The Answer

“If this is the answer, I don't need to know
Keep it close now, keep it close, don't let it show
If this is the answer, go settle your scores
Or buy me a time machine then you could have it all
Then you could have it all
Then you could have it all”

The Answer – Villainy

I write a lot about how easy it is to get close to our New Zealand bands. But how close is close? You can get so close you can see them play regularly. You can get right up the front at small, local gigs. You can run into them on the street much more often than an international artist. But can you get so close you can ... touch them?

Yes. Yes, you can. Between my friend Zena and I, with whom I attend most of my concerts, we have touched members of Villainy, 48 May and The Leers, and everyone who currently plays in Luger Boa. This touching has been in the form of a handshake or slap or a hug if we are that lucky, but most of it comes from a delicate physical contact art we like to call brushing.

Brushing – that is, two human beings just touching each other as they pass by - became a thing for us during Clap Clap Riot’s album launch gig last June. Zena and I were standing in roughly the middle of the crowd watching the gig, when suddenly a young man brushed his way between the two of us. Normally someone brushing past you at a gig or in a pub is a bit of an annoyance. This particular time was, however, exciting because we quickly released the man who had brushed us what none other than talented Luger Boa guitarist Johnny Lyon. Zena and I were beside ourselves with excitement at being touched by a rock star, and thus the concept of brushing was born. We put it into practise at Villainy’s gig in October and brushed ourselves silly with awesome Kiwi musicians. Consider yourself lucky – I am about to give you the key tip for maximising your brushing experience.

Brushing is quite a handy little trick with New Zealand bands as many gigs are held in small pubs, and band members will often come to the bar to grab a drink before heading backstage. It’s best if you position yourself between the bar and the backstage room, preferably with a half empty drink. Thus, when the particular band member makes their way back stage, you can finish your drink and move towards them and “accidentally” brush them as the two of you pass. This same technique can be applied when strategically going to the bathroom, outside for fresh air or moving closer to the stage. If you remain inconspicuous while you are carrying out your brushing, then congratulations – you are doing a far better job than Zena and I ever did.

This weekend Wellington is going to come alive with the annual Homegrown festival. You can bet your bottom dollar Zena and I will be hanging around the Jim Beam Rock Stage waiting for all our favourite bands to play. We feel long overdue for a Luger Boa gig, are looking forward to saying farewell Midnight Youth in style, cannot wait to see more from our latest favourite rockers Villainy and are amped for Shihad to headline. And, we are looking forward to all the brushing this young woman and her best friend can handle. Look out Clap Clap Riot – it has come to my attention while writing this blog you have not been the target of our brushing technique.

Skyscraper

“You can take everything I have
You can break everything I am
Like I'm made of glass
Like I'm made of paper
Go on and try to tear me down
I will be rising from the ground
Like a skyscraper”

Skyscraper – Demi Lovato

You can squeeze an awful lot into one month. There’s more or less an entire moon cycle, public holidays and anniversaries. If you think back over what you do for an entire month – from working around 20 days, going out three or four weekends and, if you’re like one of my group of friends, going to our monthly end of month dinner. But on top of all this different months represent programmes in our society which aim to increase awareness around issues. For example, this month in America is African-American History Month, American Heart Month, Children’s Dental Health Month, Ethnic Equality Month, Wise Mental Health Consumer Month, Women's Heart Health Day and Eating Disorders Screening Program Month.

The latter of all of those coincides with – or could be the inspiration for – the anniversary of the death of Karen Carpenter. Karen’s death was the one of the first to bring eating disorder illnesses to society’s attention thirty years ago, and since many celebrities have come out confessing their own issues with diet and exercising. Included within these is Demi Lovato, who publically told her personal struggle story and how she battled with bulimia. She says the release of her song Skyscraper was her way of crying out for help and trying to fight back against her bullies.

The eating disorder issue is far too big for me to tackle in one blog – and probably far too big to tackle in one month – but I have one point to it. From what I’ve read and seen, there seems to be a cycle. Both Karen Carpenter and Demi Lovato appear to have at least partially blamed the profession they are in for triggering their disorders, as they felt they had no control over their lives and turned to controlling their diet. However, these are two women who have so many fans looking up to them and trying to be like them – especially Lovato – and I shudder to think how many people have been “inspired” to control their own diets. I hope more Demi has overcome her issues and inspired millions of girls to fight back against their personal problems.

These are, as always, only musings. I find this an interesting topic because of the way it affects society, and the way it has worked its way into pop culture. Take songs like Skyscraper, or Through Glass by Stone Sour or countless movies about teenage struggles or indeed a month dedicated to raising awareness, which bring to light the brutal problems some people struggle with. 

Love Song

“I'm not gonna write you a love song
'cause you tell me it's
Make or break in this
If you're on your way
I'm not gonna write you to stay
If all you have is leaving I'm gonna need a better
Reason to write you a love song today”

Love Song – Sara Bareilles

Merry Valentine’s Day, my friends!

It is one of my least favourite days of the year. It’s not because my own Valentine’s Day currently involves sitting on the floor watching Miranda with a bowl of ice cream and caramel sauce alongside my two best friends following our date at Nandos and the closest thing to a Valentine’s gift was a bar of chocolate my workmate bought me and the closest flowers consisted of instructions to water the cactus a colleague was leaving behind after his last day. I mean, it’s not like I’m a lonely singleton or anything.

I actually like the idea of having one day to celebrate romance; it’s much like we have one day for more commercial occasions like Mother’s day and Father’s day, and much like we celebrate traditional holidays such as Christmas and Easter. What annoys me about Valentine’s Day is the sickeningly sweet gestures one is expected to give to another. Call me ridiculous, but I want to receive a rose every day of the year except Valentine’s Day, and I want to go on some sweet date any day that isn’t the 14^th of February.

I feel Sara Bareilles hit the right note with this song. It is said to be written as a defiant response to her record company who wanted her to produce a marketable love song. Considering Valentine’s Day is all about marketing and commercial exploitation to people who, let’s be honest, don’t really want to give their other half box of heart shaped chocolates wrapped in pink paper, I feel the song and the day go hand in hand. I mused over this last year with Ronan Keating, and I still stand by what I said about ditching the commercial side of the day and focusing on the tradition. The day is meant to be a celebration of the early Christian Saint Valentinus of Martyrology, who incidentally was rumoured to have been imprisoned for performing forbidden weddings, thus going against all the tradition which should be have been involved with love and weddings.

As you see, the idea of Valentine’s Day is a conflict for me; I’m torn between liking the thought of giving and showing love, and hating the idea of giving ridiculously cutesy verging of vomit inducing gifts of little use (another teddy bear, anyone?). However, if you were lucky enough to receive a wonderful and thoughtful Valentine’s Day gift, do tell me what you got – and how much it meant to you.

Do You Hear The People Sing

“Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the song of angry men?
It is the music of the people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!”

Do You Hear the People Sing – Les Miserables

It will probably come as no surprise to you my love of music stretches well into the musical scene. After all I am an advocate of nearly every type of music – except dubstep. God, I hate dubstep. However, musicals get a big tick for me. I both love to see them live and love to listen to just the music - I have a playlist dedicated just to musicals on my iPod despite most needing a plotline to make sense. From Grease to Rocky Horror Picture Show to Mamma Mia and, of course, every Disney musical ever, the stage singing sensation makes me happy.

I finally got around to seeing the new Les Miserables movie last week and I’m using this blog post to sift through the good, the bad and the utterly fabulous. One of the biggest talking points was whether the actors could portray these classic characters and all they had to suffer through. To me, Hugh Jackman made a very believable Jean Val Jean and nailed the thinking-outloud-singing parts. Russell Crowe as Javert was a good choice with his evil eye and professional manner – though I thought he struggled on some of the higher singing notes. Sacha Baron-Cohen and Helena Bonham-Carter were the perfectly deliciously evils as The Thenadiers, and I cannot fault any of the Revolutionary Student Group choices, especially the youngster playing Gavroche.

I had a problem with all three of the lead females though. I thought the actual choices of Anne Hathaway as Fantine, Amanda Seyfreid as Cosette and Samantha Barks as Eponine were fine and their singing was very good. But I can’t help feeling they were all portrayed far too modern compared to the rest of the film. The pretty dress Fantine wore at the start which took away from the hard times working in the factory and Eponine’s lack of looking like she lived in a rough time really bugged me.

As I said before, I’m a fan of the musical and a bit of a traditionalist. There were two parts of the film which I feel they just didn’t do right. Firstly, if you saw any other version you’d know Jean Val Jean rips open his shirt at the end of Who Am I to reveal his prison number 24601 which Javert stares at, realising he’s found his man. This version didn’t do it and I felt it lost its authenticity a bit ... and because I, like most girls, wanted to see Hugh Jackman take his shirt off. Secondly, there were swapping around of lines in the songs – the worst being in At The End Of The Day which does NOT go I am the mayor of this town / I run a business of repute. Finally, the new song Suddenly did nothing for me except fill in a bit of time between leaving the pub and arriving at the Paris gate. 

Majority of the singing was done brilliantly and this can be put down to all the actors singing live during filming, but I had to give Do You Hear The People Sing the blog title this week. I have a particular fondness for the barricade scenes and I thought the movie portrayed them brilliantly. I love the rebelliousness of the revolutionary student club and the way they care so much to make a change, but still managing to be just the young people they are with their jokes and attraction to women. Their songs drove me into emotion fits: I got slightly enraged during The ABC Cafe / Red and Black, had a giggle during Little People and cried during Empty Chairs at Empty Table as my heart broke for poor Marius. Do You Hear the People Sing was done the best for me with a mix of passion and pride and a touch of hesitancy at the thought of taking on the French police, and I even let it slide that it was done as a chorus rather than split into the traditional singing three parts.

I could do on and on about the film and into the wonderful chorus scenes and camera angles and so on, but I’ll wrap it up here by saying this: Les Miserables is first and foremost a brilliant story, no matter whether a big budget Hollywood film or a school production group takes it on. If you haven’t seen any version, this movie is a good one to start with because it is done superbly and with a lot of care and respect for the classic French story.

PS. Marry me, Marius? 

Leather and Tattoos

“Coz one day I know
when she's ready to go
she'll just jump on her bike and ride

There's something about you
your leather and tattoos
its making me weak inside.
your fishnets and nose-ring
is making my heart sing
and I get no sleep at night.”

­Leather and Tattoos – 48May

Upon my boredom today I started to count all the concerts I’ve ever been to in my life. It’s quite a fun little game, generally because I get halfway through and say to myself “no Renee, you’ve missed one, go back and start again”. But rather than bore you with my obvious insanity proved by talking to myself, I thought I would take a quick look back at the gigs and concerts I’ve been to before surging ahead into what is going to be a sweet year of live music.

I’ve spent a fair bit of time talking about concerts in this blog: how awesome Coldplay were, how Seether rocked and my pre-empted excitement for Taylor Swift, who, as expected, turned out to be amazing. And let’s not forget my Kiwi music gig obsession: seeing Shihad live and discovering opening acts such as Luger Boa and Clap Clap Riot. In between all this blogging I have ventured out into other amazing shows and every time the music and show amazes me, whether it be Lady Gaga’s amazing performance, scoring a free ticket to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, or having a bit of fun at Hot Chelle Rae ... or trying not to look too suspicious at the Reece Mastin gig where everyone else was double my age taking their half my age children out for a Saturday night.

So what has this musing over gigs got to do with 48May? Well, team, here’s my confession: 48May were my first ever concert. I remember my mother buying me a lip gloss and saying I could wear it to the show, and me rolling my eyes because I thought no one wore lip gloss to a rock concert. I cringe now at calling 48May a rock concert, partly because of their undeniably pop music sound, and because by ‘concert’ I really mean in my old school’s hall with other people in my school year because some senior pupils had managed to convince the band to play for us for a measly ten dollars a ticket. But you know the old saying – you never, ever forget your first. Whether it has been bad, good, or completely out of this world since, the first concert always sticks with you. I guess it was that first thrill of hearing live music, particularly when it was from one of my favourite bands at the time, that kicked start my love of live gigs. And 2013 is going to continue the trend, with fun. coming soon and Homegrown likely to be one wicked Saturday.

Now you know what 48May did for me and why I can’t quite delete their music off my iPod. Before I sign off from this week’s music musing, however, there has been another thought cross my mind. I make the last blog of every month a Kiwi music one as I both love NZ Music and like to support it however I can. I love that Kiwi band 48May was my first concert and gave me the bug, and I love more how many Kiwi bands I’ve seen - including Luger Boa and Clap Clap Riot three or four times within the last year. It is so easy to find a gig on the weekend from our local talents and, if you’re anything like me, satisfy your live music cravings. 

Take It All

“You sent Your Son
From heaven to earth
You delivered us all
It's eternally heard
I searched for truth
And all I found was You
My God
I'll only ever give my all

Jesus we're living for Your Name
We'll never be ashamed of You
Whoa o oh
Our praise and all we are today
Take take take it all”

Take It All – Hillsong United

Religious beliefs have been a bit of a personal battle throughout my life. I went through a Presbyterian High School where we had to go to Chapel at least once a week, close most assemblies with a school prayer and attend Christian Education classes for most of the years we were there. I have never been a constant church goer – despite my Grandfather being a minister in the Anglican Church - and I have never read more than a few bible verses. I have, however, attended a few religious Easter Camps where the message of God was passed to us daily. And yet, I still can’t sit here and say I am a true Christian believer. There are too many ifs and buts and confusing passages for me to commit to religion. I respect those who believe with a doubt, sometimes to the point where I wonder how they do it.

So without these beliefs in my life, it makes me wonder why I can sit down and listen through an entire Hillsong United worship album knowing I hardly believe what they are saying about sacrifices from Jesus and giving all to God. But it’s the truth: I love Hillsong United, and I have spent those Easter Camps singing my heart out to their songs with thousands of other people. It’s not because their music is that catchy pop rock sound I happen to like anyway, but there is something in their music which touches me.

Despite being a sceptical of the story of Christ, I am a firm believer of the values of Christianity. I think these are something which should be in our everyday life regardless of religious beliefs, or indeed, any other demographic which defines who we are. Take It All alone, which to my understanding it about giving all the praise to God to take it all, touches upon these values. Sacrifices to others which can make our own life better – not to the extent of sacrificing a life, but sacrificing something small to help someone else. The idea of searching for truth in this world, whether or not that leads us religion. Not being ashamed of what you believe in. Giving your all to whatever it is you want to. And, most of all, the undeniable strength of love which comes through. It is these kinds of values which I take from Hillsong United music and into my own life.

I don’t deny there are other bands out there which have the same values in their music, whether they be associated Christian acts such as Skillet or The Fray or Switchfoot, or a band which denies any involvement with Christianity such as Evanescence. It is the light and the lack of, say, accusation in this kind of Christian Worship music which draws me to a kind of music where I believe the words but I don’t believe the story. 

American Pie

“I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died

So bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die""

American Pie – Don McLean

“The day the music died”. When I listen to this song this is the line which always gets me thinking. It is, along with most of the song, referring to the death of Buddy Holly (though Don McLean has never admitted to this the lyrics speak for themselves). While Buddy Holly is the pioneering figure for shift in rock and roll music in the 1950’s and is said to be in the influence behind The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, his music lasted less than a year and a half before his untimely death. How does someone spend that short a time in the music industry and be that influential – to the point where without him, the music died?

We are lucky the musicians in the 1950’s capitalised on Buddy Holly’s new found genre and didn’t let it fade away, but in my opinion, the music wouldn’t have died anyway – and I don’t think the music will ever die. It didn’t die when the grunge era was rocked by the death of Kurt Cobain or the King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley (the one which got the chance to be famous), and the music didn’t die when The Beatles split up after their widespread fame. Indeed, the music didn’t even die when Nickelback put out yet another album which sounded the same as their first album or Billy Ray Cyrs released Achy Breaky Heart. And while we came close to the death of music when Rebecca Black came out with Friday but we still scraped by without killing anything or anyone. In fact, if music can survive amateurs singing on reality television competitions, it can survive anything.

I’m not doubting that Buddy Holly was extremely influential in music history – and I wished I lived in the middle of last century because the music was that good – but pinning down one moment and one artist is a bit farfetched for me. Indeed, let’s not forget there were two other passenger on the place the day it went down who were also pioneering the rock and roll movement. Who knows what music genius Ritchie Valens and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson would have bought us.

And besides, if the music had died the day Buddy Holly’s plane went down, we wouldn’t have gotten an eight minute song about the event.