What Do We Know?

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...

Melbourne songwriter Michael Burrows has landed on his feet, but not in the way he ever imagined.  Like most young musicians he wanted to be a well known and respected songwriter and performer, but the realities of life and bills forced him to problem solve.  As a response Michael set up a business writing and selling jingles, some of which have become part of the soundtrack of Australian life.  A...

Bryan Bell has been a firm fixture of the New Zealand music scene for many years.  Throughout the 1990s he fronted his band the Dead Flowers, releasing three albums, touring constantly and supporting bands like Guns n Roses and Pearl Jam.  When The Dead Flowers wrapped, he was invited to join the Jordan Luck Band and later Ekko Park.  Bryan’s views and his approach to his career are refreshingly p...

Mark Lettieri is one of the guitarists for legendary fusion band Snarky Puppy.  He's played for a long list of great artists including Erykah Badu, American Idol: Season 11 winner Phillip Phillips, Nelly, David Crosby, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Adam Levine and even comedians Dave Chappelle and Harry Shearer.  Mark has released several solo albums including his latest 'Deep: The Barito...

He’s a radio presenter, a prolific author and an all round good-bastard.  Justin is the kind of guy that thinks up crazy ideas and then goes and does them!  His adventures have included travelling around the UK door to door busking.  “I knocked on the door, played them a song and next minute I was plucking a turkey!”  Justin’s world was turned upside down during the recession and after a short per...

Joel Shadbolt grew up in Tauranga and quickly gained a reputation as a stand out guitarist on the local scene, playing in both original and covers bands.  He was briefly a member of Batucada Sound Machine before receiving an invite from Laughton Kora which lead to the formation of L.A.B.  L.A.B. have been touring extensively over the last couple of years and have just released their second album. ...

He was Props Boy on What Now, guitarist for Autozamm, he runs a post production film company and he now manages Alae.  The insatiable Mikee Carpinter sits down with Danny to chat about the evolving guitar culture, why so many top NZ artists have come out of Christchurch, behind the scenes on the What Now set, the inner works of Autozamm and why he decided to put on the managers hat for Alae.  Ther...

For the first episode of each year Bobby Kennedy and Danny McCrum catch up about their lives and careers.  On their fourth such episode they discuss Danny’s new upcoming album and the writing and production process behind it. They each share their experiences and struggles on past recording and creative projects.  They discuss the ‘post-truth’ era, the manufactured aspect of modern pop music, whet...

Sylvia is a world renowned producer who has worked with Tool, Prince, Tom Petty, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash, Barbra Streisand, Smashing Pumpkins and many more.  She’s one of the most innovative and courageous producers out there and her irreverent recording practices have become legendary.  On this episode Danny and Sylvia talk about her approach to music, her experiences working with some...

Piano player, vibraphone player, coffee connoisseur, Los Angeles socialite and Sylvester Stallone fan Alex Burke is a true artist who seemingly exists in his own world and who can’t touch an instrument without making sparks fly.  He was the youngest musical director for the legendary comedy show Second City, he’s performed and recorded for many years around Chicago, New York and L.A. and has worke...

English drummer Chris Bailey has played with the likes of Chaka khan, Boy George, Britney Spears, Nick Jonas, Desree and many more.  Having established himself in the UK music scene, Chris relocated to L.A. and found himself starting again as an unknown in the sprawling, highly competitive concrete city.  Danny sat down with Chris at a studio in Hollywood and the two musicians compared notes and d...

One of the most highly regarded songwriters in New Zealand, Greg Johnson bounced around the local music scene playing jazz and listening to punk before gaining national attention with his breakthrough single Isabelle. Greg now lives and works in Santa Monica, CA and Danny McCrum recently caught up with him to record an honest and inspiring conversation about the highs and lows of Greg’s life in th...

Dr Kirsten Zemke is a Senior Lecturer in Ethnomusicology in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Auckland. She specialises in teaching popular music history and has a particular interest in New Zealand hip hop. We sat down with Kirsten this week and touched on many subjects from genre, to the Eminem vs. The National Party copyright case, to Bounce Music. What is Bounce Music I hear y...

Dane Girauds’ life took an unexpected turn when his band broke up, the hair-metal era abruptly ended and he found himself suddenly single, drunk on vodka and Raro, while wearing fishnet stockings in a new world of flannel. Perhaps this was a good thing as he eventually found his way into acting and writing and has since had a fascinating and prolific career. Dane began his screen career by starrin...

Shaun Howes is a comedian and entrepreneur from Wellington. He’s performed sold out seasons at the 2011 and 2015 New Zealand International Comedy Festivals and internationally in Australia, Hong Kong and the UK. At 23 years old he became the youngest Regional Manager for The CD & DVD Store, helped labels sign artists and was even a judge (three times) at the New Zealand Music Awards. We chat a...

On this episode we discuss what it’s like being part of the LGBT community in New Zealand and in the music industry. We make no presumptions going in, instead we simply have an open and honest conversation with two individuals about their personal experiences. Alex Farrell-Davey is the singer/songwriter from upcoming band Alae and Jak Stone is the guitar player for Motorboat and previously Heathen...