On October 7 a Tauranga album – for the first time - is a finalist
in the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards.
This is good news and a timely validation of the quality music being made in the Bay. The album is by John Michaelz, veteran of bands such as Hard To Handle and The Stone Babies. It is called Walk On Water, and it is a finalist in the Gospel/Christian category.

Walk On Water was released late in 2009 and was a big project, its recording and mixing spanning the course of a full year at Whakamarama's Boatshed Studio. It is a testament to John's remarkable songwriting, his full-bodied emotive singing, and his deeply-informed knowledge of gospel music. It is also a reminder of the vast talents lurking in the Tauranga music scene and their generosity of spirit.
I mention that last fact because no-one - and this is an album with a considerable cast of players - got paid. Everyone did this for love of the music and because, having heard the songs, they wanted to be a part of it. And with good reason: the songs really are impressive – catchy, heartfelt, surprising, rocking, and quite majestic. So when John came knocking, the Bay's finest answered the call.
And I think they deserve a name-check: Grant Haua played the electric guitars; Ian 'Beano” Gilpin played the drums; bass duties were split between Wiremu Priestly and Nigel Masters; keyboards came from Liam Ryan, Kevin Coleman and Nigel; Porina McLeod was the gospel choir; and there are cameos from Derrin Richards, Derek Jacombs, Grant Bullot, Tim Mellalieu, and – most spectacularly, dueting on 'In Your Arms,” - Shona Laing.
That duet with Shona was the album's first single. It and various other songs have been clogging the Radio Rhema playlists ever since, though there has been little impact on mainstream radio. So I'm not sure where you buy it. I guess all music shops, but there are also other outlets for Christian music and you can no doubt get it in any Christian bookshops or the like. I would highly recommend tracking it down.
But that does lead to another issue, one that has been bugging me for quite a while: exactly why is there a Gospel/Christian Music Award anyway?
Let's look for a minute at the various music award categories. There are the mainstream ones – many of them – celebrating successful pop and rock bands. Then there are 'specialist” categories. These are the awards for Best Folk Album, Best Jazz Album, Best Country Album, Best Classical Album, Best Electronica Album and so on, covering various specific musical genres.
(Taking a brief tangent, there is, as I have noted before, no blues award. This is a complete disgrace and disrespects a significant number of musicians. Midge Marsden, Hammond Gamble, Darcy Perry Band, Mike Garner, Marg Layton, Kokomo, Riverhead Slide, RiverRockers, Brilleaux, Shane Wills, Bullfrog Rata, and many others are clearly regarded as not worthy of recognition. Blues supremos The Windy City Strugglers won one year – embarrassingly enough it had to be for 'Best Folk Album”).
But there is a category for Best Gospel/Christian Album. I've listened to the other two finalists. There's Edwin Derricutt, a singer/acoustic guitarist very much in the Jack Johnson/Donovan Frankenreiter vein. He sounds very pleasant. Then there's the band Magnify with their album Wonderland. They cite U2 as an influence, and it's pretty obvious listening to them. Meanwhile, stylistically, John's album is pretty straight ahead gospel/rock.
So what unites the artists vying for this award? One thing – they are singing about God. So the categories are really: Jazz, Country, Folk… and 'Songs About God in Any Style”. This is complete nonsense. This is a category – the only category – which is based solely on lyrical content. Obviously the organisers regard singing about God as so special that it merits singular recognition, no matter whether you sound like U2 or Jack Johnson. What a lot of rubbish.
But enough venting. I wish John every bit of luck he can attract. I think Walk On Water should win. In fact, I think it will win. And a whole lot of Tauranga musicians deserve to celebrate, for giving so unstintingly of their time and talents, simply because they believe that great music – and this is great music – needs to be made, irrespective of any rewards.