Streetlight Requiem Newsletter Interview

Thanks to Tim for answering these questions:

What is the best gig you have ever performed at, and why?

It would have to be Skanarchy Fest, we got the chance to play with 8 of the best Ska and Punk bands around to a huge croud going absolutly nuts. We played on the floor in the pool room at The Adelaide in Newtown surrounded by gig poster with a liquid light and a strobe on a foot switch, my mic must have got knocked over about 5 times during a half hour set.

What is your favourite NZ venue?

Would have to have been The Adelaide and Valve before they both closed down. We got to know the owners really well and were always made to feel welcome with smiles and free drinks.

What NZ musicians or bands would you like to see more of, and why?

I would like to go back to the 90’s/early 2000’s and see great bands like Brubeck, Sommerset, Channel 13, Blake and Kitsch again and again, preferably at Thistle Hall or Indigo but as for now, I’m reall enjoying the bands we gig with often such as Black Lick, We The Comedown and Masterhuna

What is your most embarrassing on tour/gig moment?

I would say for me personally at our first gig at Happy I broke my A string the first time I hit it on the very first song and had to borrow a bass from the opening band whose first gig it was, they were a lot softer than us and looked horrified at the thrashing I gave his bass which would be a routine night for mine.

How did you come up with the name Streetlight Requiem?

We wanted to call ourselves Dead Kennedys but apparently that’s already taken.

How do you describe your music?

It’s apparently the sorta stuff our fans listened to 5-10 years ago, Pennywise meets Rancid so I’m told but I would say fast, loud and brutally honest. We tell the truth, life in New Zealand isn’t all about road trips to the beach and BBQ’s with friends, we sing about real life, drug abuse, suicide, domestic violence and zombies (I live across the road from a graveyard so zombies are part of my daily life).

What can we expect to see from Streetlight Requiem over the next year?

We are doing a bit of a tour of the North Island and there is talk of venturing South and also the release of our EP and a truckload of gigs.

What advice would you like to give to other aspiring musicians?

Start a band and throw yourself in the deep end. We were together 3 weeks when we played our first gig. Stress brings out the best in muso’s.