Bio
Deirdre Newall
"Coming from a musical family I started playing Double Bass in high school. My first gig was busking and jamming with Erin at Logan Park High School fair. My first real band was a punk band called The Chicks this was 1986 and I played electric guitar. The first song I ever wrote was about buying Steinies at the Gardens pub. Erin?s twin Alex played drums with us.?
?I joined a band called the Volcanic Eruptions and I played 2nd double bass - (my Mum bought this for me, thanks Mum!!) Rob Garrett was 1st double bass and the best player/influence/teacher and friend. We played Jazz standards (Bebop) and I learnt heaps. Rob and I also worked at the local student radio station -Radio One - where I was the manager in 1987.?
?In 1988 I joined the Rolled Notes an all woman/originals band. It was here I wrote my second song ?Soul Kitchen? ? I was very happy with it ? it was about food! It came about from a dream I had. We still play it in delgirl today! I met Tracey Huirama-Osborne in Rolled Notes. She has been a huge influence and spark in my musical career and is an amazing guitar player and singer. Together we formed the T+D Big Band in 1989. We were a duo playing a mix of original blues, folk and country songs. Erin joined us about this time and we became the T+D Bigger Band (two guitars and bass). We played in this format for three years or so. During this period we put out a CD called Hillingdon (named after the street we all lived in). In 1997 we were finalists in the folk section of the NZ music awards.? Erin and I also played in a jazz ensemble called 12.47.?
?In 2000 Erin, Lynn and I formed Delgirl. My musical influences are Tom Waites, Nina Simone, Roberta Flack, Ron Carter, John Holt, Nat King Cole and Al Green. Also 50?s exotica, Latin, my partner?s Reggae collection and anything with a strong Bass rhythm. They along with my mum and dad have been hugely influential in my music. I love dancing to music, gardening, being in the bush or by the sea, and listening to NZ?s native birds.?
Erin Morton
?Playing music and singing has always been a big part of me. I played in my first professional band when still at Logan Park High School. The Bog Boogie Band, a hard-out bush band where I played hard-out fiddle. I didn?t get pissed much but I certainly remember the Tea Chest bass player falling over and also sticking his finger through the ceiling (he was very tall).?
?I played in several bands in Melbourne including the Vengeance Dance Band and the Mad Dog Spasm Band. I also did some session work. I really did get trapped in a fiddler?s body though, when all I really wanted to play was trumpet and/or guitar.?
?It wasn?t till I got back to Dunedin and started playing with Deirdre again that I was able to play guitar in the T and D Bigger Band and also trumpet in a wee brass band with Deirdre called 12.47. ?
?I really love the music process that goes with playing in Delgirl. It provides me with the most delicious opportunity to express the music that is so much a part of me. Deirdre and Lynn are great and I feel thrilled to be able to walk alongside them and share this music expression process with such amazing women.?
?I guess key influences on my music would be Cat Stevens, R L Burnside, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Chet Baker and more recently - The Renderers and Operation Rolling Thunder, and all and any music that I listen to. My other passion apart from my kids, is fishing which I do at any and every opportunity I can.?
(Nga Puhi/Ngati Hine/Te Orewai/Pakeha)
Lynn grew up in Papakura, South Auckland, where her mother nurtured her music beginnings. ?I started singing when I was really young with my mum who had a good voice and loves music. Mum taught me to harmonise and our show piece was a two part harmony of Po karekare ana. She was an important musical influence in my life, the song Miss Harris is about her. I grew up on a totally diverse musical diet of the 3 C?s - classical, crooners and country. We would listen to anything from Jim Reeves, Paul Robeson, The Platters, Patti Page, Johnny Cash - lots and lots of country and blue grass music. I was also really lucky to have great teachers who inspired and encouraged me. I learned the flute and piano, but it is singing that I love best. I have always sung - especially in bathrooms. It used to drive my family nuts. Now George, my son, is always telling me to stop singing! However, I don?t find it easy to sing in front of other people, but it?s not a goer having gigs in bathrooms.?
?Years back I did some backing vocals for my partner Simon?s band the Weetbix Boys. A woman heard the tape and asked me to join an acapella group called The Harpies. Singing with three/four other women was brilliant and scary - it gave me a lot more confidence. I had known Dee (Deirdre) for ages since her and Simon worked at Radio One, and we both love country music and liked to sing together. I had always loved the T&D Bigger Band, so it was awesome to be able to join with Deirdre and Erin and form Delgirl.?
