Sweetman Podcast

An in-depth track-by-track conversation through the brand new Spines album Epidural with Hannah Fraser and Jon McLeary. Jon is the singer/songwriter and founding member of the Spines, a Wellington band of over 36 years - Hannah is the new girl in the band, she's been a member of the Spines across the last 2-3 years (backing vocals, keys, violin). We talk about the history of these songs and the ba...

An in-depth chat with Kiwi-based, internationally renowned pianist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Crayford. We talk through his time in New Zealand and abroad as student and teacher, as player of solo piano and bandleader of small and large combos, as bassist and multi-instrumentalist, as acoustic and electric performer and writer. We talk too of music theory, of the nature of influe...

An in-depth chat with Roy Phillips of The Peddlers. We talk Swinging Sixties London and the trajectory of the band across a decade of international touring - with stories of meeting and hanging out with the likes of Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Donny Hathaway, Rod Steiger and so many more. And then to New Zealand, where Roy's been based since 1981, to the evolution of his solo show as one-man-band pedd...

An in-depth chat with Steve Rattle - record producer, engineer, musician, and label owner. Steve is the man behind Rattle Records - an imprint of quality 'art' music from New Zealand - featuring jazz, classical and the bits in-between, home to movie soundtracks and ambitious pieces. Steve is also a drummer who has worked with Sharon O'Neill, the earliest version of The Mutton Birds and many more a...

An in-depth chat with Tamzin Beazley, wife of Head Like A Hole frontman, Booga Beazley. We talk about the documentary film, "Swagger of Thieves", currently doing the NZ Film Festival circuit. We talk too of the impacts on her and family as key parts of the film and filming process; we talk band and rock'n'roll, drug addiction, break-ups, reunions and rock'n'roll... Get full access to Sounds Good!...

An in-depth chat with filmmaker Gaylene Preston. We talk, mostly, about Helen Clark and Gaylene's current film festival-touring doco, My Year With Helen. We talk United Nations, feminism, women, the "glass ceiling", the making of the film - but we also talk about Preston's other movies, her docos in particular - films about Kiwi icons like Rita Angus and the movie 'Utu', the power "War Stories Our...

An in-depth chat with broadcaster, freelance writer and now podcaster Melody Thomas. We preview her upcoming RNZ podcast, "Bang!" and talk through her life and career as a freelancer for RNZ, her time at radio school, her broadcast training, her love of podcasts - and music - and we reminisce about the time/s we were going to do a radio show (or podcast) together as co-hosts... Get full access to...

An in-depth chat with Janna Lapidus Leblanc. She was Stevie Ray Vaughan's fiancee at the time of his death; they met four years earlier in Wellington - she's a Kiwi, now based in America. She has recently written and published a book of photos that tells the story of their love affair. Janna and I talk about Stevie, his music, their relationship, her book. We talk too about her life, her upbringin...

An in-depth chat with Holly Walker, mother, former Greens MP, author of "The Whole Intimate Mess" a brief, candid memoir that addresses her struggles with depression and self-harm, with working in politics as a mother; we talk also of the work she had done ahead of politics and after as student newspaper editor and freelance writer, radio commentator, podcast guest and host and as book reviewer. W...

An in-depth chat with musician, critic and educator Norman Meehan. We talk through his involvement with music as a writer of biographies and dialogues around music, as a player and composer, as a critic and a teacher. And we pay special attention to the winning collaboration/s with poet Bill Manhire and singer Hannah Griffin across a half-dozen or more recording projects and performance pieces ove...

An in-depth chat with Rodger Fox - very much the face of jazz and big band music for New Zealand; ex member of The Quincy Conserve and now leader, for over 40+ years of The Rodger Fox Big Band and various other smaller ensembles, including his Funkbone Experience, also a promoter, arranger, educator and tireless supporter of music and musicians. We talked through his career, his highlights and his...

An in-depth chat with Jeremy Taylor of Slow Boat Records. He's a singer/songwriter, former food blogger, rugby writer, music reviewer, singer and voice for hire...and he and I have been having versions of this conversation for about a decade now, trapped in discussion around music, TV, comedy, films, and in this instance...even a bit of rugby. Buckle up for a huge conversation to celebrate two yea...

An in-depth chat with Colin Hogg - rock writer, Women's Weekly columnist, TV producer...Colin's done it all really...and we talk about his many book projects and documentaries and his journalism career that started nearly 50 years ago as a young cadet and saw him become the leading rock writer in New Zealand across the late 1970s and into the 1980s. A candid conversation with one of my writing her...

An in-depth conversation with writer Jeffrey Paparoa Holman. We talk a lot about Bob Dylan, in the context of Jeffrey's latest volume, "Dylan Junkie". We then work through Holman's life - arriving to New Zealand from England as a toddler, living on the West Coast of the South Island, discovering the music of Dylan and then off wandering, story-gathering, settling into poetry, casting off demons, m...

An in-depth chat with TV/Film/Theatre actor/director/writer Danny Mulheron. From his early days working with Peter Jackson to his recent years churning out TV documentaries and feature films Mulheron has worked - solidly - across the arts. He was a child star, a stand-up comedian, collaborator across musicals and cabarets, and then on through film and TV and theatre work. We talk about all of this...

An in-depth chat with Shelagh Magadza, Artistic Director of the NZ Festival, incorporating the Wellington Jazz Festival. We talk about her background, her commitment to the concept of Festivals, her work in both Australia and New Zealand and then we plug the upcoming Wellington Jazz Festival, previewing and profiling the great names involved from local talent to international stars including Diann...

An in-depth chat with Patrick ("Paddy") Gower, TV3/Newshub Political Editor. We talk about his history as a journalist, from shoe-leather shuffling for the NZ Herald to crime reporting, freelancing in the UK, returning to NZ to work in the press gallery and then moving into TV. We talk about some of his big grabs and big interviews and we talk about our shared history, as friends from university....

An in-depth chat with Wellington DJ, Simon Bendall - aka DJ Bill E. For over 20 years he's been one of the mainstay DJs in and on the scene. We talk about the importance of Greg Churchill, we talk about Bill's two long-running club nights, "Atomic" and "24HourPartyPeople" - his Anglophile love of post-punk, punk and pop music; his upcoming Kiwi version of Atomic, "See Me Go", his record buying, li...

An in-depth chat with Wellington-based writer Sarah Jane Barnett. She has two published volumes of poetry, is the literary editor for The Pantograph Punch and has published essays, reviews, literary criticism and interviews alongside her poetry and prose. She studied creative writing at Victoria University and Massey with an MA and PhD. We talk about her literary career and aspirations - we talk i...

An in-depth conversation with Phil Judd, singer/songwriter, founding member of Split Enz, creator of "Mental Notes" - one of the greatest records to come out of New Zealand, painter and artist, record producer, film soundtrack composer, solo artist. He also created the Swingers and wrote "Counting The Beat" and the criminally underrated band, Schnell-Fenster. He's made a half dozen solo albums too...

An in-depth chat with actor/director/acting coach Miranda Harcourt. We talk through her 50-year career from child-star to coaching child-stars. She still works in film - acting and directing - but also has a career as an internationally renowned acting coach. Whether you know her from radio plays or kids TV (narrating Hairy Maclary), from her early defining role on NZ TV's "Gloss" or for her film...

An in-depth chat with my good friend Nik Jarvie-Waldrom. In particular we talk podcasts and podcasting, we look at her amazing series "Fathom" that recently played (and can still be heard) on RNZ. We unpack each episode and talk through her process of interviewing and story-telling. And to get to that we talk through her background as a musician, writer, drama student, as someone with background i...

An in-depth chat with actor and director Lyndee-Jane Rutherford. We talk through her career from the farm in Feilding to acting school, via a whole lot of amateur theatre productions. From Am-Dram to TV ('Skitz'), some film work, voiceovers, ads - the works. She's been a mainstay at Circa Theatre in Wellington across most of the last 20 years, with acting work and directing too. We talk about the...

An in-dept chat with NZ-based, internationally busy drummer, producer, DJ, beat-maker Myele Manzanza. We talk about the recording and release of his brand new live album, his time with Electric Wire Hustle and his methods and pursuits as a dynamic musician with the confidence and drive to work internationally. We talk about his time touring with Theo Parrish, his work collaborations with the likes...

An in-depth chat with Paul McLaney - lost in the archive and now, finally, found - presented for the first time despite being about 18 months old...we talk Gramsci and The Impending Adorations, we talk about his solo albums and contributions to the music industry as a player and publisher (Mushroom) as well as some deviations to discuss Dire Straits and Jethro Tull... Get full access to Sounds Goo...