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The Dominion
27 June, 2002

Driven to Collision

Original content copyright 2002 to Independent Newspapers Ltd.

Original article is at:    www.stuff.co.nz

27 June 2002

By: Bess Manson

Bic Runga is getting a bit sick of being asked why it took so damn long to come up with her second album three years after the massively successful Drive. It's the question she gets asked the most and likes the least.

So, why did it take so long? May as well get it out of the way.

These things take time, she says of Beautiful Collision, released this month. "You can't rush them. You can have a work ethic but you can't force it. Some days it goes really well, some days you can't get anything out."

The self-produced album was put together in Auckland, Los Angeles and New York City. If she was easily distracted at home, she was truly driven when it came to recording stateside. The inspiration came thick and fast when she was working at Sunset Sound in LA, where she was motivated by a vibe of professionalism, she says, not to mention the astronomical cost of recording time.

"Historically it's an exciting place to be. It's where Frank Sinatra made his records. You pull finger when you are in a professional studio."

But making Beautiful Collision was a frustrating process, says the 26-year-old who grew up in the Christchurch suburb of Hornby that also produced singer Anika Moa.

With an album that was three years in the making, there was plenty of time for ups and downs.

"When I knew what it was that I wanted, it made everything flow a lot quicker. When I knew not to try to make an innovative hip hop record and I knew not to go down a dishonest path, then it made everything a lot easier."

The end result is a collection of songs that are big on nostalgia and romanticism. The romance of other eras is appealing because they cannot be exposed for what they are . . . they are gone, she says.

"You might feel a romance for Paris, but you go there and it's not nearly as romantic as you thought. It's actually dirty and expensive."

There's something about reminiscing about other eras, something dreamy, she says, as though in a dream herself.

Michael Brauer (Coldplay, New Radicals) lent a hand on the album and, if you listen carefully to Be All and End All, you'll hear the familiar voice of Neil Finn.

"He did all the backing vocals and played some piano. He just came around and bashed away on my upright piano. Cool, eh?"

Finn is something of a mentor and an ally to Runga. He empathises with what she has been trying to do with the album, she says.

Looking back at Drive, Runga is almost scathing. The songs had an emotional integrity but were not skilled, she says. A nice album for its naivety, she offers, with an air of someone who has something better to serve up.

"It's weird . . . it's like looking back at old haircuts. It's so cringy and embarrassing and you thought you were so cool at the time."

Good haircut or bad, the 1997 self-produced Drive sold more than 90,000 copies in New Zealand and a further 70,000 overseas. It went on to become the biggest-selling local artist album in New Zealand history. It earned her a swag of Tui Awards, including best album and best songwriter.

As with Drive, Runga is heading to the United States to promote Beautiful Collision.

She has a "residency" at Largo Club in LA where regular guests include Neil Young and Beck. The owner there is a fan and a friend. (He has a poster of her in his office, she admits with a giggle.)

She'll also be heading back to the Big Apple – a place she has a love/hate relationship with.

"Everyone is on the brink of a breakdown in New York. I think it's the home of the anxiety attack."

So have you ever been on that brink? I ask.

"Well, yeah. It's easy to. It's a great big rock. There is concrete above and below you and there is no earthing. Unless you go upstate and sit in Woodstock and actually feel the dirt, feel the ground, I think you can spin out. It's an unnatural place to be."

Somehow, I can imagine Runga walking around barefoot in Woodstock countryside in a flowing arrangement.

But New York is also a place surging with excitement and inspiration, she says. It is at the cutting edge of what is happening globally. It is, she says, like being on the world stage.

Runga insists that she does not feel the need to break the American market, though of course that would be nice. But to do that requires a lot of selling out, she says. She is sceptical about an industry she labels as "disgusting" and dislikes the idea of having to communicate to the "lowest common denominator".

"There is a part of me that likes to think that there is something in all humans that you can communicate with and appeal to on an emotional level, but I feel a little sceptical about how you can break through in such a huge country. You can do it in an afternoon in New Zealand talking to all the key press."

I tell her the key Wellington press is one down and she gushes with sympathy. Perhaps she needs a back-up singer? She laughs. I guess that's a no.

Hitting the road again is a little nerve-racking for this performer, who admits to being uneasy on the stage. She goes as far as to say she feels "sub-standard".

I remind her that she seemed pretty much on top of her game when she toured with Dave Dobbyn and Tim Finn in the Together in Concert Tour in 2000.

But that was a different ball game because they are both born performers, she says. "I didn't say a word that whole month. I was not part of the banter at all, but that didn't bother me. I just enjoyed it for the music."

Getting a grip on live performing is all a matter of practice, she says with more confidence now. Making sure your band and technical crew all know what they are doing. Making sure you know your songs well enough to just enjoy singing them and filling them with the right dose of emotion.

"It's a lot like sports. When your ball-handling skills are second nature, it's really just about using the force. Going to that other level, which is a sublime place, not a cognitive place."

* Bic Runga plans to tour New Zealand in the summer

Original content copyright 2002 to Independent Newspapers Ltd