Latest news with #Tadpole
Scoop
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scoop
NZ Band Tadpole Announce New Single
Press Release – Trigger Marketing Auckland, New Zealand – 1 August 2025: Multi-platinum rock trail-blazers Tadpole end a 19-year studio silence with 'George', a blistering reinvention of Headless Chickens' 1994 chart-topper. Reuniting with legendary producer Malcolm Welsford —who helmed both Tadpole's seminal albums The Buddhafinger and The Medusa, as well as the original 'George' sessions— the band fuse hook-heavy riffs with cutting-edge production—proving they remain a vital force in Aotearoa rock. Taking the track's sonic punch to the next level, mastering duties were entrusted to Ted Jensen of Sterling Sound. The Grammy-winning engineer—whose credits include Green Day's American Idiot, Evanescence's Fallen, Deftones' Around the Fur and Pantera's Far Beyond Driven —brings his trademark clarity and stadium-ready impact to Tadpole's modern spin on a Kiwi classic. The single follows Tadpole's triumphant 2024 reunion, which reignited fans across the country and introduced powerhouse vocalist Lauren Marshall to the line-up—signalling a bold new chapter for the near-triple-platinum outfit. Lauren Marshall (vocals): 'Recording George has been an exciting experience for me, as it's the first song I've been a part of with the band. Collaborating on such an iconic Kiwi track as my introduction to this new era of Tadpole has been special. I'm grateful to be working with such an awesome team and putting my mark on our version. It's been cool to learn and grow through the process—George has been a massive part of Tadpole's musical history, and I'm looking forward to this next part of the journey!' Chris Yong (guitar): 'We've loved playing George since our early days. Recording it now feels like both a tribute and a statement that Tadpole is fully switched on in 2025.' Malcolm Welsford (producer/mixer): 'Getting back in the studio with Tadpole to record George was electric. There's a real power in returning to rock production with a band that helped define the scene—and hearing that energy come alive again was something special. This track is raw, urgent, and unmistakably Tadpole.' WHY 'GEORGE'? Originally released as a double A-side with 'Cruise Control,' Headless Chickens' 'George' spent four weeks at No. 1 on the New Zealand singles chart and remains a cornerstone of the nation's alternative canon. Tadpole's 2025 version sharpens the song's menacing groove with razor-edged guitars, Marshall's soaring vocal, and Jensen's high-definition master—bridging 1990s alt-rock attitude with modern studio muscle. LOOKING AHEAD 'George' is the first taste of new material leading into the 25th-anniversary celebrations of The Buddhafinger later this year—promising more singles, festival dates, and surprises from one of NZ rock's most storied names.
NZ Herald
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
On The Up: Kiwi musician Emma G - from 24 brain surgeries to mental health advocate through music
This open-minded determination and thirst for learning has helped her through some of the toughest times in her life, with music acting as one of the driving forces. From her humble Waikato beginnings and health struggles, to being a two-time TEDx keynote speaker, Ghaemmaghamy hopes her songwriting stories and coaching can help people navigate the worldwide post-Covid mental health crisis. Emma G teaches youth and adults about songwriting and music across the United States. Growing up with hydrocephalus, a condition where fluid builds up in the brain's ventricles causing them to enlarge and put pressure on tissue, wasn't easy, she says. Headaches, memory loss and multiple other side effects made living a 'normal' childhood a challenge, but it was something she'd learned to live with, and songwriting helped her cope. 'I think I grew up a lot faster than everybody else around me, which made things difficult to kind of relate to my peers in a lot of ways,' Ghaemmaghamy says. 'Music has always been the thing that helped me be normal and connect with people in a way that didn't feel ostracising.' She first put pen to paper on her 5th birthday with a song titled School is Cool and hasn't stopped since. A prominent member of Kiwi band Static Era, Ghaemmaghamy also placed sixth on the New Zealand version of hit show The X Factor. She won the New Zealander of the Year Local Heroes Award in 2014, which was about the time she decided she wanted to head overseas and start using her creative outlet differently. 'Chris Yong [of the band Tadpole and formerly Static Era] helped me realise that music didn't just have to be about staying stuck in my muck,' she says. 'It was also an opportunity for me to start writing a future and writing my way out of the chaos, the pain, the overwhelm, the depression, the whatever it was I was going through. That's when I started to really begin learning about how therapeutic music can be for self-expression, depression and anxiety.' In 2019, she was contracting to a multi-million-dollar company in the US, writing their theme songs and doing their performances, when another opportunity struck. 'The woman who ran the company, her son wanted to do what I do, so that's when I started doing Youth Empowerment through songwriting coaching. I started helping young people learn how to express themselves through songwriting and singing.' Ghaemmaghamy now has multiple clients, has toured the US, and has been a keynote speaker for TEDx on two occasions. 'I have always had this kind of idea that your growth happens outside your comfort zone, so I don't like to live in my comfort zone,' she says. Emma G's new book looks to bridge a gap when it comes to navigating mental health challenges. Taking all her knowledge, experience and connections, the time soon came for a natural next step: compile her thoughts into a book. Mental Health Sounds Like This, in Ghaemmaghamy's words, describes her process of what it looks like working with her clients and the exercises she uses, while also linking to her own musical journey and experiences. And while she's well behind the science of how the brain works and cites in the book studies on the positive impact music has, she's not interested in being a therapist or dishing out therapy. 'Therapy's job is to look at the past and how it plays into our present, a coach's job is to look at the future and help bridge the gap between where we are at the moment to where we want to be,' she says. 'My hope is that this book sort of bridges the gap and fills in some of those blanks when it comes to how we understand our brains now, as it pertains to healing and mental health.' Giving advice, Ghaemmaghamy says, can sometimes cause more harm than good because everybody is learning and evolving in different ways and with different personal circumstances. Music, she says, with its wide avenues and opportunities, creates a platform for expression. 'We're constantly finding unhealed parts of ourselves, which can then be healed. There's always another page or there's always another song, right?' Mental Health Sounds Like This releases tomorrow, July 27. Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald's entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke's Bay Today.
Otago Daily Times
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Tadpole reincarnated for Go Live Festival
Another well-known Kiwi rock band has been added to the Go Live Festival line-up in Christchurch. Tadpole was a mainstay of the early 2000s New Zealand music scene, with their triple-platinum debut album The Buddhafinger hitting No 2 on the NZ Music Charts. The Auckland-based band will play in Ōtautahi for the festival on August 23. They are one of 13 acts to play across four stages at the Christchurch Town Hall. "This is our second show in Christchurch with our new singer Lauren Marshall, and we'll be playing all the well-known hits with some brand-new ones," said Tadpole drummer Dean Lawton. Marshall joined Tadpole in 2024 as the band reformed with core members Dean Lawton, Chris Yong on guitar, Shannon Brown on bass and DJ Kritikl, who had a brief stint with the band in 2000. The line-up, previously fronted by Renee Brennan, has changed several times since the band was formed in 1994 and disbanded in 2006. "To be honest, I thought it would have been really hard reconnecting as a band and adding a new member after 20 years, but for some reason it feels like we never stopped! Lauren just fits in like she's been there the whole time,' Lawton says. The resurgence of the band began in 2022 with the release of The Tadpole Collection (1994–2006) – all three Tadpole albums plus Remains of the Day, a collection of 12 previously unreleased, remastered tracks. Tadpole will play at the Go Live Festival in Christchurch on Saturday, August 23. Photo: Supplied / CCC The band have several festivals lined up over the summer and a new album on the way. "We can't wait to start dropping singles at the end of the year. "The new material we are writing together feels like the songs of old. Our music is high energy and will punch you in the face." The 2025 show will feature 'an incredible line-up of both homegrown and national talent,' Christchurch City Council manager of events and art Lucy Blackmore previously said. The Go Live Festival, produced by Christchurch City Council, is on Saturday, August 23, from 7pm-11pm. Tickets are $35 plus booking fees. For more information and the full line-up list, go to
Atlantic
13-07-2025
- General
- Atlantic
Buying Shrimp at Bennetts Point
A poem By My father says to pick a beer. Outside, two men in yellow coats hose mud from a reef of oysters to be priced and sold by the bucketful. The owner's a fellow named Tadpole. Lives up Mosquito Creek and raises labradors, without which the basin's fallen mallards would vanish to the marsh and the mouths of its gators, which wear feathers in their teeth. Write that down, says my father, who knows a beautiful thing when it slithers over his path. I've seen him point a pistol at a coiled cottonmouth. We ride home with a bag of shrimp and two Bud Heavies in the valley between us. Do I know the word spleenful, he asks. Like a dog in the water, he gathers a soft-plumed bounty to lay at my feet.
