July, 2009
In 2001, Neil Finn brought together some of the world’s top musicians to play some of their favourite songs in aid of Medicin Sans Frontiers, and created the 7 World’s Collide shows and album. Last Christmas, for the project’s second outing – The Sun Came Out - Johnny Marr, KT Tunstall, Radiohead’s Ed O’brien and Phil Selway, along with American alternative outfit Wilco met up with local heroes Bic Runga and Don McGlashan. They played at Neil’s Roundhead Studios in Auckland and to sell out crowds at the nearby Powerstation venue, ably hosted, supported and collaborated with by most of the Finn family. The results are now in your local record store.
[When Good interviewed Liam for Issue 3, he mentioned Neil was the one telling them all to turn off lights they weren’t using them.] My Dad was a real stickler for that, and I am no where near as good at it as he is. But he grew up in the generation during the depression and there was a sort of environmentalism born of being thrifty in those days. You don’t waste power because it costs money and you don’t waste food because it’s precious. And that sort of got passed on, but to be honest not as relentlessly.
This studio generates shit loads of power. I’ve investigated already two or three different solar systems which might end up on the roof but up to this point I can’t honestly say that I have found one which is going to make a significant difference. The technology isn’t quite yet good enough to really put much into the grid. We can do the hot water here which we will do, and that’s the bare minimum, but to run the whole studio, from what we have been told for that incredible investment, we haven’t quite solved that. We are looking at that and we will get there. We’ve got a good west-facing roof so, at some point, we’ll be solared up.
But I don’t think I have every written a song or approached a piece of music with a thought of some kind of political, social, or environmental cause in my mind, I don’t think that is my kind of song, I don’t think I feel comfortable in that area. I write interpersonal songs about states of mind, and places. I try to describe places and times and the way people think. Similarly with this record, the main purpose of it was to make a great record. To get a true collaboration going and make a soulful, entertaining record, and I think we did that. I think the complete picture is built by it ultimately going to do some good, I hope, if it sells a few copies and some people benefit from it, and maybe there’s some good karma in it as well!
There’s a lot of different ways of people interacting with issues and causes out there. I’m a little but wary of celebrity driven campaigns where people’s voices carry more weight simply because of their celebrity status. I just think most of the people on the project were of a like mind you know, we just love music and we love creating something which makes people feel good. I think in that state, when people are feeling something, then they are more receptive to good ideas, so I believe that is something of a positive upshot. When you have been inspired by a concert, when you leave it you feel like reaching out in your own life to various people and it puts you in a positive frame of mind, so maybe you will make some positive contribution.
Tags: celebrities