Plan 9 (l to r): Janet Roddick, David Donaldson, Stephen Roche Photo: Supplied / Plan 9
Where does one begin with a band like Plan 9?
Well, for a start it's not a band, explains bass player David Donaldson. It's more a "collective of composers".
Donaldson and fellow member Janet Roddick, two thirds of that collective, joined RNZ Concert's Bryan Crump to discuss its latest project: creating the music for a new documentary series, Shine on Katherine Mansfield.
The eight-part series, which looks at the modern legacy of the great New Zealand author was first released by Newsroom, but is now available on the RNZ website.
Katherine Mansfield. Photo: Ann Ronan Picture Library / Photo12 via AFP
The story of Plan 9 (yes, named after the movie by Ed Wood regarded by many as the worst ever made) goes back almost four decades to when Donaldson, Roddick and third member Stephen Roche were all part of Wellington group The Six Volts.
Since then, the trio have collaborated on countless projects for film, TV and theatre.
Anna Cottrell, director of Shine On Katherine Mansfield, can't believe how they do it, and she couldn't believe her luck when the collective said "yes" to her Mansfield project.
Crump is also intrigued at how the trio manage to take on work usually left to one composer (and that one composer's ego) to take charge of.
"Whatever it is, 40 years on, you still haven't split up," Crump remarked.
And as well as creating music for film, TV and theatre, Plan 9 sometimes does become a 'group' and perform its own wonderful music just for the sake of it.
For example, the album The Bewilderness, released in 2021, which won the APRA Silver Scroll for Contemporary Music that year.
We hope Plan 9 plan to make many more.
