An in-depth conversation with musician, composer, arranger and producer Claire Cowan. She is the leader of the Blackbird Ensemble, she is writing a brand new score for the Royal New Zealand Ballet, she is a soundtrack composer for TV and film and is both a writer and performer (cello, piano, guitar, percussion). So we talked through her life and work and plugged the current Blackbird Ensemble Bjork shows. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe...
Oct 17, 2019•1 hr 3 min
An in-depth conversation with Wellington actor Simon Leary. We talk through his life and the steps he took to train and learn the craft of acting. We talk improv, drama, comedy, writing, the pantomime, via touchstones including The Simpsons and The Office. And we plug the brand new Circa Theatre show, "COCK" and the upcoming pantomime which Simon is not only starring in but is also co-writing. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe...
Oct 09, 2019•1 hr 38 min
An in-depth conversation with Japanese/Kiwi musician Mark de Clive-Lowe. We chat about his journey through his bi-cultural heritage and Kiwi upbringing to being an international jazz citizen of the world, currently living in America. We talk about meeting heroes, making music with them, working with Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe
Oct 03, 2019•2 hr 6 min
An in-depth conversation with Dean Chandler. The Wellington-based singer/songwriter released his self-titled debut album in the early/mid-00s and it featured guest appearances by Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Bic Runga, Larry Campbell and was produced by Brady Blade. The album ran its course and disappeared. It's largely forgotten. And Dean has full time employment far away from the music industry. We revisited his story and how all of this happened. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetm...
Sep 26, 2019•1 hr 6 min
An in-depth conversation with investigative journalist, reporter, producer Paula Penfold. We talk journalism - we talk about some of the cases she's cracked and worked on, about the work pressures and the stress of trolls. We talk about producing and what goes on behind the scenes, about dedication to the story and the work she's doing now at Stuff Circuit as well as the work she's done as broadcaster and producer on radio and TV. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/sub...
Sep 20, 2019•1 hr 38 min
An in-depth conversation with songwriter and musician Don McGlashan. We talk through his various bands and projects including the Blam Blam Blam reunion. We talk songs and writing and the shaping of music. We talk, leaning against a wall in Wellington while the world's passing by. We are almost there on the edge of a scene in a Don McGlashan song. If only... Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe...
Sep 12, 2019•46 min
An in-depth conversation with musician Nathan Haines. We talk right through his life from his child-prodigy days in a musical family through to working in the UK as both featured star and a sideman - so many collaborations and connections. Haines also talks addiction and a recent cancer diagnosis. He has survived, is grateful and is seeking to move forward with many musical projects and a young family. A huge conversation. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe...
Sep 05, 2019•2 hr 20 min
An in-depth conversation with GInette McDonald. We talk acting, we talk Lyn of Tawa, we talk OE - the early experience in London - and to recent theatrical successes ("Joan") and the upcoming Pink Hammer. We talk theatre, TV, movies - acting techniques - and I just generally enjoy being in the presence of a living legend of both serious acting and comedic monologues. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe...
Aug 29, 2019•52 min
An in-depth conversation with Marek Peszynski. He is now the Marketing Manager for Orchestra Wellington. He's also a DJ, a former record store worker, member of the group Eastern Bloc and radio-show host. Marek held many DJ residencies around Wellington in the early/mid-00s before moving overseas for a bit, returning to become an occasional tour promoter and tastemaker in local hip-hop circles. We once worked together, going back over 15 years now. So we talk through all of this and more. Get fu...
Aug 21, 2019•1 hr 48 min
An in-depth conversation with comedian Jerome Chandrahasen. We talk open-mics and getting started, from school debating teams to the Edinburgh Fringe and to mental health and understanding the highs and lows associated with speaking from the stage. We also talk about reviews and criticism and some of his favourite comedians as well as some of his favourite music gigs. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe...
Aug 15, 2019•1 hr 36 min
An in-depth conversation with Kiwi-born, Australian-based pianist Jan Preston. We talk through her recent double wrist-break injury and then back to her classical training and her time spent with Red Mole and Coup d'Etat ahead of reinventing herself as film soundtrack composer (often collaborating with her sister Gaylene) and to the stride and boogie woogie styles that have captivated her as a solo pianist across the last two decades. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com...
Aug 07, 2019•1 hr 10 min
An in-depth conversation with drummer, Heavy Metal fan, tour promoter, swim-coach, horror-movie obsessive and the driving force behind the band Bulletbelt, Steve Francis. We talk about his childhood in Masterton his addictions to metal, horror films and tattoos - and his time spent in and around the Wellington heavy metal scene. We talk about Bulletbelt's song for the movie "Deathgasm" and his hopes and ambitions for music. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe...
Aug 01, 2019•1 hr 13 min
An in-depth conversation with violinist Miles Golding. A classically trained chamber musician, Golding, born in Australia, lived in New Zealand during his childhood and was an original member of Split Ends/Enz - he left the group in 1973 (before they'd recorded a full album) and moved to England to continue his classical studies. We talk through his memories of the early Enz and his musical upbringing, his classical music pursuits and his reconnecting with both Tim Finn (playing on 2008's "The C...
Jul 25, 2019•2 hr
An in-depth conversation with writer (and friend) Carl Shuker. We talk about the long road to his new book, A Mistake. We go back to his childhood in Timaru and work from there to the IIML in Wellington when Bill Manhire was at the helm. To Carl meeting Katy (now my wife) and Anna Smaill (his wife). To the influences that shaped him and the insecurities that can still plague. This is a long chat - over many drinks - discussing our friendship, parenting, writing and many shared experiences as wel...
Jul 18, 2019•2 hr 57 min
An in-depth conversation with actor Sophie Hambleton. We talk about her role as "Carol" on popular TV show, Westside. Her training and work - to this day - in theatre. We preview the upcoming "Burn Her" theatre work at Circa and discuss here recent turn as Nora in an updated rendition of Ibsen's classic, "A Doll's House". We talk, too, of what it was like growing up with her actor dad, Peter Hambleton (The Hobbit). Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe...
Jul 04, 2019•1 hr 30 min
An in-depth conversation with Beastwars' lead singer Matt Hyde. We talk through his early life and careers including his stints in hospitality and music; he was all but ready to chuck the towel in (again) when he found himself fronting the Wellington-based metal/rock band Beastwars. They released three great albums and then broke-up. Matt was diagnosed with cancer. He responded well to the treatment and the band gathered to record new songs, to be together. Now, a year on that album has been rea...
Jun 27, 2019•1 hr 16 min
An in-depth conversation with comedian and podcast host and producer Tim Batt. We talk through his journey into comedy and focus on "The Worst Idea Of All Time" - a podcast by Tim and Guy Montgomery that sees them reviewing the same film every week for a whole year. We talk about the seasons to date and the lack of an exit plan from that podcast. We chat all things comedy including criticism and reviews and the uneasy nature and obvious tension between reviewers and comics. Get full access to So...
Jun 20, 2019•1 hr 6 min
An in-depth conversation with Split Enz keyboardist, songwriter and arranger Eddie Rayner. We talk through his life and times including stints with Space Waltz and Crowded House. We talk through the career of Split Enz and to ENZSO, solo albums, recording with Paul McCartney and the many other highlights in Rayner's long musical career. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe...
Jun 12, 2019•2 hr 16 min
An in-depth conversation with Wellington-based, Auckland and Far North-raised poet Sugar Magnolia Wilson. We talk about - and she reads from - her book, "Because a Woman's Heart is Like a Needle at the Bottom of the Ocean" and we talk about poetry in general and have a big discussion also about critics and criticism. We talk too about her life and upbringing and all of the elements that go into poetry; hers and the poetry of others. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/s...
Jun 06, 2019•2 hr 16 min
An in-depth conversation with American session drummer Gregg Bissonette. We talk through his incredible career and how through his timing, talent, luck - and faith - he has played with many of his heroes. He went from being a Maynard Ferguson fan to playing in his band, from wishing he could join Van Halen to playing with David Lee Roth and he's currently the touring drummer for Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band. It seems like manifest destiny with the young Bissonette taken to see The Beatles ...
May 29, 2019•41 min
An in-depth conversation with Jon Toogood - frontman for Shihad and creative mind behind The Adults. We talk through his life and career, also on his mind was the Christchurch terrorist attack and we talked a lot about that and about Jon's conversion to Islam. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe
May 22, 2019•2 hr 38 min
An in-depth conversation with Hawke's Bay based art critic, collector, commentator and former high school art teacher Roy Dunningham. Roy taught Phil Judd - also among his four top students are Matthew Couper, Freeman White and Regan Gentry. I was at school with all of them, they're friends, two of them are previous podcast guests. So I wanted to talk to Roy about his philosophy, his teaching secrets, his memories of teaching Phil and Buster Stiggs (also of the Swingers) and a conversation aroun...
May 15, 2019•50 min
An in-depth conversation with Marnie Karmelita, the new head of programming at the NZ Festival and Wellington Jazz Festival. We discuss Marnie's background in arts administration and preview the upcoming Wellington Jazz Festival (June 5-9, 2019) Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe
May 08, 2019•1 hr 15 min
An in-depth conversation with musician, audio engineer, record label owner, curator and archivist Rob Mayes. From Christchurch to Japan, via a stint in the UK, Rob has dedicated his life to music - playing, recording, capturing. He has an archive of important recordings from New Zealand bands and he curates collections via his label, Failsafe. He's also a musician in his own right, playing bass in the reformations of The Children's Hour and Beat Rhythm Fashion, a former member of Throw and many ...
May 02, 2019•1 hr 39 min
An in-depth conversation with New Zealand-born musician Graeme Jefferies (aka The CakeKitchen). We talk through his life with The CakeKitchen as band and solo entity (and duo). We talk about the work he created with his brother Peter (Nocturnal Projections, This Kind of Punishment) and his recently published memoir, "Time Flowing Backwards". We talk touring and living abroad for many years - opening for the likes of The Fall and having Cat Power and The Mountain Goats as opening acts for The Cak...
Apr 25, 2019•1 hr 59 min
An in-depth conversation with Wellington actor Heather O'Carroll. We talk all things acting - and we talk too about her time working behind the scenes, in arts admin and event management, running BATS Theatre for a time, working with the NZ Festival. We talk about her return to the stage for the upcoming Moodporn and we talk about processes and other behind-the-curtain things from learning lines to intimacy coaches and so many of the things that the audience members are never privy to. Get full ...
Apr 18, 2019•1 hr 12 min
An in-depth chat with radio host Yadana Saw. We talk about her time on student radio and ahead of that the fun days of growing up being a music fan, working in a record store, joining fan clubs...We talk too of RNZ and to hosting the flagship show, "Music 101" as well as contributing to the "Songcrush" podcast. We talk, as well, about the recent Christchurch shooting and the RNZ decision for Music 101 to broadcast as normal the day after, discussing the way the show was produced in those harrowi...
Apr 11, 2019•2 hr 17 min
An in-depth conversation with Paul Crowther. As "Emlyn Crowther" he was the drummer in Split Enz in the mid-70s, playing on the classic debut album, "Mental Notes". When he was kicked out of the band he took his tinkering electronics hobby a bit more seriously and created the "Hot Cake" guitar pedal. We talk through his life from the drums to guitar pedals and back, to live sound engineering for The Mutton Birds and many other acts and having The Datsuns write their most famous song ('Harmonic G...
Apr 03, 2019•1 hr 13 min
An in-depth conversation with Auckland-based writer Graham Reid. We talk about his days at the NZ Herald, being flown to gigs and interviewing famous people. And the establishment of his own website "Elsewhere". His commitment to writing - his interest in travel and music and arts and politics. We talk about changes in music and journalism and about a life dedicated to the love and pursuit of both. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe...
Mar 28, 2019•1 hr 16 min
An in-depth conversation with writer and performance poet Hadassah Grace. We talk about the upcoming release of her debut collection, "How To Take Off Your Clothes". We talk poetry and writing and how she found her way to it; we talk depression, travel, growing up in America, moving to New Zealand, being the child of "minor Christian celebrities". And we talk about her time as a sex worker. Throughout you'll hear some poems from the book - and given this was recorded at a very raw time in New Ze...
Mar 21, 2019•2 hr 31 min
