Throughout NZ Music Month we’ll be hearing stories from young musicians about the local songs they love the most. Today, Miss June's Annabel Liddell tells us about songs from Die! Die! Die!, The Clean, Look Blue Go Purple, Dimmer and Toy Love.
Miss June. Photo: Cleo Barnett
Auckland-based band Miss June have just released their new EP Matriarchy, and are nearing the end of their tour of the country that'll see them play one more show in Auckland this Friday. Vocalist and guitarist Annabel Liddell took a moment between tour dates to share some memories of her five favourite local songs.
Die! Die! Die! – ‘Harmony’
I'm probably a little biased on this one because Andrew from Die! Die! Die! is my partner. But when we met I had never listened to any of the band’s albums or recordings, I'd only seen them live a couple times. Then by the time we were dating it seemed awkward to go and listen to his band.
Anyway, over New Year's, Andrew and I went and stayed with Andrew's old friend Daniel Johns from Silverchair. He lives in this ridiculous time warp mansion in Newcastle and has this amazing surround sound system. Daniel is a huge Die! Die! Die! fan and when we were all smanged in the early hours of the morning he put on ‘Harmony’. Probably to try and embarrass Andrew I think. But it sounded so fucking incredible, I couldn't believe it. I almost cried during the bridge. So in love/tired and hungry/blown away.
The Clean - ‘Point That Thing Somewhere Else’
The first time I ever played in Christchurch with Miss June, we were sort of stuck at the bar for hours before the show and so one of the bartenders lent me their car to go exploring. We listened to the Topless Women Talk About Their Lives soundtrack as we drove around. We stopped at Wunderbar and played some pool, then made our way back into the city. This song by The Clean came on as we were going through the tunnels coming back from Lyttelton. It's a really incredible song to drive and smoke cigarettes to.
Look Blue Go Purple – ‘I Don't Want You Anyway’
I really appreciate the simplicity of the lyrics in this song. And the drumming. No more insults, no more bad vibes cos I don't want you anyway. Genius. One of the members of this band actually ended up doing the door at Miss June's most recent Dunedin show. It was a real honour to have her there. It also turns out that she is my friend Oscar’s mother. New Zealand is too small haha.
Dimmer – ‘Pacer’
I heard this song off some random mix CD whilst driving around Dunedin. I tend to listen to a lot of music when I'm driving or in the car. It was my first time hearing Dimmer and I really love the repetition and urgency. I think it's easy to fall in love with a song when it's the first thing you hear from a great band.
I was torn between this song and ‘Sky’ by The Dead C and it turns out that Robbie from The Dead C actually played the drums on ‘Pacer’, so it's a funny coincidence. I really respect Robbie, and his family. He and Joan let me and all of the boys from Miss June stay with them on our trip to Dunedin. We ate paua fritters and talked about how weird the music industry is.
Toy Love – ‘Photographs Of Naked Ladies’
A band I used to play guitar in called Grrlfriendz were asked to play a Toy Love tribute gig at Real Groovy and this is the song we chose to cover. I was such a crappy guitar player that I had to actually call their guitarist to figure out what the chords were hahaha. I still like our rendition of it and we actually put it on our album. Chris Knox did the artwork for the single and painted this really beautiful picture for us.