Fang TV

To accompany the much delayed and eagerly awaited North American tour of Crowded House, we are running a limited season of a new online avenue… Fang TV.

For one month, 24 hours a day, we will feature videos from recent and long past performances, video clips, interviews, snippets and obscurities abounding. The streaming will start at 8.30 pm Tuesday PT, right as the band takes the stage in Vancouver, and will feature some pieces of the current live shows.

We invite you to turn on and tune in.

Neil

Click here to find your local launch time.

Storms

Hi there,

As many of you will know, NZ has been struck by an enormous cyclone in recent days, only 2 weeks after another huge and damaging downpour. We feel fortunate to have escaped the worst of the effects here at Roundhead Studios, but have been hearing all week of friends and neighbors who were not so lucky with landslides, flooding and isolation leaving many without homes, and some without loved ones.

The first responders have our undying respect and gratitude for the selfless and critical rescue work they undertake. We send our love and best thoughts to the families of the brave firemen who lost their lives in this dangerous work.

If you are able to and wanting to contribute to the recovery of some of the worst affected, here are links for donations to a couple of the organisations out there on the front line.

Thank you and love from

Neil

Float Downstream with Fangradio

Hi everyone,

It’s been a year of extremes for us, maybe every year is like that for some people in different places. I feel blessed to have my family close by and to have shared live music with many of you this year, in Australia, Ireland and the U.K, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. There were so many moments that felt transcendent, the way you sang and the signs and messages we received about songs that matter in your lives. I feel grateful and inspired. I can’t wait to share the new music we have been making with you.

We have lost dear friends during the year and seen people we know and love struggling to overcome illness and misfortune. Music has been helping, its mystery and magic are undiminished.

I had a fanciful notion to bring Fangradio into a new era where it’s playing all day, everyday. Our keeper of knowledge, Jeremy, is in the process of loading up myriad pieces of music, some live, some demos, unreleased rarities, curiosities and flights of fancy, many unheard outside of my writing room. They will be randomly shuffling their way through the day for you to tune in and out of. I will be adding new things, putting out some fresh delicacies along the way. I hope you enjoy listening to this bubbling stream from time to time.

So, as this year draws to a close, let me wish you all a peaceful, safe and kindly Christmas and a New Year with hopes and dreams fulfilled.

Love

Neil

Recently played:

The audio player above runs 24/7. Click the play button and it should load within about 10 seconds.

The audio player below will be active whenever Neil webcasts a live Fangradio show via Mixlr. During a live webcast, join in the chat at fangradio.mixlr.com

fangradio is on Mixlr

Christine McVie

I’m so sad to lose Christine McVie. She was a unique and soulful musician, supremely gifted songwriter and a warm and wonderful friend and I am so grateful to have shared some hours in her beautiful presence.

Four Seasons In One Day

Hi everyone ,

I’m in Perth for the last of 3 nights in a row at the beautiful Kings Park, blue skies overhead and the people in great voice! The shows in Australia have been joyous and I think the band has reached new levels of elevation in between thunderstorms and torrential downpours. My admiration and respect to those of you hardy souls that braved the elements to see us play outdoors in recent days. I hope we warmed you up and lifted you out of your wet clothes for a spell. You sang like you really needed it and I am so grateful… thank you.

I have put together a few pictures of us on stage with Maistrato, the group of four fine men from Greece who have been opening up for us on this Australian tour. I can’t tell you how much warmth and pleasure it has given us to have these guys and their beautiful music playing on and off stage. The audiences seem to be embracing them too. Here’s a video of us doing 4 Seasons In One Day together. I have edited pictures from 2 performances, one from outdoors in Geelong where the heavens opened and the wind rushed in, the other 2 days later from the rather more dry and comfortable Rod Laver arena in Melbourne. The lyrics have never had more meteorological resonance!

Also I have some new developments with the site coming soon, stand by!

Hope you are all seeing light on the horizon.

Love

Neil

Footage courtesy of Simon Mark-Brown.

We Do It So They Can… a new song OH HI

Hi there good people

Here is a new Crowded House song, OH HI, still in development but delivered here in support of So They Can, a charity I have admired for many years.

They are building schools and providing shelter and support for thousands of kids in some of the poorest areas of Kenya and Tanzania. The real work is being done by the local communities, the teachers and carers over there, but we have the chance to keep the schools growing, to share in their dreams from over here. These kids are an inspiration and the world needs them, I reckon.

I think you’ll know what I mean when you see this video. Our new song Oh Hi is debuted here with pictures from two of the schools. The kids were hearing the song for the first time and dancing to it. It makes me feel very hopeful watching them. Check out the website below.

www.sotheycan.org/1inamillion

Neil

So They Can Global Dinner

Hi everyone,

I wanted to let you know that I will be appearing online and singing a few songs on Saturday 12 November AEST at a Global dinner event to benefit So They Can, a wonderful organisation I have been supporting for many years. As some of you already know, they have been very active in assisting some of the poorest communities in Kenya and Tanzania, build schools and support networks for young people. On the night I will also be debuting a new song that is inspired by these amazing kids.

Please join us if you can, make some dinner with well known NZ chef Peta Mathias, and feel connected. Register for free here.

Neil

Bourbon and Beyond

Hi there,

          To all those who have plans to attend Bourbon and Beyond in Louisville Kentucky this weekend, let it be known that I will be there with my melodious son and vibrant bandmate Liam to perform a set of best loved tunes from Split Enz, Crowded House and Beyond.

  This was a scheduled stop in our postponed Crowded House tour which we were very much looking forward to, so we’re delighted to able to represent, and we promise a spirited show with delights aplenty.

  Neil

Thoughts from the piano

A few weeks now have passed since we took the necessary decision to postpone our U.S tour. I’ve been a bit quiet since then, kind of gathering my thoughts for how to do the best for our audience, some of whom have had to cancel travel plans, and certainly all of whom have waited a long time for Crowded House to come to town. It’s really upsetting to leave you hanging, we send our best wishes and apologies to everyone. At this point in our history, our audiences are in deep with the full body of songs and the band is in exceptional shape… that adds up to a great night for us all and we are putting urgency into rescheduling the dates, hopefully able to announce in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, Elroy’s back is continuing to improve with treatment and advice from very good professionals and the good practice of Pilates. He is assured there is no permanent damage and we are very confident the band will be back to its very best by the time we hit stages in Australia.  

Some good news… We were able to record a few new songs earlier this year in Byron Bay with the studio doors open, the crickets chirping and the rain tumbling down. We will be spending a couple of weeks late this month working on those and making the most of this unexpected down time. We are excited to have new band music which to my ears sounds fresh and different, but still in thrall to the spirit, melody and bounce of Crowded House.

Music is as fascinating as ever… I remain forever in love with the mystery and magic and thank you all profusely for tuning in year after year, not just for nostalgia’s sake but for the way we have grown together and are still looking at the world with possibility and wonder.

Stay with us you good folk
Love

Neil

The band plays on

Hi there,

The warm glow of U.K, Irish and European shows is still upon us and we are gathering charms and charge for a long overdue tour of the U.S and Canada. I feel blessed to have the band sounding so good and to have the joy of hearing you sing with us. I really missed it, music is magic and it makes me so hopeful.

There are many new songs in the works, one of which we played a few times on tour, "Some Greater Plan”. It was a song that Tim and I wrote inspired by our dad’s war diaries in which he described the night he walked into a ballroom in Florence with a hot jazz band playing and saw a beautiful girl across the room. “She was out of my league,” he wrote, but there began a heady romance for the best boy rider in Te Rore. It was a moment that gave dad a sense of hope and possibility at a time when the world seemed very dark….. we could all surely use some of those moments right now.

I’m not sure what will happen in the world but I know that music is more important than ever and there’s no end to what might be possible.

We gave up on the world somehow
But now we start believing
And all that we can do
Is fill the room
With a song of love
Sing it if you want
To feel a part of some greater plan

Thanks for staying with us, it’s good to have you along.

Neil

See the Live page for Crowded House tickets