03 Magazine: February 03, 2024

Music | Magazine 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, 2024.
“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, 2024.