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The Silver Scrolls are a great celebration of New Zealand songwriting, but what we really watch them for are the bloody covers. (Image: Tina Tiller)
The Silver Scrolls are a great celebration of New Zealand songwriting, but what we really watch them for are the bloody covers. (Image: Tina Tiller)

Pop CultureOctober 28, 2020

The greatest Silver Scrolls performances of the past decade

The Silver Scrolls are a great celebration of New Zealand songwriting, but what we really watch them for are the bloody covers. (Image: Tina Tiller)
The Silver Scrolls are a great celebration of New Zealand songwriting, but what we really watch them for are the bloody covers. (Image: Tina Tiller)

Each year, the highlight of the annual Silver Scrolls aren’t the speeches, but the covers. In advance of tonight’s ceremony, Sam Brooks runs down his favourite performances since 2010.

Tonight is the 2020 APRA Silver Scroll Awards, New Zealand’s most prestigious prize for songwriting (and you can stream them right here from 7:30pm). The nominees this year are:

‘Don’t You Know Who I Am’, written and performed by Reb Fountain

‘Get The Devil Out’, written and performed by Nadia Reid

‘Glitter’, written by Stella Bennett, Joshua Fountain and Djeisan Suskov, performed by Benee

‘In the Air’, written by Arapekanga Adams-Tamatea, Brad Kora, Stuart Kora, Joel Shadbolt, and Miharo Gregory, performed by L.A.B

‘Mighty Invader’, written and performed by Troy Kingi

As well as the biggie, there are a range of other awards presented, rewarding excellence in Māori songwriting, classical composition, and original composition for film and TV. You can watch the ceremony from the comfort of your couch from 7:30pm tonight right here:

But those are the awards. You’re here for the fun stuff: The covers!

The clear highlight of each ceremony are the cover versions peppered throughout. Each nominated song is covered live, and the artists who perform these song are curated by a guest musical director. Julia Deans is the musical director for 2020, and in the past this role has been filled by the likes of Bic Runga, Shayne Carter and Jon Toogood. 

The results are eclectic, sometimes wild, and tend to flip the nominated songs in a way that showcases how strong they are as musical works. These tunes can not only survive but thrive under reinvention and reinterpretation. 

So, after painstakingly poring through the past 10 years of performances – I have a hard job you guys – I present what I consider to be the cream of the 2010s crop. Your taste might (probably will) vary from mine, so if you want to check out the others you can find them right here.

2010: Ermehn, Anonymouz, Aaradhna & the You Alone Chorus perform ‘How Bizarre’ by OMC

Honestly, this is one of the most joyous videos I’ve ever seen. The song, performed in tribute here to the recently deceased Pauly Fuemana, is one of the most recognisable in our history. Hell, I’ve heard ‘How Bizarre’ enough times in my life that even the phrase “every time I look around” is enough to trigger me. In saying that, Jesus Otara Millionaire Christ if this song doesn’t sound great performed by a choir and a full bloody band. Even that blaring trumpet feels welcome here. Points to Aaradhna for throwing in a few riffs and trills, because why the hell wouldn’t she? How often do you get to sing ‘How Bizarre’ on stage outside a karaoke bar at 3am?

2010: 3 Houses Down performing ‘Young Blood’ by The Naked and Famous

Were you a person with access to the radio in 2010? Then you’re probably still traumatised by the ‘yeah-yeah-yeah’ hook of ‘Young Blood’. A great hook, no doubt, but sometimes a great hook feels like a left hook when you’ve heard it a hundred times.

This is the platonic ideal of a Silver Scrolls cover: it shows the strength of the song underneath the production, and serves as an incredible showcase for the artist covering it. Look at how much fun these guys are having! Listen to those solos! You can’t help but smile at this performance.

2011: Sandy Mill performing ‘Ko Koe’ by Tyna Keelan

Fact: Sandy Mill is one of the world’s most qualified back-up singers. You could have her sing the Ponsonby News and she’d make it sound like bloody Dame Kiri.

Also a fact: If you put a great vocalist with a world-class voice onstage, give her a great song to sing (backed by a moody, house music-y beat), then you’re going for gold. Those big notes, my lord! As round and full as me after a 3am trip to the dairy.

2013: Mark Vanilau & Scribe performing ‘It Dawned on Me’ by Dave Dobbyn

This one might surprise you. Scribe is obviously a great rapper, but he’s also a genuinely lovely singer. He takes on this Dobbyn classic (in honour of his induction to the NZ Music Hall of Fame) Mark with Vanilau quietly killing it softly on the keys behind him. And, well, it’s bloody lovely.

2013: Tami Neilson & Weiting Shyu performing ‘Language’ by Dave Dobbyn

Dave Dobbyn’s ‘Language’ is one of the most heart wrenching songs written in any language, ever.

Here Tami Neilson sings like she’s not just tearing her heart out of her chest, but like she’s tearing your heart out as well. Hearts do not remain in bodies when Tami Neilson is singing.

Put this singer and this song together? To quote Dobbo: I lose language. Just watch it and you’ll understand. (Also: A goddamned harp! Where do you hear that outside a Joanna Newsom album? Not often enough, frankly.)

2014: Terror of the Deep, Rhian Sheehan and a guest string section performing ‘Bridges’ by Broods

I’m a sucker for a string quartet, what can I say? Also, go back and listen to the original version of ‘Bridges’. Song holds up, y’all.

2015: SoccerPractise perform ‘Tahi’ by Moana Maniapoto

I wish a lot of these covers were available as singles to bop to in a playlist. In the fantasy world where that has happened, SoccerPractise’s preternaturally chill, ‘laxed-out cover of Moana Maniapoto’s stormer ‘Tahi’ would slide into more than a few of my party playlists. I feel like a cooler person just for watching it.

2016: Jeff Boyle of Jakob, Julia Deans, and Chris O’Connor perform ‘Rainphase’ by Salina Fisher

One of the cooler (or nerdier, depending on your perspective) parts of the Silver Scrolls is the performance of the classical composition winners: there’s at least one of these each year, and they’re all worth checking out. It’s a great showcase for this kind of work, and on a bigger platform than it might usually get. This moody, tense performance of ‘Rainphase’ is my favourite of the lot, but I recommend checking them all out. Our nation’s classical composers are, to use a classic phrase, lit.

2018: Teeks, Nick Dow, and Ngā Tūmanako perform ‘Te Ahi Kai Pō’ by Ria Hall

If you’ve scrolled through the rest of these, I would implore you to stop right here. Clear out the next six minutes and 19 seconds of your day, you won’t regret it.

You know those covers that seem to be a strange meeting of spirits, always fated to be? Think Whitney Houston and ‘I Will Always Love You’. To bring it closer to home, think Whirimako Black and ‘Both Sides Now’. To bring it closer to this piece, think this cover.

Teek’s voice – hitting that same fairy alien register that ANOHNI and Bjork have done beforehand – comes at Ria Hall’s gorgeous waiata at just the right angle, Nick Dow’s piano is delicate but strong, and Ngā Tūmanako lift the whole thing up, especially in the tremendous last minute. It is honestly just fucking beautiful. 

2019: Bella Kalolo performs ‘Happy Unhappy’ by The Beths

One of the best things about these covers is when the performers are having fun, and bringing the song to meet them halfway: it feels like a backyard jam, in the very best way. I don’t think anybody had more fun at last year’s Silver Scrolls than Bella Kalolo, who performed a jazzy take on The Beths’ pure-pop hit (Kalolo’s take on Lorde’s ‘Royals’ at the 2013 ceremony was equally fun).

You can stream the Silver Scrolls here from 7.30pm.

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It’s rugby meets the bachelorette, and that’s no bad thing (image: Tina Tiller)
It’s rugby meets the bachelorette, and that’s no bad thing (image: Tina Tiller)

Pop CultureOctober 27, 2020

Match Fit shows former All Blacks overweight and struggling – just like the rest of us

It’s rugby meets the bachelorette, and that’s no bad thing (image: Tina Tiller)
It’s rugby meets the bachelorette, and that’s no bad thing (image: Tina Tiller)

Review: In their heyday they were invulnerable, but now the likes of Piri Weepu and Eroni Clarke are all too human. That’s what makes Match Fit so compelling, says Duncan Greive.

Match Fit is aimed at the more casual class of rugby fan, but its audience would likely bristle at what lies underneath its code-heavy exterior: this is purest reality TV. Only, it’s a game of rugby which is the bachelorette, and injuries replace the rose ceremony. It’s even made by Pango, which makes much of our reality TV.

The idea for the show was created by ex-England football star Harry Redknapp in the UK, and is immediately attractive, taking a grizzled group of former stars who’ve had a few too many beers and pies since hanging up the boots, and tries to get them fit for one last game. It was brought to New Zealand by Bailey Mackey (interviewed here on The Fold), who has strong links to both reality TV (he created Sidewalk Karaoke and The GC) and rugby (he’s president of Ngāti Porou-East Coast and on the board of NZ Rugby), and he’s put together a strong cast of ex-All Blacks, including Piri Weepu, Frank Bunce, Troy Flavell and Kees Meeuws, capped off by host Buck Shelford and coach Graham Henry.

They provide a link back to a different rugby era, when the game really dominated the culture (for better and worse), personalities were bigger and less tightly controlled, and the through line to the amateur days was still palpable. 

This is exactly what NZ Rugby needs to do to rediscover its soul and reconnect with the fans it has lost over the last decade, during which the All Blacks brand has swollen to the point it smothers much of what underpins it. Despite the story the country tells itself, most New Zealanders are ultimately casual fans, able to be won over or repelled – humanising the players is key to making the less serious fan feel something for them and their teams.

That’s really what Match Fit is about – showing the vulnerabilities of men who appeared indomitable on the field. The end of a professional athlete’s career has always struck me as one of the most professionally traumatising experiences someone could go through this side of an election defeat. In the cutaways to reintroduce us to the players (another well-worn reality TV trope), they talk about their challenges with mental health, and controlling their relationships with food and alcohol. Almost all are significantly heavier than their playing days, and when they talk about teammates like Jonah Lomu and Norm Berryman, taken before their time, it’s clear that such a fate is not unimaginable for them.

Powerhouse prop Kees Meeuws, nearly 150kg now, has a real fear about him when he talks about his desire to see his mokopuna grow up. Watching it, you know there will be tens of thousands of men, Māori and Pasifika in particular, who are at a similar turning point in their lives. The statistics around their mental and physical health are not good, and it’s to the show’s immense credit that rather than ducking those issues, it seems committed to looking them dead in the eye. 

It’s not all so moving. There’s an undeniable humour to watching these one time elite sportsmen shuffling through a “bronco” running test at half the pace of current All Blacks, and even those who never played together have an instant rapport. 

Despite that, it also drags at times – an interminable and poorly shot game of touch adds little, while at times the banter is too restrained. I imagine the same format with former NFL or NRL players would be a whole lot funnier.

Interestingly, the show is funded by NZ on Air – the government agency often shies away from reality TV, but evidently saw something in this. It’s intriguing to note the international reality formats deemed worthy of funding (fancy architecture, sports) versus those which aren’t (dating, home renovation). The agency says it’s about what is commercially viable, which is a plausible but not uncomplicated answer, given the number of high profile series which have been postponed or cancelled in recent years. 

Still, while public funding for reality television can attract controversy, Match Fit seems unlikely to do so. Only the wilful could fail to grasp the power of the series, the way it takes multiple generations of sporting heroes and shows them figuratively and (almost) literally naked. Even All Blacks struggle, Match Fit says, so it’s OK if you do too. In this era, after this year, that seems about as powerful a message as any cultural product, let alone reality TV, could hope to convey.

Match Fit airs at 7.30pm Tuesdays on Three

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