Category Archives: news

Firebird Tonight

Firebird Tonight

In Levin playing at Firebird again . Be there or be square.
The latest idea is a ticket price but with the proviso its Koha if you are broke.
So if you are a povo there’s no disgrace…I’ve been a povo most of my life.

Visit bandcamp.com if you haven’t visited lately. We got a new one called Express Emotion that was recorded by Facundo. Listen below.

He is a music producer and filmmaker who is keen to come back from Costa Rica and travel with me all over this beautiful New Zealand and document the lives of the  wonderful supportive  people who help me…….so one day we are gonna call on ya with a production manager and all the bells and whistles. It will be all about you too.

Thanks to those of you who have given expressemotion a listen and few who have bought it. Very grateful.

Also last month an old instrumental song of mine was released by Strawpeople. It is called Busker. Give that a listen below and support if you want. What do you think?

And if you are in Wellington this weekend come along to Moon Bar for pizza and live music. I’m playing there on Sunday night.

Back in Auckland for November and expect to be playing some more at Scarecrow but will add those dates when confirmed.

Hope to see you all soon.
Luke

Songs as skeleton keys – expressemotion

Songs as skeleton keys – expressemotion

Expressemotion is a bunch of new and previous ideas. The previous you could call skeleton keys. Songs that have been done before but perceived in another way…..added to and sometimes transformed to something else.

A style defining song is like a skeleton key that opens up to or morphs with other songs…..

For instance these songs: Reha, Ghandis Rag, Ghandis Ghost, and The Sound
all derive from the skeleton key of Ghandis Rag first released in 1986 on Make Room.

It’s a style that keeps giving.

expressemotionExpressemotion is a new album I released this week. It was recorded live back in 2014 and has 5 tracks on it you won’t get anywhere else plus some of your favourites.

Getting Closer, Nobody is Good, Walk in the Light, Direct from the Cosmos and American Express are all new releases.

Yes and some of the other songs you have heard before but every time they get played they are somehow different. It’s like that story where “no man steps in the same river twice”. Because the stream is flowing and each time we go through we are different also.

Anyways I make no apology for repeats and its not due to a lack of ideas especially in light of the fact there’s so much material in a holding pattern.

In conclusion please note the song about getting closer to the light. This is also a song called everything is already ok. It explores life after death…..something that fascinates me greatly. I believe in spirit and in a creator and in love from which we were made. We have an operating system of freewill and that’s the best and worst of everything worth dying for.

By the way two other gigs of note. FIREBIRD Levin 19th and The Moon Bar Newtown 22nd. Be there or be square and please take care…there are cameras everywhere

The photo is Mt Taranaki from the air full version is here.

God bless

Old School As Well as-ism..Luke Hurley live at Scarecrow. Sunday nights from 5:30pm in August 2023

Old School As Well as-ism

Hello friends and new subscribers. Allow me to introduce the concept of “as well as- ism.” When faced with two options try to get the best of both of them.

Example: Auckland vs Dunedin. When you are a resident of Dunedin visiting Auckland you normally say…”Auckland sucks I never wanna come back here”. Your host isn’t too thrilled by this but he does his best to make your stay memorable.

You make some friends and have some good experiences. You may come to the conclusion Auckland is ok. Unlikely but who knows. In all probability when you return to Dunedin you revert to factory setting of “Auckland sucks I never wanna go back there.”

Well…

How about adopting the ‘as well as ism’ approach. Tell yourself, Auckland has the best and the worst of everything….thus you are freed of vexation. You know what’s coming and you know what’s going.

With this in mind – please allow me to invite you to the dreaded city. There are good studios here I can show you around.

The best time to come is in August when it’s quiet. Come to my shows at The Scarecrow. It’s a nice cafe and the people are right friendly. You can crash on my couch and drink my tea and see the worst and best of everything here.

Luke Hurley live at Scarecrow. Sunday nights from 5:30pm in August 2023

Let’s get out of this “oooooooorrraaagh Auckland. Who wants to love there?” And start collaborating. It’s possible to merge the interests of studios here with studios in Dunedin. Why not?

Jan Bille came to stay and I showed him Alex Sound. It’s a great studio but it needs to collaborate with Jan’s connections in Christchurch.

We have begun this interdigitation process and welcome other studios to hop on board. Come on people. It’s about small enterprises joining up….its not about competing and claiming “I’m better than…..”….even if it’s true who cares? It’s not about better it’s about interdigitation.

I had this word pointed out to me in 1975. My father was reading the latest Gray’s Anatomy he had just bought. He was relishing the discovery of a fascinating new word describing the way nerve cells interact. Interdigitate! Awesome isn’t it? He had the foresight to know this was a word of the future with wider application.

Incidentally we are recording his ( my Dad’s) talking book at Alex Sound Studio and the Narrator is Charles Pierard. He is awesome. Jan is very impressed and so is Alex. Two producers working side by side…not competing doing the “as well as ” shuffle.

Ok so here is what we need. We need your support. There are a number of albums to get out and the backlog is getting problematic. All you have to do is support this bandcamp Gaff. Download and contribute so we can afford to keep pumping it out. There are approximately four or five albums that we could put out within the next year but only with your support.

Come to the live shows. Invest in the records. Let’s make America Great Britain Again.

The truth like water

Hello faithful subscribers. Allow me to start with a plug.

Thanks for the support .. especially through Bandcamp.com where it’s possible to achieve high quality downloads. Donations help cover the daunting album/tour costs . Please visit bandcamp.com/lukehurley.

There are four albums waiting to be added pending funding of post production . Spotify is super accessible but somewhat compressed while the soundtracks on bandcamp are better.

It’s very costly to produce soundtracks. A new release finds its way to Bandcamp first and later to Spotify.
..
The way I see it is Spotify is like radio airplay back in the day and Bandcamp.com is where you go to get a quality download. Please remember this as Spotify only pays a dollar per one thousand listens…its of course not possible to cover the daunting soundtrack production costs from such a tiny revenue source hence the need for Bandcamp.com for quality downloads at a price you determine.

It’s a big canoe to push.need all the help we can get.
Here’s my thought for this day June 18 2023. At worst I reckon it could get on a chocolate box.

“The truth like water so gentle yet cuts thru stone. In heat it’s rising . It can freeze into a rolling rock . given time truth wins and brings with its gentle dominion a real loving kindness. It refines and defines all that is good”

So we got to stand for the truth at all costs and let its voice be heard. What is your truth pray tell? Email it to us luke@lukehurley.co.nz

Thank you good people at the Lumsden Hotel for inviting me to play July 1. Bringing Craig Hubber along as before. Check out the movie The World’s Fastest Indian for his sound and the hit tune he wrote about magical mystical Bondi Beach.

And wait! That’s not all.
Was talking to Greg Haver today. He had some great insights regarding the making of albums. He worked with Manic Street Preachers and others.
(See link)

Call me if you know of any possible venues that would have us down there in the deep south in July. We are Affordable, priceless & great for the whole fandamily!

Westport Space Tour

Hello. Here are some thoughts with a view to gleaning your thoughts also. You can always send me some pics and videos on whats app. My number is 02102592919. Be good to be able to reply on the basis of feedback from you all in my next blog.

Feedback is rare as gold. Back in the day it was easy. Let’s make it easy again. i still love this simple blog format with its leaning toward text alone.

What a wonderful character the host is.

Playing the Black & White Westport tonight from 9pm. It’s been here since the 1850s so all the locals will know where it is…just head for Westport. You can stay at the hotel. It’s cheap and cheerful and like how things used to be .

That’s whats so inviting about Coast. People can invest time in people coz there’s no over reaching alienating commercial urgency to do and to buy. This is humbling the conceited Aucklander in me. Hubris and vanity are
Optional.

I love the so called rough pubs. Postboy in Nelson and B&W Westport.

His Scottish Space Programme is humming along. I can send videos if you drop me a line. Last night my audience of one disturbed part of the installation and it all came tumbling down.

Today there’s a board out on the footpath announcing my show. Thats it. But thats gonna be enough to draw a few characters that would inspire Dickens-if he were alive here again- to write another story.

I cannot believe the vibe here. The visitor is enthralled but be aware that the motive force is practicle and most have to work hard and me being in “the arts” don’t work at all-by comparison.ha ha

“Get a job” is one response
But they respect someone who can bang out a tune and often I get the reverse response where people urge me to keep doing what I’m doing.

What am I doing?
As little as possible.
But there are certain demands like travel. Accommodation. Vehicle and all that entails. And getting the word out.

Big thanks to Jason Kemp and Tony Parker for sponsoring this vital side of it…without them I would be toast.

And here’s to you my wonderful subscribers. Please don’t desert me. The best is yet to come. Would appreciate it if you steered your friends toward bandcamp.com wherein resides my albums for Koha. Its a huge blessing when people support me by downloading my albums and attending my shows.

See you tonight