United States-based Kiwi musicians and artists Maryrose and Brian Crook bring their band The Renderers and their experimental, brooding, psychedelic space rock sound to Waiheke this month.
Maryrose and Brian formed The Renderers in 1988 – “We were the first alt-country band in the southern hemisphere, now we’re more folky and there’s rock in there too,” Maryrose told Gulf News this week. Forming in 1988, The Renderers also put out Flying Nun’s first alt-country album in 1991.
Prior to their move Stateside, Maryrose says she and Brian had always thought they would like to spend some time living in the home of country music but they thought they were too old for the move. Until the devastation of Christchurch’s earthquakes pushed them to apply for a talent Green Card.
They left earthquake-shattered Christchurch for Joshua Tree in the Mojave Desert, California, in late 2012. Currently back in Aotearoa, the couple are taking the opportunity to play together in their homeland for the first time in a decade.
Maryrose and Brian have continued performing as The Renderers in the United States and have made 11 recordings. Performances in the upcoming tour will have two sets – “because we have a really large back catalogue,” says Maryrose. The duo’s creative output has also included a solo album each.
Maryrose describes their music as “quite experimental, quite melodic” and has been called “raga psychosis” by one American reviewer. While Brian’s guitar sound was described in the Chicago Leader as “legendary”, she says. • Erin Johnson
Full story in this week’s Gulf News…Out Now!!!
