The Winner 

Christchurch industries fair, 1982
Adam McGrath wins a trumpet for dancing like Elvis Presley in a children’s talent quest, starting an addiction to trumpets and a desperate need for approval followed by a desperate sense of embarrassment.
Breens Intermediate, 1989
Adam McGrath and his friend Jason Walker win a nationwide rap competition by composing extra verses to the ‘kick it in the butt’ smoke free ad campaign.
They both win White ghetto blasters with dynamic bass boost and x3 graphic equalizers.
They also rip off the first vs of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s ‘The Message’ but no one seems to notice, regardless they feel it is their dual beatboxing that wins the day.
Marist Western Suburbs Rugby League Club Rooms, 1990-1995
Adam Wins Player of the year, sportsman of the year and team man over this period.
He trades on this for the rest of his life.
Here inexplicably the winning stops…
Until…
Last Thursday,
When he wins Folk Artist of the Year at the AMA’s.
How about that his friend Joe Kelly says,
How about that indeed.
And thus, his writing in the third person ceases to be interesting so I stop it and I say
Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou
And I am humbled and grateful and also sad that the three-hour speech I prepared in case I won was all forgotten in the interests of brevity.
But if you’ve been in my corner for any of these long-gone times, present moments or are waiting for me up the way then I can’t tell you how much you mean to me.
I’m sorry when I fuck up and stumble and am late or behind and I’m so full of thanks for you for sticking around!
I’ve written the names of Lindon Puffin and The Eastern and more on the award, in sharpie and biro and Ive made it look less an award than a high school project but what it really is now is some sort of spirit rod and incantation to remind me of all the people who have been on my side.
Tom Lark and the Terrible Sons were worthy nominees and I’m grateful to share the spirit with them too.
I’m grateful to the folk community and the festivals that have always taken a chance on me and my roundabout ways.
Especially to the Dunedin and Canterbury Folk Clubs for letting me and the Eastern through the door.
The Madills and Madill Guitars and Peter Stephens and Martin Guitars for the tools and not shaking their heads to much.
This award is everybody’s it’s just my name on it till next year I guess, but If I could I’d throw it up into the air, past the moon and up and up and up and into the way beyond to the great record store in the sky for my friend Paul Huggins for always believing in spite of all evidence to the contrary.
The Folk Singing continues ever onwards, this weekend in Picton
Then okarito, then Hokitika, then wellington, then Auckland, then nelson, then everywhere else you can get the tickets at www.adammcgrath.net/shows
Can’t sleep now drive on drive on drive on
Thankyou thankyou thankyou

The Turns 

How do you know if you’re getting old?
You have turns, bits of turns, a bit of a turn, a piece of a turn, things that throw you off, like blip in the mainframe.
I had a turn, a small turn, a weird turn, one that took me off to the ED whereupon on frazzled hero dr and a bunch of cool calm bad ass nurses were dealing with wave after of people like me.
We got it figured out in about five hours which considering the pressure they were under seems like a miracle to me and I thank them.
I’m fine and will be fine and in the great words of Richard Pryor ‘I ain’t dead yet motherfuckers’ and in the greater words of a minor character in predator 2, ‘there’s no stopping what can’t be stopped’
However there is a pause.
I have to not get on the road and instead just rest up for a few days.
So that’s what I’m gonna do, because considering the sweat on the brow of the Ed Dr I do not want to fuck with the advice given and end up back in the mix being a headache to all involved, just cause I couldn’t chill for a bit.
That means I have to postpone tomorrow’s show in invercargill! I am sorry!
Buttttt we’ve postponed till sept 8th which is heapppps of time but will happen kapow!
So if you can wait till then all tickets will be valid!
If that won’t work then all refunds will be incoming!
All ticket holders will be contacted asap!
So sorry southern friends!
All other shows are go!!!!!
Picton
Mapua
Wellington
Auckland
Okarito
And everything else
Thanks for understanding!
May your turns forever turn around!

Oh Mystery 

Last week I played at the Bucks Head Tavern in Taylorville, you can tell a good pub by the history in there and the people behind the bar and like me a little later on top of it.
I get it done out in it where it needs to be done between here and there and beyond and back again. Sometimes the dog comes, sometimes the friends come, a lot of it I’m on my ownsome. You get thinking and you get a lot of things figured out, then the truck stops and you’re late and you can’t change your shirt and you know the people hugging you can smell the road on you and you get shy but you keep talking, and keep hugging and keep hoping and through all of that keep learning about the people in Taylorville, or Woodstock, or or or or wherever it is you find yourself and you forget what it was about the world you had figured out, but its ok cause you learnt something about the people in it.
In the Eastern we talk about the musicians we’ve met along the way who want the people that see them to be at a distance, to keep the mystery, to not be bothered by them, I get that it can be hard being a node in a weird energy transference and musicians are fragile folks, but it always seemed like they were missing out in some fashion, like they’re only making the signal go one way. Sometimes your soul gets punished a bit by the guy slurring in your ear but whenever I’ve hung on in there I’ve always learnt something I didn’t know before and ultimately that learning is the whole point to it all, the singing and songs and dancing and hearing and listening its all in the mix to help with the learning.
That was not what I was expecting when the road got its claws in me way back when but I’m glad I figured it out in time that I could cease believing in the idea that this whole thing was about me.
So I scrabble around out there and on here trying to make it all make sense and sometimes it does but that’s mostly when you all are involved. Besides that brooding mystery, eccentric wisp on the wind of art inability to shake a hand shit is not something I can pull off that well.
That’s one of the good things I’ve learnt, and was reminded of this week when I saw a photo of me and john the governor of the Bucks Head standing in front of the fire the morning after. My tshirt was half tucked into my belt and my fly was half done up and well, basically I bet you Nick Cave never has had that problem, so I guess I’ll just keep keeping it as unmysterious as possible, practical boots and warm coats and a desperate need to meet every one I get to meet.
I hope to meet all of you out there, to celebrate, commiserate and apologise where necessary. Im making it up as I go along and I’m so glad youre all there to help!
I’ll see you in
INVERCARGILL!
This Sunday even!
And then and then….
In
Picton!
Okarito!
Woodstock!
Island Bay / Wellington!
Auckland!
And
Mapua/Nelson!!!
And that’s just the goddamn beginning or middle or the beginning of the end of the beginning
And there’ll be more!
Australia even! (holla if you want a show)
And then Ireland and then Europe
And then and then and then…
Tickets here!

get in behind 

I get so behind that I'm behind all the things I'm behind in, so far behind I might as well be the ass end of a pantomine horse, hunched with my head nestled right in the things I'm behind in, making excuses about how far behind I am to all the things I'm behind in, behind, beholden, unbelievable...Imagine me the greatest of the greatest of all old sheepdogs,
"GET IN BEHIND"
"Can't"
"what do you mean you can't?"
"I'm already there"
anyway...
I meant to tell you about my show in a couple of weeks in new plymouth, but I just got behind, so far behind, but a couple of weeks is actually pretty good considering who you're dealing with...
so yeah Its been a minute since I, NZ's 37th favourite folk singer showed up in one of my most favourite homes away from homes, new songs, new stories, a new record, old clothes, old ways, old hopes, new feelings, old dog, new truck, old guitar, new cables, whatever it looks like I'll being going in guts first
come join me old friends and new....
now l'm a little less behind, behind the 7 ball, one better
holy improvements

FEED! 

Once, actually about 4 times, I got to sing ‘Welcome Home’ on stage with Dave Dobbyn to rooms full of stranded New Zealanders. I’m not that nationalistic, and have a mostly impossible fear of flags (excluding probably the Tino Rangatiratanga flag and Union Banners world wide), but man it was pretty hard to not be moved by the big feelings and big tears coming back to the stage during those long hot nights. I had to keep kicking myself in the shins and wondering, “How did I get here? This cannot be my beautiful life? This can not be Dave Dobbyns beautiful wife standing beside the stage.” And yet there I was.

I’ve been lucky to do the same with a lot of my songwriting heroes, everytime is like what?

Barry Saunders, Lindon Puffin, Upper Hutt Posse, Luckless, and more, it’s a big list.

Last year or maybe the year before ( I dunno, folk singer time is weird, moving at once rapidly forward and backward all at the same time), I got to do the same with Jordan Luck as part of his backing band; an honor all us easterners got to share. It was big stuff and fun as fuck hearing every word of every song that’s in built into your NZ DNA coming back at you.

Jordan is wry and wise and deep and true and kind and wild and a man with the greatest song writing gifts as well as those of one of the greatest front people to ever do it. As a pretender to the outhouse throne of the temple of fronters and chancers I couldn’t help but feel THE AWE and the AW and of course THE AW FUCK YEAH.

It was great.

We’ve been waiting for a chance to Voltron and form up to get it done again. 

This march that chance becomes a fine thing, and in service to the big things which makes it even better.

A Fundraiser  for the Delta Community Trust, a great organization that go deep for the folks with the big needs, day after live long day.

This year they saw their major regular donation of food (which they shared with two other food banks) suddenly split between nearly 17 more.

There’s a few levels to this,

But the main ones are the big gut kicking pangs that they’re running short and the fact there are 17 (at least) food banks out there in Christchurch.

Its hard to feel patriotic about a land of plenty of not much.

It is however easy to feel patriotic about a land of folks who are down to come and get down and bring a bunch of food when they are called upon.

THAT’S YOU GUYS! 

So c’mon and join us, we’ll do the heavy work, y’all can just sink a few and get busy down the front, while our pals count the cans (and weetbix, and toiletries and tampons and toothpaste and pet food) ya’ll are gonna bring with your cheap as chips tickets (just $15).

These tickets are to cover costs and we’ll pony up the profits to Delta but it’s the food we want! And the solidarity! 

If you’re running late and won’t make the supermarket you can pay $35 (or more) for a ticket on its own!

Grab your tickets right here:

www.forteastern.net

------

Postscript:

The Reason ‘Welcome Home’ is such a mighty beast of a song, is one line, buried right there drawing very little attention to itself. 

“You’ll find most of us here, with our arms wide open”

That’s beautiful and also very smart and aware

The key word being ‘Most’

Very smart Dr Dobbyn

I promise to get teary when we sell this sucker out and get to believing in the most of us again.

This a gig we’re excited about, but frustrated that it even needs to happen.

That said you are all welcome.

As always if the ticket money is tight send me a message we’ll figure it out.

Much love

Welcome home etc 

Back In Town 

ya boy is back, back in the rig, swigs to take, glasses to break, hearts to ache, posters to make, tickets to take, for the songs sake for goodness sake...its been a long time since we rocked n rolled, folk, souled, whatever the hell it Is I and the Eastern do...but here we go again...out of the barlands into the bad lands and the south lands and this weekend the northlands! thats right up in Parua Bay Whangarei heads at the Llama Lounge, a good old fashioned Listening room, and singing room!
and then in a couple of Weeks in Auckland amongst the goods at Studio 1 vintage Guitars for their first live instore session! this is ltd capacity so dive on them suckers!
then a bit after that in Wanaka at Wānaka Festival of Colour in a talking and singing session with esteemed wise ones, julia deans Julia Deans and Ebony lamb Ebony Lamb and wrtiter of soul and taste Grant Smithies Grant Smithies
details for all of these tickets etc at the old creaky web hut www.adammcgrath.net
but that aint it listener, reader, web surfer! no way do you think your easterns will leave you hanging? we've got something big and special and righteous on the come up...if you were around for our gig with Jordan Luck last year as his backing band for the finale of the Barlands run then you will get a hint of where we're heading with this special announcement! info on sunday night! prepare your 3d glasses, popcorn and take the phone off the hook this will be better than something not as good!
in the meantime! check me out in Northland, auckland and wanaka land!
get some!

Lets get small 

I move through the world uncomfortably, too big not to bang my head, break the chair, squeeze between the tables, knees to chin, chin to knees, slumping to get little to not make a scene, 6’4 4000kgs of pure pizza, I drag my frame through airports and cars and queues and bars often uncomfortably.
The big cities though make you feel small but you have to have your ambitions hulk size rather than your fears to stand out. My ambitions are enough to get me out the door no more and in acuallity mostly spites disguised as something else. Mostly spites against my self though my fears bigger than both of us, but like ol’ blue eyes sang ‘High Hopes’ baby high hopes.
But small is good for the soul, small keeps your feet right where they need to be, small is good to start a conversation without too much in the way, small is just roomy enough to let the work happen without too much drama. Tomorrow I’ll walk around Auckland and get that small feeling, but like I said a few thousand of your precious minutes ago, in a post or two back, I’ll be singing the big songs, not big in sales or hits but big in hopes and hand ups. That’s the idea, without a setlist it could all just be cold chisel covers, I dunno whats gonna happen, but I’ll be in Auckland at the tuning fork trying to get as small and as big as I can.
A duality! Two opposing forces fighting in bag full of schrodinger’s cats man it’ll be a racket but hopefully one worth your psychic time!
Kendall Elise on first makes it worth the ticket price as well!
Big city! Big Posts!
Amen

The dark Art 

Ticketing is a dark art…
First it starts with a pre release ticket deal for spark or vodafone subscribers or maybe even visa, you take your rebel soul and you subsume it in desperation, you reward the customers of these beastly entities, if you’re lucky you might get into some ‘partnership’ to curate an ‘experience’
workers sell their labour you sell your magic, everyone is selling, buying and selling and selling and buying, everything is fair game, everything is reduced to a commodity, the real commodity though is bamboozling contracts, which by proxy you are now promoting; via songs you wrote in your room about your feelings. These contracts are now part of you and via you out there sucking souls, hurting heads, requiring 16 years of algebraic learning to make hide or hair,
“If we move you from the friends plan via the mates plan over to the team plan then you’ll get 16gbs of full speed minus 30gb of half time night time minutes locked in for 36 month over a 16 month no return break out party clause”
And then once you’ve exhausted that, you start on the early bird, pre release, get in quick limited before they’re even been numbered tickets,
And then so on and so on until the last minute just released seats deals etc
What I want to know who has these seats? How can we negotiate their release? Are they political prisioners?
Why are they viciously trapped in the same way a solo parent might be into a predatory phone contract?
Whats going on?
Is this shamanism?
Hustlism?
Capitialism?
Its all beyond my pay grade
but c'mon you rock n rollers
FREE THE SEATS
After all that though, the artist might reach the holy highs, the HOLY GRAIL of the rock n roll fleece “progressive pricing”,
SEE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN SING SONGS ABOUT WORKING PEOPLE TO FRONT ROWS FULL OF RICH PEOPLE JUST $3000 A TICKET
Phew its hard out there,
Especially for the journeyman folk singers
Our 1 ticket-one seat-one price-sell em all or none at all-philosophy is not catching on,
my no ticket under our control more than an hour and half of minimum wage plan, has not caught fire,
The promoters are not knocking down my door, the deafening applause of the public has been drowned out by the sound of crickets and an empty room,
I turn to my side kicks in the eastern and they form like an army of Sancho Panzas and say another windmill boss?
I adjust my lance and my armour and say,
“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!”
Except I don’t say that Cervantes said that, I simply say
My low rent tickets for my show Auckland this Thursday the 18th are ALL for sale at low low prices at the shows tab
Ps
I’m not complaining! Not even pontificating! Just joculating! Which I hope means joking!
I’m the luckiest folk singer on my street and we’ve had some great houses these past weeks and I’m thrilled
Invercargill
Dunedin
Lyttelton
Taupo
Napier
Gisborne
All went off as they say, and my landlord and my spark bill salute your ticket buying prowess!
Thankyou friends!

The dark Art 

Ticketing is a dark art…
First it starts with a pre release ticket deal for spark or vodafone subscribers or maybe even visa, you take your rebel soul and you subsume it in desperation, you reward the customers of these beastly entities, if you’re lucky you might get into some ‘partnership’ to curate an ‘experience’
workers sell their labour you sell your magic, everyone is selling, buying and selling and selling and buying, everything is fair game, everything is reduced to a commodity, the real commodity though is bamboozling contracts, which by proxy you are now promoting; via songs you wrote in your room about your feelings. These contracts are now part of you and via you out there sucking souls, hurting heads, requiring 16 years of algebraic learning to make hide or hair,
“If we move you from the friends plan via the mates plan over to the team plan then you’ll get 16gbs of full speed minus 30gb of half time night time minutes locked in for 36 month over a 16 month no return break out party clause”
And then once you’ve exhausted that, you start on the early bird, pre release, get in quick limited before they’re even been numbered tickets,
And then so on and so on until the last minute just released seats deals etc
What I want to know who has these seats? How can we negotiate their release? Are they political prisioners?
Why are they viciously trapped in the same way a solo parent might be into a predatory phone contract?
Whats going on?
Is this shamanism?
Hustlism?
Capitialism?
Its all beyond my pay grade
but c'mon you rock n rollers
FREE THE SEATS
After all that though, the artist might reach the holy highs, the HOLY GRAIL of the rock n roll fleece “progressive pricing”,
SEE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN SING SONGS ABOUT WORKING PEOPLE TO FRONT ROWS FULL OF RICH PEOPLE JUST $3000 A TICKET
Phew its hard out there,
Especially for the journeyman folk singers
Our 1 ticket-one seat-one price-sell em all or none at all-philosophy is not catching on,
my no ticket under our control more than an hour and half of minimum wage plan, has not caught fire,
The promoters are not knocking down my door, the deafening applause of the public has been drowned out by the sound of crickets and an empty room,
I turn to my side kicks in the eastern and they form like an army of Sancho Panzas and say another windmill boss?
I adjust my lance and my armour and say,
“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!”
Except I don’t say that Cervantes said that, I simply say
My low rent tickets for my show Auckland this Thursday the 18th are ALL for sale at low low prices at the shows tab
Ps
I’m not complaining! Not even pontificating! Just joculating! Which I hope means joking!
I’m the luckiest folk singer on my street and we’ve had some great houses these past weeks and I’m thrilled
Invercargill
Dunedin
Lyttelton
Taupo
Napier
Gisborne
All went off as they say, and my landlord and my spark bill salute your ticket buying prowess!
Thankyou friends!

The Hours 

36 hours of driving for 6 hours of playing? these are the goddamn statistics we like! backwards, inordinate, immoderate, inconceivably backward, we could just pull out the drive at drive around the block 11,000 times and throw money out the window and get someone to throw you a ham sandwich and some pinapple lumps every 3 hours and maybe install an IV for some road coffee and just tick up your wildbean cafe card and it'd probably all amount to the same thing butttttt then we'd never get to meet y'all, new friends and old, dancers, singers, sitters, chancers, in for a good time, in for a heart time, in for a story, in for a yee ha, in for a penny in for a pound of fleash, whatever it is it makes it so worthwhile to show up for y'all as you continue to show up for us. All these years, all these hours, all these times, all these bad ideas, all these good intentions and here we both are us and you and right in the middle of the set, just before the guitar strings break, just before we say fuck it and get on the floor with you, it all starts to make a weird kind of sense! and therefore proving our proviso, that if weird is the way most taken, then gifts will be the things most given. So good to be out there with the band! so good to be out there with you good good souls. Next week though, the truck stays parked and me, ol' long talking fool that I am, goes north to shout from the big stage about the new quiet Album Dear Companions at the tuning fork! Hoping the vinyl will be here by then! big hoping! but even if it aint' the good strong wonder of Kendall Elise will be there to open the show which I'm sure will make up for it!
c'mon on now!
Auckland! Next thursday! 7.30pm! The Tuning Fork!
tickets at the shows page