SNAKES ALIVE

Nov 30

SNAKES ALIVE is the fifth fabulous album from fleaBITE.

Here’s a shout out to my talented and generous friends,collaborators and contributors;

PINEAPPLE

When I asked Adam Page what his young daughter was currently into, he immediately replied

“Pineapples!”. And that was how the South Pacific ukulele song PINEAPPLE was born.

Adam is a brilliant multi instrumentalist/composer from Australia. He is distinctively long-bearded and bald-headed, and previously worked with me on fleaBITE’s award-winning CIRCUS OF FLEAS album. Thanks also to New Zealand songbirds Itty Bitty Beats who added their lovely melodic voices.

BAMBOO BAMBOO

Bamboo Bamboo is a rock’n’roll song with thrashing drums, burning guitar and throbbing bass.

I knew drummer Chris O’Connor would be up for an impersonation of ‘Animal’ from the Muppets, and he nailed it in one take. Talented tonsil-twister Shannon Williams added some dynamic maracca-shaking, and a great Barry White impersonation.

Friendly filmmaker Grant Lahood made a great music clip, featuring Chris’s’ daughter Fern O’Connor as the child drummer, and the overgrown bamboo that inspired the song in the first place.

ARCHEY’S FROG SONG

Archey’s Frog is one of the most endangered amphibians in the world. This tiny frog lives in a couple of isolated spots in New Zealand, and is so primitive that it hasn’t changed since the time of the dinosaurs. Adam Page spiced up my demo of the song, giving a catchy New Orleans feel, and Geni McCallum made the lyric video.

WHAT DOES MUSIC SMELL LIKE?

Levity Beet, Rainbow Rosalind and I decided to write a klezmer song in honour of our shared Jewish heritage. It ended up being a joyfully eccentric exploration of what music smells, feels, tastes and looks like, performed with gypsy flair. Levity played double bass, mandolin and acoustic guitar, and Australian Julian Ferrareto add swooning violin.

When Levity made a rare trip to Auckland, we took photos at a local park, and my nephew Isaac Baruch put it all together in a charming home movie style video.

CRY TO THE MOON

This canine waltz was written in honour of Nanuk (half husky/half pitbull…a pitsky!) Grant Lahood brought his camera along to doggie daycare, where my niece (Nanuk’s owner) works. The loping slow-mo of the dogs perfectly syncs with the simple strum in this sweet, mournful song.

CHIHUAHUA

Everyone seems to like this song. The chorus came to me when I was driving along the motorway one sunny day. And the Dr Suess-like verses came later. One take wonder Chris O’Connor added a live drum track to the quirky demo, and Grant Lahood and I made the music clip when everyone was confined to their homes in strict Lockdown. All the footage was shot on phones and sent to us, and Grant did a fab job of editing it all together.

ONE POT POSSUM

This series of pest recipes was concocted by my friend Luise Brandt and I at her kitchen table. We wanted to give kids a fun, culinary introduction to predators in New Zealand. Adam Page added bass and piano, and Jarrod Payne played jazzy drums.

The video is like an animated book, directed and designed by Marcel Tromp.

THE CALL OF THE WILD

The Call of the Wild is about the fine line between being civilised and being wild. In this case, hunger can make wild beasts out of us all. Adam Page added colour with woodwind instruments.

SAUSAGE IN THE SPA POOL

Adam Page added a Jamaican dancehall feel to this upbeat song, and some silky smooth saxophone. No doubt it will make a splash on bath-time playlists.

IN THE ORCHESTRA

An introduction to the instruments and characters who make up a fictional kids’ orchestra. Opera-trained Janet Roddick (from film composers Plan 9) sings lead.

Ross Payne designed and directed the comic style music clip.