NICE TO MEET YOU

Tena Koutou, Talofa Lava, Mālō e Lelei, Namaste,

Ni sa bula, Kia Orana, As-salamu Alaykum, Ni Hao.

I’m delighted to be writing my first hello to you as editor of Sunday magazine.

It’s a time of transition. Not just for me coming into this role, but for us in a wider sense as we transition into whatever happens after a global pandemic strikes. We can’t say post-Covid yet – who knows if we will ever truly be able to – but there is a definite sense of expansion in the air. It’s an exciting time to be looking after these pages, alongside expert deputy editor Bridget Jones and the excellent editorial and production team. We’ll continue to bring you a weekly dose of people, ideas and experiences to celebrate and learn from. Thanks to outgoing editor Nyree McFarlane for all her amazing work.

Ka mua, ka muri. I was reminded of this whakataukī, which translates to “walking backwards into the future”, when I read the cover story on Julia Deans.

The first time I heard Fur Patrol was another time of transition in my life. I’d just left home and was a student at Victoria when my dear friend wrote me a letter (we actually sent letters in those days! I still have it in an old Converse shoebox) raving about a great new Wellington band. I bought the EP Starlifter on CD and loved it. My friend went on to manage Fur Patrol and I saw them play live many times both in New Zealand and Australia.

Julia always had a rock chick nonchalance, and was completely about the music. She was, as Grant Smithies covers in his story, an inspiration to female musicians working to be taken seriously in an industry that too often diminished them. She was also an inspiration to any young woman who wanted to follow her own path.

At one packed-out show at Wellington’s Bar Bodega, which had a low stage, I recall a guy with a beer in each hand sloppily yelled out something sexist and objectifying during a break in a song. Julia, wearing knee-high boots, calmly planted a foot squarely on his chest sending him reeling back into the crowd, then turned her back on the audience and proceeded to rock out on her guitar with the band.

No doubt, she’ll be bringing that energy when Fur Patrol make their 21st-anniversary tour of their debut album Pet. And I’ll be in the crowd, celebrating where we’ve come from, and where we’re going.

Kia tau te rangimārie,