PIGGY OINK OINK
I wanted Lorenzo Buhne on board as co-producer for the new PIGGY OINK OINK album (fleaBITE’s 6th!!).
He’s mellowed since his earlier days as a bass player on the Los Angeles punk rock scene with legendary bands FEAR and The Dickies. These days, Lorenzo is an in-demand mixer/producer now resident in Wellington, New Zealand. His specialty is adding depth, texture and dynamics which is the perfect foil to fleaBITE’s in-your-face approach. He also is an old friend (of a friend) from my Wellington days, and is father to three musically talented sons, two of whom feature on the new album.
Here’s an overview of the 10 new tracks featured on PIGGY OINK OINK.
PIGGY OINK OINK sprang to mind as I was waiting on the phone for a utility company to get back to me. The catchy chorus embedded itself in my brain and I developed it into a song about a friendship between a girl and a pig. It was one of those songs that comes easily...usually a good sign.
SHAMPOO is dedicated to an old turtle called Stanley who lives in the bottom of a sunken bath at the bottom of my friend’s garden. His mate ran away years ago so he just sits there in the green murky water as the seasons roll by. It doesn’t seem like much of a life, but who am I to judge? Maybe a new hairstyle would add a kick of testosterone and get Stanley back on the dating scene?
These days I tend to write songs in front of a computer so composing COLOUR ME at the kitchen armed only with a ukulele is something of a rarity. COLOUR ME was the first song I wrote for the new album, and it was the bait I used to entice Lorenzo to work on the album.
I wanted the percussion in POP KORN to sound like the erratic staccato sound of popping corn. It ended up being the love child of Kraftwerk and “Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?” This song seems to be people’s favourite from the album. It’s unique and ear-wormish.
EVERYTHING CHANGE is a buoyant song of resilience.
Ostensibly about seasonal change, I wrote this song at a time of change in my own life as I cleared out 60 years worth of paraphenalia at my parent’s old farmhouse. I found myself singing the chorus on high rotate as the piles of boxes and dust threatened to overwhelm me.Conrad Wedde from great NZ band ‘The Phoenix Foundation’ features on electric guitar. He told me later that he returned from the dentist after a root canal and headed straight to the studio. From his upbeat playing you’d think he’d been having a great time! The track also features Lorenzo’s oldest son Ateo on drums.
I live in Auckland, NZ’s biggest city. It’s easy to forget that the city is built on a live volcanic field and sports over 50 extinct volcanic cones. They are now covered in grass and trees and we’ve all become very blasé about their explosive beginnings. I’M A VOLCANO is pure rock’n’roll, and Lorenzo, with his punk roots, was the right man to heighten the tension.
MAUS is another popular track. It couldn’t be simpler. A sweet lullaby in gentle waltz-time, it has only one lyric. And that lyric is “MAUS” sung by a choir of MAUSes. If you liked fleaBITE’s song MEEP (from the first fleaBITE album IN YOUR EAR) you will love Maus.
The salsa track CONVERSATION began life as POPULATION, and was initially a comment about the world’s ever-increasing population. When I initially played the demo to a friend he surprised me by calling it eco-fascist! So I re-worked it, turning the catchy “Pop Pop Population” chorus into “Con Con Conversation”. Lorenzo’s youngest son (known affectionally as Cheech) did a fab job at lead vocals.
SWIMMING UNDERWATER is an evocative bubbly song with a techno tinge. “Swimming underwater is my favourite thing to do
I would like to swim underwater with you”
It’s light and airy and takes me straight to my favourite summer pasttime.SUNNY DAY was written in winter when both Lorenzo and I had colds (‘the sound of mucus’). I thought the song was finished until Lorenzo tried out a catchy guitar hook. I liked it so much I decided to re-work the song around it. It’s a song about feeling better when the sun comes out. Hope you love the new album. And please let me know which songs are the standouts for you.
Love fleaBITE
