2005
The year got off to a good start, with Ascension Band: Evolution
The successful collaboration with Nigel Patterson, Ryan Prebble, and over a dozen other musicians, from jazz-schooled to untrained punks, won the best music award in the NZ Fringe Festival.
I had my first taste of success (the fame part of Fame & Oblivion 2005-2012)…
…But by this time I was ready to see the world beyond Aotearoa. I shifted across the Tasman Sea to Melbourne – in Australia, the West Island.
For the next few months I lived in Brunswick, and worked in temp jobs around the city and in rural Victoria.
The results became After Maths & Sciences
I loved the vast expanse of Australia, especially compared to the small hilly towns of New Zealand.
New influences rubbed off on me, from Lebanese funk (and food) and Aussie hip-hop, to Australian birdlife, Slim Dusty, and the relaunch of Doctor Who. I didn’t have a guitar with me, so bought myself a banjo.
Some of the time I explored the city, and played music with fellow expat kiwis Mike Kingston, Francesca Mountfort, and Cylvi M .
I started experimenting with field recordings (which in those days meant using a cassette dictaphone) and laptop electronica.
In December I was in New South Wales, where I recorded tracks for the second half of the album
It was around then that awareness of climate change started to permeate the culture.
From 2012 to 2014 I lived in Australia again, on the west coast in Perth.
I’ve entered the Fringe Festival again in 2007, 2011, 2016, and 2018.
fiffdimension 