Soft Chaos

From wrangling horses on Disney's Mulan to being yeeted through time portals as Lisa Kudrow's stunt double, Greta van den Brink has taken a pretty unconventional route into music.

Along the way, there's been Cowboy Bebop, Netflix's Territory, a whole lotta acting rejection, and an entire debut album written in just one week.

We get into the strange world of stunt work, learning to be comfortable being a beginner, the pressure to have everything figured out, and how sometimes the best things happen when you haven't planned them at all.

Her debut album This Wasn't Planned is out now, along with her brand-new single Valentina.

Follow Greta: @gretavdb

Follow Angie: @angieontheradio

What happens when the person holding everything together can't do it anymore?

Sonia Gray has been a familiar face in New Zealand homes for close to three decades. But behind the television career, the Lotto numbers and the person who looks extremely capable of having her shit together, the past decade has been something else entirely.

Through Kids Wired Differently and her award-winning podcast No Such Thing As Normal, Sonia has opened up about raising neurodivergent kids. This time, we get into what all those years of coping have cost her, too.

Sonia and Angelina talk burnout, hypervigilance and the strange business of being able to perform when other parts of your life are falling over. There's the pathologically shy kid who grew up to be on television, the terror of ending up in the principal's office, and what can happen to a relationship when two parents become "first responders working the same emergency."

They get into being "good", losing your shit, apologising, nervous systems, arbitrary rules, the pressure on parents to keep functioning ...and, naturally, why you can't just wear the bloody socks.

Because when a kid is struggling, the focus is understandably on the kid. But what happens when the person they need to lean on is running on empty?

It's a conversation about the kids ...but also about the people raising them.

Useful Bits:

Sonia Gray - @soniagray11

ADHD NZ - Adhd.org.nz

AUTISM NZ - Altogether Autism , Autismnz.org.nz

No Such Thing as Normal - Apple podcasts Spotify Youtube

PDA Society - pdasociety.org.uk

At Peace Parents - atpeaceparents.com

KEEP UP WITH SOFT CHAOS Instagram @angieontheradio Email: [email protected]

Andy first joined Razorlight on the drums more than 20 years ago, but that turns out to be only one version of him. A lot has gone down in between.

Ahead of Razorlight playing 2 shows in NZ for the first time evah, Andy came round for a cuppa tea/beer and we covered: Musical intimacy, walking away from the band when life was getting very real and finding his way back. His new solo record Map of the World, and making music with Ricky Gervais in Alley Cats... and the very important question of how exactly you score a cat.

Also: The Mighty Boosh, forgoing a decompression chamber between school drop-off and writing melancholy...facilitating guest lists as show prep, and Andy's firm belief that countdowns can get in the bin. Fair call.

A few useful bits:

Razorlight play Auckland's Powerstation on October 3rd and Wellington's Meow Nui on the 4th.

Andy's new single Nothing Matters Anyway is out now, with his new solo album Map of the World arriving in January.

Find Andy at @andywburrows and Razorlight at @razorlightofficial

Soft Chaos is hosted by Angelina Grey. Come say hey: @angieontheradio More episodes wherever you get your podcasts, and on YouTube at SoftChaosNZ

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Lisa Crawley has spent the best part of two decades building a creative life that's taken her from Auckland to Melbourne to LA, and taught her a fair bit about backing herself along the way.

We talk about the Kiwi instinct to downplay yourself, learning to take up space, and the strange reality of making a living in music when your career refuses to follow anything resembling a straight line. The sidequest is way more interesting anyway.

There are Hollywood piano bars, some deeply questionable characters, a swindle, a trip to Sharon Stone's house... AND the fairly outrageous fact that Lisa can hear a song once and immediately just know where all the notes are. Ridiculous talent. We need to be talking about her way more. So here we are.

Her latest single Hurry Up and Wait is out now.

Find Lisa on Instagram @lisacrawleymusic for new music, live dates and her fantastical journeys.

If you wanna come say gidday to me, I'm over on instagram at @angieontheradio

Soft Chaos is curious, occasionally sideways conversations about the different versions of ourselves... and how anyone manages to hold them all together.

New episodes fortnightly on Wednesdays.

Finn Andrews has spent more than two decades being, as he puts it, "the bloke from The Veils", but these days he's making room for a few other versions of himself too.

We talk Fragile World, becoming a dad again, starting from minus a thousand, chasing perfection, growing up around musicians who mostly looked like they needed a good sleep, David Lynch and appearing on Twin Peaks, old songs taking on lives of their own...and why Finn's now much happier being incredibly uncool and tediously honest than maintaining any musician mystique.

Fragile World is out now, and Rough Trade is reissuing the first three Veils albums on vinyl in September. The tour picks back up in Europe and the UK later this year.

More at theveils.com and @the_veils.

Find Soft Chaos / Angie at @angieontheradio.

Comedian Melanie Bracewell joins Angelina Grey in the Soft Chaos conversation pit...and fittingly, we do a fair bit of dilly dallying.

Mel talks ADHD, masking, growing up trying not to be "too much", the horror of being called a try-hard, getting older and all the strange lil' milestones we're apparently meant to have ticked off by now.

There's comedy, confidence, fame, relationships, wedding planning with an ADHD brain, the weirdness of strangers feeling like they know you, and why someone who can happily command a room full of people can still find small talk absolutely excruciating.

It's comedy, cringe, growing up, figuring it out... …and the creeping suspicion that everyone else is winging it too.

Dilly Dallying is wrapping up it's final shows in Aussie, don't get FOMO, head to melaniebracewell.com for tix.. and catch her on Australian tele, on Channel 10's The Cheap Seats, Tuesday eve,

For shows, clips and further dilly dallying, follow Melanie online.

Guest: @melaniebracewell @MelanieBracewellYoutube

Host: @angieontheradio

Ahead of Queens of the Stone Age's return Down Under, guitarist & multi instrumentalist Troy Van Leeuwen joins Angie for a quick Soft Chaos Mini. We talk keeping the weird alive, why the best moments can happen just beyond control & how a mistake onstage can become part of the music.

Plus: life between tours, old school dub, private band languages & what happens when a deep cut goes so deep even Troy can't remember it's name.

A quick lil' drop in between the longer conversations which come out every coupla weeks.

Hitting Spark Arena in Auckland NZ Dec 20 with Primus & Tropical Fuckstorm. Remaining tickets via Ticketmaster

Troy: @troyvanleeuwen

QOTSA: @queensofthestoneage

Gin Wigmore joins Angelina Grey for a cuppa in the very first Soft Chaos conversation pit, and boy she understood the assignment immediately.

Back in New Zealand after 15 years in LA, Gin talks about her brand fresh album Beautiful Mess, opening Wigmore Deli in Kingsland, separation, motherhood in the madness, manifesting chaos, dating, leaping before you feel ready and why sometimes the most important thing is a good nap.

There are plenty of side quests. Obviously. Hobby horsing, actual horses, driveway hakas, firemen and the occassional complete loss of the original question.

It's music, motherhood, mayhem, miscellaneous...and a first episode that goes exactly as sideways as it should.

Beautiful Mess is out now.

Wigmore Deli is open in Kingsland, Auckland @wigmoredeli

For upcoming live shows/tour details, follow Gin on instagram.

Guest: @ginwigmore

Host: @angieontheradio

Welcome to Soft Chaos... a conversation podcast exploring music, creativity, identity and the lives happening behind the highlight reel.

Expect musicians, comedians, actors and other interesting minds, with a few neurospicy side quests along the way.

New episodes fortnightly on Wednesdays, with the odd Soft Chaos Mini dropping in between. See you in the conversation pit.

Follow: @angieontheradio