th'Orchard Dreamers Reprise Q & A

th’Orchard Dreamers Reprise Off Centre performance.  
Sat 4 March, 3.30-4.30pm, The Gym
Booking required. Pay what you can: $5-20. Book now. 

Described as Sir Dave Dobbyn’s favourite keyboardist, Mark Vanilau is a big name in New Zealand music circles. With Solomon Smith and others, Mark has nurtured th’Orchard, an extraordinary community project that’s cultivating the arts in Rowley/Hoon Hay.

How did you come to be painting shops in McCarthy Street, and how does that flow on to making new music with teenagers?

I had been in the music industry for a long time, working with that top tier – Dave [Dobbyn], Fly My Pretties – and thinking about how we’re feeding young talent. Usually someone knows someone and says you should check this person out, so they’re already on their way by the time you hear of them.

I ran into Solomon [Smith] at the Hoon Hay Fiesta in 2018. It’d been years since we’d had a decent conversation. I’m a painter by trade. He invited me to paint his house. I said sure I’ll help you bro, and that gave us the chance to talk about mentoring young people in the arts.

At the beginning, we just knew there was interest in the community to have their own space to do creative work.

Sol found a disused shop. It needed some love. We spent six months renovating the whole thing. We’ve painted most of the other shop fronts since then. That’s how we realised that’s our work, letting people know what we’re doing, and they can join us in their own time.

Which makes it hard to define what you do?

We're strong believers in creating space to allow creativity. We're not as visible as many outfits and the work we undertake often happens upon opportunity with gaps of time between, but we are always working behind it all awaiting the right moments to connect.

That said, whenever we do programmes with creatives, we always start with a Tin Cup session.

What’s a Tin Cup session?

Tin Cup sessions is a way to start – you have to get over the hump, that feeling of ‘I’m too scared to give it a go, people will think it’s stink’.

We invite people to come and colab together. We kick off at 6pm on a Friday. They bring food or we provide. When you break bread together, everything just opens up.

Anyone can throw in a topic – let’s say, gravel on the road – then a genre, characters, what key are we in, then we all get in, someone might try some lyrics, some people might do chorus or hooks. The big thing is nothing is stupid, everything has its place. We’ve got three hours to weave it. We’re not looking for perfection, we’re looking to work together to create one thing from beginning to end.

For your performance, you face each other in a circle – what’s the thinking behind this?

There’s the practical issue of how to give young creatives the opportunity to perform their songs without too much pressure. You know when you’re sitting around a campfire, and someone starts singing? As the audience, you’re invited to look in on our campfire. All the music is original. One of our young creatives loves to jam, so he weaves improvisation between the set pieces.

Is Th’Orchard only for young people?

Some of older creatives are up into their 60s. We want everyone to feel comfortable.

Th’Orchard is releasing a single soon?

We recorded ‘Burn It All Down’ with DJ Mu from Fat Freddy’s Drop at their studio in Wellington. One more studio session to go. For the artwork, we’ll buddy up a young creative with an established person if we can find the right fit.

Sol always said let’s be clear, we can’t drive things, so nothing is ever set in stone. We’re always driven by people coming on board. Some people stick around then leave – that’s the flow of life, they inject their mana and energy for the time they can.

When I think what we’re doing now, I’m amazed by it.

Th’Orchard does not have any paid staff. People contribute voluntarily, finding time outside work and family commitments. Funding for their premises is from Christchurch City Council.