Biography
ABOUT PIX & HOLLIE
By day, Pix was a scribbler of all things said and done in the New Zealand Parliament, while Hollie was a down-and-out student and café waitress. By night, both were moonlighting in the dark arts of guitar, piano and lyrics. On Monday late-afternoons, throughout the bleak Wellington winter of 2009, they sought comfort in each other for motivation, ideas, tea and biscuits. They wrote some songs, recorded a little here and there, and played two memorable shows.
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ABOUT TINY RUINS
Though having always written songs, it was for many years a pastime confined to her bedroom. Hollie lived in a drafty old tree house, complete with veranda, armchair and cat. Inside, she collected a menagerie of instruments, with noble intentions of learning them all. As her student days wore on, she picked up the courage to play in front of some people, found herself a name, and finally enlisted her friend Sam Prutton to record her. Use of the menagerie is now in full swing, and Tiny Ruins intends to release an ep and more in 2010.
http://www.myspace.com/tinyruins
ABOUT MATTHEW PICKERING
Not caring for these third-person shenanigans, Pix says: "I'm drawn to folk music because of the story-telling. I have a background in english literature, bookshops, etc, so lyrical content is really important for me. I mostly play finger-picking guitar in alternate tunings, but when I'm singing and playing around a campfire and a guitar comes my way it's annoying to always have to alter the tuning and ask for a capo! On the piano, i look to Erik Satie, Vince Guaraldi, and BIll Evans for inspiration. In a performer, i want to
see mastery of an instrument (the listener thinks "I can do that!") and mastery of body through voice, or mind through lyrical content (the listener thinks "whoa, this guy or girl has somethin mysterious and unique to them!" Recently, I've been in a composition phase and shall resurface sometime in the future, all going to plan.
http://www.myspace.com/matthewpickering
SHORT INTERVIEW:
1. Tell us the story about the song.
The song ‘Venn’ began as little joke of Pix’s (“I want to thank Venn, for drawing our circles together”). From there, the lyrics came about fairly easily, bouncing forth between the two. It was like a game of badminton, only better. Originally a love song, then about two old friends, then about strangers, it ended up being nicely ambiguous. It was a song about good feelings, drinking wine, friendship and chance meetings.
2: Why did you choose to work together, and how did you meet?
Hollie saw Pix play the piano at a poetry and music night in a cafe down the road from her flat, called ‘Blah Blah Blah’. A couple of months later, Pix saw Hollie play at the very same place. Startled at their similar musical tastes, and hitting it off from the get-go, they organized their first meeting. It turned out that Pix’s best friend had also lived in the tree-house several years beforehand, so it was a reunion of sorts.
3: Do you have plans to do more music together?
Perhaps…sadly, we are in different cities now, but keeping in touch.
CREDITS
Song written by Matthew Pickering & Hollie Fullbrook. Recorded by Hollie Fullbrook, Feb 2010.
Text written by Hollie Fullbrook & Matthew Pickering.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.