Wine and song

Musicians and old friends Bic Runga, Dave Dobbyn and Tim Finn talk to VICKI ANDERSON about the song they have written, and the pros and cons of dressing in drag.

History does repeat. Bic Runga, Dave Dobbyn and Tim Finn are embarking on a national winery tour next month, reprising the tour they took together 10 years ago but this time around replacing their woollies for "thongs and wine".

Clustered around a speakerphone somewhere in Auckland, and amid hearty laughter the trio convey they are pleased to be touring together again, their first tour together since their winter tour of 2000 when they played 26 sold-out shows in a row.

"The great thing for us that defines this tour is it's like a reunion, there's a bit of magic in the air," Finn says.

Also joining the line-up is Boh Runga, performing songs from the Stellar* songbook as well as her solo material. She will be joined on stage by Supergroove frontman and solo star Che Fu, bringing his own hits such as Fade Away and Misty Frequencies to the set. This will be the first time these two powerful vocalists have performed together.

The tour will be a sizeable production with a 70-strong team supporting the headlining trio of Kiwi music icons, who will be backed on stage with drums, bass, two keyboards, guitars and more vocals than you can shake a tambourine at.

"It's a big schedule, it's pretty intense," Dobbyn says thoughtfully, before adding: "We'll be out the back playing volleyball before we go on stage. Wearing thongs and putting on insect repellent."

I recommend the 23-minute documentary of the 2000 tour at thewinerytour.co.nz/FRD- 2000.html.

For their Palmerston North show the trio decided to dress in drag.

I comment to Dave that his outfit sees him bear more than a passing resemblance to Ronald McDonald.

"Really? I thought I looked like Janet Frame. I look like one of those hairy clowns. Hire me for your kids party and look out!" Dobbyn laughs.

In the video someone can be heard to exclaim, "I've had enough of this frock s...".

"That sounds like something Tim would say," Dobbyn quips. Finn agrees.

"You're at the end of a long drive, you've got a soundcheck and are feeling a bit kooky and grab whatever is going on and suddenly it's in the show. There was a very good opshop next to the stage door although I must say I felt it was much easier for a guy to chuck on a frock than for a woman to go in drag. You were uncomfortable, Bic, dressed up like a gangster, but you put on a good effort, though."

The three are adamant we won't see them pirouetting through grapevines in second-hand gowns this time around.

"That was a once-in-a-lifetime releasing of demons," Finn says.

"But the theatre is in our blood," Dobbyn deadpans.

The trio have been getting together on and off for some months to rehearse for the show and have written a new song which will be unveiled on tour.

It came together pleasingly quickly.

"It's the first thing we did when we got together. We instantly all made a new song, so it was a great way to say hi again. It came about quite quickly and with a good spirit about it. We feel like a band already and that's always a good sign," Finn says.

I remind Runga that on her Twitter account in September she wrote: "Dave Dobbyn is coming over. Must tidy up", which makes all three laugh and Dobbyn comment: "I noticed it was tidy".

"We started rehearsals quite far out, we've already started doing some vocals, and choosing the songs is a big part because there's so many of them. We've just been doing harmonies at each other's places," Runga says.

"We're doing emails and stuff. I'm the worst at replying, I'm hopeless, then it turns into a tug of war between management companies and lawyers, etc, and then I'll look at the email and answer it and it all goes away," Dobbyn says to much laughter from Finn and Runga.

Dobbyn apologises for "being slack" and Finn leaps to reassure him. "Dave, you haven't been slack. You've been writing a song and taken the bull by the horns, we're just waiting for Bic to come through with her lyrics."

"Yes, Bic, I want them on my office desk by 8 in the morning," Dobbyn laughs.

The trio won't be drawn on the song's style but Finn believes it has an "allegorical quality but it's also uplifting, that bitter sweet feel to it".

Runga had not released Beautiful Collision (it was released in 2002) when the trio toured in 2000 and on that tour commented that she felt, in some towns, as if the audience were wondering "who the girl with Dave and Tim" was.

Obviously this won't be a problem this time around. This is her first tour since her son Joseph, named after her father, was born in July 2007, and she is clearly delighted to be back on the road doing what she loves.

"I only had one album out and I hadn't even made Beautiful Collision yet. It's my first outing since having Joe, it's nice to be on the road with friends and getting back to what I used to do. I'm slowly working on a record to release this year."

Although some artists would struggle to fill a two-hour setlist, the problem for this trio is what material to leave out. Will there be any surprises?

"Well, it would be horrific if I was to wear shorts. I think I'll flag that idea," Dobbyn says.

"We're going to do quite a few of the songs that we did last time that we just can't not do - I'll leave it up to readers to guess what those ones are - and we're definitely going to sprinkle it with a few newies here and there.

"Last time we did two new songs each and yet the whole night felt like one hit after another.

"If you do it right, you can draw people into the new songs," Finn says.

Dobbyn laughingly adds that it's a good sign of the quality of the new songs if "you can get away with it".

"It's a great process and especially the fact that we'll have a great band. Once you start going at it together the songwriter part of you that you'd left idle for a while pops up."

Come on, give us the goss, who's the biggest diva on tour?

"It doesn't come out when the three of us are together. On our own we've all had diva moments, surrounded by people waiting on you and you've got basically a butler who's called a tour manager you'd have to be inhuman not to become an appalling egocentric monster after a week. It's a bizarre thing to just be fussed over like that," Finn admits.

"But when there's the three of us together we'll be too embarrassed to do any of that."

Dobbyn and Finn plan to use Runga as a "yardstick".

"We're like a couple of uncles, we'll see how the tour is going based on Bic's energy and how much fun she's having."

I think it's guaranteed that the fun will be both off and on stage for these friends.

At the end of the the 2000 tour the trio were each asked to come up with one word which summed up the tour. Runga and Finn couldn't, while Dobbyn came up with "glorious".

I thought it would be fun to let them have the last word before the tour this time around.

Finn: "Dionysian".

Dobbyn: "Pastoral".

Runga: "Kiwi".

The More FM Winery Tour takes in 18 shows at 16 venues nationwide. Opening show is Boh Runga and Che Fu. www.winerytour.co.nz South Island dates: Feb 10 and 11, Neudorf Vineyards, Upper Moutere; Feb 12 at Villa Maria Estate, Blenheim; Feb 13 at Mud House Winery and Cafe, Waipara; Feb 15 at Millbrook Resort, Arrowtown.

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