INTRODUCING NICK WARD

Nick Ward - the 19 year old Sydney based artist who recently released his debut EP 'Everything I Wish I Told You' to critical acclaim - signs with Wonder Music Publishing and Sony Music Publishing. Nick's songs are vulnerable explorations of his own identity and masculinity, and a blend of diary-like intimacy with larger-than-life production.

The young artist recently performed 4 sold out headline shows at Oxford Art Factory's Gallery Bar, and is currently working on his follow up EP. He is represented by Rebecca Coleman-Smith of Neat Management, Hunnydew Recordings and Niche Productions.

Madam Parker Performing Live at Pasifika Festival

Madam Parker Performing Live at Pasifika Festival 5pm, 10th April 2021

Performing her latest singles, Wavey and Cry for you with her band Vibe City, also feat. Tuakau Youth Centre Band, A community of young leaders who are from the mighty waikato.

Also She hosts a "Tuesday Live Soul Session" Live Jam session every tuesday at Win-Win bar in Ponsonby - 212 Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby. 8.30pm-11.30pm, This evening ft. Up and coming and established artists for the first hour and then the floor is open for a live jam session, Its a Souful evening filled with creatives & goodvibes. This Platform and space was created for Creatives to express there creativity and authenticity.

Madam parker is a International Artist, singer, songwriter born and raised in New Zealand. A Maori wahine with ambition and drive who is passionate about music, the journey and giving back.

Her Music is available across all digital platforms, be sure to catch this soul queen on tour with her bowl full of soul, spreading love and light through her strongest vessel, Music.

Emily C. Browning "I Wasn't Into You Anyway"

Combining the lyrical wit and songwriting nous of the likes of Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen with the soaring sonic range of Maggie Rogers, “I Wasn’t Into You Anyway” stands as Browning's first solo release and first solo-production credit, following previous collaborative projects with US producer Ariza, and songwriting collective Her Songs.

Building a career initially as a guitarist and songwriter, Emily C. Browning is now diving headfirst into the realm of exquisitely crafted pop music under her own name. A degree in jazz coupled with years of work as a touring guitarist, “I Wasn’t Into You Anyway” is a playful summary of Emily’s creative journey to date, with an equally playful video to match.

Drenched in shimmering guitars, sparkling synths and palpable irony, the song breathes with intoxicating melodies and a driving heartbeat, while the lyrics speak on the common experience of unrequited love. Emily somehow finds the words to describe that knee-jerk reaction we all have when feeling rejected, while keeping the mood light and witty.

“Everyday for a month I wrote in my journal: I want to write a song about feeling rejected. But I couldn’t figure out how to keep it light and funny, it can be quite a painful topic and I didn’t want to sound too heavy. But I kept working on it everyday and came up with this song. I then spent another month recording it, trying to capture a sound that stayed upbeat and playful. I put so much time and energy into the song that I ended up completely forgetting about the person who rejected me in the first place (honest, I swear)."

Introducing: Iveta & Simone’s fantastic new studio release “ River of Neon” will be out on May 1st

Recording duo Iveta & Simone recently announced that they are going to be back on the scene with a fantastic new studio release, River of Neon, featuring Kenny MacDonald. He actually appeared on the track, and he's a very talented engineer who owns mixing mastering.online, a studio with a focus on helping artists with excellent mixing and mastering services! From Texas and The Fugees, to Franz Ferdinand, INXS and Paolo Nutini, he has worked with some of the hottest names in music.

With such a dream-team, this release had every opportunity to be amazing, and this is exactly what happened. This upcoming song highlights the incredible passion and versatility that drives the pair’s work, not to mention their life-long passion for one-of-a-kind soundscapes and unique melodies. This release is going to be the follow-up to the artist’s most recent studio single, Black Rainbow.

Hailing from New Zealand, Iveta & Simone became passionate about music at a very early age. They love anything from indie-pop to alternative and some electronic elements., Their original songs are a perfect taste of their kaleidoscopic approach, as they blend different genres to create a creative and fresh sound.

In other words, their music is truly creative, as it explores so many different genres. With River of Neon, Iveta & Simone managed to capture some real magic, creating a piece of music that’s incredibly honest yet catchy and easy to relate to. The duo will drop the track on the 1st of May. This upcoming single makes me think of talented artists such as Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, and Radiohead, or Sia, but Iveta & Simone has a distinctive sound that escapes any simple categorization.

Find out more about Iveta & Simone, and do not miss out on Water, which is available on the best digital music streaming services.

https://www.ivetasimonemusic.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ivetasimonemusic

https://www.instagram.com/ivetasimone/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUlUBmp6KvmLqpmMEWpWkzw

MMF April Members Hangout

The Music Managers Forum Aotearoa are pleased to announce the April Members Hangout.  These hangouts are more intimate on-line sessions, held via Zoom for 10 to 15 MMF members.  This allows for a more intimate group learning environment where our members can be upskilled in important areas of music management.

The Hangout for April is:

Recorded Music NZ with Dean Cameron – Member Services Manager

There is so much more that Recorded Music NZ does besides the Official NZ Top 40 weekly chart and the Aotearoa Music Awards! In this session Dean will talk about the other RMNZ activities, copyright and how that applies to your sound recordings, RMNZ & Recording Industry revenues, the Direct-to-Recording Artist Scheme, what ISRC (International Standard Recording Codes) are, why you need them on all your recordings and how to obtain them; and much more.

Date:                Wednesday  14th April

Time:               6.00pm – 7.00pm

RSVP:               For MMF members only lorraine.owen@mmf.co.nz

                        Limited to 10 – 15 places, but if there is demand we will schedule a second session

STONEHURST TO HIT THE ROAD

Stonehurst have been amped to start touring with their new line up, to warm up crowds for their upcoming single and ultimately, album tours.  New Zealand will be seeing more of Stonehurst in 2021 as the heavy ‘Sabbath-esque, riff fuelled’ four-piece perform in Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill, Greymouth, Wellington, Palmerston North, Hamilton and Auckland.

After digitally releasing their second album ‘Strange Urge’, with two tracks featuring on New Zealand’s main Rock radio station ‘The Rock FM’; Stonehurst are fizzing to release their latest material set to satisfy past and future fans ears and incite goosebumps across NZ.

After supporting such international acts such as Seether (USA), Black Label Society (USA), Corrosion of Conformity and Anvil (USA), along with New Zealand’s legends Beastwars, The Feelers, Shihad (Electric Avenue), Alien Weaponry and many more; Stonehurst take their rowdy riffs, shredding solos and contagious grooves around NZ to bring you some of the catchiest low-tuned heavy psychedelic power rock NZ has to offer.

Stonehurst will be taking Prog Rock legends Elidi along for the ride as main support who will be bringing their dark, cerebral and relentlessly heavy tracks in tow. Local openers over the country include Via Kaleidoscope (CHCH), Electric Universe (AKL), Soul Kitchen(W.COAST), Filth Wizard(IVC), Planet Of The Dead(WGTN), Deadset(PMR), Pull Down The Sun(WAG), and White Noise Mafia(AKL).

LINKS

www.stonehurst.nz,facebook.com/stonehurstband/, www.instagram.com/stonehurst_music/, stonehurst.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4eJd9NQmt0IK72vqsDXJXt?si=LdEMxanOR7Ocu83pvVpkng
STONEHURST LYRIC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_9szgfDKJk

The Chills announce a blistering array of supports joining them for their nationwide Scatterbrain tour April / May 2021

The Chills announce a blistering array of supports joining them for their nationwide Scatterbrain tour April / May 2021. including the likes of Purple Pilgrims, Luke Buda, Mousey, Asta Rangu, Bitter Defeat and Devil's Elbow.

But in a glorious twist of fate, they have also roped in their old friends THE BATS as very special guests for their Auckland Powerstation show on May 14th.

With Purple Pilgrims in support, it will make for a night of pure and joyous celebration of Flying Nun alumni, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the iconic indie label which opened its doors in 1981.

The Chills and The Bats have only performed together once before, at the Dunedin Town Hall on the 8th of July 1990 on the Submarine Bells tour, alongside The 3Ds.

'The Chills are feeling honoured to be performing alongside The Bats for only the second time in our careers' - Martin Phillipps, The Chills

'1990?! About bloody time we celebrated with our seniors (the 40 year old Chills) and share the stage with them again! (We're only 38!) - Paul Kean, The Bats

Final release of Auckland tickets are on sale HERE

All other tour tickets on sale and selling fast HERE

The Chills - Scatterbrain Album Release Tour

April 16 Oamaru Club, Oamaru with ASTA RANGU

April 17 Larnach Castle, Dunedin Arts Festival SOLD OUT

April 18 Festival of Colour, Wanaka

April 30 Cassels Blue Smoke, Christchurch with MOUSEY

May 1 Wakatu Hotel, Nelson with MOUSEY (solo)

May 6 St. Peter's Hall, Paekākāriki with LUKE BUDA

May 7 Meow, Wellington with LUKE BUDA

May 8 The Cabana, Napier with DEVIL'S ELBOW

May 9 The Dome, Gisborne with BITTER DEFEAT

May 13 Totara St, Mount Maunganui with BITTER DEFEAT

May 14 THE CHILLS & THE BATS Powerstation, Auckland with PURPLE PILGRIMS

May 15 Town Hall, Raglan with BITTER DEFEAT

Dunedin’s finest, The Chills release their seventh studio album ‘Scatterbrain’ (May 14th, Fire Records), a glorious self- examination of Martin Phillipps’ songwriting hot (ish) on the heels of the hugely successful ‘Snow Bound’ (2018) and the critically-acclaimed movie ‘The Chills: The Triumph And Tragedy Of Martin Phillipps’ a year later.

“It’s about artistic integrity, self- realisation, self-acceptance and a reflection on mortality.”

The Guardian

Pre-Order the album HERE : https://fire-records.lnk.to/TheChillsScatterbrainID

THE INDEPENDENT MUSIC NEW ZEALAND 2021 CLASSIC RECORD RECIPIENT ANNOUNCED: 'POI E' - PATEA MĀORI CLUB

This year, IMNZ pays respect to the Patea Māori Club
for their groundbreaking single
'Poi E' released in 1983 on Maui Records.

The presentation of the Independent Music NZ Classic Record award will be at Auckland’s Q Theatre on 20th April 2021.

Patea Māori Club’s 'Poi E’ lyrics were written by te reo advocate, linguist, and composer, Ngoi Pēwhairangi (QSM) and music by Dalvanius Prime in 1983, to encourage rangatahi to be proud of being Māori. A simple song with a catchy beat sung entirely in te reo Māori 'Poi E' has become Aotearoa’s unofficial national anthem, giving pride to generations of New Zealanders. 

Recorded and released in late 1983, the single spent four weeks at number 1 and a further 22 weeks in the music charts, which was unprecedented for a song in te reo Māori. As well as being a sensation in Aotearoa, the Pātea Māori Club received international recognition - touring the United Kingdom in 1984, playing at the London Palladium, the Edinburgh Festival, and giving a Royal Command Performance. Top British contemporary music magazine of the time, New Musical Express (NME), named ‘Poi E’ its Single of the Week.

This week, group member Maryanne Broughton remembers,"The release of 'Poi E' was a huge milestone for Māori music and was an extended dream of Dals’ and Aunty Ngoi's to get our language back out there, to encourage young Māori to be proud of being Māori. It actually wasn't popular with the older generation as it was not the traditional way of singing our songs but it was released at just the right moment, when young kids were learning and relating to te reo Māori via Te Kohanga Reo, and our teenagers were jumping on the break dancing craze. Singing 'Poi E' meant the kids were using our language every day."

In 2010 ‘Poi E’ was used in Taika Waititi's hit movie, Boy. This saw the song back in the New Zealand music charts. A documentary on the song was released in 2016,  and in 2021 - 38 years after its release -  ‘Poi E’ is officially being acknowledged as an important part of our rich musical tapestry as the recipient of the 2021 IMNZ Classic Record.