Songwriter sings praises of two-minute noodles

What do music and two minute noodles have in common? Both are beloved of Carterton-based singer/songwriter Roger Greenaway.
He is staying in Carterton recording guide tracks for his third album and last weekend enlisted the atmospheric backdrop of Jan Anderson and Kim Jury's Ponatahi farm to shoot footage for a new song.
The song has the working title Momofuku in honour of "Noodle Papa" Momofuku Ando, the Taiwanese/Japanese inventor of the two-minute noodle and the cup noodle, a man Greenaway thinks is under-represented in the pop pantheon.
Greenaway said it was bizarre and "a bit backwards" that the video was being shot before the song had been written but Wairarapa's parched countryside had provided him with a muse.
"Driving back and forth to my mate's place in Martinborough the gum stand and the hill at Kim's place looked like a place to check out.
"I was lucky to run into Kim and Jan the first time I drove out there. They're pretty relaxed folks and were happy to let us film there.
"Kim even took us on a tour of the place, it's been in his family for six generations and he was really informative."
Greenaway, his wife and four children are stopping over in Carterton while he lays down guide tracks for his third album and will head to Switzerland in April where he will finish off recording either in that country or England.
"My family and I have moved here from Upper Hutt on our way overseas, my sister is getting married to a bloke from Carterton and we're helping them set up their house before we go.
"Two of my kids are spending a term at Carterton Primary School. I've been travelling around out here this summer and the contrast between the dry earth and blue sky is really something, at times it feels like a desert."
Greenaway said it's been about a year since he fully concentrated on writing. "I thought about it for ages then went through a bit of a blank spot when I arrived in Carterton and finally had the time to put my new ideas down. For a few weeks nothing seemed to be working. Then a couple of days before I went out to Kim's place I found my muse so to speak and the music sounds good.
"The concept for the video has morphed into what it is as we go along, which is perhaps, an unusual approach. It's come out of the creative process I 'm going through, the times when the music isn't flowing so freely seem to belong with the dry unproductive earth, and the empty blue skies. And we shot footage of me and my guitar out there, looking for my 'muse'.
"I heard somewhere it's been the driest summer since 1972 and after filming out at Kim's in a dried-out watering hole, I know what they mean by dry! But it sure feels incredible to stand up on that hill and almost step into blue sky."
Greenaway said the plan is to add animation to the footage reflecting the creative rush he gets when he has "something worth working on".
He will perform an acoustic set at the Lounge in Carterton on Saturday, April 12.