Russell Baillie

NZ Listener With a new purposefully unfunny album out, Bret McKenzie reflects on why life isn't always a happy song. As it says on the tin, Songs without Jokes is a non-comedy album by Bret McKenzie, a man whose songs with jokes have done quite well,…

The pandemic cloud above Tami Neilson's career has had a silver lining – a duet with Willie Nelson on her forthcoming album and the chance to sing it with him on stage in Texas. NZ Listener It's early afternoon on a spring day in the Hill Country…

2018: It’s a sweltering mid-summer evening on a Monday in London. I’ve just picked up tickets from the Eventim Apollo, the rock and comedy mecca previously known as the Hammersmith Apollo, and I’m sure I won’t be the only one proffering a New Zealand…

A long-lost Chills video of the band’s 1982 debut single Rolling Moon has risen out of unfinished obscurity. Veteran cinematographer Peter Janes, who in the early 1980s filmed many of the first wave of Flying Nun bands in videos and pieces for Radio…

Hold on, Thomas Oliver. There’s something we need to clear up. The final song on your new album is called The Time In Tokyo. The new single from it is called Coffee. But it’s the video for Coffee which has the Kiwi musician playing his Gretsch White…

She may have had US and European tour plans disrupted by the global pandemic but Grey Lynn pop wunderkind Benee is still having an international breakthrough – and it may be that Covid-19 is helping. Her song Supalonely…

George Saunders and Bret McKenzie tell Russell Baillie about a new musical that’s making its stage debut at the New Zealand Festival of the Arts. George Saunders has one word for his novella, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, being turned into…

Director Tearepa Kahi hoped to throw Herbs a birthday party with his movie about the band, but his unconventional documentary evolved into something sadder and deeper along the way. A few years ago, as he was considering a film about the band Herbs…

Elroy delivers a solo debut as Liam joins an orchestra – and a Neil Young tribute band. A certain uncle of his may have sung about having a hard act to follow, but Elroy Finn doesn’t see it that way as he becomes the fourth in the Finn family with…

Russell Baillie reviews the veteran musician’s confessional autobiography Dead People I Have Known. The cultural impact of the music that emerged from Dunedin in the 1980s has echoed in the decades since. Lately, they’ve been resounding more…

The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps directed by Julia Parnell Rockumentary goes beyond rudimentary as it charts the songwriter’s life and career. There are moments in this unsettling, brave and absorbing documentary about the long…

From Avondale punk rocker to Nashville hillbilly via Midnight Oil – Bones Hillman looks back on his colourful career. Becoming a part of Oz rock institution Midnight Oil will always remain the central chapter of Bones Hillman’s career. He joined the…

Having been officially christened a veteran by the music industry, Bic Runga is taking her new album on this summer's Winery Tour. Bic Runga is departing the 1960s and about to exit through the gift shop when she’s sprung. “Bic!” exclaims a young…

Russell Baillie investigates The Features, the short-lived Auckland post-punk band whose 1979-1980 output has just been re-released. When it came to nailing the ‘post-‘ to punk, there was no shortage of New Zealand groups swinging the hammer. But…

Was the Dunedin sound a thing? Or was it just a coincidence that in the early 80s a bunch of bands with the same area code, much the same influences, who pretty much dressed the same, drank the same beer, saw Chris Knox's punk band The Enemy at the…

On an office wall deep in industrial Henderson, a poster frames the face of Dalvanius Prime. It's in black and white. The late singer, producer, activist, mover and shaker is wearing a superfly hat and a knowing look. Beneath his face: "Poi E: The…

Tim Finn thought he was done making solo records but he's delivered one of his most personal, most approachable albums in years. As he releases The View is Worth The Climb and prepares to headline the Rugby World Cup opening show, he talks to Russell…

They started off as teenagers and weren't much older when they stopped. But in their five or so years together in the late 70s, Th' Dudes left their mark on Kiwi rock with two albums, a row of enduring singles and one drunken national anthem. Unlike…

By RUSSELL BAILLIE Scene 1: Friday night, a few hours after dark, on the outskirts of Apia, Samoa. Two men are sitting on the back of a ute as they head into town for the capital's nightlife. One thinks this is just the place for an interview. The…

By RUSSELL BAILLIE He's standing near the front, about the same distance he was when he saw Blam Blam Blam in his mid-teens, all those years ago. They were the first great band he saw. He still knows all the words. And as the songs reconstitute…