Bay Harbour: June 22, 2016

PAGE 14 BAY HARBOUR
Wednesday June 22 2016
Our People
Keeping the community entertained
Heathcote Valley resident Harley Williams
entertains people at his lounge nights at The
Tannery. Bridget Rutherford spoke to him about
his musical background, creating music videos
and television commercials for work, and
where the lounge night idea came from
Can you tell me a wee bit
about yourself?
Well I live in Heathcote, and
for a crust I am part-owner
of a business called Ruffell
Productions. We create television
commercials, music videos and
promotion videos. We have our
office here at The Tannery, not
far from where I have lounge
nights. We’ve owned that now
for a good four years. I’ve been
working as a video editor for
about 12 years now. I’m what you
call a part-time musician. I used
to be in a band The Tiny Lies,
mostly when I lived in Lyttelton.
Can you tell me about The
Tiny Lies?
We made a couple of albums
and toured the nation a while
back and I’ve been playing in
bands throughout my life. The
Tiny Lies finished about mid-
2014 or15. We were an old folk
duo, myself and Charlotte Ivey
who is an exceptional singer. We
were two friends who randomly
met online and saw what we
could come up with. Lyttelton
Records was the label we
recorded with.
So now you’re doing lounge
nights at Blue Smoke at The
Tannery, how did that begin?
I’d always remembered back
when I was a student living
near the Provincial Hotel on
Cashel St. It’s not there anymore,
but they used to hold a lounge
night. Students came out of the
woodwork and it was a really
fun night out. About four years
ago I contacted an old friend
and asked if he would become
a lounge night DJ with me. The
only guidelines were to dress
up like a swinger from the 50s
and 60s and play old retro visual
clips. We made martinis on stage
and dressed the stage up with pot
plants and things we could find
that might have come from that
era and played live percussion.
Myself and Tim Ferguson both
know enough to keep a beat. We
wanted to make it a bit more
interesting. It’s been really fun
for me.
And how long have you been
doing them for?
I’ve been doing them regularly
at Blue Smoke for about three
months, but on and off for a
couple of years. We would do a
lot more but my DJ partner just
recently had a baby so have had
to put it on hold for a little bit.
My kids are a bit older now and I
live about 2km from Blue Smoke
so it’s a bit easier for me.
And you mentioned you used
to go along to lounge nights
when you were a student. What
were you doing back then?
At one point I was in a punk
rock band and then I think was
studying a jazz course at Hagley
and graphic design.
What sort of work does
Ruffells Production carry out?
Is it more national, or local?
Well we go through waves of it
really. We’re doing a lot of work
for a company in Wellington
and we’ve done some work for
Deloitte in Auckland. Then we
also get local one man band
businesses coming in from say
Cashmere. It’s a real range of
different things and different
budgets.
And Ruffells did the MyTax
TECHNICAL: Harley Williams is part-owner of Ruffells
Production, which makes television commercials, music videos
and promotion videos.
advertisements, with the wellknown
slogan ‘Money on your
Mind?’ Did you guys come up
with that?
Yes, my business partner and
managing director Tim McInnes
conceived the slogan “Money
on your mind?” as part of the
creative development of the
commercials.
What is your favourite work?
Well I can answer this easily. It’s
music videos for me. It makes
sense. Music is my passion,
when I get to interpret a song
visually as well as orally it’s
really rewarding to come up
with something that’s interesting
to watch. It’s hand’s down my
favourite.
How do you come up with
music videos?
It’s always slightly different.
Sometimes we get an artist come
in and they say do what you
want, which can be awesome,
but then it can make it difficult
because it doesn’t narrow the
TALENT:
Harley
Williams has
gone from
playing in
folk duo, The
Tiny Lies, to
entertaining
people
in lounge
nights at The
Tannery.
brief but it can give you great
freedom. Some go I want it to
look like this, and we go sweet.
The best would be if someone
came in with a little bit of an idea
of what they want, but they say
you guys can embellish it.
And you used to live in
Lyttelton?
I did live in Lyttelton. I moved
out about three months before
the September earthquake
in 2010. I still really like
Lyttelton and don’t want to live
too far away from there. My
social life links are over there as
well because I have family and
friends there. I think Lyttelton is
a great community, I just wish it
had a lot more sun.
Lyttelton has such a good
reputation on the music
scene, with the likes of Marlon
Williams. What do you think it
is about Lyttelton that inspires
musicians?
I have thought about this and
I can’t come up with any reason.
It’s just one of those things and
it probably happens once every
20-30 years. They were all living
in the same place at the same
time and into the same thing and
collaborated easily. It just totally
randomly happens.
Can you tell me a bit about
your kids?
They are six and nine. At
the moment my son River, is
really into soccer, as I was, and
my daughter Ella is really into
singing. They got all the good
looks from their mum really
(laughs).
And when you’re not working
or entertaining, what do you
like doing?
I still play indoor soccer and
try and get as much exercise
as possible. But I mostly listen
to music. If I could get paid to
listen to music that would be
my dream job! I wish I went to
a chess club or was part of some
medieval club – but I’m not.
•Mr Williams’ next lounge
night, Lounge Night Ball,
will be held at Blue Smoke,
Garlands Rd, on Saturday
at 8pm. Buy tickets at www.
undertheradar.co.nz