Dobbyn calls on past to pay tribute to lost miners
KIWI pop legend Dave Dobbyn drew on his childhood hymnsinging experiences to write his emotional tribute to the Pike River 29 and their families.
Dobbyn debuted This Love, which features the Orpheus Choir, at last month’s Dreams Lie Deeper concert at Wellington’s Michael Fowler Centre. It will be released as a single next month.
‘‘The more I worked on it [ This Love], the better I got at it. I just kept thinking of the families and the 29 men,’’ said Dobbyn, who was given a standing ovation at its premiere. ‘‘I didn’t want to tell the story in any literal way.
‘‘Rhyming couplets kept turning up on the page, so I went with the flow and wrote a lot of verses. Editing over and over until I had a structure, the piano chords would subtly change and the melody would loosen up.
‘‘I knew that the choir would need a simple rhythm for phrasing the lyric. That’s when I drew on my childhood experiences with hymn singing. The cadence of those old hymns helped me a lot.’’
Dobbyn visited families of the 29 miners and contractors who perished in the 2010 West Coast disaster, and stood at the foot of Now and then: Dave Dobbyn, left, debuts last month’s Wellington concert, while
by Th Dudes, above, has been reworked. the mine, in which the bodies of the men remain entombed.
He was visibly moved when reading out their names at the Dreams Lie Deeper concert.
‘‘I just didn’t want to mispronounce the 29 names. It was intense, so you slow down, breathe, keep still and deliver,’’ Dobbyn said.
Dobbyn is not yet sure which live sets he would incorporate This Love into.
‘‘It depends on which shows really. There’s a solemnity that goes with it.’’
The release date and details of where to buy This Love will be made available on Dobbyn’s Facebook page.
Meanwhile a group of Auckland advertising executives have added a creative dash of their own to a Dobbyn classic. The band Friends Electronic, comprising staff from Auckland ad agency Barnes, Catmur & Friends, has released a stripped-down electronic version of 1979 Kiwi hit single Be Mine Tonight, sung by Dobbyn in his band at the time Th’ Dudes.
‘‘Several of us are musicians as well as being writers, art directors etc in our day jobs and late last year we won a couple of days in Auckland’s Roundhead studios,’’ says Friends Electronic’s Daniel Barnes.
‘‘As well as loving Th’ Dudes, we’re also big Krautrock fans and had this idea for mixing up the two, starting out minimal, then opening up and almost going disco at the end ... It’s [ Be Mine Tonight] such an amazing song you can do pretty much anything to it and it will work.’’
It is understood Dobbyn has heard the remake and approves.