Andrew Spraggon

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. 
 
Posted 4:26pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Georgie Fenwicke.