Emerging from the shaggy sixties Kiwi music scene, the Loxene Gold Disc Awards were the groovy great grandparent of today’s New Zealand Music Awards.

To give a shout out to these often contentious awards, celebrated at Vector Arena in Auckland next week, I delve back in time, rewinding to the local tunes of 1995.

Twenty years ago, Grandmaster Jim Bolger turned up the national sound system, whilst the country swaggered and saluted a tangy tub of local treats. Running up the charts with her headless chooks, Fiona MacDonald tapped the bottle of pop recognition, severing the ties to their alternative cohorts with the ultra-digestible ‘Body Blow’. Also set for cruise control, brat-brass funky fellows Supergroove spun some major “Traction’ with their debut album sounding like a greatest hits of our summer antics.

South Auckland street-sounds blasted the skateboard ramps from Ranui to Raglan, with 3 the Hard Way’s heaving Holden anthem, “Hip Hop Holiday”, sparking many a tinny road trip over the summer months. Rollin ‘In the neighbourhood’, took the Sisters Underground from the Otara markets to the café stretches of Ponsonby proudness, crossing over our separated soundtracks.

Be it rhythm and booze or patriotic Dobbyn loyalty, we Kiwis punch way above our beat belts. We love our music, both local and otherwise. To stand beside our mates, on a girl’s night out or cruising down Dominion Road, we have and have always had a lot to celebrate. Not a lot has changed in that regard, even now, twenty years since 1995.

Photo: Victor Alexeyev

van der Wel is the musical project of Hamilton-based Phil van der Wel. We first met through a shared love for the slowcore narratives of the American artist Pedro The Lion, and it's wonderful to see Phil's music developing in a way which shows that influence while moving into its own space as well. He's recently released an EP called O Canada, and one of the tracks - British Columbia - is pretty magical. So - before you do anything - I'd really like you to go on and click play right here.

Phil took time out to answer a few questions about his inspirations and the making of O Canada. You can buy a download of the EP for the affordable price of $5 NZD (or more, if you wish) at his Bandcamp.  

Can you tell me about how you got started playing music? What inspired you to get started, and what did you initially set out to do?

Sure. I have been playing music in one form or another since a young age, and first picked up a guitar when I was 11 or 12. I played songs with various school mates throughout middle and high school, and after leaving school started a band with a few friends, playing mostly melodic rock along the lines of Further Seems Forever or Jimmy Eat World (or something). A defining point for me musically was in 2007 when I moved to Canada. Suddenly I was separate from my friends and the music we listened to, and immersed in new friends and new (better?) music - David Bazan, Damien Jurado, Jon-Rae Fletcher, Phosphorescent, Iron and Wine, Fionn Regan, Danielson Family, etc.. I had previously been introduced to some of the music in New Zealand, but more as a side dish rather than the main course. I wanted this music for my starter, mains, and sides. There was no objective in mind, only a desire to sing songs.