Five minutes with Don McGlashan

Pictured is the Eric Glandy Memorial Big Band in the 1980s. Who says white men don’t suit the blues? ‘Delta’ Don McGlashan is on the right, next to NZBC Director-General Rob O’Neill touting the Fender bass (no, it’s not really him, merely a more youthful facsimile); Sally Hollis-McLeod is at the back wearing the B-52s wig; Derek Ward (Listener designer) is front-centre in the brown suit; and Lindsay Marks is second left in the white jacket. A comedy country act featuring two real musicians — McGlashan and Marks — along with a number of guests, the EG Memorial Big Band played original songs in costume. Some of the material was “brilliant”, says NZBC blogger and audiophile Stephen Stratford. “Lindsay’s Cowgirl Afterglow was my favourite, along with McGlashan’s The Ballad of Kelvin. Kelvin, as I recall, was always delvin’, and entered into an inappropriate relationship with his mother… or possibly a cow.” Sadly, most other facts about the project appear to have been lost in the mists of internet time, and ‘Delta Don’ was reluctant to disclose just how much Stephen’s copy of ‘Adrenal Glandy: Songs of Love, Hate and Revenge’ might be worth today, assuming he could be persuaded to part with it. But we just couldn’t resist asking:

What do you remember about making the only LP ever recorded by the Eric Glandy Memorial Big Band, ‘Adrenal Glandy: Songs of Love, Hate and Revenge’?

“Eric Glandy was the most important artist of his era, although you wouldn’t know that from the band’s live shows, recordings, or rehearsals. We hit our peak before our first practice, actually. Before we even thought about having a first practice, in fact — and from then on it was a sickening spiral downhill into recording industry hell and substance abuse. Those we influenced will certainly say that we didn’t influence them, but deep Jungian therapy will reveal that we did.”

Do you know if the halfway house half way down Dominion Road will be demolished when the road you immortalised in song is widened by Auckland City Council?

“I understand that the city council is also considering widening the song. They’ve put questionnaires out to residents, asking if I should be widened as well. I’m all in favour of that. It’ll take some time, but it’ll be well worth it.”

What’s currently on your iPod’s ‘On the go’ playlist — or are you an iPod refusenik?

“I think I’m what’s called a late adopter. Last year a friend gave me a box of Psion 5s that his office was sending to the landfill. I was thrilled, and did nothing else for weeks but play with them. Luckily, they all broke within a month or so.

“I work at home, and were I to put headphones on I wouldn’t be able to hear the tui in the acmena tree. I suppose I should join the 21st century, record the tui, add reverb and listen back to him on my iPod. That way he can have a break and do whatever tuis do when no one’s listening.

“As far as music goes, call me old-fashioned, but I like listening to it with other people — at the same time, I mean, without having to take something small and warm out of my ear, stick it in theirs, and shout, ‘Here! You’ll love this!’”

If visitors to NZBC only read one book this year, which book should that be?

“I haven’t been reading much this year — mainly crime novels and books about sailing. I recommend Ben Ainslee’s The Laser Campaign Manual or Joachim Schult’s Tactics and Strategy in Yacht Racing. The best book not about sailing that I’ve read in the last few years has been Ian McEwan’s Atonement.”

There are concerns about copyrights these days largely being controlled and manipulated by large corporations, rather than by the originators of copyrighted works, because that inhibits the innovation the right was created to protect. Do you have any thoughts on copyright and how long it should apply to works of art such as songs?

“None of my copyrights are controlled and manipulated by large corporations. They’re controlled and manipulated by a nice man in Melbourne called Chris, who phones me when someone wants to use a song in a film. Seeing as my songs are the only things I’ll probably be able to leave my kids, I’m all for their protection.”

You’ve just been involved in the ‘Gone To The Beach’ concert collaboration (16 October 2005) with Peter Scholes and the Auckland Chamber Orchestra (ACO), who combined forces with you and two other top New Zealand composers, Jonathan Besser and Ivan Zagni, to perform new works. What was the biggest challenge for you, and how well did the new music go down on the night?

“Frank Zappa is supposed to have said that you have to write music out for a symphony orchestra because it’s really time-consuming going round to each player in turn and humming them their parts. Having to specify everything on paper in advance is certainly different from working with a band, and that was hard work in the weeks leading up to the concert. The ACO are great, though. A lot of the scores contained improvising sections, which they laid into with gusto. I really enjoyed the show, and I think the audience did too.”

What are you working on at the moment, and when can we expect to be able to hear your long-overdue solo album?

“The album’s finished at last. The next one won’t take so long. I’m just having meetings about the cover now, and talking to record companies about a release — probably around February or March, given the need to avoid the Christmas turkey period.”

Update (Don writes to augment our incomplete Eric Glandy Memorial Big Band photo caption): “The bass player is John Schmidt — actually a real musician, too — he was in Rex Reason and The Rationalists; the singer down the front [just visible] is Helen Fuller. I can’t remember the drummer’s name. Also, I thought Frank Stark (NZ Film Archive boss) was in that photo as well? He was in the band — or maybe he’d moved to Wellington before we had a chance to take the shot...” So, if anyone out there knows the identity of the mystery drummer, post a comment here!