Culture

“I'm definitely at one with myself when I'm singing,” says Mark Hanify, the lead singer of orthodox Wellington rock band Supermodel.

“I'm in the moment, it's like when you're in deep meditation; it's the same kind of feeling. You're in that higher level of awareness, and because I'm playing guitar as well, it really is in that state of mind. It just feels completely natural, you know.”
Raised by musician parents, and having, in his words, “sung from a very young age,” Hanify has been around music for the entirety of his life. “My folks were in a band in the eighties and nineties,” he reflects. “My mum is a music teacher, my grandparents on both sides, all my uncles and aunts, are all musicians. It's quite a musical family.”
Fluent with guitar and voice, Hanify spent years playing in covers bands and teaching music. Two years ago, he formed Supermodel with his sister Rose (keyboard/backing vocals), Michael White (bass/backing vocals), and Tony Kemp (drums/backing vocals). Taking their musical cues from the classic theatrical rock of Queen and more modern rock acts such as Muse and The Strokes, there is another twist in the development of Supermodel’s sound. “I was brought up on old show tunes,” Hanify offers. “1930s, 1940s, and ‘50s-style show tunes. Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I think that has been a huge influence on my music, drawing on strong melody. A tune that you can whistle has always been my thing.”
Functioning around a straight-ahead rock template, and grounded in Hanify’s crooner-informed vocal style (“I'm a huge fan of Freddy Mercury,” he says. “And singers that have a lot of soul, but I'm talking actual soul, not the type of music. Singers who have really grunty voices, I like to mix it up a bit.”). Over the past two years, Supermodel has performed up and down the country to both tiny pub crowds and huge stadium audiences. They have played alongside acts including Gin Wigmore, The Feelers, Dane Rumble, Jonny Love, Knives at Noon, The Checks, and Frankie Stevens. 
This June, Supermodel is headed to the UK to record their debut album with Welsh pop-rock producer Greg Haver (Manic Street Preachers, Opshop), a working relationship they developed through their recent single ‘Send me Dreaming’, which Haver also produced. However, before that goes down, they are taking part in a national tour of the course of this month. As part of this tour, Supermodel will be performing at Grad Party 3.0 (Sammy’s Dunedin, May 22). As Hanify concludes, “We share the same passion for music; our common ground is basically melody and harmony, and we hope you enjoy it.”