We’re a bit over NZ Music Month. Great initiative 20 years ago but surely we have moved on from just one month for Kiwi music. Like Valentine’s Day should be every day, every month should be NZ Music Month.

There’s no harm though in shining a spotlight on our homegrown musos. Which is why we have put together our top 5 interviews with Kiwi artists from the past year.

Stay tuned to our website for more – we talk to Kiwi musicians all year round! 

Two into one makes DUAL

We talk dreams and reality with Maurice Miller and Jamie Pyne, AKA Auckland-based psych indie dance duo DUAL. They slayed the Electric Avenue audience, have a second EP out and now have Australia in their sights. They’re definitely coming back to Christchurch at some stage – “It was fun, the whole city was going off,” says Maurice.

Read the full Q&A with Maurice Millar and Jamie Pyne.

Hope springs eternal for Terrible Sons

For Matt and Lauren Barus, it’s been a long journey from The Dukes and LA Mitchell. The former band members are married with children and writing songs together about hope. It’s these songs that have made it onto Terrible Sons’ debut album, The Raft Is Not the Shore. The mood is sombre at times but then the sun peeks through. And there’s a lightness to the music throughout.

Read our full interview with Matt and Lauren Barus.

Freddy’s share the love - Q&A: Scott Towers

We checked in with Scott Towers, AKA Chopper Reeds, saxophonist with Fat Freddy’s Drop, ahead of their summer festival tour. Scott told us that the band loves taking the stage during the changeover from day to night. “You see the energy levels come up a bit. The heat has gone out of the sun, people have emerged from their tents having recovered from the night before. You can see them transform in front of you.”

Check out the full chat with Scott Towers.

Talking violin, guitar pedals, vodka and rocking out with MOTTE

MOTTE, AKA Anita Clark, is a violinist and composer hailing from Ōhinehou Lyttelton whose atmospheric, expressive instrumentals and haunting vocals play on your heartstrings like, well, a violin. We asked her how growing up in Christchurch had influenced her music. “I’m not sure exactly but I do know that I missed the ‘South Island sound’ when I lived in Wellington. I also don’t really know what that is, except things being a bit more gothic, grimier and darker.”

Read the full talk with Anita Clark.

Mel Parsons on her new album Slow Burn and upcoming tour

We talked to indie folk singer-songwriter Mel Parsons as she was heading out last year to tour her new album. Best piece of advice you’ve ever received? “To just keep turning up. I think as a creative person it’s easy to get bogged down in critiquing yourself and thinking something is never going to be finished or good enough or just never going to happen full-stop. But I guess through my career I’ve found if you just keep turning up to whatever it is you’re doing, eventually there will be an outcome.”

The musings of Mel Parsons.