When Dave Dobbyn released The Islander in 1998, he had just quit drinking and it helped the creative process.
He was writing and recording songs at Neil Finn’s place, before Roundhead was up and running, and Neil pitched in with some guitar on the tracks.
“He was great, he’d sort of float through and get on the harmonia and jump on the guitar or something.”
Photo: album cover
Dobbyn says he felt really prolific at the time so he had to cull a lot of the songs before reaching a final track list.
“It’s funny listening to it now, but there’s a couple of real good things on it”
He wrote The Islander on his own, which has kind of always been his thing, and while he likes the idea of collaborating, it kind of depends on who it’s with.
“I do like the role of… executive producer, if someone’s recording in my studio and I just happen to be around I can suggest things and that things go a certain way.
“You realise what skills you’ve acquired and what sounds best or what would be the most adventurous and fun way to do whatever you’ve got to do next musically.”
For his own stuff though: “It’s just a process of a long, agonising pregnancy…and then a burst of music ten songs deep.”
It’s a different world now though, he says, EPs have made a bit of a comeback.
Dobbyn says that’s kind of cool and 12-inch records do sound amazing.
Marketing might be tough though, “It’s all about the downloads and the streaming.”
One of Dobbyn's favourite songs off the album is Blind Man’s Bend , he wrote it on the road out to Bethells Beach.
Dobbyn says only a couple of years before writing the album he’d come back to New Zealand after living in Australia for 10 years.
He says The Islander is part of a trilogy, together with Twist and Lament for the Numb.
“There’s a separation from obviously living in Australia and then there’s a homecoming of Twist, mad as it is, and there’s elements of homecoming in The Islander as well.
“I felt that it was important to say that I am an Islander and stand up and be an Islander, which we are.”
While his Irish roots go far back, he says he’s not all that connected to them, and doesn’t think of himself as a European.
“In fact, Irish music kind of annoys me really, a lot of it is just silly and a lot of its overly sentimental.”
