The Big Show Chat To Joel Little!

0:00Mike Minogue:The Hauraki Big Show with Jace, Mike and Keyzie. Tune in weekdays at four on Radio Hauraki.

0:07Keyzie:Metallica there on the Radio Hauraki Big Show this Wednesday evening. It's not often, fellas, you get a musical legend in the studio with you, is it? It's not. Eh? This guy hasn't shut up about it since he walked into the studio. I've got to be honest with you. I've never seen Keyzie so nervous. You know what I mean? He was freaking out because he's such a legend. He's a songwriter, a Grammy Award-winning songwriter, a producer. Have you heard of a band called Goodnight Nurse? Have I. Jeez, well, he's part of that as well. I'm speaking, of course, of the one and only Joel Little. G'day, Joel, your man.

0:42Keyzie:Barsley, how's life? Hey, good, man. What an intro, my goodness. Is that the worst one you've ever had? It's up there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was pretty good. Yeah, that was pretty good. Yeah, thanks, man. I enjoyed that. Well, I was up all night just, you know, writing it out, writing it, then redoing it, and then, oh, God, it's just not right yet. I have that effect on people. I make them extremely nervous. Yeah, yeah.

1:03Mike Minogue:The thing about you, Joel, you're very successful in the music world, but you've got very chill Kiwi vibes about you. You smell nice as well. Oh, do I? Yeah. You can smell me for a minute. I thought that was me. No, that's me. That's Joel. I was much closer to Joel than you were, and I didn't think that at all. Oh, right. Now, that's nothing against Joel. It's more that you're getting it wrong. Okay, so there's a different smell in the studio.

1:23Keyzie:Does it freak you out that Keezy's smelling you, Joel? I mean... It's weird. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Yeah, I don't mind.

1:30Mike Minogue:I always sniff the guests. Joel, you're obviously here because Goodnight Nurse, man. 20 years since Always and Never, your debut album came out. Yep, the critically slandered debut. Was it slandered? Was it really? I mean, that's my memory of it. But you must imagine, how old are you, man? I'm 43. 43, there you go. So I would imagine that that would have been absolutely loved by the young ones back in those days because Keezy's around about the perfect age. Keezy would have been about 15 when that came out. Would that be right? Yeah, 100%. I've seen plenty of goodnight nurse on C4 back that day.

2:03Mike Minogue:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ob selector used to do the rounds. Yep, for sure. But 20 years, man. Does it feel like it's been 20 years? Not really. Maybe in some ways. I definitely feel like going back and having to relearn the songs. Wow. It feels like it was a while ago. But then also the muscle memory just kicks in and then it's like no time has passed.

2:25Keyzie:How was it, you know, 20 years on, as you say, going back and doing the songs again? Are you thinking in your head, shit, this is good? How do you feel about your songs now? I mean, it's weird. I feel like it was a different person when I listen back to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like there's just like a nostalgia to it There's something about those songs that I feel like You know when we were those kids and we were trying to crack it with the band and all of that We were like so earnest and so genuine And just like really gave it everything that we bloody had at the time Yeah totally man I feel like you can hear that in the songs And I think that's why like people still listen to it And people still email us about us you know getting back together and playing shows and stuff And I think you can hear a little bit of that genuineness in there So it's fun to revisit it It's fun to listen back and just be like, man, I remember being that kid.

3:13Keyzie:I've got to tell you on that front, I used to do stand-up comedy, Joel, and I used to be in a duo called Sugar and Spice, and we were a very physical, energetic, sort of enthusiastic duo, and it was a very physical orientated show. And then about 15 years after we stopped doing comedy, we went back and did a gig and redid one of our sets. We were rooted after two. I'm not joking, man. We were rooted after two minutes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just wheezing and puffing. Yeah, it's a bit like that. I mean, we got back together three years ago after we hadn't played in 13 years, and we opened for My Chemical Romance, which was awesome.

3:48That was like 17 ,000 people, and that was cool. That was like one show, and I was tired after that. And now we've just had to double the size of this tour to six shows. How good is that? It's awesome. I know, right. But I'm like, man, how's the body going to handle it? How is my voice going to handle it singing that high? Like, I haven't done that in a minute.

4:05Mike Minogue:Joe Little. So, good night, nurse. That sort of early, mid-2000s phase for me was a very important time for my musical development. And so a lot of bands, like, for example, your LMNOPs, for example, even Scribe and just all these great New Zealand artists were coming through, and they still really resonated with me. So I'm not surprised at the response to you guys doing a massive tour. You know what I mean? Because for guys my age, as soon as you hear that those bands are happening again, you're like, oh, shit, yeah. Yeah, it was such a, I feel like when you, like there's an age that you kind of, you know, that you go through from, I don't know, mid-teens to mid-twenties where you just have so many adventures and you're like hitting the piss for the first time and you're like making all these lifelong friends and the music brings those memories back.

4:50And so I feel like there's a bit of that going on.

4:51Keyzie:A hundred percent. I'll tell you what, Joe, we'll take a break here. We've got a tune from Goodnight Nurse, surely.

4:56Mike Minogue:Yeah, we're going to Death Goes to Disco, Joe. Oh, yeah. A tune, get around it. Goodnight Nurse. All right. The Hauraki Big Show, weekdays from four on Radio Hauraki. Ha ha ha, now that's good listening. And it's live. What are you listening to there? Oh, me? Oh, sorry. I was listening to the Radio Hauraki Big Show. Right. Four to seven weekdays. Yeah, that's quite specific. And iHeartRadio. Wado. Cheers. The Hauraki Big Show Podcast.

5:34Keyzie:Cheers! Good night, News. We've got one of the members of that band, Joel Little, with us. Because you're back, baby, as they say, and you're doing a show. What is it, a six-show tour? Yeah, it started out as three. We're just going to do Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, but now the three original shows have all sold out. So we're doing one more in each city. Yeah, nice.

5:57Mike Minogue:Now, Joel, when you guys planned this tour to begin with, did you allow for this to happen, or is this completely taken you by surprise? No, this has definitely taken us by surprise. We were like, people are actually going to come to this. I'm not trying to be falsely modest. This is actually how we felt. But it's been awesome. I feel like, yeah, I mean, we put a little teaser up, and we were like, oh, people seem kind of excited about the fact that something's going on. And then when we put the shows up, it was like, oh, shit. People are into it. People are. And pretty awesome that it's, you know, you guys are a three-piece.

6:30Effectively, New Zealand's answer to Nirvana, you'd have to say. Have you remained tight with the other guys in the band this whole time? Or was there a huge rift that you had to overcome? Because one of you was an absolute scumbag one night on tour. Maybe slept with a girlfriend you shouldn't have or something. There was none of that kind of carry-on with us. But we did, I mean, we kind of, we've like kind of, what's the word, kind of like moved in and out of being close friends. Everyone has kids Yeah, life moves on Yeah, and Paul, the original bass player He lives in New York now So we don't see him a whole lot But he's flying back down for the show Oh, that's good So the OG lineup Yeah, but I mean, again, it's that thing It's almost part of the reason for doing it Is an excuse for us all to hang out And we've got to band practice and stuff Like the old days And if you say to your wife No, I want to go and just hang out with my friends tonight She's usually like, that's no chance but if you're like, we've got to go work on the songs, then you've got a reason for it.

7:27Yeah, totally.

7:28Mike Minogue:We've got Joel Little in from Goodnight Nurse. So the shows, you've got one that's just been listed at the Power Station, another one which is happening in Auckland on the 12th of November. You've put a second show in Christchurch, which is already selling very fast at Loon's. And then another show as well at San Fran in Wellington. If you want tickets, check out Goodnight Nurse on Instagram. It's underscore Goodnight Nurse underscore. Okay, good to know. Thanks for confirming that for me

7:53Keyzie:I went to the Power Station for the first time in about 15 years the other day I can't even remember the name of the band to be honest How do you find the Power Station? It's a great venue I love it It's such a classic venue And we've played there I think we've opened for somebody there once We've never played our own show there Right, okay Headlining Yeah, we're now going to play two

8:11Mike Minogue:How good Joe Little, you have something in common with these guys You guys all went to Taylor Swift's wedding Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah We were looking for you, man. Yeah, I didn't see you there. What? It was unbelievable. We can't go into too much detail, obviously. We signed a, you know, what do you call it? The NDA. Thank you very much. But it was difficult. The hardest thing for me and Jase was what do you buy for the woman that's got everything? Yeah. So we went with nothing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got her nothing. Yeah. Well, no, Jase, you took scorched almonds, didn't you?

8:44Keyzie:Oh, yeah, but I ate those before we arrived. Oh, right. We were starving. What did you get here, Joel? I don't know why everyone thinks that I Like I posted a picture of myself In New York in a tuxedo On the day of the wedding And everyone just assumes Assumed that that was what was going on Yeah exactly I never said I went

9:01Mike Minogue:No that's right it's true Yeah I mean why would the front man for Good Night Nurse be That doesn't make any sense The thing about what I heard was That Taylor Swift and actually Travis even more so Massive fans of Good Night Nurse Yeah yeah He's a big pre-game Good Night Nurse listener He heads out there with the cheeks

9:18Keyzie:So obviously, you know, what have you been up to other than the band stuff? Are you still producing and all that sort of carry on? Yeah, still producing. Still, you know, I've always just loved writing songs. That's like my favourite thing to do. So still doing a bunch of that. And then we have our place Big Fan in Morningside, which is the not-for-profit venue. How's it going? Yeah, really good. Yeah, what a great thing to be doing. Yeah, thanks, man. Yeah, that's been super fun. Just, you know, we run a bunch of free programs there for people to come and upskill with their, you know, whatever it might be, with their musical careers, whether they want to be a producer or an artist or work behind the scenes.

9:52Yeah, that's been really fulfilling.

9:54Mike Minogue:Is it seeing some good talent come through there, Joel? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Heaps of really good stuff.

9:58Keyzie:How do you see things now from 20 years ago to now in terms of the New Zealand music scene? Because it feels like it's thriving, but I could be completely wrong. I don't know. I mean, I feel like there's always room to improve. I feel like the talent's out there for sure. I feel like it's harder and harder for venues to kind of stay open. Is it true that a lot of the venues have been bought out by some of the bigger companies, which are sort of getting a stranglehold on some of those venues and the access to them? I've heard that about Live Nation, but I don't really know anything about it myself.

10:36Sure. But, yeah, I don't know. I feel like it's cool to see all of the people coming through Big Fan and just how much skill there is and how passionate people are about it and all that. I feel like as long as that's there, then there's hope. I guess when we grew up, and I say we, being 15 years older than you or whatever I am, something disgraceful, but when we were growing up, you were always going to pubs, there was always live music, there was a big drinking culture around it as well, and it feels like the drinking culture is slightly ebbed away because probably in no small part to the fact that it's so bloody expensive.

11:11Yeah. and so that's a difficult thing as well where is the community for young people to come together to actually listen to music and especially when, Jesus man, I'm looking at ticket prices at the moment as a guy that's older, $300 to go and see Faith No More, $200 to go and see Queens of the Stone Age, the prices are astronomical. Yeah, they are. I mean I think it's tough for everyone to be, tough for those bands to be touring and find and be able to budget for that and so the prices are just going up and yeah and the drinking thing is interesting I mean, yeah, everyone's saying that 18-year-olds are not drinking as much, but I've got an 18-year-old daughter, and it doesn't seem to be the experience with her.

11:52Keyzie:Same. Same, mate. Yeah. Hey, well, Joel, little goodnight nurse. Those dates again there, Kesey?

11:58Mike Minogue:Oh, look, it's throughout November, but your best bet if you want to go to one in either Auckland, Christchurch or Wellington is to head to goodnight nurse's Instagram page. The details are there. Yeah, beautiful. But it's happening in November. Very exciting stuff. Joel? Thanks for coming in. Thanks for having me, guys. Good to talk to you. Pleasure. Have you heard of Guns N' Roses? Yes, I have, yeah. Perfect. The Hauraki Beat Show with Jase, Mike and Keezy. Tune in weekdays at four on Radio Hauraki.