Harrison | Māngere Bridge
“I remember my dad when I was 11-and-a-half years old, he got me ACDC Live at Donnington, and Van Halen Greatest Hits.
At first, I listened to the Van Halen Greatest Hits, and I was like, oh yeah that’s awesome, and then I listened to ACDC and it was just like, you know what, I don’t really like ACDC, I don’t like it.
I went to school the next day, or a few days later, and my friends said to me, I listened to their music, because it was lunchtime, and they let me listen, and I was like, oh my gosh, who is this, this guitar solo’s mean. They pretty much said, oh this is ACDC, man. I was like, are you serious, I’ve got ACDC Live at Donnington. And they were like, oh man, listen to that.
So, I went back home, listened to it properly, went through the whole thing, listened to it, and oh man, the solos on Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and just the riffs and stuff are just amazing, and at the dinner table that night I just said to my dad, can I learn to play a guitar if you buy a guitar, can I please take guitar lessons? He was like, yeah that sounds good. So, I think music is a big way that we can connect people.
I think it should all interconnect, you know? Music should be a part of everyone’s life if they want it to be. My saying was always, if you learn to play an instrument you’re never going to be alone again. You know? You’ve always got something to keep your mind occupied, your fingers going. To sing, you get so good at singing, if you just practice, on a six-string guitar, and just play. You know? Like, a steel-string. Music just connects everyone. It’s a big part of everyone’s life. You know, people go to concerts, people share it on social media, they share it on Facebook, YouTube, Google. They’re massive, big corporations that are able to share information via, god knows how they can do it, but they can do it, you know, and it’s pretty awesome.
I studied music in Dunedin at Otago Uni. I’ve still got two papers left, so I’m going to go back and finish that at some point, but what connects people in the community probably really just events. You know what I mean? Farmer’s markets, all that sort of stuff, you know, sports, everything. Community is a big part of how society works.
I would probably have to say boarding school. I really loved boarding school. It was amazing. I got to do all cultural events, music, and all that sort of stuff, and I also got to do rowing and that. I got to compete in Maadi Cup, which is you know, it’s televised and stuff, so it’s pretty cool. School, it was just good times. You’re always with your friends. You’re there with them on the weekends when they’re not going home. You know? Sometimes we’d go home in the weekends, but not most of the time. Dunedin, uni in Dunedin, I love that place. That place is amazing. Being in Dunedin, going hiking in Dunedin, doing fun things like that. Going hiking out here, and going to the beach. All those times, I really feel, you know, in the moment, real present, and that sort of stuff.
Would I change anything? I mean, my dad wasn’t around that much, because he had a tree-cutting business, so he was always working all the time, but it would have been cool to have seen him a bit more. He was just trying to, you know, provide for my sister and I; he was just doing the best he could do. He was a bit strict, but you know, we had it real good. So, nah I mean, my childhood was pretty sweet, pretty laid back, pretty easy going.
I was born and raised in California, I was born in Truckee, California which is in Northern California by a massive lake called Lake Tahoe. There’s big ski mountains there, there’re heaps of ski slopes there, and resorts. We moved to a small town called Camptonville, then ended up moving to a town called Quincy, stayed there for a bit, made heaps of friends, went to high school, moved over here when I was 15, and then went to St Peter’s School in Cambridge. I lived out in Raglan, and then after school was finished, went to Otago Uni and studied a bachelor of music. I’ve still got two papers left, and that’s it. I’m in Auckland now, and I’m just pretty much working, and looking to move into new opportunities, different work, different skills, and just exciting new things to do.”
