Double Rainbow. I want what he's having.

where goodIdeas come from.

goodShot of the month.

Ruatorea : the Nati Awards on the Coast.

Last Week I was invited to be a guest speaker at the annual 'Nati Awards', where all of the East Coast colleges & all schools compete in a variety of media studies. the other guest speakers were the all mighty all girl hiphop crew 'ReQuest', who took out the World Champs this year in Las Vegas. If you havent seen their routine & win over there, watch it here. It was great to meet those girls & their manager Brett, as well as all the warm folk from the Coast who looked after me during my two days there. Especially Paora & Daryl who I stayed with & then sent me back on the plane with four Cray's as carry on. Kia Ora to Jasmine, Leanne, Taryne, Tai & all for looking after me. I had a blast & one day I'll be back with the whole whanau. Tu Meke.

The next morena, I looked around the smaller towns & through Tikitiki to pay respect to Wi Kuki Kaa's grave, which is yet to be unveiled next to his whanau. Then back to Gissy through Tolaga.

DubFX : the Looping Aussie Busker.

                          

Homebrew : I wish you weren't a Lesbian. [Ode to Anika Moa]

Radiolab : Moments & Words in Life.

Eye have been researching for a project recently & found this deeply inspiring. Both editorially & photographically. In shot association & audio mixing associating. Moments in time, snippets of Life. Montage of things that happen to us daily & also sometimes, only once in our lifetimes. Makes you think. thanks to my goodFriend StJohnSmith for the thought. You can see more videos & inspiration from the 'everynone' project : Hear.

Q&A about Homebrew & the Vidyo by the Corner.

The NZ music Blog 'the Corner' interviewed me a few days ago about whatsup with Homebrew, myself & the incoming musicVid for 'Under the Shade'.  Peep the full interview Hear. 

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The Home Brew Crew tour kicked off yesterday and continues throughout the month and ends with a one-off gig on Great Barrier Island in October. We’ll be posting our interview with them next week but in the meantime check out our interview with  Chris Graham to find out the latest on his collaboration with the group including a Home Brew TV show, and when we’ll finally see the video for Underneath The Shade.Grab the Crew’s EP’s over here and check out the IV below.

1. Where did you first hear of Home Brew? What attracted you to them in the first place?

I initially heard a buzz about the Brew early last year when my mate Edmund Skillary, [aka MikkiD] an ex-pat DJ based in Dublin, emailed me the Friday song & told me about the classic, conceptual Last Week EP. Ironic, considering I live in Balmoral & the Homebrew were mostly living in Sandringham at the time. Only a stones throw of an EP away, but it got sent to me via Dublin. So I hunted & gathered all their EPs & drank it all up. I guess my initial attraction musically, was Tom Scotch’s accent, so quintessentially kiwi, so Hori, that I assumed he was Maori, only to later meet a skinny jewish dude & his Niuen brothers. But even on that first listen to Friday, it was the accent, the storytelling, the humour, the Hazbeats, the Lui character voices, the memorable hooks. I was amped that NZ had finally birthed our own unique version of the Pharcyde.

2. I read on your blog that it was you who personally contacted the band about directing a video for them. Have you ever done that with an artist before?

Not for ages. When I moved back to Welly in 99′ from living 7 years in NYC, I came back with hunger to make local music videos & make my mark. So I approached all the local bands I wanted to make videos for; Trinity Roots, Rhombus, P-Money, & Scribe.. After I made a handful, I started getting approached by other artists who liked those videos; Bic Runga, Dei Hamo, Kapisi, Smashproof. So I guess it had been a minute since I approached a band. Once I marinated on the various Homebrew EP’s & heard that they were as local, I got Tom’s phone, called him up & expressed my fan-dom & invited myself over for brews. That webisode where they approach me to make a video is a reversed myth.

3. The Radio Promo and Drinking Tour videos you made for the benefit show were a huge success. Who’s idea was it to do them?

I guess it was a collab Idea one day down at Plaything Gallery. Basically, they didn’t get NZ on Air funding for the ‘Under the Shade’ song that we agreed was going to be their first Video that I’d make, so we came up with the Idea of throwing a Music Video fund raising party. The Webisode ideas came from us wanting to raise awareness of the party & get heads through the door to raise as big a budget as we could.. It worked, as much like a classic Homebrew vs. Goliath on Air story, missing out on standard 5K funding, meant we just did it ourselves & raised 14K instead.

4. What other ideas have you been exploring with the band? When I interviewed them, they mentioned that you wanted to make a sitcom about them. Is this true?

It tis true. I haven’t been telling anyone about that, but after making those Webisodes & recognising their potential for comedy, I pitched the Idea of a TV show to them, not a sitcom, but more like a local version of ‘How to Make It in America’ [HBO] & ‘Entourage’. Although they were keen enough for months of development & writing on it, its a shame as they recently decided they don’t have the balls to do it after all.

5. You’ve been busy with a whole bunch of other projects but when can we expect to see the video for Underneath The Shade?

Late Octobor. Coming to a YouTube near you. Im amped for it, its a huge, ambitious & metaphorical concept for an important song with meaning.

a rare day when I wished I still lived in LA. [Rock the Bells LineUp]

Welcome To The Imperial. [the Trailer as a Poem] Dir : RikCordero.

Homebrew & HazBeats Interviewed on Tangata Pasifika.

Last month, I shot Homebrew on stage at Studio on K.Rd, & while we were there, Tangata Pasifika crew also did a story on the crew's web fanbase & Haz'sBeat's beats. They interviewed me for a slurry soundbite, as it was 2am, a few brews & that may also explain the glazed eyes. Below that is a Promo for their 'Good Country Tour', which they roll out in September.

TrinityRoots will release new live album. [CD&DVD]

TrinityRoots to release new album

15.08.10
[press release]

One of New Zealand's most loved bands, TrinityRoots, announce the upcoming release of Music Is Choice. A CD and DVD package that captures this magical trio at their peak live in concert and reveals the heart and soul of the sorcery that created that magic.

TrinityRoots, after six years, two and a half albums and many gigs across the earth, played their final concert February 13th 2005 in a sellout show at the Wellington Town Hall. It has been a long wait for fans - but finally,Music Is Choice is offered to fill the void with live audio from their last concerts on CD packaged with feature length music documentary and bonus footage on DVD.

TrinityRoots stopped at their zenith. These live recordings accurately reflect that. Like the TrinityRoots studio albums, they are sure to become a treasured piece of NZ music history from a band that had won so many hearts with their genuine soul-baring music that connected the listener to the land we live in.

The DVD includes the documentary directed and produced by fan and friend Sarah Hunter. With generous amounts of footage of the band rehearsing, performing, and philosophising the viewer is transported on the very special journey that was TrinityRoots. Bonus footage includes the memorable 'Little Things' clip directed by Chris Graham (Sione's Wedding, The Ferryman) plus an awe inspiring look at the making of that iconic NZ music video.

Through their multi-award winning career the  band released two highly acclaimed albums,True and Home Land and Sea, both of which reached Platinum status in New Zealand. All previous releases are being re-issued on the same date as Music Is Choice with bonus tracks on both True and Home, Land and Sea.

TrinityRoots played with some of the world's top musicians; Ben Harper, Lee Scratch Perry, The Mad Professor and Rockers Hi-Fi as well as local stalwarts Fat Freddy's Drop and Salmonella Dub.

TrinityRoots: Warren Maxwell (Little Bushman, Fat Freddys Drop), Rio Hemopo (Breaks Co-op) and Riki Gooch (Eru Dangerspiel).

TrinityRoots - Music Is Choice(Live Album) CD + feature length DVD doco
Release Date: September 6^th

CD Tracklisting: 1. Aotearoa   2. The Dream  3. Just Like You   4. Touches Me   5. Egos 6. Little Things  7. Two By Two  8. Home, Land and Sea  

DVD Tracklisting: 1. Documentary 'Music Is Choice'  70 mins   2. 'Little Things' music video  3. Making the 'Little Things' really matter   4. True, bro - promo ad  5. 'Home, Land & Sea' music video   

TrinityRoots - True - re-release September 6th

TrinityRoots - Home, Land and Sea- re-release September 6th with bonus tracks

TrinityRoots - Little Things (E.P) - re-release September 6th

"beguiling and beautiful.. there has never been anything quite like it and yet somehow it sounds like home" - 100 Essential New Zealand Albums, Nick Bollinger.

Movie MashUps. [kids trailers remixed for parents]

                  

                  

Ashburton ballers make it Rain. [more young local talent]

                    

Bionic Knee Surgery on Friday 13th.

'Request' : our AllGirl HipHop DanceCrew win WorldChamps in Vegas.

These girls go Hard. Respect Ladies, Aotearoa hiphop dance crews take out the worlds.. Again!

& check it out Juniors. Just unreal. the Kani Krew.

some behind the scenes, leading up to the win.. & some classic american misprounciations..
                    

Battling with Beats. [Hollywould vs. MPC WellyDid]

some talented writers Im working with on a feature project put me onto this shocker of a 'what our project shouldn't be' trailer for a new Hollyweird film, which almost plays like a parody of itself. 'Battle'. It looks like everything that wrong with 8'mile [including looking into a tagged mirror shot] & without the electrical battle scenes that were everything right with 8'mile. Looks like hiphop producers & beat makers are decidedly hot material in HellAy right now. The trailer also reminded me of a short Doco piece I made back in 2002, for the classic night at the DansPalais with the who was whom, back in the day of the productively incestious Welly music scene. Way Ahead of the 'Battle' film & just slightly more real.           Get your MPC on Welly.

             & circa 2002, Wellywould & Did. Oh whatta Night.

               

& circa 2008, the ReMatch, but I was shooting elsewhere & so wasn't there.. Ota took it out.

              

How to make a goodTitle Sequence. [& with a goodSong]

    

& while Im on the TV tip, eye love this recent HBO series too. Go track this series1 down too.

Community. damn goodComedy tele.

some good mates turned me onto this NBC show 'Community'. Its hella funny, dense, fast paced humour & I'm midway through Season2 & loving it. Studying the tricks & other good comedy on the go at the mo'. Highly recommend it & its motley crew of well balanced characters. Here's some quick teaser clips & then the full trailer below them. Hunt your Community down & get your laugh on.

                  

                  

Jane Austen's Fight Club.

Dancing in the Rain.

                            

Aries Spears. MC Impersonator.

                    

                    

Video of the Month. Part3. Dear God, 2.0

Ante Up.

                    

                    

Homebrew & Dconz [their final gig] @Studio, K.Rd.

a Couple of weekends ago, was a hiphop night out to remember. Decepticonz' final concert as they released 'Evolution', [that music vid is below, directed by my man Askew] ten years together's as Dconz are good innings & much good music. David Dallas, Usual Suspects & Homebrew opened for them & as always, it was great to catchup with the community. TMD, the most documented, were all over with cam's for hands. [Jamie the Deap1 & Rimoni the Brotographer] Shim & TangataPasifika were in the house too. No photos of Homebrew performing, as I shot Vid footage on stage for our ongoing broject. Twas a great, late night.

This is the video that Askew shot, lining up the the old & new schools, much like a distant cousin of Stand Up. I blogged about it a few months ago. Cameos Galore. Spot the scotch pouring asthmatic.  & below that, some footage of the night, courtesy of the AyeBro crew.