Paper Cranes Q&A

Your name: 

Fraser Browne.

Where are you from?
Based in Auckland, New Zealand

Name of band: 
Paper Cranes 折り鶴

Who else is in your band? 

We're looking for a bassist now so current members are Naomi Browne (piano / vocals / multi-instrumentalist), Tim Roper (Guitars), Joel Bremner (drums), Kristina Roper (accordion and vocals).

How would you describe yourselves?

Epic indie-alternative immersive folk. We're inspired by folk that harks back to its heady heyday, with an indie twist on it. It intertwines my love of lyrical poetry and Naomi's Japanese upbringing with the lush instrumentation of a full band.  Paper Cranes 折り鶴  is what comes out. We use a diverse range of instruments (shakuhachi, ukelele, mandolin, ocarina, harmonica, accordion), in songs that move between delicacy and outright abandon. 

Who are your main influences musically?  

That's always a difficult question, because influences come and go and depending on your frame of mind, they can less or more important. At the moment I'd say a healthy dose of Fleet Foxes, Ryan Adams, Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, Nick Drake, Simon & Garfunkel and Fiona Apple, and then a touch of Mumford & Sons, The Beatles, Radiohead, Johnny Flynn, Crowded House and Beirut. Naomi brings a few Japanese influences in there: Matsutoya Yumi, Chemistry, My Children. 

What do you hope to achieve in music? 

I think the main thing is to enjoy the journey. There are so many people hoping to be successful - whatever that means - that I think it's really easy to lose sight of the music.
Part of the journey for me is writing lots of music: songs that move people, songs that say something or reflect on something, putting across ideas that might say something in a new way. Some may say that it's hard to come up with anything original, but you can always add a new twist to things. 

I guess a short way of saying this is I hope to write a lot of really good songs that people connect with.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?  

Releasing our debut EP 'Oh, Love!' last September (2012). We're hitting the studio to record a debut album soon with it set for release within the next six months!

And what’s the moment you want to forget? 

Nothing really so far! Singing with laryngitis at a recent festival was tough, but we turned it into something fun - lots of instrumental stuff.

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why? 

Little Darling. I wrote it in the middle of a health scare, so I think it reflects where I was at that point. It's deliciously dark and - dare I say it - even a little morbid. But there's hope in there too. I think I'm fond of it because I know the cancer scare is in the past so I can sing it with a bit of a smirk on my face, now.
Musically, it also features the key elements that a lot of our music is written around: folky acoustic guitar and piano, lots of haunting harmonies, and a catchy melody line. 

Where can we listen to it? 

www.papercranes.co.nz or you can watch on  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7dtAohHLbA 

It's available to purchase on iTunes or from our website (above). 

Where can we find out more about your music? 

There are a heap of places you can get in touch, and you can buy music on our website or through iTunes.
www.papercranes.co.nz
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/paper-cranes-zheri-he/id694928960  

https://www.facebook.com/NZ.PaperCranes
https://twitter.com/PaperCranesNZ 

http://instagram.com/papercranesnz 

Anything else you’d like to say about your band/music that I forgot to ask?

For a whole range of reasons, New Zealand is such an amazing breeding ground for new music. Check out some kiwi acts if you have time - we all know about Lorde and Kimbra, but there are plenty of others worth looking at.

Vessel Q&A

Your name:

Louie Bo Charles IV (bass guitar).

Where are you from?

Auckland, New Zealand.

Name of band:

Vessel.

Who else is in your band? 

Elmo Strauss (guitar/vox). Drummer pending (Friday Drive EP was recorded w/ Alfons Peeters)

How would you describe yourselves?
Well, I could start with poorly dressed, over-polite, awkwardly nervous, fairly educated and somewhat hairy but exceedingly handsome individuals who have grown up on great music. But really, Elmo and I share a very similar musical palate and together attempt to bring joy to ourselves and others with raucous noise whilst trying to keep the rock n’ roll flame alight by remaining unaffected by the pitfalls of trends and clichés. We also both have a really weird sense of humour that keeps us grounded and others guessing.

Who are your main influences musically?
I tried to answer this question in our debut interview (this is our second) and found it really difficult. We both grew up being influenced by the likes of Michael Jackson, that phase was rudely interrupted by Nirvana, which was then disturbed by metal acts such as Pantera. But the subsequent phases are too numerous and pointless to continue, so this time I will try to describe Vessel as a mixture of five bands - Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age, The Datsuns, Kings of Leon and Led Zeppelin.

What do you hope to achieve in music?
I suppose it is to achieve harmony between the ying and yang or the selfish and the selfless elements of making music. What I mean by that is avoiding going down the road of forgetting our roots and the people who have supported us from the beginning but also tending to our own ambitions and not letting the sometimes arduous side of making music diminish our love and drive for what we do. I think our Friday Drive EP is a good start because we aimed to replicate how we sound live and not disguise the blemishes with production tricks i.e. we left the bells and whistles at the door.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
This is also a curly one but once we started gigging as Vessel we had gone further than we had ever thought as young and impressionable musicians, so I would have to say right now. We have just released our debut EP and have a legend of a publicist from Last Libretto Music helping us get our music to the likes of yours truly so it is a really exciting time for us. The only thing that stopped the momentum was the unfortunate departure of the well-loved Alfons Peeters (drums) due to our country’s bullshit bureaucratic sinkholes. That was a spanner in the works but it did give us time to put a bit of time into structure and planning which had never been one of our strongpoints. Cheers Brent!

And what’s the moment you want to forget?
For me it was in a previous outfit called Mister Lastboat (a covers band I played in with Elmo) where I accidentally spilled bourbon down the grill of my amp which fried the circuitry and left me fairly red faced.
I don’t want to answer for Elmo but I would say it would be staring Friday Drive without tuning back up to Standard from drop D. The embarrassing thing was that he didn’t notice for quite some time. Poor Elmo, we both tried to blame it on Fons but he was too smart a creature.

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?
Friday Drive – I think this is a song where we have tried to bring everything to the table and have kind of got it. The recording is fairly true to how we play it live so I imagine it sounds pretty epic on the other side of the FOH speakers.

Where can we listen to it?

http://feralvessel.bandcamp.com/

Where can we find out more about your music? 

http://www.facebook.com/vesselnz

https://twitter.com/feralvessel

https://itunes.apple.com/nz/album/friday-drive-ep

http://open.spotify.com/album

https://itunes.apple.com/nz/album/friday-drive-ep/id694488682?uo=4

http://www.reverbnation.com/vesselnz

https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Vessel_Friday_Drive?id=Bdhexlfpnguovvblnnrfqgv2aly

https://soundcloud.com/lastlibretto

http://lastlibretto.tumblr.com/

Anything else you’d like to say about your band/music that I forgot to ask?
Three pieces are where it’s at – no frills, much fuzz and love, Vessel xoxoxoxo

A collaboration 12,000 miles in the making

MUSIC can be a great connector even if two parties are 12,000 miles apart.

Having ditched the idea of being in a band and going solo, New Zealand's Brodie Lumsden has steadily carved out a position as an up-and-coming dubstep producer under the moniker Lumpsum, gaining notoriety with a series of remixes.

This newly found success saw electronic music sideline a career of singer/songwriting temporarily to pursue the new role of DJ/producer.

Some eight months ago, he was contacted out the blue to Maya Wolff - originally from a tiny town in Germany but now living in Canterbury, England.

The talented singer was keen to collaborate on a track, the only problem being the distance from the town in south east England to Christchurch, NZ.

Brodie said: "I was as keen as ever to work with someone overseas. We used every resource at our disposal."

The result was Trusting You, an electronic, dubstep, breaks fusion, which you can have a listen to below.

The Neo-Kalashnikovs Q&A

Your name: 

Moss Bioletti, I’m the drummer of The Neo-Kalashnikovs.

Where are you from?

Auckland city, New Zealand.

Name of band:

The Neo-Kalashnikovs.

Who else is in your band?
There's three of us, we are all siblings. My sis Volita Pearl is the singer and guitarist and my brother Gabe is on bass.

How would you describe yourselves?

Sexy.

Who are your main influences musically?

Iggy Pop and The Stooges, Arctic Monkeys, Queens of the Stone Age, The Kills, Band of Skulls, Blondie, Joan Jet and The Killers to name some out of a billion.

What do you hope to achieve in music?

That Beatle status, raging success and mounds of money. I aim to sell 50 records then 100 records then 1,000, all the way up to a million.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?

Finishing our first album and getting a great reaction. Putting yourself and music out there is a thrill and humbling if people actually like it. Getting 2000 downloads so far has been a real buzz.

What’s the moment you want to forget?

Being lost in downtown in LA walking ominously close to skid row and thinking about grabbing a box and sleeping in it. No jokes.

If you could choose just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?

Diamonds because it’s rough and tumble indie rock n roll.

Where can we listen to it?

Yyou can listen to it, get it for free or buy it you wanna show some love on bandcamp: http://theneokalashnikovs.bandcamp.com/


 

Where can we find out more about your music?

We are on twitter: https://twitter.com/neokalashnikovs

Facebook: www.facebook.com/theneokalashnikovs

Instagram: volita is on instagram @neo_kalashnikovs

Our official website: www.theneokalashnikovs.com

Anything else you’d like to say about your band that I forgot to ask?

People ask us a lot why we gave our album away for free and I want to give an official answer. Before I released the album as a free instant download it was just sitting on my hard-drive. I thought to myself I really wanted people to hear my music and become fans, so I let everyone enjoy it for free. I'm going to finish up five albums this year and give them all away for free to our fans. Once we hit the 20,000 download mark it might be wise to start charging lol but that's not far away. The Neo-Kalashnikovs will be playing heaps of gigs to show everyone we mean business and make sure we get our sponsorship deals.