Arabian knight

One of Canterbury's hottest musical talents James Milne, aka Lawrence Arabia, is on a trek to the big time - see him while you can, writes VICKI ANDERSON.

Cantabrian James Milne has had a big year. In September he won the prestigious APRA Silver Scroll award for his song Apple Pie Bed - loosely based on incorrectly tied Boy Scout knots and Milne's inability to get out of bed.

The former singer/ songwriter of The Reduction Agents and member of the Brunettes and the Ruby Suns recently signed to UK indie label Bella Union, home to Fleet Foxes and Beach House, for the United Kingdom and the United States, and is embarking on a world tour in January.

He's previously toured with Feist and Okkervil River and has produced music for television, film and theatre and his songs appeared in Taika Waititi's film Eagle vs Shark.

But before Milne heads overseas he's doing a quick tour of his homeland, titled the Decade of New Zealand Tour.

"It is amazing to think that the decade's over, I hadn't registered it until recently. I might have to do a PowerPoint presentation or something at the gig."

Ten years on from the Y2K bug, Milne says it is celebrating the aspirational decade of change that was the atrociously named noughties.

"My hope is this tour will be a time to reflect on our achievements as a nation over the past 10 years - the inauguration of Kiwibank, broadband internet, the fight against P, the unprecedented successes of Scott Dixon in the US Indycar Championship - all of these milestones reveal a nation in the ascendant; a maturing, confident archipelago that is punching far above its weight."

As well as seeing Milne as part of his new five-piece lineup - including Hayden East (Panther and the Zoo), Daniel Ward and Martin Keane (The Sneaks) and Tom Watson (Cassette) - it is a chance to hear Milne's "greatest hits" in a live setting.

"The Sneaks have been my band for a while, as you know, now there's Hayden and Tom, it's exciting to have a new configuration."

True to his Arabian alter-ego, Milne is eager to make the trek overseas.

"We leave the country in the first week of January. We're going to the UK first and then the US. It's solid touring for three months. I've got a new booking agent so there have been lots of gigs coming through, it's starting to fill up. I've got a BBC radio session and a few other interesting bits and pieces like that.

"I've been doing interviews at weird times of the night with people in England. I've been played on BBC2 and Q magazine are doing a feature on me.

"I'd been talking to the interviewer for half an hour about New Zealand as if he was British and he was from Timaru."

Lawrence Arabia will also play at the SxSW Festival in Austin, Texas.

"I just got the note to say we'd been accepted. It's just a great opportunity to get to play to all the music press in the world. I've got a new booking agent for North America so I'm waiting to find out where we're going or who I'm playing with."

In his spare time, he's written a song with Bic Runga for her upcoming album and worked with Crowded House, producing "a few things" on their new album. With Liam Finn, Connan Mockasin and EJ Barnes - previously called Having A Baby but now titled BARB - Milne has been recording and producing the supergroup's debut album.

"I just did a day's worth of backing vocals and a bit of production on Crowded House's album and I produced some stuff on Connan Mockasin's new album. We've finally settled on BARB as a name and we've got an album in the works which we're aiming at releasing in April.

"What does it sound like? It's a weird nineties, strangely funky but not in a bit gross way. It's got elements of trip hop. It's definitely a different sound to what any of us are doing individually."

He has also written the music for a feature film by Taika Waititi and "swum a few lengths".

"I'm in Wellington at the moment. I'm in the beginnings of working on a musical. We've just been down in a hall doing a workshop today."

Winning the Silver Scroll was overwhelmingly positive.

"It was quite intense at the time and I did all sorts of surreal media appearances. I was on Jason Gunn's Classic Hits breakfast show, I was interviewed by Danny Watson on Newstalk ZB, lots of quite odd things like that, so I reached a bigger audience than I normally would."

As well as Chant Darling - for which the subject matter ranges from the New Zealand space programme, naughty liaisons on Quay St, laziness, drinking problems among the shy, to sexually frustrated hipsters, drug-induced death visions, lust for teacher and a theme-in- waiting for the National Government's soon to be announced war on drugs - Milne has 22 songs including some numbers from the Reduction Agents on the set-list.

"I'm not entirely sure but I think my show in Christchurch might be an all-ages one. I've hardly ever played an all-ages show.

"We'll play for as long as we can stand up and for as long as people can stand it.

"We'll work out between us and the audience who can last the longest and see where it goes from there.

"It's going to be quite epic."

Just like your career, James.

* Lawrence Arabia - A Decade of New Zealand Tour with support from Panther and the Zoo: San Francisco Bathhouse, Wellington, Thursday, December 10; Repertory Theatre, Christchurch, Friday, December 11; Chicks Hotel, Dunedin, Saturday, December 12, and Monte Cristo Room, Auckland, on Tuesday, December 22. All tickets available from undertheradar.co.nz

- © Fairfax NZ News