ADAM MCGRATH ANNOUNCES NEW SOLO ALBUM 'WRECKER SONGS'
This 15th of February marks the 75th anniversary of the Waterfront Dispute of 1951, the largest industrial dispute New Zealand had seen up to that point and since. The fractious struggle for fair conditions, pay and security became a flashpoint between those who saw working people as simple chattels of company interests and those who dreamed of accessing the promise of a better life in the post-war era. Marking this date, one of New Zealand’s foremost modern folk singers and writers, Adam McGrath, releases the first single from his upcoming album of songs inspired by the stories, struggles and solidarity imbued in the history of the Maritime Union of New Zealand.
The single is a burning reworking of the union song ‘Which Side Are You On?’, featuring in the truest of folk tradition new verses about 1951 and the villain of the era, Sid Holland, as well as samples from Watersiders’ Union boss and worker spokesman Jock Barnes.
The B-side of the single is a heart-building reworking of McGrath’s band The Eastern’s 2010 song ‘Be True’, which was inspired by the ‘Stood Loyal Right Through’ cards distributed to those who held ground throughout the length of the dispute.
Both songs feature on ‘Wrecker Songs’, which will be released across all formats May 1, and is available for pre-order today.
As McGrath says, ‘Wrecker Songs’ started like all good things should start, over a beer in the union hall standing behind Jordan Luck! A conversation with Lyttelton MUNZ Secretary Gary Horan about why and how records got made became an idea about what they could do once out in the world, what they could be; about how folk records had to reach beyond the internal maladies that are the usual fodder for singer-songwriters, further into the world in which they inhabit.”
McGrath notes, “My dad joined the merchant navy as a young teenager and spent his life between pubs and construction sites at sea. Also, the work we’ve done for unions over the years suggested there were songs to find within the scope of the Maritime Union and the Seafarers’ and Watersiders’ unions that preceded it. The songs run the gamut from fight songs to lonesome songs, drinking songs, unemployment songs and the little shared experiences of women within and close to the Maritime Union movement.
With the world seemingly on fire, the rise of fascism, a New Zealand government in the pocket of the moneyed, unemployment on the march and people as isolated from each other as they’ve ever been, it’s important to roll our sleeves up and get busy working our row with as much empathy, solidarity and history in our packs as we can.”
Recorded and played with help and support from his Eastern bandmates as well as his brothers and sisters in the Union, ‘Wrecker Songs’ promises to be another strong marker in the McGrath/Eastern canon.
Adam McGrath Live
February 20
A Rolling Stone w/ Scott Cook
Christchurch
March 13
Geraldine Theatre
Geraldine
March 14
Country in The Country Festival
Leeston
Tickets at adammcgrath.net