Outside the Mainstream - Three chords and the truth

Warratah and solo artist Barry Saunders on a life in music. By Katie Farman
Barry Saunders reckons he always saw the world differently, due in part to his connection with the land and his love of music.

“Music is the first feeling I remember. It was always in me,” says the award-winning singer-songwriter and frontman for legendary New Zealand country act The Warratahs. “I grew up listening to music. It was how I expressed myself.”

Barry now divides his time between homes in Wellington and Greytown in a deliberate attempt to achieve balance in an otherwise hectic life, much of which is spent touring and performing.

“Growing up in the country always stays with you. I love the space and intensity of it. And that’s part of why I live in Greytown; because I get some silence and think more spaciously here. The land is very similar to places where I grew up, so it’s like joining up the circle.”

“Simultaneously, I love the city and especially Wellington. It’s a great city full of great people. I like all the changes. I actually like the weather too, and believe the people in Wellington are moulded by their surroundings and the weather. I just love the way the city sits on the hills and possesses this incredible energy.”

Barry, who grew up in Taranaki and Canterbury, said the soundtrack to his early life was derived from his parents’ country and folk record collection – songs like Frankie and Johnny took him to ‘other places’ and still do today.

Always singing, Barry’s world changed forever when his father gave him a guitar and he discovered the joy of playing music with other people. His first live performance was at the church hall in Lincoln where he sang lead vocals “probably to The Stones” and played the harmonica.

His first Wellington gig came several years later with the band Rockinghorse at the Royal Tiger in Abel Smith Street. This led to appearances with the Red Mole experimental theatre group at Carmen’s transvestite strip club, The Balcony. After stints in the UK and Australia, Barry returned to Wellington to form legendary group The Warratahs, who’ve since built a legacy of honest, affecting music.

“Writing a song, and knowing it’s what you want it to be, is incredible. But having people relate to that song is just as incredible… the energy that’s created is like a nuclear reaction,” explains the father of two.

Now with eight Warratahs albums and four critically-acclaimed solo albums under his belt – as well as projects like the Cook Strait Social Club (with Samuel Flynn Scott from Phoenix Foundation and Julia Deans of Fur Patrol) – Barry is preparing for two significant musical milestones.

In 2011, he will celebrate 25 years with Warratahs band mates Nik Brown (fiddle and mandolin), Sid Limbert (bass), Alan Norman (keyboards and accordion) and Mo’ Newport (drums). But later this year, he will release a Barry Saunders’ best-of album in collaboration with Wellington art gallery Exhibitions, which has asked several local painters to interpret Barry’s songs on canvas.

“This is a totally different angle for me and it’s really exciting. I’ve been making music all my life and love finding different ways to do things.”