SKRAM 'PLEASE GIVE ME SOME PEACE'

Skram is an exciting, magnetic new pop group in Aotearoa consisting of Henry Ashby on lead vocals and guitar, Felix Nesbitt on drums and vocals, and Lee Pryor on keyboards and bass. All three of these boys grew up in different parts of Aotearoa, Henry in Kirikiriroa, Felix in Upper Hutt and Lee on the Kapiti Coast. Felix and Lee met while studying at Whitireia Polytechnic, developing a strong friendship and bond over their love for complex and interesting music. Felix then went on to work as a music teacher while playing with Funkacybin, before moving onto teaching in Lower Hutt, Wellington. During this time, he opened for groups such as Joe Satriani, 8 Foot Sativa and many more. Lee went on to perform and produce music with Archie the Brave and performed at Homegrown with Ashley Alexander. Meanwhile Henry was pursuing an acting career in the Upper North Island performing in several musical theatre productions, while the highlight was a brief 3-episode part on Shortland Street. Henry was also playing in Mufasa Mufasa, who played NYE at the Whitianga Hotel.

Lee and Felix ended up teaching in the same music school where they came across Henry who had just moved to the windy city to teach music. The boys started to do school shows and realized they loved playing music and teaching together, plus the added bonus that they had way too much fun being goofy doofuses too. Henry, Felix and Lee developed the most electric, connected bond and decided they had to take on the music industry together, creating interesting, dynamic pop and rock songs. Skram was born and the boys began writing music together, finding a strong bond and sharing incredible times together. Skram started playing regularly in Taupō at Finn's where they still play once a month to rip roaring crowds.

As Skram has begun hyping and gearing up their upcoming single releases and album release, the band was noticed by UP The Music and got the opportunity to open for Sons Of Zion in Palmerston North, their biggest event to date. They are aiming to release their singles and eventual album, with a release tour being planned for the Summer, touring the North Island with a bunch of like minded, incredible kiwi artists.

Skram are ready to take on the Aotearoa Music and Festival Scene and open for and work with other bands, driving their electric, magnetic energy through Aotearoa. Please Give Me Some Peace, their second single will be released on November 05th on Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming services, with the official music video being released on YouTube on the same date. Skram's firecracker stage presence will knock your socks off and have you belting along to their tracks while you dance the night away.

French for Rabbits RELEASE NEW ALBUM The Overflow

New Zealand dream-pop luminaries French for Rabbits have dedicated nearly a decade to creating warmly detailed and expansive music together. Today they release their prophetic third LP The Overflow. The LP arrives via AAA records (NZ/AUS), Reckless Yes (UK) and A Modest Proposal (Italy) and is out in digital formats, CD, and on limited-edition vinyl. The album follows on from their elegantly stated second LP The Weight of Melted Snow and their 2014 break-out Spirits.

With hints of psychedelia and folk - the five-piece offer masterful musicality, gossamer vocals and storytelling across the ten tracks which celebrates the introverts’ spirit, and expresses nostalgia in climate grief - with understated strength and breathtaking fragility.

Prior to release, the band shared videos for album singles 'The Overflow,' 'Ouija Board,' 'The Outsider' and 'Walk the Desert' working alongside director Martin Sagadin (Aldous Harding, Marlon Williams) to create a visual world around the record.

Led by songwriter and producer Brooke Singer, the project came to life when she started working with guitarist John Fitzgerald in the coastal township of Waikuku Beach back in 2012. His minimalist, shimmering guitar lines proved to be the backbone of their early work, and over the years the band has expanded to include multi-instrumentalists Ben Lemi and Penelope Esplin alongside drummer Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa. The Overflow was recorded with NZ producer/musician Jol Mulholland (Tami Neilson, Neil Finn, Delaney Davidson, Troy Kingi) in Wellington at The Surgery and in Auckland at The Lab, with mastering by Carl Saff in Chicago.

On the album, the group offer up their most compelling, vibrant work. Recorded in 2020, but written across the years prior, the songs on The Overflow explore contemporary themes from digital dystopias ('Passengers'), climate change ('Nothing in my Hands'), to having it all ('Money or the Bag') but ultimately this is a work portraying the world through an introvert’s lens.

Brooke Singer (vocalist/producer) says of the record, “I wrote these songs sitting on my bed, at my piano, and on some trips overseas where I got to explore songwriting in more detail than I have before - a chance to push the boundaries. The band pulled them apart and put them back together, and I’m really proud of what we all made - this reflection of self.

It's hopefully, like a warming cup of tea, but accompanied by a very serious newspaper….something that makes you calm, but also makes you think”.

Surfacing nearly a decade ago from long oceanic shores, dream-pop luminaries French for Rabbits create music that feels like it has been crafted from the fabric of the New Zealand landscape and psyche – with its salty waves, isolated coastlines, expansive skies and friendly, approachable people. That is to say, their music is both intimate and expansive, welcoming and wary, poetic but piercing.

They emerged from a vibrant local folk scene alongside Marlon Williams, Aldous Harding and Tiny Ruins. Together, the band have released three records - New Zealand Music Award nominated EP Claimed by the Sea; Spirits, which includes the poetic and emotive singles 'Goat' and 'The Other Side;' and The Weight of Melted Snow. They’ve toured in the US and Europe, opening for acts such as Lorde, Agnes Obel and performed at SXSW, Iceland Airwaves, WOMAD and in a castle for a fan’s wedding in Switzerland. Despite racking up millions of streams and seeing their music appear in shows from Vampire Diaries to Being Human, the band have remained close to their DIY roots co-running local label Home Alone, and performing in various other bands in their Wellington home-town.

In their new material found on The Overflow, the self-confessed anxious introvert Singer is both judge, and comforter. On its title track there is a battle of head over heart, as she seeks to rationalise the mechanics of a panic attack - yet, the song is weightless and optimistically bright in delivery. These subtle juxtapositions are at the center of their work.

The long awaited and beautifully philosophical album from Luke Thompson arrives right on time.

Luke Thompson didn’t mean to take five years to finish The Trials and Tribulations of Adam and His Seed, the follow-up to 2016’s Tui-nominated Hosts. The concept for the album had been percolating for a while, an unformed sense; a “spirit, a hunch, a colour”. Something archaic and prophetic. A wide-lens look at mankind and his struggle to exist. A return to folk music at its most elemental definition; songs as cultural stories, spanning generations like family heirlooms.

Thompson’s songs of “death and love and life, hate and cynicism, hope and peace, power and pain, warmth and shelter” are asking questions that may never properly be answered. Who are we? Why are we here? The stuff of the human condition that can’t be tied up tidily with a bow.

After nearly two years of recording and re-recording songs at home, he turned to long-time collaborator Nic Manders (Brooke Fraser, Katchafire, Lydia Cole) to draw a line under the work. He realised that, as Da Vinci said, art is never finished, only set free.

In The Trials and Tribulations of Adam and His Seed, Thompson turns his attention to everything from biblical themes to politics and privilege and the bittersweet nostalgia of fairy tales in a world of modern anxiety. It may have taken five years to carve out the work within, but Thompson’s expansive, philosophical album has been set free right on time.

Royalty Reads Kiwi Written Picture Book, Angel Star.

“What a beautiful, beautiful book.” Those were the words of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York after reading kiwi written children’s picture book Angel Star to her tens of thousands of YouTube followers.

Written originally as a song by Tui Nominated children’s songwriter Chris Sanders in 2016, and then turned into a book illustrated by Kat Merewether the book has become a popular story with children and parents alike.

Based on a true story of Chris’ eldest daughters wish for a baby brother or sister, Angel Star is the story of a young girl who one night picks the brightest star in the sky, a star she has chosen to be her new sibling. She then sets about helping the star on its adventurous journey, down mountains, through valleys, over roads and finally to her home and part of her loving family.

“It was quite a surprise to get an email from the Duchesses office telling me that she was reading my story – what an endorsement!” says Sanders.

The Duchess of York started her daily show ‘Storytime with Fergie and Friends’ on YouTube to keep young ones entertained during the lockdown period.

And her reading of Angel Star has already clocked up more than 40,000 views in just a few days.

The song was also a big hit with children reaching #1 across iTunes when it originally launched and kiwi kids even created their own hand actions to the chorus of the song. 

Angel Star is a story that puts your older child in the decision process of choosing a new baby to add to the family.  It makes them an integral part of the story, the one who picks, beckons and delivers the new baby to your family.  A big and exciting responsibility! 

And Chris says, “I remember vividly when my eldest daughter was around 2 at the time, she picked a star in the sky and said she wanted it to be her brother or sister. I thought it was so cute and decided I would write a song about it – oh and she got her wish in the end, a baby sister!”

A Confident Goat, a Famous Cat and a Book That’s Doesn’t Want to be Judged by it’s Cover on Chris Sanders New Kids Album!

2020 NZ Children’s Award Best Artist and Tui Award Finalist Chris Sanders is set to release his 3rd children’s album ‘The Songs and Stories For Kids’  on full release November 5.

The 10-song album has some sensationally catchy, side splitting hilarious and downright rocky songs that will have the kids busting the moves or singing their hearts out, while the parents put their feet up for a much needed cuppa tea.

The 1st single ‘Monkey Bar Swinger’ which goes on pre-order October 29th, is for all those kids who think they are the best Monkey Bar Swinger in the whole wide world! The song will have the kids getting active, showing off their strong hands and arms, swinging from side to side and hanging upside down!

The NZ on Air supported album has a mix of songs and stories for kids that have become favourites at the many hundreds of shows Chris has performed at over the years.

“I love the fact that I can write a 2 to 3 minute catchy song that gets the kids dancing and singing along, or a 4 to 5 minute song that tells more of a story, taking the kids on a captivating journey and invigorating their minds,” says Sanders.

In fact 2 of the “storytelling” songs on the album have already been published as picture books. ‘The Lonely Book’ is a story about a book who never gets picked and all the more popular books in the bookstore do what they can do to make that poor book look more drab and bedraggled as the story progresses – until a little lad discovers all the treasures hidden inside!

Plus there is ‘Teddy Bear Hunt’ featuring the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO). The song and book evoke fond memories of family time and a strengthening of community spirit during the lockdowns. It was also the first time in the APO’s 41 year history they have ever released a commercial song or a book. 

The album includes the International Song Writing competition winner ‘Mitten’s - Official Song’ co-written with Natalie Conaty about the famous Wellington cat who was given the key to the city by the Mayor and was up for NZ’er of the year against Jacinda Ardern.  The song also reached #12 in the Official NZ Hot Singles Music Chart.

And Mitten’s isn’t the only creature who makes an appearance on the album. There’s Okee Dokee Goatee, a confident goat who finds it hard to say ‘NO’ leading to some quite comical situations, including an Elvis impersonation “You ain’t nothing but a hound goat,” and trying some spicy curried figs, which leads to some rather unpleasant stinky blasts!  

“One of things I’ve loved most about this album has been developing some cool characters, it’s not everyday you get to create the voice of a globally famous cat or an over-confident goat – there were definitely quite a few moments in the studio were I was rolling around in fits of laughter, so I hope the listeners do too!”

The album was produced by Rikki Morris and cover art by Natalie Conaty.  It features some incredible other kiwi musicians including Lucy Hiku and Jenny Payne from Itty Bitty Beats on the opening track ‘Kia Ora Are Such Beautiful Words’ and the Nashville based George Jackson who plays fiddle and banjo on Okee Dokee Goatee. 

Abby Wolfe makes her mark with powerful debut EP, LOSE MYSELF

Esteemed Dunedin singer-songwriter and vocal powerhouse Abby Wolfe has today released her highly anticipated debut EP, LOSE MYSELF.

The EP takes its name from the first track ‘Lose Myself’. With honest lyrics that tug hard on the heart, wrapped up in warm melodies, vocals heavy in emotion and a pop riff so infectious it’ll stick with you for days, ‘Lose Myself’ is the ultimate break-up song.

Having temporarily relocated from Dunedin to Auckland several years ago and grappling with the emotional rollercoaster of a break-up, Abby wrote ‘Lose Myself’ at an APRA Songhubs with songwriting and producing heavyweights Djeisan Suskovand Nik Brinkman, alongside fellow singer-songwriter Ciaran McMeeken. It was later produced by Ambian & Sleo (Josh Edmonds & Joe Corban-Banks) who helped bring Abby’s vision for the song to life.

“It was a pretty surreal experience. Walking into the very stunning Roundhead Studios and meeting some hugely talented people that exist within the local and global industry. As I got to the studio we were using, we did the usual introductions and got straight into finding a vibe. Ciaran picked up the guitar and played a riff that fit exactly how I felt. Context - two weeks prior to my move, I went through a break-up that had sent me into a bit of a tailspin, first love and all that,” says Abby.

Knowing that she loved the song, but not wanting to rush it, Abby says it’s taken four years for ‘Lose Myself’ to come to fruition and it now bears the name of her debut EP and is the opening track. It sits alongside a string of Abby’s recently-released singles - ‘Take It Slow’, ‘Held By You’ and ‘Free Falling', which have so far collectively amassed more than 300,000 streams on Spotify alone.

Individually each of the songs stand alone as powerful statements, but they also come together as a cohesive body of work, which takes the listener on a journey.

“I feel incredibly proud of these songs,” says Abby. “They represent the last few years of my life, from heartbreak to identify crisis to frustration with outsiders’ judgements. I feel they come together so nicely, compliment each other and share the stories.”

Listen to the Single | Listen to the EP | Download

Proteins of Magic releases art pop single ‘WILLOW’

Proteins of Magic releases single and self made music video ‘WILLOW’ which features on the November 2021 compilation of NZonAIR New Tracks. The 2 minute track is a pop-twisted romantic delight of sound & vision!

From a recent live show with Jakob, Ambient Light describes her one-woman performance, “Rhythmic breaths and gasps cut our chat short, and we head inside as Proteins of Magic (aka Kelly Sherrod) layers the first track of the evening. Wearing an all-white, tight latex top, she stood alone with her keyboard amidst an ever-growing wall of sound. Deep, sampled drum hits stumble around her bellowing siren song, cutting in and out on command with complete fluency. Impressions bring to mind Grimes with hints from the darker undertones of Tricky.”

Proteins of Magic is currently awaiting re-scheduled performances across New Zealand in support of their solo-debut.

— UPCOMING SHOWS —

Saturday 29th January – The Others Way Festival 

Friday 11 February – Whammy, Auckland Supporting Luke Buda

*Supporting Dimmer

*Thursday 17th March – San Fran Wellington. 

*Friday 18th March – San Fran Wellington. 

*Saturday 19th March – Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, Chch

*Thursday 24th March – Regent Theatre (*new venue) Dunedin 

*Friday 25th March – Mercury Theatre, Auckland

*Saturday 26th March – Mercury Theatre, Auckland

All dates and Ticket Info from www.proteinsofmagic.com

Find Proteins Of Magic:

Website / Instagram / Facebook / Spotify / Apple Music / Bandcamp / YOUTUBE

Samson Live breathe life into Summer with their debut single.

Samson Live deliver your favourite summer festival feels in their debut single ‘Breathe.’

Formed by Sam Allen (Vocals, Guitar, Bass) and Sam Jones (Saxophone and Keys) as an experiment to see if they could bring a completely live instrumental set to the club scene, the duo quickly gained momentum and a loyal following after posting remixes of House and Hip Hop tracks.

This activity caught the eye of some of the hottest festivals in New Zealand and Samson Live were asked to bring their infectious live offering to the stages of RnV, Sunsetter and Highlife.

Fan demand sent Samson Live to the studio to work on their much-anticipated debut track which “blends lush vocals and conscious lyrics with the energy and spirit of House music. The song is a reminder to live in the moment and focus on the thing that connects us to the earth” says Sam Allen.

Breathe is out now and available on all platforms.