News / Profiles
recent News/Profiles
by | 3:17 am, 17/10/2011
John Stansfield worked for a number of non-profit organisations including the Problem Gambling Foundation and sustainability projects on Waiheke Island, he even founded and headed a Department of Non-Profit Studies at Massey for a number of years, before picking up his position at Oxfam New Zealand. An international relief and development programme, Oxfam takes a regional approach to hunger and political rights. The New Zealand office is heavily involved in development and sustainability projects around the Pacific, for example. Georgie Fenwicke talked to John about the response to the drought currently plaguing several Pacific populations and his favourite Oxfam Christmas gift.
by | 4:39 am, 10/10/2011
by Georgie Fenwicke | 3:43 am, 03/10/2011
Dai Henwood is a man of stock, stocky. His now familiar face and 5”5 frame are common to our television sets streaming in as they do every Friday night on 7 Days. Henwood is a member of the “new wave” of New Zealand comedy. He started out in Wellington before migrating to the big smoke and then overseas where he cut his teeth with the big boys in Melbourne, Edinburgh, Montreal and Tokyo. Having returned to these shores a few years ago, he is being kept busy by a number of interesting projects, acting included. But ,as he tells Georgie Fenwicke, he just needs to find time for that final episode of Entourage.
by | 3:25 am, 12/09/2011
by Georgie Fenwicke | 5:05 am, 11/08/2011
The population of sheep in New Zealand currently sits at around 43.1 million. They double the number of cows and yet have a better environmental reputation. What springs to mind when you hear natterings of a fart tax? Yes, Dairy farms. Sheep, on the other hand, are a bit overlooked by the general population, but not to those at AgResearch Invermay, just outside of Mosgiel. In fact, for the past two years, Dr John McEwan and his colleagues have been investigating the production of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) such as methane in ruminant ovine (sheep) populations with funding from the Pastoral Greenhouse gas Research Consortium and the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse gas Research Centre. Georgie Fenwicke talked to him about his research, past and present, in the area.
Andrew Spraggon
by Georgie Fenwicke | 4:25 pm 11/07/2010
Calling all experienced music managers. Andrew Spraggon and his band Sola Rosa have recently gone independent, splitting from their record label, Warners and are in need of your help. A talented troupe of musicians, they have a good work ethic and play well with others.
Their last album, Get it Together, went gold, and Critic rates their song 'Humanised feat. Bajka'. For more info: by all means, read on.
Sola Rosa has recently completed a nationwide tour of New Zealand. How were you received?
Good, it has been going really well. We toured earlier in the year and we toured quite a bit last year. Generally, really good crowds and yeah, I really enjoyed it.
Did you enjoy performing in Dunedin?
Yeah! Hardly going to say no, am I? We have had really good gigs the last three times we have played there, especially at Sammy’s. It has been cool.
You started out as a one-man band back in 1999 but have worked with a number of New Zealand artists since then. Would you say the culture of collaboration is widespread in this country?
It is, particularly with soul, funk, reggae genres. There seems to be a lot more collaboration within those kinds of communities ... you don't really hear of rock bands collaborating as much.
It is currently New Zealand Music month – do you think it is an effective way of celebrating the music industry in Aotearoa?
I have had mixed feelings of Music Month in the past. But I was thinking about it last night and you can bitch and moan, but I think that you can't deny the effect the Music Commission, New Zealand on Air and all those government bodies have had in playing a part in trying to create a positive outlook on New Zealand music. No, I think it is good.
Your new album, Get it Together, has been called “a charming medley of genres from funk to jazz, hip hop to dub and everything in-between.” Did you aim to mix it up?
To be honest, I think that pretty much every Sola Rosa album has been a mish-mash of different styles. So I don't see it as being that much different; what I was trying to do with it was make it a little bit more aggressive, add a little bit more energy to it and to get a little bit more of the live energy of the band onto the record.
I wonder, do you ever get sick of playing a particular song?
Sometimes. For example, we had a problem in particular with 'Love Alone' off the new album when we first started playing it. It didn't really work live, it just sounded a bit flat. So we sat down in rehearsal and worked out what was flat about it and what could be done about to change it. Now we really love playing it.
You have travelled extensively around New Zealand in recent years. Do you have any plans to take your music overseas on tour?
I am particularly frustrated at the moment with this because we are getting hounded in Europe and even in the States. We get a lot of people contacting us by email or leaving comments on Facebook or whatever saying, “Come on guys!” We are in between management at the moment and we need to find someone who is prepared and can make that happen for us.
