Cityscape Summer 2020
Welcome to 2020. For our first issue of a new decade, Cityscape has taken up the 5 Ways to Wellbeing as a kaupapa, or set of principles, underpinning our editorial direction for 2020 and beyond. If you haven’t heard of them before, the 5 Ways – Connect, Be active, Take notice, Keep Learning, and Give – have been taken up by mental health agencies and organisations around the world. There is extensive scientific evidence that if practised regularly, the 5 Ways will lift your wellbeing. The challenge is to find ways to introduce these actions into our daily lives. Between the covers of Cityscape we have curated a selection of experts local and international that can help. Supporting local businesses by getting offline and in-store is one way to connect with your community as well as be more active and giving – as consumers, we often make big decisions about where to spend our money on the basis of saving a dollar or two. Remember, when you buy from a small business, an actual person does a happy dance! We have all our regular features and contributors as well, and all that’s hot in beauty, cuisine, home and events.
Welcome to 2020. For our first issue of a new decade, Cityscape has taken up the 5 Ways to Wellbeing as a kaupapa, or set of principles, underpinning our editorial direction for 2020 and beyond. If you haven’t heard of them before, the 5 Ways – Connect, Be active, Take notice, Keep Learning, and Give – have been taken up by mental health agencies and organisations around the world. There is extensive scientific evidence that if practised regularly, the 5 Ways will lift your wellbeing. The challenge is to find ways to introduce these actions into our daily lives. Between the covers of Cityscape we have curated a selection of experts local and international that can help. Supporting local businesses by getting offline and in-store is one way to connect with your community as well as be more active and giving – as consumers, we often make big decisions about where to spend our money on the basis of saving a dollar or two. Remember, when you buy from a small business, an actual person does a happy dance! We have all our regular features and contributors as well, and all that’s hot in beauty, cuisine, home and events.
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CULTURE
‘There are more
than enough
Mutton Birds
songs I reckon …
it’ll be great to
delve into it all
with the benefit
of hindsight’
Flying visit
Legendary Kiwi band The Mutton Birds will reunite
for the Great Kiwi Beer Festival in Hagley Park on
January 25. Don McGlashan tells Cityscape
excitement is building and so is the set list.
Y
ou’ve described reforming
as being like putting on an
old coat you haven’t worn
for a while – how’s the fit? Good
so far. We won’t actually start
rehearsing till Alan the bass player
arrives from the UK but people are
already suggesting songs for the
set list and ideas are flying back
and forth. Excitement is building!
Will the Christchurch gig be the
first by the reformed band? No, it
looks like there’s a Dunedin show
before the Christchurch one, so
when we get to you we’ll be matchfit,
hungry and ready to leave
everything on the stage. Do any of
you actually like muttonbird, or
tītī? If yes, what’s your favourite
way to eat it? Not sure about the
other guys, but I do like
muttonbird, either triple-boiled,
roasted, then served on fresh white
bread with some watercress; or
(much less time-consuming)
ordered as a delicious entree at
Fleur’s, Moeraki. Will the playlist
be all Mutton Birds or will there
be some of your solo material as
well? There are more than enough
Mutton Birds songs I reckon. That’s
10 years of writing and recording,
and it’ll be great to delve into it all
with the benefit of hindsight. I think
that apart from the well-known
ones that we’ll definitely play, we’ll
find some seldom-played ones that
deserve an outing. Any new
treatments for the old classics?
Bound to be! It seems many of
your Kiwi fans came to love The
Mutton Birds while in London on
their OE – what are your best
memories of that time? So many:
fish and chips in Arbroath,
Scotland, before the Dundee gig;
Colin and Philip from Radiohead
turning up to our set at the
Borderline on Tottenham Court
Road; having to go and have beer
and mussels in Calais for one day
every few months to freshen up our
UK work visas; finding the Topp
Twins waiting in the rain outside
our show at the Shepherds Bush
Empire, and seeing the happy looks
on their faces when we hustled
them to the front of the queue…
What are you bingewatching at
the moment? The strange,
anarchic British TV show Flowers.
Hilarious, frightening and brilliant.
Any new Kiwi artists that have
caught your attention? There are
so many Kiwis making fantastic
music right now. I’m loving Tiny
Ruins’ latest album, and Marlon
Williams and Emily Fairlight. The
list goes on. What advice would
you give to your younger self? “If
someone who looks like a much
older version of you sidles up to
you in a dark alley, and it seems as
if they’re about to give you advice,
run for it.” Any plans for while
you’re in Christchurch? I’d love to
head out along Ferry Road towards
New Brighton and drop in on Ant
Elworthy and the “Stretchy”
animation team, who are doing
beautiful work on Kiri & Lou, the
kids’ TV series that I’m helping my
old Front Lawn mate Harry Sinclair
make. What’s your favourite way
to spend a Sunday afternoon? If
I’m in Christchurch and it’s a nice
day, walking around to Boulder Bay
from Taylor’s Mistake. (Who was
Taylor? What did he do wrong? Did
someone ever point it out to him,
or was everyone too polite?) After
this tour, what is on the cards for
the rest of 2020? I’ll be hard at
work on my next solo album. I’m
hoping to release that in the
second half of the year.
The Mutton Birds,
Great Kiwi Beer Festival,
Hagley Park, January 25 2020
donmcglashan.com
100 CITYSCAPE.CO.NZ Summer 20
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