Interview: Simon Joyner (USA) - Summer Tour of Aotearoa New Zealand

Simon Joyner is embarking on a road trip across Aotearoa New Zealand from this week onwards, a summer journey that will see the US songwriter perform with such local luminaries as Peter Jefferies, Brandon De La Cruz, Karl Sölve Steven and more, including appearances at Port Noise 2025 and The Second Aotearoa International Festival Of Secret Sounds. Hailing from Omaha, Nebraska, Joyner is a catalytic and prolific figure in the world of Americana music, whose influence can be felt in works by Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Kevin Morby, Gillian Welch, and Beck. Brooke Singer of French For Rabbits spoke with Joyner about his personal connection with NZ's songwriting underground, DIY roots in the early '90s, his personal "meditation on grief and hope" on his new record Coyote Butterfly, and more...

Simon Joyner (USA)

Thursday 13th February - Vogelmorn Bowling Club, Wellington w/ Peter Jefferies
Friday 14th February - The Second Aotearoa International Festival Of Secret Sounds, Auckland Unitary Church w/ Anna Falt (Sweden), Karl Sölve Steven, Rob Thorne
Saturday 15th February - Last Place, Hamilton w/ Brandon De La Cruz
Saturday 1st March - Port Noise Festival 2025, Lyttelton

Wellington tickets on sale HERE via UTR
Auckland tickets on sale HERE via UTR & festival passes available HERE
Hamilton tickets on sale HERE via UTR
Port Noise Festival 2025 tickets on sale HERE via UTR

Brooke Singer: Simon, we are so thrilled to have you come and visit us in New Zealand! Especially given your history championing our local experimental / alternative music through your label Grapefruit Records. You’ve been instrumental in some great releases from the likes of Peter Jefferies, Roy Montgomery and Bill Direen… what drew you to New Zealand music and these artists in particular?

Simon Joyner: There’s a thread of uncompromising artistry that runs through so many of the underground artists in New Zealand. Experimental and soul-searching music which sounds singular to me. It’s always inspired me since I first started buying these records in the early '90s and it’s still true of newer artists working with a similar approach.

You will be playing with Peter Jefferies on the tour, will this be your first time meeting in person?

Yes, I’m really looking forward to it after being a fan forever. My album, The Cowardly Traveller Pays His Toll, was very much influenced by absorbing This Kind of Punishment and of course, Peter’s Last Great Challenge in a Dull World, all the way down to the sentence length title! We’ve worked on a few projects together but have never met in person.

What was your local music community like in Omaha when you started releasing records in the early '90s?

It was pretty scrappy. We had no real venue for small, underground shows so much of the scene was taking place in the unlikeliest locations, improvised environments, basements, galleries, rooftops, bakeries, restaurants after hours, etc… All for love, not money, it was a very creative time in Omaha. Now there’s a venue on every block and a lot of focus on bands getting bigger all the time, it seems! I appreciate musicians and bands who are making music for a smaller audience though. I don’t think art benefits much from a capitalist approach.

Are there any parallels between the grassroots Omaha community and the local music communities here in Aotearoa New Zealand that you’ve observed?

I see a lot of community apparent in the releases which is a common theme in underground music scenes because there are only so many like-minded people. Everyone playing on each other’s projects and assisting in various ways to promote one another is always a great sign of a strong underground. We have that in Omaha still, thankfully.

As an artist who began releasing records close to a decade before the advent of Napster, is there any wisdom you’ve gleaned along the way that you can offer to independent musicians who are attempting to make sense of how to engage with our contemporary cultural landscape?

I’m not sure I have any wisdom on the subject. In some ways it’s easier than ever to engage and so there is so much more to choose from and wade through and fewer gatekeepers needed to guide people towards music they might appreciate. If you are making underground music and not aspiring to reach a broad audience I think it’s still possible to be a working artist and reach your audience. For me, it’s a compulsion and a creative outlet, it’s never been something I considered a career. If you write to understand something you wouldn’t otherwise and you perform to create something for the moment only, you are rewarded. If you have expectations beyond that, the musician’s life might embitter you in the end.

Any bucket list tourist activities you hope to tick off the list while you’re here?

Too many to list. We are traveling by car much of the time in order to see as much of your beautiful country as we can in the short time we will have. We want to take in as much nature as possible. I’m taking advice from my friends there about where to go and what to see. I’m really so excited to be there.

Coyote Butterfly is your latest record — what were you interested in when writing and recording these songs?

The album is a tribute to my son, Owen, who died a couple of years ago. It’s a meditation on grief and hope. I wrote the songs to understand Owen and myself better and to engage with my grief and find purpose again after a long break from writing. I hope the album offers something universal though. Everyone has experienced or will experience loss, after all.