Guest Interviews

Mike Hadreas, better known as Perfume Genius, is set to release his 5th studio album 'Set My Heart On Fire Immediately' next month. Known for his celebrations of queer identity through glorious baroque pop music; the new album explores masulinity and American music traditions, and comes out of a period where Hadreas has been working with Washington based dance company The YC. Rachel spoke with him about the new album, performing through the body and looking forward to hugging people on the other side of this coronavirus mess. 

Covid-19 has hit the live music industry hard and fast in New Zealand, so this morning we chat to Peter Dickens, general manager of MusicHelps, about what the charity is doing to support the industry and our local musicians and music workers. Whakarongo mai nei! 

This morning we had the pleasure of chatting with Shona Laing whose iconic 1987 album 'South' has just been announced as this year's recipient for the Independent Music NZ Classic Record Award through the Taite Music Prize. Featuring the legendary track ‘(Glad I’m) Not A Kennedy’, 'South' has had an indellible impact on New Zealand music and continues to inspire. Whakarongo mai nei to hear Shona talk about making the record. 

Peter Ruddell, aka Sulfate, has put out a lovely new track called 'Song For Ruth' made on day one of our nation-wide rāhui. We caught up with Peter to hear how isolation is going for him, meet Ruth the cat, and chat about what kind of music we might hear come out of this period.