Guitarist Chet O’Connell started performing at very young age with his fathers band and eventually moved to Auckland to become one of the busiest professional guitarists in New Zealand. He’s performed with and supported many music greats including Tommy Emmanuel, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Midge Marsden, Hammond Gamble, The Ladykillers, Dr John, Kenny Rogers, Joe Cocker and Cher. Chet’s passion first and foremost is finger-style acoustic guitar playing and his father even named him after the great Chet Atkins.  But Chet knew being a diverse musician is crucial for a career in music and he worked hard to be able to comfortably move between styles and genres, remaining flexible and always professional.  On this episode the seemingly confident and unflappable musician opens up about his journey, his struggles and his tireless work running his business while navigating the ever-changing music industry.  

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Anyone that hears Brett Adams perform knows they’re listening to a world-class guitar player.  Considering his dedication and experience this should come as no surprise.  Brett has played for a long list of great artists including The Mockers, When The Cats Away, The Bads and for the last twelve years Tim Finn. In the mid-nineties he toured with his band as support for Radiohead and unwittingly influenced their sound (In my opinion) and more recently he’d been part of several theatre shows including a David Bowie tribute, The Last Waltz and most recently Live Rust, a tribute to Neil Young.  In this episode we go right back to his early days and recount Brett’s beginnings in music, how he got his career going, being managed by Russell Crowe and lots more.  Get it into you! 

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Jaime Vokes is the singer, guitarist and manager of covers band Hands Off.  Hands Off have included many top musicians and have been playing bars, weddings and functions for twenty years.  They're a full time band performing several times a week and they truly operate as a business. As well as rehearsing regularly the band juggle all aspects of the business; the promotion, admin, customer liaising and all the necessary preparation.  On a recent episode we spoke about some of the frustrations bands face dealing with booking agents. Jaime wrote to us to say he knew exactly what we meant and in turn, we invited him to come on the show and talk about his experiences running a longterm professional band.  Lovely guy, fun chat and lots of great tips for the music community.  Enjoy!

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Ken Zemke grew up in Buffalo, New York before finding his way to Hollywood where he joined the emerging Television industry as an editor.  He worked on many iconic shows including Hogan’s Heroes, The Waltons and Fantasy Island and he was supervising editor on the documentary film Elvis On Tour, which won a Golden Globe for best feature documentary.  One of his assistants on the film was a then unknown Martin Scorsese!  He was twice nominated for an Emmy, winning one for Outstanding Editing on a CBS tele-feature called The Quality of Mercy.  In the early 1980s Ken and his family relocated to New Zealand and Ken started working on films in both New Zealand and Australia, including one of our favourites; Came A Hot Friday starring Billy T James.  Lots of stories, great guy, great chats.  Get in to it. 

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Guitarist, pianist and vocalist Mal McCallum has been performing and recording throughout New Zealand and Australia since the early 1970s.  On this episode we talk about his experiences trying to make it in the early days including many a lesson learnt. He describes the gigging scene back in the day, we discuss The Beatles, the ‘concept album’ and the influence Tommy Emmanuel has had on each of us.  He talks about the time his single was added to the playlist of a major Australian radio station, only to get bumped a few days later and he laughs about many of the funny and absurd experiences that happened along the way.  After a bit of a hiatus, he has just released a new album called Hearts & Crafts.  Mal is a much loved and respected professional in our local scene and this conversation was well overdue.  Enjoy!

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Gavin Downie returns for his second full episode.  These days Gavin manages the Music In The Parks series and was recently faced with an unprecedented dilemma.  The horrific shooting in Christchurch on March 15th, 2019 shocked the country and amongst the subsequent grief and anger, very practical questions and disruptions were raised.  Gavin had Rock The Park ready to go at Grey Lynn Park in Auckland, which featured The Feelers, Elemeno P, Racing and Deadbeat.  The show was installed, the bands were onsite and soundcheck was underway when the decision was made to cancel the event.  On episode #69 we discussed the decision to cancel and Gavin kindly wrote to us to offer further clarification.  We felt this was an important conversation to make public, so we asked Gavin to return to the show to outline the work that goes into putting a show like this on and the series of events that lead up to the cancellation.   

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Lisa Crawley is one of the most proactive and skilled musicians out there. She’s released several albums and EPs including her new single ‘Girl With No Name’.  She’s supported many international  artists including John Mayer and Jools Holland and she’s played as a session musician for artists like Greg Johnson and Tim Finn.  On this episode we discussed her journey through life and the music industry, her ongoing struggle with depression and anxiety, her starring role in the upcoming theatre production Once and the time she sang the national anthem wearing two right shoes!  Plus Bobby makes his debut performance on vocals and guitar!  And he didn’t even pay for the rights to do so!  Lisa’s part of the episode is brilliant.  Dig it!

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Melbourne songwriter Michael Burrows has landed on his feet, but not in the way he ever imagined.  Like most young musicians he wanted to be a well known and respected songwriter and performer, but the realities of life and bills forced him to problem solve.  As a response Michael set up a business writing and selling jingles, some of which have become part of the soundtrack of Australian life.  After some years away from pursuing his original music, Michaels' ambition was reignited when he got the chance to write and record with Neil Finn.  He then went to Nashville to record his latest EP and is now touring and promoting his new music.  Great guy, great chats and there’s even an off the cuff performance of his new song Designed To Love You.  Lean in.

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Bryan Bell has been a firm fixture of the New Zealand music scene for many years.  Throughout the 1990s he fronted his band the Dead Flowers, releasing three albums, touring constantly and supporting bands like Guns n Roses and Pearl Jam.  When The Dead Flowers wrapped, he was invited to join the Jordan Luck Band and later Ekko Park.  Bryan’s views and his approach to his career are refreshingly pragmatic.  He’s not interested in hype or posturing, he’s simply a hard working musician who loves making music and loves working with his friends. On our 70th episode Danny and Bryan launch right into an action packed conversation about Bryan’s career and surviving the music industry long term.  This one’s a goodie.  Put it in ya!  

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Mark Lettieri is one of the guitarists for legendary fusion band Snarky Puppy.  He's played for a long list of great artists including Erykah Badu, American Idol: Season 11 winner Phillip Phillips, Nelly, David Crosby, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Adam Levine and even comedians Dave Chappelle and Harry Shearer.  Mark has released several solo albums including his latest 'Deep: The Baritone Sessions' which is crazy good!  So much groove!  Not only is Mark a top guitarist, he's also a composer, producer, instructor and most importantly a husband and father. On this episode we talk about Mark's background, his approach to playing and the on going challenge of balancing is career and personal life.  Lovely guy, great chat!

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