Ben Squires
Music

Kiwi musical icon's whistle stop tour

New Zealand musician Don McGlashan finds that writing about love is actually quite hard, but for his latest album he discovered some joy in tackling the subject matter. Palmerston North will be one of the last stops on McGlashan's national solo tour, and he said he has been enjoying playing at some classic kiwi venues.

"This tour has been amazing, I'm getting to go to places that I have always wanted to go to but never quite got there.

"The Barrytown Hall was this incredible old, old place that feels like a century ago people would have been stomping in there playing accordians and getting the locals to dance."

Known for his ability to write songs that tell a story with iconic New Zealand bands such as The Mutton Birds, Blam Blam Blam and the Front Lawn, McGlashan has taken a new approach to his solo album Lucky Stars.

"This album for me is one of the most immediate records I have made for a long time.

"There are songs which sort of take place in one moment, they're not just stories, they are songs which deal with just one feeling and that sustains itself through the whole song.

"Those are some of the hardest to write because I tend to structure songs like stories. I thought about the songs that I really love that are like that, about one uplifting moment, or a revelation, the simplicity of an idea."

McGlashan said he is proud of Lucky Stars and acknowledges that he has been very fortunate to be able to have sustained a musical career for so long.

"I arrived on the scene at a time when New Zealand music was just starting to get played on the radio, so all the way through the 80s it was just the beginning of there being a real interest in New Zealand music.

"People use songs in all different ways and I'm still doing stuff and I feel that I have a heap more songs in me still to write. I still don't think I have done my best work.

"The time I started and the luck I've had have led to a really great life of music and I wouldn't swap it for the world."

Hero image credit: Facebook / Don McGlashan

Written by Carly Thomas. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz 

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Tags:
music, entertainment, tour, Don McGlashan