Usually, music comes first, then random vowels and consonants will appear with a melody attached. I will then work backward to try find meaning. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
4. What is your favourite song to perform live and why?
Fast Times in Tahoe. It was the first song Justyn and I wrote together. It was the song that essentially started the band. We made a rough demo of it (twice actually) once at a studio Justyn was interning at (Deepgrooves on High St) and then again at our apartment with a super cool microphone that we managed to "borrow" from Neil Finn's studio.
5. Are you performing new music in your live shows, and is there a new release on the horizon?
Maybe. We recorded a bunch of new songs in L.A recently. We're still working on them so depends on the vibe.
6. What does success as a musician mean to you?
It's meant many things to me over the years. I keep on tweaking it to correlate with what I actually have. Music is an unfaithful bed maiden that requires a very careful attention in terms of your "happiness". It can easily get twisted and distorted and very quickly you're focused on things you don't have and the "goal posts" of what success means tend to keep moving just out of reach. So know, success to me is playing music with my friends (who I love) to people who get something out of it. We're still lucky enough to have that all these years later so to me that is a success.
7. Do you still come across people who don't realise your name comes from the alphabet?
Not really, no.
8. What message would you give any young person wanting to be a successful musician?
Practise. A lot. This is also what I would tell the younger version of myself because I think I heavily relied on inspiration and magic.
9. You can only fit one album by another artist on your device — what is it?
Doolittle by The Pixies
10. You're curating a music festival. Who's on the bill, alive or dead?
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Paul Simon, but 1980's Paul Simon
Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) - any era of this guy would be just fine with me
The Phoenix Foundation - the entire world needs to hear this band, not just New Zealand.
Louder Louder Spring NZ tour 2018
October 19 New Plymouth, The Mayfair
October 20 Tauranga, Totara Street
October 21 Napier, The Cabana
October 26 Auckland, The Brownzy
October 27 Whangarei, Old Stone Butter Factory
November 2 Kingsland, Nectar Bar
November 3 Wellington, Meow
November 9 Christchurch, Blue Smoke
November 10 Dunedin Craft Beer & Food Fest (sold out)
November 11 Queenstown, The Sherwood
Tickets from Undertheradar
Wellington tickets from justtheticket.com
