Get your socks off Graham Nash on 60 years of songwriting, the beauty of Christchurch, his love for Kiwi music royalty Neil and Tim Finn, and why he prefers to play in bare feet. WORDS JOSIE STEENHART | PHOTO AMY GRANTHAM
Music | <strong>Magazine</strong> 41 “You can expect anything from me … you’re gonna hear songs you wanna hear and you’re gonna hear songs that you’ve never heard and you’re gonna hear songs that were written that morning.” i Graham. Can you hear me?” “H Silence. On my laptop screen I watch one of the biggest names in music, Graham Nash, nod his head. Yes, he can hear me. But I can’t hear him. It’s a story as old as time (or as long as Covid has been around, anyway). Zoom has betrayed us. Already flustered by a) the fact that I’m interviewing a living legend, and b) that he’s chosen to turn his camera on though I was briefed that he wouldn’t be using it and so am slumped on the couch in my activewear when we’re connected, not being able to hear him has me breaking into a minor sweat (so the sweatshirt I’m wearing comes in handy for something at least). Can I request that someone who has twice been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (with bands the Hollies, one of the UK’s most successful pop groups, and Crosby, Stills & Nash – yep, he’s that Nash) and who has produced best‐selling music for six decades restart his computer? I do, and he diligently does. No dice. Still no sound coming from Graham’s side. Panicstricken but trying to play it cool and keep it profesh, I say I’ll contact his New Zealand management and see what they suggest. He mimes (or that’s how it looks to me) “okay” and waves goodbye. Fifteen highly stressful minutes later, I’m at my desktop computer, looking, and I hope subtly, slightly more put together with a swipe of makeup and a hairbrush, and, thank the journalism gods, I can hear him now. For interest’s sake, his accent is a curious yet charming mix of Blackpool and more than four decades living in the US. He’s beaming in from his current home in New York (“I’m speaking to you from Manhattan, yes”), and he’s “feeling healthy and looking forward to coming down to see you in New Zealand”. That’s the reason for our chat – one of just two New Zealand stops on his global tour, titled Sixty Years of Songs and Stories, is at Christchurch’s wonderful Isaac Theatre Royal on March 3, <strong>2024</strong>. “The first four tours I’ve finished already,” he says. “We did four tours in 2023 and we’re starting again in Australia and New Zealand.” He also released a new album, Now, in May of 2023. That must have been a big year. “It was a big year, and still is. All my years are big!” He’s already been to New Zealand “twice, I believe – once with David [Crosby] and Stephen [Stills], and then with Neil [Young], for one day, for a benefit for the Rainbow Warrior [held at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium in 1986, Split Enz historically reformed specifically for the event]. “I do have great memories of Christchurch,” says Graham. “It was beautiful. Lots of green. Is it still beautiful, even after the earthquakes?” I assure him it is. Possibly there’s even more green, post-quakes. “I am looking forward to coming to play.” Will he have time on this visit south for a spot of sightseeing? “I will walk around, for sure, but we’re only really in each city for a day. There’s not too much [leisure time], not when you’re touring.” Are there any New Zealand musicians he’s particularly partial to? “I love the Finn brothers, they’re really excellent musicians, and make great records.” He’s never had the pleasure of meeting them [someone alert Finn management!]. So, 60 years of songwriting… Does he have favourites? Or least-favourites? What can Christchurch concert-goers expect? “I understand that I’ve sung ‘Our House’ and ‘Teach Your Children’ and ‘Military Madness’ and ‘Chicago’, I’ve sung them a million times, but every time I sing them I want the audience to know that I’m there to sing for them, and that I’m gonna play what they wanna hear, and I’m gonna play with the same passion I had when I wrote it,” he says. “But you’ll also hear new songs too.” Does “new” mean songs from his latest album? “You can expect anything from me – and our fans really understand that – you’re gonna hear songs you wanna hear and you’re gonna hear songs that you’ve never heard and you’re gonna hear songs that were written that morning.” Having fluffed him round with technical difficulties for most if not all of our allocated interview time, I throw in just one more, in hindsight quite random, question for Graham. Does he still perform barefoot? “I haven’t done it recently because it has been getting a little chilly here, but what happens with me with shoes is if I don’t wear them I can feel the bass notes, the bass drum, through my feet, so it anchors me to the groove of what we’re playing, if that makes any sense? “I’m also not so sure now if anyone wants to see 82-yearold feet.” I assure him early March in Aotearoa is likely to still be fairly warm, and as a nation renowned for both our welcoming natures and love of casual attire, he can feel comfortable shedding his footwear on stage – then say goodbye and disconnect our call, probably to our mutual relief. Graham Nash performs Sixty Years of Songs and Stories at Christchurch’s Isaac Theatre Royal on March 3, <strong>2024</strong>.
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