Grant Smithies

Blimey! Is it really 20 years since Auckland bass bandits Unitone HiFi played the inaugural Gathering dance festival? It is, and Grant Smithies was there. He's delighted that they've emerged from… Audio

Kennedy Warne, Te Radar, Irene Pink and Grant Smithies help us bid farewell to the year, by reflecting on the best, worst and funniest stories of 2017. Nota Bene performs Christmas songs. Audio

Grant Smithies is left a little giddy by the new album from Auckland trio, The Roulettes. He chats with the band and waxes lyrical about Venus Burns. Video, Audio

You are cordially invited to shake your money-maker. Compiled by Auckland record collectors John Baker and Alan Perrott, a new double album Heed The Call looks at NZ soul, funk and disco released here… Video, Audio

Pioneering Jamaican vocalist Sister Nancy is performing in Aotearoa for the first time this weekend, with shows in Raglan and Auckland. Bass-addled fanboy Grant Smithies is beside himself with… Video, Audio

It's still five months away, but even so, Grant Smithies is already packing his bags to head north for Auckland City Limits music festival in March, 2018. The lineup has just been announced, and we… Audio

The news that Grace Jones is coming here in March hit the nation with considerable force. Fanboy Grant Smithies got to talk to her in 2011. She was 'utterly charming'. Video

A few months ago, Grant Smithies mouthed off on air about how crap most recent Australian bands were and RNZ listeners were quick to respond. Today he plays four ripper Australian bands. Video, Audio

Wellington band MarineVille's fourth album is such a ripper, a record company in Austria has just released it on vinyl. Grant Smithies gives his verdict. Video, Audio

Built around four feisty sisters, pioneering NYC punk-funk band ESG played live in punk dive bars while their records got a thrashing in early dance clubs Paradise Garage and Danceteria. We hear two… Audio

In the Music 101 Pocket Edition, occasional RNZ music critic Grant Smithies speaks with Alex Behan about his record store, Tony Stamp looks into the uncertain future of Soundcloud and metal rockers… Audio

Grant Smithies has opened a matryoshka-esque boutique record store inside a pub inside a church in Nelson. Audio

Sheffield synth-pop pioneers The Human League are on their way to New Zealand for the first time, and long-time fan Grant Smithies is chuffed. We revisit their extraordinary debut single from 1978 and… Audio

Recorded in Auckland's Herne Bay by three acid-addled loons, the first and only Space Farm album has just been reissued and Grant Smithies has been, you know… freaking out, man. We also hear from 60s… Audio

It must be cold, surely, moving from Auckland to Norway? But Ryan McPhun of The Ruby Suns has done just that, strapping together his fifth album Sprite Fountain in an old schoolhouse near Oslo, fueled… Audio

Grant Smithies continues his burgeoning love-affair with early Australia punk bands this week with a reissue from Perth swamp-rock legends The Scientists, then attempts to calm down again with Iowa… Audio