Mike’s Minute:  The Power of Songwriting – Big Pop Studios

I’ve broached the exciting world of a young songwriter entering one of the Play It Strange songwriting competitions and how empowering that occasion can be in the student’s life. So what underpins that event. Is it the location?  

Location?  

Yes - where it all takes place.….  

Well, we can tell you where it will be. In a recording studio. And it is within the four walls of those inventive, creative environments that the song will be brought to life. And permanently…….     Magic. 

There are a fair few recording studios dotted around New Zealand here in the 21st century. Let’s cast an eye over them as we stroll down the highways on which they are located. Let’s throw a dart and see where it lands. Well, here’s one! It’s in Auckland city and it’s called Bigpop. But first – let’s go back in time.  

The 60s found the emergence of popular song recordings emanating from a small number of studios and the tracks were in the main cover versions of songs that had been released as singles in the USA and the UK. The whole go-start of artists, bands and solo acts found recordings being booked by major record companies for artists that they had signed. HMV, Phonogram, Warner Music and so on. The cost of studios found amateur acts taking to stage and working hard trying to secure a record contract. It wasn’t easy. And time dawdled by.  

The arrival of NZ acts writing and recording their own material came to reality in the mid-70s when acts like Hello Sailor, Dragon, John Hanlon, Th’ Dudes and others secured record deals and singles were released onto the market. There were occasional original songs but it wasn’t until the global spread of the punk/new wave musical force that New Zealand found young entrepreneurial acts putting together recording facilities and starting to record their own songs. And record labels came to be – Propellor, Flying Nun, Red Rat and so on. If you, the listener was interested in ‘alternative’ recordings – tracks that drove a special engaging repertoire - then the late 70s / early 80s was the time to start your listening adventures. 

And that’s what happened. The early stages of that cultural moment found artists of character and adventure putting together studios and recordings, releasing the new breed. It was an era that would create a powerful entity from a carefully planned future.  

So let’s take a look at a couple of musically adventurous lads who set their sights on recording/producing the colourful and often radical tracks from the early 80s on. They were – and still are – Joost Langeveld and Chris van der Geer and the studio that they set up is Bigpop. It is located on the bustling mid-west border of Auckland’s CBD and has recorded many tracks for the various Play It Strange songwriting competition albums. Let’s ask them about their adventurous world.  

Chris van der Geer went to school at Avondale College and as the alternative music of the northern hemisphere kicked in (loud and proud), Chris cobbled together like-minded musical classmates and put on lunchtime concerts playing Sex Pistols covers and the like. As well, performances at talent quests found them exerting a strong original music identity..  

It was in year 12 that Chris and his musical friends went to the ‘garage‘ and booked halls like those at Grey Lynn and the Parnell Library. And with other acts that they had connected with, they put on a show. Chris called his band Second Child and once they left school performances gravitated to licensed venues and an increasing number of original songs crept into their repertoire. 

Joost Langeveld arrived in NZ from Holland aged 15. English was a second language at that stage and Joost, in the face of that, found music and songs as the perfect protective measure in the dense community of Auckland Grammar School.  He was able to throw music over himself and fashion a contemporary identity. As he settled in, he made an ongoing connection with a St Peter’s lad – Paul Casserly. They met on the bus. And other neighborhood students with musical ammunition hovered. One was Greg Johnson. Soon the three of them were a united force in the wake of their merging together. 

After becoming aware of the musical talents of each other, Chris and Joost made moves. A pointed, serious intention came to be and plans were made. 

In 2008 they put a studio together on Anzac Ave in Auckland and as sessions increased in number they put together a basic staff and away they went.  

 “It was rough and ready” as Joost puts it. But the results were cool and the music industry soon became aware of their capability. 

When Play It Strange kicked off the album sessions for those songs selected for ‘finalist’ albums; our Play It Strange staffer Debbie Little took to assisting songwriters to look for studios to book appropriate recording sites. And yes, Bigpop as Joost and Chris had called their studio, was one of them. And since then, Bigpop has been a popular choice for Play It Strange finalists nation wide. As one who has seen songwriters with their songs under their belt walk stealthily into Bigpop, I thought it pertinent to talk to Joost and Chris about their impressions of this teenage breed. 

Chris 

When songs from Play It Strange finalists first started turning up, I would listen to them in their entry-recorded form and think “Hell!”  These are much better than the stuff me and my band mates were coming up with when we were their age. The melodies, the chord progressions…. 

Joost  

were more sophisticated… 

Chris  

than what we were doing at their age.  

Joost   

And the studios generally have great equipment.  But the overall increase in standards – sophistication, arrangements, etc. A lot of that is down to the new breed of music teachers.  

And what about lyrics? 

Chris    

The songs coming from schools are more complete. No matter what the standards are – of arrangement, sophistication - we find the lyrics are really powerful. 

It’s not hard to see the signs that mirror and reflect the high standards. The faces of the parents who come to the studio to witness their child’s session. They say it all. The songwriter, the parents , the teachers – they hear the mixed recording and there is a palpable response – the penny drops – This is a real recording by a real artist!  

Joost 

And the Play It Strange programme sits right on the cusp of that. 

I think the whole Play It Strange ecosystem works so well when the kids hear themselves back. And in that process, they see in themselves a development that moves parallel to the lines of those that inspire them.  

Chris 

A parent takes note - a child is at school and is a child. Then they hear the mixed recording and they realize their child and the recording they are making are the real thing.  

Joost 

And it happens to the students themselves …. Flash microphones, reverb, effects, classy instruments et al. They are often awestruck by their own performance. It’s magical …. A  powerful revelation to parents.  The music – the lyrics.  The whole package. 

Mike’s Postscript 

And then there are those that maintain their creative spirit after leaving school. They move from the Play It Strange ecosystem out into the marketplace and keep writing, performing and recording.  There have been some special advances.   Annah Mac, Louis Baker, CHAII, Georgia Nott (Broods), Neil MacLeod, Eden Iris and more. All cut their teeth on Play It Strange competitions and maintained the creative drive. And Bigpop have signed some of those that have recorded at their studios, and then embarked with serious intent on a musical career.  CHAII and Neil MacLeod to name a couple.