New Zealand Music Features — Roger Shepherd

"He had strong anti-establishment sentiments and non-status quo views, sentiments and views that were usually spot on. I will fondly remember him as a kind of New Zealand beatnik, a confident and colourful personality whose life revolved around music and art."

Jay Clarkson has been recording and performing music in New Zealand for many years, and she continues to do so. We asked Jay to give us the back story on a number of photos and letters we've unearthed from the archives, as well as what she has in the pipeline. 

Welcome to the new Flying Nun website. It’s something we are quite proud of. I hope it signals a small step in a new direction. It was long overdue for Flying Nun up our game on the interwebs.  So, here we are. This new creation is not just for the Flying Nun the ‘record label’, but also, something broader. I hope it will be a place for anyone interested in our music community. Another online home for independent music from Aotearoa/New Zealand.  This platform signals a gentle rejig for Flying Nun. A friendly kick in our own pants of the...

More than six years ago, shortly after starting management at Flying Nun Records, I drove out to the Auckland Warner Music NZ warehouse and distribution centre. It was a massive airport hanger style building, on Rosebank Road, near Avondale. The warehouse was filled with towering industrial style shelves of CDs, DVDs and videos. At the time, it was the central distribution centre for all three major record labels, so there was a lot of stock. Because Flying Nun had previously been owned by Warner Music, the master tapes were said to be stored in this labyrinth of a warehouse. I wanted...