Monthly Archives: April 2011

The Water EP

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If you like folk music like I do, here's something I helped out with for Luke Thompson's new EP. It was released yesterday and is already the #10 album on iTunes!

Luke Thompson returns with ‘The Water EP’ 

Three years on from his debut release ‘Here On The Ground’, Luke Thompson releases a handful of simple folk tunes on ‘The Water EP’. The release marks a new chapter for Thompson and new approach to writing and recording.

Much of the EP was written, performed and recorded alone by Thompson in his studio nestled in the hills of Tauranga, near the home he shares with his wife and two young children.

 “It feels great to finally have made something with my own two hands, that very much embodies me, flaws and all,” Thompson said.

 “Both 'Foreigners' and 'The Voice of Reason' were written very quickly on the same day, and then recorded the following day. Working this way you get a very honest version of the song. They are frozen in time as soon as they are thought of, there’s a simplicity and innocence to them.”

The EP is distributed by independent label Shock Entertainment; a relationship Thompson says is both exciting and comfortable.

“Working with Shock feels like a natural progression. They very supportive of me as a self-managed indie musician, and of course they’ve got a great track record so it’s great to be able to team up with them to distribute the EP.”

"It's rare these days to have a singer / songwriter of Luke Thompson's calibre come along with a bag full of great songs, his guitar and the determination to get out and make things happen,” said Darren Humphries, Shock Entertainment General Manager – New Zealand.

“Luke is just such a person and Shock Entertainment is very excited to be able to work with him on the release of this brilliant new EP."

Title track ‘Water’ was recorded at Revolver Studios with the help of industry stalwarts Nic Manders (Producer) and Bruce Lynch (double bass) and features Thompson’s close friends Dave Baxter (Avalanche City) and Lydia Cole, who also appear on the video, which is currently screening on FOUR and Juice TV.

The song is also serving as a fundraiser for The Good Trust www.good.org.nz, a charity raising money for international water projects.

Having toured extensively in support of ‘Here On The Ground’, including support slots for international acts Toto, Jars of Clay and The Fray, Thompson is on the road again, touring with Anika Moa before heading back into the studio to record his second full-length album, due to be released in late 2011.

The Water EP – Tracklisting

1. Water

2. Make My Grave (Wherever I Fall)

3. The Voice of Reason

4. Foreigners

5. As a Mountain Stands

Time

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I try to avoid maths as much as possible, but just took 1996 away from 2011 and realised that it is fifteen years this month since a very difficult time in my life – when my adored grandfather and my difficult and brilliant father died three weeks apart. Fifteen years. That’s terrifying. I was young, shy and very sad and had no idea what my life would look like when I was in my thirties. I certainly wouldn’t have anticipated that life would get more interesting, fun and exciting as time went on.

Rather than be sad and depressing (although I will admit to a brief and unexpected eye leakage as I wrote the first sentence of this blog) I want to tell you, people of blogland, that although grief is an incredibly unpleasant experience, it does eventually lift. You’re never quite the same. However, I think I am a stronger and more understanding person because of it, at least 53% of the time.

I think one of the hardest things about losing people you love is that you lose part of the future you expected or hoped for. I think Dad and I would have found we had more in common as the years went on. He’d been a Creative Director and left it all behind to be an artist. He loved music, and had a lifelong love affair with The Beatles – he’d been to heaps of their gigs as a young man in his hometown Liverpool. I regret that I’ll never know his stories about growing up in that tough city and what it was like living in London, then moving to New Zealand. All the stories I was too young to be interested in, would be fascinating now. I don’t have regrets about my Grandad. He was a quiet and constant presence in my life and if he was still alive he’d be turning 100 this year. He only liked to watch Channel One and listen to the National Programme. I loved staying with him in Raglan and getting fish and chips on Friday nights. I still think he made the best mashed potatoes in the world and can’t quite work out how to replicate them. 

I think they’d like how I turned out. Not that I’m quite finished growing up. 

PS See you at the ANZAC Day commemorations. Because it’s also Easter weekend I’ll be combining my memories with thoughts of faith, hope and love. And I’ll be sniffling, it can’t be helped. Lest we forget those who have done so much for us.

Dear Tina Fey. I love you. Sincerely, Josie

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Excuse me for the non-blogging. I’ve been quite busy with work and socializing and the suchlike. Like really, soooo busy.

I was just thinking about how much I love Tina Fey. Her Autobiography is just out and I MUST read it. She’s hilarious, clever and an incredible role-model without being smug and/or boring! 

 Not funny for a woman. Just one of the funniest people around.