eyes pulling a prima donna act that would make Dames Kiri and Malvina blush it's a little bloody rich.
the only time I met him was backstage at one of those horrendous Christmas in the park thingies. I was introduced, along with Paul Fuemama and I said "pleased to meet you, Howard" hand outstretched. He said, without offering a hand..."it's Sir Howard to you" and turned away.
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wow, I spend all day banging on about NZ on Air and whether Elemenop has the same cultural signifigance as Rod Derret, and I pop over here before actually doing some work to find all hell has broken loose.
So, yes, having read the thread, I agree with the apology consensus, but should also add I was concerned at this too, but thinking it was intended to be humourous, or I was missing a relationship of some sort between the posters, said nothing. If that was not the case, I'd suggest a second apology.
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talking of, whatever..from EMI today:
"Tim Finn's 1st single "Couldn't Be Done", from his new album 'Imaginary Kingdom' (released in America through Manhattan Records), became the 'Most Added Single' at Triple A radio format in the USA this week.
This is the 1st time a New Zealand artist has had this level of support at American radio since Crowded House and OMC.
“Tim radiates fragility and a resigned wisdom. His is a face that has seen triumph and tragedy and his singing expresses that personal experience. Much of the material connects sympathetically with his native land, New Zealand, and he is certainly one of the great underappreciated pop singers of our time (C.D.)” the LA Times, April 26, 2007
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You are quite right, a fact for which I'm quite grateful. I'm aware that once signed up to a major record company one's fate is largely in their hands....
And I agree, but it wasn't that long ago that you had no choice...want to make an album...you don't have 50K+++? Sign here....Even the FN acts that started on Doug Hood's 4 track made that jump.
As Stephen Judd mentioned in an earlier discussion the death of the professional musician started a long time ago, about when you could get recorded copies of music for less than the cost of hiring an actual musician.
and typsetters are out of work....we move on....there are plenty of living happy professional musicians in my world. Not rich perhaps but they never were.