What Do We Know?

Born and raised in Mumbai, India, Aditya Kalyanpur began playing the Tabla as a toddler and his life since has been deeply immersed in his music.  He was trained by highly respected Tabla Maestro, the late Alla Rakha Khanand and by the time he was a teenager he was performing regularly and working as a session musician on albums and radio jingles.  In his early twenties Aditya was invited to recor...

Huia is a multi-talented music professional with many strings to her bow.  She's a singer / songwriter who performs in Te Reo Māori, she works at Kog Studio as publicist, she founded Integrity Promotions to look after the PR and management of performers, her Grandfather was artist & poet Rei Hamon and she's married to musician and mastering engineer Chris Chetland.  She's a hard...

Musician Joel Haines grew up immersed in music and his journey establishing a career happened organically.  His father Kevin Haines and brother Nathan Haines are both highly respected musicians in their own right and all three of them have carved out impressive careers and gained high praise and respect from their peers.  (We had Nathan on the show a few years ago on Episode #14)  Joel has worked...

Today (May 12th, 2020) we've posted a special edition of the podcast with Dr Siouxsie Wiles.  Dr Wiles is a British microbiologist and science communicator who specialises in infectious diseases and bioluminescence.  She's been a regular expert voice in the New Zealand media throughout this pandemic, while juggling her professional and personal commitments.   We recorded this episode a f...

Brad Stent is an entrepreneur, a filmmaker, a voice artist and presenter who began his professional life early, with youthful confidence and reckless abandon.  He was presenting his first radio show at fifteen years old and he had established a company making advertisements before he turned twenty.  A few years in, his professional and personal life unravelled and Brad spiralled to rock bottom whe...

Te Radar is a highly respected and well-known comedian, documentarian and social and political commentator who has worked in war-zones, dived with sharks, played with scorpions and even plunged into the Ross Sea in Antarctica wearing only a skimpy pair of togs.  You know Te Radar from his various shows including Off The Radar, Eating the Dog, Nine to Noon and War Tourist – Christmas in Bethlehem....

Bonnie Hurunui came from humble beginnings in a family that didn’t have much money but had a lot of love and positivity.  After her studies, she worked in retail and then the corporate world, living a very normal non-show business life.  When she decided to pursue music seriously in her thirties, she hadn’t been warped by the music industry and all the experience she gained in her career gave her...

Karin Horen is a TV Presenter, MC, Motivational Speaker, Founder of Paddle for Hope and an Author, but above all Karin is a survivor.  She grew up in Israel, survived two rounds of breast cancer, a failed marriage and the resulting emotional rollercoaster that continues to this day and yet somehow amongst the chaos, Karin found the strength to fight back, beat her cancer (twice) launch the charity...

Musician Jim Hall started his career in Christchurch in the 1960s and so began an epic musical journey and personal adventure.  Over the years he’s worked with a long list of great artists including Cilla Black, Ray Columbus, Ian Morris, Eddie Rayner and many more.  In the 1980s Jim established a very successful business recording and producing music for TV commercials and these days he is dedicat...

Alan Brown is a top pianist, Hammond organist, teacher and all round music professional.  His projects have included Blue Train, Grand Central Band, Alan Brown Trio, Alargo and his two stunning solo albums ‘Silent Observer’ and ‘Composure’.  In addition he’s worked with a long list of fantastic musicians including both Nathan and Joel Haines.  Alan is a true musician, journeyman, a family man, a h...

You know Kurt from Stellar*, Delete Delete, Splitter and his solo album called Blood Line Heart (2012).  As well as having a busy career as a musician, Kurt become a concert promoter working with people like Greg Johnson, Midge Ure, Lloyd Cole and many more.  On this episode we discuss Kurt’s approach to managing shows and tours, he talks about joining up with Boh Runga, Andrew Maclaren and eventu...

Wayne Bell’s career changed gear when he started playing drums for When The Cats Away and from there he went on to work with Dave Dobbyn, Jan Hellriegel, Andrew Fagan, Bic Runga, Greg Johnson, Ian Morris, Gin Wigmore, Greg Fleming and Tim Finn.  Not only has Wayne established himself as a world class drummer, he’s had great success as a producer, he’s world in television music production and now w...

Episode #84 is now available! Our guest is our very own Bobby Kennedy!  Keeping with the tradition of the show, Danny and Bobby open the new year by chatting to each other about anything and everything.  In their fifth instalment our hosts discuss movies, politics, art, deep fake, the music industry, how to find hope in this crazy world and plenty more.  This is the show where honesty is welcomed,...

Jasper and his family sold everything, flew to Croatia to pick up their new boat and spent a couple of years sailing around the world. In part 1 Jasper talked about his motivation for the trip, their time in Croatia, venturing out into the Mediterranean, stopping in Tunisia and eventually crossing the Atlantic Ocean and the Panama Canal.  In part 2 his journey continues as he recounts their experi...

The Great Adventure Part 1 with Nick Granville and Jasper de Roos.  Do you ever get tired of the grind?  Do you ever feel like packing it all in and setting off on a life changing adventure?  Today we talk to two people who did just that.  Nick Granville and Jasper de Roos have both been on the show before and in the time since, have both thrown caution to the wind and set off into the great unkno...

Jackie Clarke is a well known and much loved singer and personality in New Zealand, having graced the stage and televisions screens over a long, diverse and impressive career.  In this candid and action packed conversation we discuss her approach to performance and technique, how she has forged a career in a male dominated industry, her reservations about the relevance of music qualifications, how...

Mark Rankin is a Grammy award winning mix engineer and music producer who's credits include critically acclaimed albums by CeeLo Green, Iggy Pop, Florence And The Machine, Foster The People, Queens Of The Stone Age and Adele.  Mark was in New Zealand for the NZ Music Producer Series and after a busy week in the studio, he sat down with Danny McCrum to reflect on his life and career.  They dis...

Chris is a songwriter, performer and entrepreneur who has recently had huge success with his children’s books and songs.  Having grown up in England, Chris moved to New Zealand with his family when he was a teenager and soon immersed himself in kiwi life.  He found his way into music almost by accident and before long he was performing regularly at numerous functions, weddings and bars.  In 2007 h...

Guitarist Chet O’Connell started performing at very young age with his fathers band and eventually moved to Auckland to become one of the busiest professional guitarists in New Zealand. He’s performed with and supported many music greats including Tommy Emmanuel, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Midge Marsden, Hammond Gamble, The Ladykillers, Dr John, Kenny Rogers, Joe Cocker and Cher. Chet’s passion fir...

Anyone that hears Brett Adams perform knows they’re listening to a world-class guitar player.  Considering his dedication and experience this should come as no surprise.  Brett has played for a long list of great artists including The Mockers, When The Cats Away, The Bads and for the last twelve years Tim Finn. In the mid-nineties he toured with his band as support for Radiohead and unwittingly in...

Jaime Vokes is the singer, guitarist and manager of covers band Hands Off.  Hands Off have included many top musicians and have been playing bars, weddings and functions for twenty years.  They're a full time band performing several times a week and they truly operate as a business. As well as rehearsing regularly the band juggle all aspects of the business; the promotion, admin, customer lia...

Ken Zemke grew up in Buffalo, New York before finding his way to Hollywood where he joined the emerging Television industry as an editor.  He worked on many iconic shows including Hogan’s Heroes, The Waltons and Fantasy Island and he was supervising editor on the documentary film Elvis On Tour, which won a Golden Globe for best feature documentary.  One of his assistants on the film was a then unk...

Guitarist, pianist and vocalist Mal McCallum has been performing and recording throughout New Zealand and Australia since the early 1970s.  On this episode we talk about his experiences trying to make it in the early days including many a lesson learnt. He describes the gigging scene back in the day, we discuss The Beatles, the ‘concept album’ and the influence Tommy Emmanuel has had on each of us...

Gavin Downie returns for his second full episode.  These days Gavin manages the Music In The Parks series and was recently faced with an unprecedented dilemma.  The horrific shooting in Christchurch on March 15th, 2019 shocked the country and amongst the subsequent grief and anger, very practical questions and disruptions were raised.  Gavin had Rock The Park ready to go at Grey Lynn Park in Auckl...

Lisa Crawley is one of the most proactive and skilled musicians out there. She’s released several albums and EPs including her new single ‘Girl With No Name’.  She’s supported many international  artists including John Mayer and Jools Holland and she’s played as a session musician for artists like Greg Johnson and Tim Finn.  On this episode we discussed her journey through life and the music indus...