Been around since?
I started grouping various songs and musical ideas under the name The
Enright House around 2000, after I started to get really annoyed at
not being able to find my own music in my iTunes player. Initially,
this included sound design projects I had finished for my composition
classes at university, old guitar doodles that I wrote for bands I
was playing in, and, of course, all the pseudo-poppy music that I
usually just goofed around with while bored with academia.
Then, in 2006 I put some stuff on my website, Blink stumbled across
it, liked it, released it, and then it kind of dawned on me that it
could be fun to keep doing this. So I started working on a new
Enright House album, which will be out around June/July, put out a
few adds looking for musicians, and we started playing out as a band
late in 2006.
Current line up?
Mark Roberts (guitar and vocals)
Simon Gemmill (drums)
Evan Schaare (synths)
Thomas lambert (guitars)
Where are you based?
Currently in Christchurch. We'll probably stay here for another year
or two, and then see what our options are. Eventually, I want to move
back to the States to live, but this country has been really good to
me, so there's definitely no rush.
Musical history?
My mom's an opera singer and my dad's a trained organist, who works
as an agent for singers and conductors. My mom was singing operas
while I was still in her belly. It never occurred to me that there
was anything aside from music I could do with my life, and aside from
getting a degree or two in philosophy, I never have done much outside
of music during the last 27 years.
What were you listening to back in high school?
Ha. The four first records my mom bought me for Christmas were Pixies
"Surfa Rosa", Fugazi "Repeater + 3 songs", Metallica "Black Album"
and a Peter Gabriel Cd. After that I listened to a lot of east bay
punk, EBM and darkwave, Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins, and from as
far back as I can remember always a lot of classical music.
What are you currently listening to?
I always come back to the same artists... Mogwai, Death Cab for
Cutie, Explosions in the Sky, GY!BE, Sufjan Stevens, Pixies, The
Books, etc.
I go through various phases, and there are a lot of great bands out
there, but at the end of the day I don't think there are more than
200 records in my life that I have ever liked well enough to want to
listen to them more than twice.
The state of music in NZ is..?
Very, very healthy I'd say. I've come across so many fantastic New
Zealand musicians and bands during the last two years, it's hard to
wrap one's head around... Shocking Pinks, Over the Atlantic, Jakob,
Break Mission Kills, Misfit Mod, Kill The Zodiac, Die Die Die,
Graysom Gilmor, i.Ryoko, A Flight to Blackout, Ejector, HDU, Dead Pan
Rangers... this list could go on in infinity.
In other words, there is not shortage of great talent in NZ!
The only thing this country really lacks at the moment, in my
opinion, are strong indie labels. There are a few lackluster majors
and affiliates around, and a lot of wonderful boutique indie labels,
but none of the latter have really managed to grow strong enough to
launch NZ bands on an international scale. I'm still keeping my
fingers crossed that someone with an iron will and determination will
muster the courage and take the ultimate step and create an indie
label that could do for modern day NZ bands what Flying Nun did in
their hayday. With so much talent here, there's no doubt in my mind
that sooner or later someone will give it a shot and succeed.
What's your favourite place to play?
Hard to say, as to date we haven't played that many venues, but so
far the clear winner by a mile has to be Camp A Low Hum. That
festival was the best time I've had in years, and there's no doubt in
my mind that we'll remember that experience for a very long time to
come.
What was your favourite show?
The best show we played was the camp, as just mentioned. The best
show I've seen here in NZ was Jakob playing at Creations here in
Christchurch a few weeks after I arrived in New Zealand in 2004. That
gig blew my mind straight through the vents.
What is your recording process?
I feverishly record new ideas onto my laptop, start messing with the
songs, and then when they are about 95% done, I'll take another year
to finish them, only to realize that I liked them better the way they
were a year before.
What's been your best recording experience?
Recording with my old band in Chicago at Steve Albini's Electrical
Audio.
What's been your worst recording experience?
I feverishly record new ideas onto my laptop, start messing with the
songs, and then when they are about 95% done I take another 3 years
to finish them, only to realize that they are terrible, always has
been, always will be. This happens all the time, and it's really
heartbreaking to get over these sort experiences and keep working on
new material.
Favorite radio show/station?
RDU and National Radio were the only stations of the one's I could
get reception for that I really ever managed to listen to without
getting into a car crash, and unfortunately, now that I have no car,
I also have no radio.
That having been said, I'm extremely grateful to all radio stations
that actively promote NZ music that doesn't have major label backing.
It's a real cliche, but without them bands like us would have no
chance at getting heard, and at the end of the day, if you spend your
life putting every bit of your heart and soul into the music you
make, and no one bothers to play it, then it can be tough finding the
motivation to keep trying. Thankfully, New Zealand probably has some
of the most supportive and independent radio stations in the world,
so there's no cause for filling out a Night-and-Day applications
quite yet...
