Hollie Fullbrook, aka Tiny Ruins, and Bic Runga are going on tour.
Hollie Fullbrook, aka Tiny Ruins, and Bic Runga are going on tour.
After years out of the spotlight, Bic Runga is heading back on the road again on a joint tour with rising singer-songwriter Hollie Fullbrook. They talk to Lydia Jenkin.
Sometimes great partnerships are born out of a simple email. Bic Runga and Hollie Fullbrook had never met, but Runga admired Fullbrook's work as Tiny Ruins, and decided to get in touch.
"I just really liked her stuff, and I just wanted to meet her, like a fan," Runga says with a laugh as the pair sit in the Wintergarden beneath the Civic Theatre, where they'll be playing a show in July.
"I wanted to meet her, and tour with her, so I just reached out - that's quite stalky, eh?"
Fullbrook laughs - as if getting an email from Bic Runga would ever feel like being stalked.
"Not at all. As soon as I heard from Bic, I thought, this is an amazing chance to do something really special.
"I think also, connecting with other women who are musicians is always just such a cool thing."
Fullbrook has had a very busy 18 months, touring internationally as Tiny Ruins on the back of her second album, Brightly Painted One, headlining shows across Europe, the US and Australia, as well as playing festivals and supporting acts like Calexico, so she was delighted at the thought of spending time in New Zealand.
"I wasn't having enough time at home is how I felt really. We did a New Zealand tour last year, but it was sandwiched between being overseas, and so this year feels like the most time I've spent at home in a while, and I think it'll be the biggest, most interesting New Zealand tour we've done.
"It just seemed like the perfect thing when Bic suggested it."
Bic Runga and Hollie Fullbrook feature on the cover of this week's TimeOut:
Runga has been away from the spotlight of late - her last album Belle came out in 2011 - but she has been busy in a different way, raising her son, 7, and daughter, 1, and touring with Neil Finn, and with her partner Kody Nielson as Opossom. The 39-year-old has another baby on the way, so she is keen to get back on stage before motherhood takes over again.
"I'm hungry to make music again, absolutely hungry. But I didn't feel like doing it alone, particularly because I feel like I've been out of action for a while.
"But, yeah, I'm absolutely desperate to tour again - it is a real respite from day-to-day life when you're at home all the time. I wanted to share the shows though, and do something fresh.
"So there were two things I thought - one was that Hollie might want to get in front of a bigger, more mainstream audience, but at the same time, I really wanted someone to lean on for this, because I didn't really feel strong enough to do it all by myself.
"And I'm recording a new album, so I want to road-test new stuff, and I wanted to play them to someone that I respect, and I think Hollie is an amazing songwriter."
The pair are clearly getting along famously, and both are happy to have an outside perspective while they're creating new material.
This is more than just going out on tour together - they're spending a considerable amount of time rehearsing together, learning from each other and finding stimulation in sharing their ideas.
Bic Runga and Tiny Ruins.
"I felt like I was in a similar place really," Fullbrook says. "I've got the beginnings of new material and all my songs are in fragments, and I'm feeling full of self-doubt.
"I'd been feeling like talking to other songwriters, and it's been really helpful to reconnect with that side of things. Spending time with Bic is exactly what I need."
It certainly seems like a relationship of mutual admiration, despite their differing experience in the music industry.
"As a band we're all fans of Bic's music of course," says Fullbrook with a smile. "I remember growing up listening to it when I was about 12 ..."
"Don't say 12!" interjects Runga. "How could you only be 12?"
"But you were very young when you released that album right? Anyway, I distinctly remember hearing it, and being captivated."
Runga was equally captivated by Tiny Ruins the first time she saw them perform live at the New Zealand Music Awards last year. They won Best Alternative Album.
"I'd heard her music, but I hadn't seen a performance - and there was sort of something about it that reminded me of myself I guess. It had a fragility to it, but in that fragility it was also really strong. There's a dignity to it. It's not masculine, but it's still strong.
"I don't know, I just wanted to meet her as soon as I saw her play. I guess I felt there was something there that I was looking for."
It was gratifying for Runga to see that the music which seemed like a natural fit to her still had a place.
"I remember I was watching the MTV Awards last year, and I noticed that none of the female artists were wearing any pants.
Tiny Ruins and Bic Runga.
"And I was like, 'Huh, so is that what I'm supposed to do now, not wear pants?'
"That world seemed totally too far away from me, and too much of a stretch, but what Hollie is writing, and this collaboration, feels like a much more nurturing way to come back to making music."
The concert will have each of them performing a range of their solo material with their respective bands before they get together to play some new songs, along with a few specially chosen covers.
"We actually started off by sending each other music that we liked, to see if there were any songs we would like to perform together, and then it just sort of blossomed into, 'Well why don't we do a whole set together, rather than just one or two covers?'" Fullbrook says. "So then we started sharing brand new original songs and hopefully by the time we're touring it'll be a whole range of stuff that people already know from our past releases, but also some new material."
They found they had similar tastes when it came to the music they love - lots of 1960s-era eclectic folk and pop like Francoise Hardy, Simon and Garfunkel, Donovan and Yoko Ono. And they've been happy teaching each other things like new guitar chords ("One of the songs that Bic brought to the table has really improved my guitar playing - it's been a real challenge," says Fullbrook).
"I always got a lot out of working with people who were a bit older, like the Finn brothers and Dave Dobbyn, and they all taught me a huge amount," says Runga. "But I was always the youngest person on the tour, and now, even though I'm maybe 10 years older than Hollie, I'm still learning, I'm learning a lot from her."
Tiny Ruins and Bic Runga.
"There's only so far you can go with the information that's in your own head before you need more, and I think that's one of the reasons I asked Hollie if she was interested - she's really smart. And I love her independent attitude as well, because I've always been on a major label but now I'm an independent artist now too."
In fact, the pair are doing this tour all on their own - no official promoter - just working together with a few helpers to organise all the venues, lighting, sound, bars, transport, tickets etc.
"We just wanted to be involved every step of the way," Fullbrook explains, "planning how to make it look great, choosing the photos and the posters and so on.
"We wanted to choose intimate, beautiful spaces that felt special for people to go to. And we'll keep it seated and limited capacity in these lovely historic venues.
"We kind of started out thinking that perhaps we'd make it all 60s themed, going from the songs we were thinking about for covers, but I think we've decided we're not going to go with a contrived thematic thing. We're just going to be ourselves."
"Yep, we'll just be us," says Runga. "But the shows will be in the dead of winter, so we're going for quite a warm and nourishing thing ... It's been a lot of fun. So I hope the audience feel that, too."
Who: Bic Runga and Tiny Ruins (Hollie Fullbrook) What: Touring together this June and July Where and when: Performing at the Mayfair Theatre in Dunedin on Thursday June 25, the Oamaru Opera House on Friday June 26, the Cardboard Cathedral in Christchurch on Saturday June 27, the Wintergarden at the Civic in Auckland on Friday July 3, and the Opera House in Wellington on Saturday July 4. All shows are all ages, and seated.
