The Children’s Music Awards celebrate music written for Kiwi kids. For the first time they will be presented live on What Now on Sunday.
Time to celebrate Children’s music
Cory Monteith’s mother speaks out
Cory Monteith’s mother believes his first overdose at 15 was “the turning point”.
The Glee star passed away in July last year after suffering an overdose of heroin and alcohol. The 31-year-old star was known to have battled substance abuse and had been in rehab when he was younger, as well as completing a stint just months before his death.
His mother Ann has given her first interview since his passing, admitting she is still struggling to come to terms with what has happened.
“The loss is horrendous… until three days ago I couldn’t look at a picture of Cory,” she told ABC News.
“[When] Cory was 15, he did a code blue [hospital term used for those who need immediate resuscitation]. And I think that was the turning point. He had a lot of emotional things he was trying to figure out – lot of it was he really wanted a relationship with his father. I think when a child gets invalidated they keep reaching even harder. They want to find out why.”
That time is engrained on Ann’s memory as it was when she first began thinking properly about her son’s problems.
“I remember after Cory’s first OD the drive we took – all I did was stare into his eyes and hug him and look at him because I had this feeling [that] I really want to know him, because I’m not going to have him my entire life. That was way back then,” she said.
Monteith was dating his Glee co-star Lea Michele at the time of his death and she recently paid a touching tribute to him on the first anniversary. She is still in touch with Ann, texting and emailing her regularly.
“She’s hurting too… you see the sadness. I know her pain,” Ann said.
We hold you in our hearts today, and every day we remember your smile. We will love you and miss you always. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/deA4PQUZNz
— Lea Michele (@msleamichele) July 13, 2014
The actor was a quick developer and could read by the time he was three. It meant he was advanced when he got into school so he skipped year, but was still smarter than many in his class. He ended up being put into grade two, with Ann suggesting even that bored him.
“Cory had that mischievous side to him all the time. He was always kind of, you know, looking for stimulation,” she said.
The star’s mother explained he was about to sign a lease on a property in Vancouver – the area where he was raised and also died – before he passed. She believes he was ready to “ease himself out” of Hollywood.
Asked whether she could pass on any advice to parents of other stars who are struggling personally, Ann was at a loss.
“I don’t think we have power to change the choices they’re making, I think with the kind of connection Cory and I had if we couldn’t prevent that situation I don’t have the answer. What could I say to them Live the moment. Grab the second,” she said.
“I don’t think blame is a good thing to do. That was his choice.”
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– Cover Media
There’s no stopping Broods’ rise
Kiwi duo Broods’ fan base has just got a whole lot bigger.
The brother-and-sister pair from Nelson last night performed their latest single Mother and Father on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
The single from their upcoming debut album Evergreen shot straight to No 1 on Hype Machine after premiering on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 two weeks ago and has since accumulated more than 220,000 Soundcloud streams.
Produced by Lorde’s collaborator Joel Little and recorded at Auckland’s Golden Age studio, their debut featuring hits Bridges and Never Gonna Change, as well as nine new recordings, is set for release on 22 August.
Georgia and Caleb Nott musical project Broods emerged in late 2013 with the release of Bridges. The song has received more than 1.2 million streams on Soundcloud, flew up the charts and prompted a whirlwind of interest that resulted in signing international recording contracts in the USA (Capitol Records) and Britain (Polydor).
The last eight months have seen the siblings perform live in the USA, Canada, Britain and Australia with a string of showcases, support slots for the likes of Ellie Goulding, Haim and Chvrches.
In September they will support chart-topper Sam Smith on his North American tour, which will see them play legendary venues such as Hammerstein Ballroom (New York), The Greek Theatre (Los Angeles) and Ryman Auditorium (Nashville).
But before going to the States, Broods will return to New Zealand in late August to play headline shows in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
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– Stuff
Up with the play
Wellington’s Young and Hungry festival of new theatre performed and produced by people aged 15 to 25 is now in its 20th year. The festival has helped nurture some of the biggest names today in New Zealand entertainment including What We Do in the Shadows star and director Taika Waititi and Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie, who performs with Orchestra Wellington next week.
Another Young and Hungry alumnus, Wellington actress Michelle Ang, is in the United States filming Triple Nine as part of a cast that includes Kate Winslet, Woody Harrelson and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
For Kerryn Palmer, the director of the Young and Hungry comedy Second Afterlife, opening tonight, the festival reaching its 20th anniversary is of special significance. One of Palmer’s first acting jobs was in the first Young and Hungry season at Bats Theatre in 1994, where she performed in Danny Mulheron’s The War of Art.
“I was 23. I had just finished my theatre degree and a teaching diploma. I think I was teaching and performing at night,” Palmer says. Later in 1994 Palmer directed the play Off My Tongue at Bats Theatre. A year later Mulheron also approached her to perform in the television skit comedy series Skitz. Both, she says, she owes to the risk she took with Young and Hungry. “I was always a better director than I was an actor, but I always enjoyed acting.”
Palmer, who later joined the Young and Hungry board, says the festival’s vision of what it wanted to achieve was clear from the first year when it staged four plays.
“I remember going in and them saying, ‘This is a chance for you to work in a professional theatre and find out how a professional theatre works. You are working with professionals in a professional environment’. For me at the time it was a perfect step up from university. You come out of university – and it still happens – and go, ‘Great – I’ve got a theatre degree. Now what do I do with that’
“That’s the beauty of Young and Hungry. It’s certainly a way of meeting people in the profession and getting a taste of how it all goes.”
Young and Hungry teams up the 15 to 25-year-olds with seasoned playwrights and directors to stage a new play. Participants not only learn about acting, but can hone their interests in all aspects of staging a play. Palmer is mentoring two assistant directors this year for Second Afterlife, written by young Wellington playwright Ralph McCubbin Howell. McCubbin Howell has made a name for himself in the past seven years as a playwright, director and performer.
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His Trick of the Light theatre company, founded with Hannah Smith, has seen their play The Road That Wasn’t There premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe two years ago and tour New Zealand. It is being performed at Circa Two this week. His ambitious Broken River – part of Bats Theatre’s STAB season last year – was staged in the ground floor of a commercial building. Another this year, The Bookbinder, was performed in a Wellington bookshop and will be staged in the Sydney and Melbourne fringe festivals this year.
Some playwrights prefer to be hands-off when their play is being staged but Palmer was pleased that McCubbin Howell wanted to fine-tune it with her and the cast. Because McCubbin Howell also directs, the two can communicate their ideas more easily, Palmer says.
“He’s great. He’s come to rehearsals a couple of times and just watched it. He has been really supportive and he’s got great ideas and he’s generous.”
SECOND AFTERLIFE features Dan, who has moved from one internet obsession to the next, including social media with Facebook and Bebo, internet gaming with World of Warcraft and New Zealand dating websites. But Dan discovers that he can’t simply delete his internet history, including his early and, in hindsight, embarrassing profiles.
“I was wanting to write something about the internet and about how much of our lives we put up there and how it is changing the way we interact with one another,” McCubbin Howell says.
It was also a response to writing Broken River. “[That] was this big epic, quite political play and I wanted to write something that was very different to that. This was a chance to write something that was really fun and silly and playful, while still tackling some issues I think are quite important.”
McCubbin Howell was also inspired by Dante’s Inferno and “what if deleted profiles had ghosts”.
“He wakes up and finds himself, having stumbled from the path, in a dark wood which turns out to be the underworld of the internet. He encounters all the history and all the content on his pages he’s forgotten about or deleted. Through the course of the play he has do battle with the ghosts of the profiles he’s used then deleted.”
McCubbin Howell says despite the subject matter of his play and the questions it raises, he is as much reliant on the internet as most other New Zealanders. “[But] I’m still a bit of a luddite. I’ve never had an iPhone. I’m rocking a very old Nokia. It’s just got colour – but that’s the limit of its technological powers.”
– Young and Hungry, Bats Theatre, tonight until August 2 features Our Parents’ Children (6.30pm); Second Afterlife (8pm) and Uncle Minotaur, 9.30pm. The Road That Wasn’t There is at Circa Two until tomorrow, 11am and 7pm
– The Dominion Post
Lorde bags two VMA nominations
MTV released those in the running for a Video Music Award today with Lorde nominated for two and
Doprah has the world in a spin
This week Christchurch band Doprah was announced as the “Next Big Sound” on Billboard.
Each week the notable United States website lists the fastest accelerating artists during the past week, across all major social music sites, statistically predicted to achieve future success, as measured by Next Big Sound.
Doprah formed in 2013 and comprise vocalist Indira Force and Steven Marr, who handles production duties.
Marr admits to being puzzled by the Billboard proclamation of their statistical likelihood of success.
“It’s cool. I have no idea what it actually is but apparently it’s a big deal.”
In August last year Doprah released their first single, the intoxicatingly sinister and atmospheric San Pedro.
“It was the first Doprah song,” says Marr.
“I had a really big cactus trip in July and got intensely into electronic music and became obsessed with trying to make something sound beautiful. I was having quite a bad time at the start and trying to recreate the feeling through sound.
“It has no lyrics, it’s all gibberish.”
Earlier this year, Doprah were the support for Lorde at her post-Grammy homecoming show in Auckland, played St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, performed with Liam Finn and the curated boutique festival Camp A Low Hum.
Last month they released their self-titled debut EP, recorded in Marr’s bedroom, via Arch Hill and premiered a video for Stranger People, co-directed by Auckland-based Thunderlips, in the United States on SPIN Magazine’s website.
In just over three weeks it has notched up more than 57,000 hits on YouTube and has been featured on music blogs worldwide.
Visually it is inspired by J-Pop. The wild anime dollhouse theme turns Force into the epitome of kawaii (cute) while Marr, dressed in drag, is the omniscient force above all.
Doprah’s take on the control of female pop stars in the music industry, the video has sparked a conversation about cultural appropriation.
“People are asking us about the video without asking about the music at all and that frustrates me a little bit,” Force says. “The videos will always be a visual accompaniment to the music. It’s about the music. “Controversy isn’t something I’m opposed to. You can’t do anything really creative without some kind of controversy.”
Her biggest fear, she says, is being misunderstood. “No-one is going to interpret it the way in which we made it.
“It’s something I’ve had to get accustomed to as our music is starting to become more public. Just doing what you feel is good and sticking to that is, I think, really important.”
As one commentator, presumably a “redneck” spoof review on Tennesseerecord.com noted: “Offbeet acks like Doprah may seem ta be jes a’visitin’ air worl, but wen thay sound thishere good, thay deserve t’ welcum mat.”
This weekend Doprah, which expands to a six-piece in a live setting, is performing two fundraising shows in Dunedin.
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“We’re fundraising to go over to the United States,” Marr explains. “We’re a six person band and we’re taking a sound guy so we need to get money together to take seven people. It’s really expensive. We got some money from Outward Sound but we still need to find around $15,000.”
Originally they planned to leave at the end of this month but there was the possibility of a tour with Kimbra so plans were delayed. That particular tour didn’t eventuate but Doprah have two major festivals booked in the United States this year, the esteemed CMJ festival and another festival in Los Angeles.
“The main reason we are going is because we have a manager and a publicist over there,” Force explains. “We are definitely chatting to a lot of different labels internationally about signing to them. Arch Hill has been really great so far and will continue to be our label in Australia and New Zealand.
“We probably will be looking at other labels in America and the United Kingdom.”
Marr says when they were asked to put together a band for the Auckland 95bFM Fancy New Band Showcase last year he had two requirements: “That they were good musicians and that they weren’t dicks.”
Thus, Doprah features Simon Palmer on bass, Ryan Chin on drums (Sandfly Bay/Rickshaw/Ryan Fisherman), Hunter Jackson (The River Jones) and Marr’s bass playing bandmate in Ipswich, Matt Gunn.
“He’s on keyboards. I asked him to join the band on the way out the door to the first practice because I couldn’t be bothered walking to the practice and he had a car.”
Doprah began, under the name Doprah Winfrey, and was Marr’s electronic solo project.
When Force joined, the name was shortened to simply Doprah.
While it has been reported elsewhere that Marr chose the name after an interview Oprah Winfrey did with disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, which led to #Doprah twending on Twitter, he disputes this.
“We were already Doprah by then. I remember waking up and #Doprah was trending on Twitter and I got really excited for a minute.”
Doprah are certainly trending now.
Marr and Force met via Rockquest, in a way.
“I stalked her out online,” Marr laughs.
“I watch the Rockquest videos every year. I get bored and sometimes you can find something quite cool or just mildly entertaining.”
He saw a performance by Force, who was living in Auckland at the time, admired her acapella vocals and “great voice” and approached her with a view to including it with his electronic music.
“Rockquest is something everyone does,” Force says. “I found electronic music offered more possibilities. Meeting Steven opened more doors. I like that.”
Force says she wishes she’d helped to write more of their first song, San Pedro.
“I did my vocals, Steven chopped them up and that’s how it came out. I moved down to Christchurch last year to start working on the album.”
She believes the biggest aspiration of any musician is to make music no-one has ever done before.
Doprah’s sound cannot be labelled, pigeon-holed and put in a box. If you’re searching for vague signposts, think Radiohead, Massive Attack, Tricky or Portishead.
Overseas reviews have described their music as everything from trip-hop to “cloud rap” and “dance club music”.
“I wouldn’t really call it trip-hop,” Marr says. “And I don’t know where cloud rap came from.”
Force agrees.
“I didn’t rap.”
She says she knows people want to relate the music to something or know what it sounds like but she loves the idea that their music lies outside genre description.
“Genres should be pushed to the side. I like that people struggle with that because that’s a good sign to me.”
When you make music you share a part of yourself. It’s a vulnerable state to be in.
“People are shoving their souls up on YouTube,” Force says.
“It’s a very naked way to be. I personally appreciate it if music is honest and vulnerable and has genuine qualities.”
Both Force and Marr have other musical outlets.
Force performs solo as Indi, while Marr’s “post-punk post-rock” outlet, Ipswich – self-described on bandcamp.com as “three losers making music for other losers” – is currently “on hiatus”.
“For me my solo project is the fun experimental side of what I do,” Force says. “It is good to have another creative outlet.”
Force is looking forward to going overseas and sharing their music.
“My main priority as soon as I got in a band was ‘I have to get out of New Zealand’ because if you stay you are f…ed because you need to get out there and explore the world.”
She is unsure if their full-length album will be released this year or next but she is excited about finishing it.
“I’d really like to hear a fully complete version of our work over the last year.”
Marr says he has been working on it, in part, at Lyttelton’s The Sitting Room studio.
Force has a compelling stage presence. She immerses herself in each performance.
“I’m worried it’s too much. I watched a video recently and I finally saw myself. I was all sweaty and my face was making weird shapes and I thought ‘I have to tone it down’.”
On stage she likes to feed off the crowd. She never wants to be in a band which is just going through the motions.
“I find it hard to watch a band who isn’t getting into it. I’ve always admired expressive players and singers. At the same time I despise the expectations of front people. I think everyone in the band does an equal amount.”
It’s a fine line, however.
While she believes the live experience is something which should be a performance it shouldn’t become too much about the performance.
“Like Taylor Swift’s 13 costume changes. Why do they do that”
Perhaps it’s because the music is bland
This is not an accusation which could ever be levelled at Doprah.
Forget the statistics, out of Christchurch, the next big sound is here.
THE DETAILS:
Doprah play two shows in Dunedin tonight and Saturday night, fundraising for their United States tour. See doprah.bandcamp.com, and the Doprah Weekend Fundraising Extravaganza Facebook page.
They are also included on the recently announced lineup for this year’s Rhythm & Alps festival, to be held at Cardrona Valley on December 30-31, alongside Bastille, Shapeshifter, Zane Lowe, Chet Faker, Just Blaze, London Elektricity and more. See rhythmandalps.co.nz
– Canterbury
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