These days we work on a lot of different music projects but the project that I front as a singer is called The Response, and the project that Vic fronts is called Imperial April. People often ask why we don’t put it all under one name and call it a day but they’re just such different expressions of music, and it doesn’t make sense to have them under the same umbrella.

The Response has gone through a lot of different genres. We started off quite indie folk. When we were playing as a two piece, we had to turn up to gigs with two cars because of the instruments that we decided needed to be in the set. I would have a keyboard at my feet that had little bits of tape on it that I had to kick certain keys at certain parts of the set to make things happen. And a big kick drum on the other foot. Vic had a glockenspiel, a harmonium and double bass.

It doesn’t get out as much these days but recently we played a show where I brought out the harmonium. As we’ve moved away from that more folky type music I don’t tend to play it very often, but it was really fun to bring it out again.

After getting some new musical toys and our sound changing a bit, the next big evolution in our sound was when we moved to Vancouver for a couple of years. We were in a tiny apartment with neighbors on four sides, so we couldn’t practice at home very easily. That’s when we started to go very ‘in the box’, using computer based amps instead of real guitar amps and stuff like that, which was a big change from our very analog roots.

There’s a big pop music culture over there. When you went to gigs, people always brought in extra lights, maybe have dance routines, or they would use a smoke machine and have amazing costumes. The effort and time that went into everything was just next level. That’s when we went to IKEA and got a bunch of cheap standing lamps. I got a wee DMX MIDI controlled light box. We hooked it up so when Vic hit certain pads on our drums, these lights would flash. It all had to fit in our one suitcase; we’d get to gigs, set up the gear, and then start screwing together these lamps and screwing in the bulbs that were in bubble wrap.

What a ridiculous band we were!

But it was amazing. We got signed to this publishing label based in LA and London.These guys have worked in the early days with Adelle and Coldplay so we thought we’d made it. I remember asking them if I should be quitting my job to concentrate on music and they were like “..not quite yet maybe..”

Working with the publishers was a good lesson in working with people who have a different perspective to you. You learn how to come together on the things that matter, and then how to keep your own flavour. This has also been really helpful to us now we produce other artists. As producers, we want to bring out the best in someone. We want it to feel like their music, expressed in such a way to have the most potential to reach the most ears.

We’ve been back in Ōtautahi since 2017. Andy had always wanted to move overseas, and I had never wanted to, but when we did I was like, “this is the greatest!”. So it was really hard to come home, but we made a conscious decision that we would stay for six months when we came back and try to not really think about going anywhere else. I think it took us 18 months to feel settled here again, but we love being back. It’s great. We like to get out and walk around the river and enjoy the quietness of this part of town.

In Vancouver, we did so much music, but since we’ve come back, we’ve done ten times as much. It’s crazy how many people we’ve managed to connect with, the music scene here is amazing. I also do a lot of illustration and design for artists, whether it’s posters, vinyl art, or children’s books.

It’s always fun to hear your music out in the wild and one place we heard our music where we weren’t expecting was at the fireworks in New Brighton. One year, two songs that we’d written and produced synched to the fireworks display – that was amazing, and was a total surprise.

We play in quite a few bands and produce for other artists. What I really like about production and what we do is hearing someone who has an idea that they want other people to hear, and coming in and supporting them to bring it out in the best way. I’ve always really liked supporting other people.”