This was a gift from Rob Ruha and his wife Cilla. They're two musicians who run a programme with about 40 young people from the East Coast. They gave it to me after working on a record with that group, called Ka Hao, at the start of this year.
This bone flute is called a kōauau. It's a traditional instrument worn around the neck. It's pretty cool because you can keep it with you. It's the most portable instrument that I have.
Ka Hao came down to Wellington and we walked into Massey University, which is a bit like Nasa, with this amazing studio. They just let us at this place which must be worth millions and million of dollars in gear. They gave us free rein in there. I felt like someone had given me the keys to their Ferrari and then asked me to park it in a really tight car park.
We recorded over four days. I was producing, recording and engineering under Rob and Cilla's directions. We finished the album and it's like a gospel record with a choir of 40 kids.
They're a special, special group of people and, on my last night with them, they had almost broken me. It was absolute chaos making music with these kids for almost a week. We were there for four days straight of music and by the end of it I had hardly slept. My kids were with me so I was wiping noses in between takes. I'd have to shoot out and buy them a Domino's pizza or be like, "Hey kids, just give me five minutes ... here's some money for lollies."