2003 Media Interviews

Toronto Star

Bic Runga wants the world
Singer performs at the Horseshoe

Original content copyright 2003 to Toronto Star

Rick Eglinton/Toronto Star

Original article is at:    Toronto Star

Date:                          28 January 2003

By:                             VIT WAGNER, POP MUSIC CRITIC

The 27-year-old singer/songwriter, who plays the Horseshoe Tavern tonight after opening for David Gray at the Air Canada Centre last night, is in the midst of a busy, two-day whirlwind of Toronto performances and media interviews.

Runga's calling card is Beautiful Collision, an impressive collection of warm, smartly crafted pop tunes. The disc is a follow-up to Runga's 1998 debut, Drive, which launched her career back home.

"I've gone as far as I can go in New Zealand," says Runga, who has moved from Auckland to Los Angeles, by way of New York. "I need the challenge of being in a different place.

"It's so different here from New Zealand, where you only need to do a handful of publicity things and you've got the country covered. I can't get my head around how vast Canada and America are. You really have to want to do it. You have to want to do it more than anything."

Runga, whose father is Maori and whose mother is Chinese/Malaysian, has wanted to do only one thing since childhood.

"When I was 11," she says. "I wanted to be like Karen Carpenter. I wanted to play drums and sing. Since then, I've been quite single-minded about it."

As it turns out, singing and playing drums isn't the half of it.

Runga, who has four accompanists with her on the road, writes, arranges and produces her studio albums, while playing everything from guitar and dobro to piano, harmonica, Wurlitzer and, yes, drums.

Initially, Runga approached songwriting great and fellow New Zealander Neil Finn to produce Beautiful Collision. But Finn, who sings backup on a handful of tracks, urged her to go it alone.

"It would be a real relief to find the right producer," Runga says. "It would be great if someone could tell me what to do, and I'd just be able to take their word for it. But in the absence of that person, I'll just keep doing what seems right."

Besides, it isn't as if she's displeased with the results.

"There's a big jump in craft and maturity between the two albums.

"I really do feel that my second record is quite a bit better. I like the idea that the first one kind of got lost internationally because it enables me to come to the world seemingly fully developed."

While relishing the opportunity to widen her audience, Runga is unwilling to surrender her creativity for the sake of personal promotion.

"I've been through the current way of marketing a record, which is to talk about yourself for 18 months until you just can't take it anymore," she says. "I'm an idealist. I'm going to challenge that template and launch straight into making another record.

"If my music catches on, great. If not, it wasn't meant to be."

Original content copyright 2003 to Toronto Star