City Scenes

One of my favourite tracks at the moment is City Lights by The Vietnam War. That got me thinking about another fantastic song, City Scenes by The Features . And before I knew it a theme show was born.

This week Counting the Beat will feature New Zealand songs that either have City in the title or are by bands with City in their name. It's a silly idea I know, but someone had to do it.

To whet your appetite I've gathered together a few videos including Vietnam War performing City Lights live. Just scroll over the pictures to see which videos are featured.




Also included in the show are The Nudie Suits, Loves Ugly Children, Lucid 3, The Sneaks and more.

By the way, the bass player in The Features was Chris Orange, now a Waiheke resident. Check out a live radio performance on The Beach from Chris recorded earlier this year.

UPDATE: You can download this episode along with other Counting The Beat shows at BigPod.

Silver Scroll Nominees Announced

Shockwaves were felt throughout the NZ music scene today when it was learnt that neither Don McGlashan nor Dave Dobbyn were amongst the five finalists for the 2007 Silver Scroll Awards. Within living memory it has been common practice for the two to take turn about for top New Zealand music awards, with the occasional concession to the third of the great Kiwi music triumvirate, Neil Finn.

A clearly shaken McGlashan, bathing in a river of tears, was unable to comment, but is said to be counting the cost of a now unnecessary mantle piece extension. Dobbyn, meanwhile, has put away the welcome mat at his comfortable Grey Lynn home and may be considering applying to Algeria for refugee status. When asked for his opinion on the matter Neil Finn flew into a rage and could be heard muttering, "It's all that b**** Helen Clark's fault".

New Zealand music fans now face the prospect of having to come to terms with a whole new generation of musical talent receiving acclaim and airplay. Music scene commentator and high profile DJ, Barry Jenkin, made a statement summing up public feeling on the scandal, "Everybody knows there's been no decent new talent since 1984, what are they playing at!"

What do you think? Cast your vote in the Beach radio poll - "Which song should win the 2007 Silver Scroll?" The poll can be found in the sidebar to the right.

Rock on the Rock - Clench

A few weeks back I went to see Clench at Malones in Surfdale after having missed them a few weeks earlier at the Dirt Track. The show was reviewed by a couple of the local rags who didn't really seem to know what to make of them ... which was a good sign in my book. A couple of the Clench crew are (or were) DJs on the station so supporting them and seeing whether Waiheke can actually rock was on the cards for the night. Rock bands on 'the Rock' are few and far between; we seem to attract more of the singer/songwriter types than you'd ever really want to meet and I must admit that I went down without too many expectations, just to have a few beers say hello to some mates, listen to some music then walk home. Surprise! First song hooked me right away and reeled me in for the rest of the night - Clench were the real deal. Original numbers, riffs!... good ones too, rock'n'roll with an attitude and some real grit to it had landed in Malones of all places. I've been thinking about the band and what a great show they put on that night ever since so if you want to see some fine local rock head on down to Malones again this Saturday. I'm going to try to get some tracks by Clench on the site as soon as possible so check back. See you on Saturday.

UPDATE

Listen to Clench's Live set on bFM here...