Hello friends check out these images taken at Justin Summertons studio. You might recognise the surreal Wanaka picture we have used for Happy Isles. It’s stunning to see the textured original. It’s wild. Justin has the work that would justify big recognition and he doesn’t push it. Someone needs to support this work…
Well, friends if you have heard enough of “the new normal” (ghastly term) how about hyper normal? That seems to be what you get touring these days. A small number of people at any event and you can boast of full houses and feel like a winner.
With that in mind I had the idea to do shows that include dinner. That way the atmosphere is more convivial and people need to be serious about being there. With small gatherings it’s possible but it wouldn’t work in the “big time” (another ghastly concept). The dinner-show little-big-show idea was embraced with enthusiasm by Jessica at Best Cafe and the rest is a minor triumph. it was hyper normal. Ha ha
GREETINGS from Westport where I found the dream Rotunda. A friend of mine Gillian Henderwood (you might remember an album called Jam Sandwich she released back in c. the late 80s.
Brilliant album produced by the guy who created the world’s first robot band THE TRONS) recently did a tour of our nations finest rotundas and ; made it a policy not to advertise but simply play to anyone who happens to stop and listen.
No mean feat.
As you can imagine it isn’t gonna make world news. However I think she’s onto something. We can get these Rotundas back to being places of music performance. Why not? Let’s do what. She does. Let’s tour them and make a point of playing in every Rotunda we see even if it’s just one song to a passing pigeon.
Give it time and everyone will be celebrating these historic structures and using them again for the purpose they were built. A lot of work and gold went into building them. Let’s not waste the resource
On another subject I am playing in my home turf this Friday so please make the effort
Also please write in. And give me some pointers blog wise. What do ya want covered now that I am an agent at large in the south 😎
Hey friends Luke here from www LukeHurley.co.nz just want to tell you I havent forgotten you and thank you for subscribing I have news. Jan Bille the guy who produced Reha (if you are unfamiliar with this album has offered to produce another album for me. Listen below.
Some opportunities have emerged but this one is the ruby in the dust. I believe in NZ and in the great technical and production skills we have in our own land. We don’t need to go to the big continent on overinflated debt driven budgets to record in namo studios when for a fraction of the price we can do it all at home with heart and soul. And not have to resort to hard living to satisfy the dubious multi national “spirit” of global enterprise. Who cares? a five year old can go international from a smart phone.
It’s come full circle International is zzzzzzzzzzzz and national is exciting why? cause in the end its about the music and not the prestige of “reaching the world” and its way harder to win over your own country than to get overseas kudos.
It’s like you have to wander all over the world to find the pearl of great price when in fact it was right there in plain sight sitting on the mantle piece.
The former manager of a great NZ studio told me that he could have made much better albums for artists who were compelled by their labels to blow their budget overseas Same budget applied at home would have delivered masterpieces
With that in mind please support this venture as we get no funding from the “normal” channels why?coz the songs i write are not nor ever purport to be commercial
Tickets page makes it easier to pay for tickets online. Music page for all albums or songs. You may now buy the full collection if you missed some.
Thanks for you great support without it I wouldn’t have a leg to stand on
Please let us know if there are any gigs possible in Hokitika in the next four days as that is where we will be. After that Christchurch call me if you have any leads. No gig too small as the cliche goes 021 0259 2919
It’s been fun. Especially good in the old capital. Dunedin is a place I wrote most of my best songs in. The ODT preview for the show was a really pleasant surprise. The show itself was huge fun. I think I managed to pay the heating bill…
Thanks to all who came out at night in Dunedin last week. Thanks to those who shared on social or told to your friends about the gig. Thanks also to Lee Vandervis and all the others who wrote on their timelines such kind words.
Thanks also to the ODT who wrote this.
“Luke Hurley was once a fixture in Dunedin, busking in its streets and playing its halls, but after leaving in 1992, he’s hardly been back. That’s about to change.
What have you been doing since leaving Dunedin?
Since moving to Auckland in the ’90s I have been practising, writing and recording. I’ve been releasing the odd album. Much of the time that has involved getting nowhere, but then discovering a new way of approaching it all. But I’ve never understood the art of marketing.
It’s possible to have the work ready to share but it isn’t easy to find a way to share it effectively, unless you play like crazy wherever you can, from on a bus to at a Tedx Auckland event; which I have done and was fun, by the way. The Tedx event was quite literally 15 minutes of fame (and is still up on YouTube).
But a turning point for me was in 2007, in Dublin, when this amazing man gave me the best advice ever. “Just play,” he said. `”Play like a bastard.”
From then on, it made sense to forget the remote and futile goal of making the grade, whatever that means, by surrendering to something way greater. Just playing and growing by accident rather than by design. It’s the blues approach and I am an old blues man, qualified with dues paid many times over.
The music industry has changed a lot. No-one buys CDs any more, for a start.
As a result, I invested in playing live. It works. The live presence is vital, the rest is virtual. Literally.
That’s why my new album is called one take one voice one guitar. There are no gimmicks, just organic music from a certified music nut.
It’s not available yet. It has taken ages so far and may take ages yet, but I’m in no hurry.”
The read the full story see here. New approaches from an old identity
