New Zealand music pioneer Doug Hood dies at 70

Doug Hood has died, aged 70. Photo / Dianne Clayton, Audioculture via RNZ

By Graham Smith of RNZ

New Zealand music pioneer Doug “Hoody” Hood has died aged 70, his son Jack confirmed on Tuesday afternoon.

“My mum Victoria and I were here with dad when he died, it was very peaceful and dignified,” Jack Hood, 36, told RNZ.

Doug Hood had been staying at Elizabeth Knox Home and Hospital in Epsom, Auckland for the past few years.

“It’s been a hard battle for him the last couple of years, and he lived his life on his own terms,” Jack said.

Te Kūiti-born Hood, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2022, had a long and distinguished career in New Zealand music as an engineer, manager and later a promoter for local and international touring bands.

Hood engineered The Clean’s legendary Boodle Boodle Boodle EP for Flying Nun in 1981 on a primitive four-track owned by his great friend and Toy Love frontman Chris Knox.

A practical man with a great ear, he went on to engineer the Flying Nun’s Dunedin Double EP, a 1982 compilation which was the recording debut of The Chills, The Verlaines, Sneaky Feelings and the Stones.

His engineering skills were also put to good use on New Zealand’s live scene and Hood was resident sound man at the Auckland’s Windsor Castle pub in the early 1980s – practically every New Zealand band of the time played there.

As he was a booker for the Windsor Castle, this led Hood naturally into promotion and he founded Looney Tours.

“He instilled a good work ethic in all the bands he toured around the country during the Looney Tours days and he made certain that The Chills saved enough money for our first excursion overseas: to London (and Brighton) in late 1985,” the late Martin Phillipps told AudioCulture in 2022.

“Doug also made sure that everyone had fun! Occasionally too much, but he has always had that rock and roll spirit – and it is infectious,” said Phillipps.

Looney Tours brought numerous big names to New Zealand including the Violent Femmes, Billy Bragg, New Order, John Cale, PiL and Iggy Pop.

Hood then brought the Big Day Out festival to New Zealand in 1994.

AudioCulture ran a tribute to Hood in 2022 when he became seriously unwell and numerous voices from the industry paid tribute to him.

“We, as a nation, are often slow to honour our cultural giants but Doug Hood surely was one. I don’t know if Doug, who had not had an easy few years, saw all of the many letters and words of support and love that flowed in, some from people in high places, but most simply from people whose lives had been changed positively, often forever, by his vision and determination. If he did, I imagine he smiled and then humbly returned to his lifelong passions of music, friendship (and rugby),” lifelong friend and founding editor of AudioCulture, Simon Grigg told RNZ.

Hood was made Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the music industry in 2023.