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COMPASSUp, Up & AwayMusical ensemble Fly My Prettieshas always had an idiosyncraticapproach. Under the curatorship ofWellington musician Barnaby Weir,the group is not really what couldbe classed as a traditional band.“The idea with Fly My Prettieswas to try and do somethingspecial,” Barnaby says. “It’s a truecollaboration. It’s a very freeingenvironment and there’s a lot oftrust in the group.”And there needs to be. With anever changing cast of musiciansfluttering in and out of the nest,the group essentially starts fromscratch each ‘season’ – the wordBarnaby uses to describe a tour– as a new collective learns tomusically fly together.And, as Barnaby admits: “Youcan’t know how it’s going to gountil that first night.”This year Barnaby has hatchedwhat could be the most ambitiousFly My Pretties project yet: a22 show season that begins inSeptember at the top of the NorthIsland in Kaitaia and wraps up amonth later in Invercargill.On between days the group willcheck in at places often overlookedby other platinum-selling, multiaward-winning acts – includingDargaville, Kerikeri, Hastings,Westport and Ashburton.While Barnaby is still honing theexact theme of this year’s season,he did tell us that the historicalsignificance of each town the groupvisits will play an integral part ofthe performance, with documentaryfootage taken from the NewZealand Film Archive projectedonto screens behind the musicians.“We want to get their stories intothe show,” he says.→For national tour dates and venuesvisit www.flymypretties.comAA Directions has two Fly My PrettiesVIP experiences to give away. The packincludes a double pass to the show of yourchoice, a meet-and-greet with the band, aFly My Pretties t-shirt and the band’s backcatalogue on CD. To enter online, go towww.aa.directions.co.nz or send your name,contact details and preferred venue to FlyMy Pretties Competition, AA Directions, POBox 5, Auckland 1140. Entries close August30, 2013.PHOTOGRAPHY: SAM HANNAFORD, BIG RIG PRODUCTIONS16 AA Directions Winter 2013