KEY POINTS:
It is 9pm on a Wednesday in Austin, Texas. It's the first night of South by Southwest, the music industry's most important and influential annual event.
New Zealand musician, ex-Goodshirt front man Rodney Fisher, is on a small stage just off a very plush hotel reception area. He and his five-piece band are tuning their instruments.
Rodney is appropriately dressed, given his whereabouts, wearing a black cowboy shirt and cowboy boots. "I could never wear this shirt anywhere else, it's so glam," he jokes. As he fidgets with his bottle of beer, Fisher's broad smile hides some pretty major nerves.
This is the first time he has performed his solo material outside of London. Well, North London to be precise, where he has a residency at one of the local pubs. His American debut is not the biggest of gigs, there's fewer than 30 people in the room but, in Austin, it's all about quality, not quantity.
South by Southwest runs for four days, during which more than 1500 hundred musicians perform at 70 venues. Given the sheer volume of music on offer, many musicians perform to empty rooms. Among Fisher's crowd are Liam Finn and the New Zealand-born, now London-based, DJ Zane Lowe as well as various other festival bookers, radio pluggers and media.
There's also a handful of other Kiwi musos here, supporting their mate Rod. Fisher was selected from thousands of applicants to play at South by Southwest. And, although his audience may be small, it has to potential to be career changing. He describes his sound as "country folk. It's melodic and got a real richness to it. But the core element of all my songs is they are singer-songwriter songs, they are my opinion, I'm putting it out there," he says.
Fisher's journey to Austin began almost four years ago with the end of Goodshirt, the hugely successful band he started with his brother Murray. As Goodshirt was winding down, Fisher met Hamish Clark from Breaks Co-Op, who was looking for a guitarist to tour with them in Europe and asked Fisher to step in.
Afterwards Fisher decided to hang around in London and see if he could make it as a solo artist. It hasn't been easy. By day, he works in a clothing store, at night he gigs at small venues. He spends the rest of his time writing and recording.
Someone giving him plenty of encouragement is New Zealander Lowe, arguably the most influential radio DJ in Britain, who says Fisher is naturally gifted. "He is a supremely talented singer/songwriter and is becoming a great performer in own right, he goes from strength from strength." Lowe says Fisher must now focus on getting his music heard. "With any musician who is really good, it's about finding a wider audience to connect with that music.
Rodney has the songs, he just has to get them out there," says Lowe. "I've purposefully tried to be really under the radar," Fisher says. "I just want to let people slowly find out about me and what I am doing." But he is ready for things to change now. "We are really starting to put a plan together, to get a really good booking agent, someone who can strategically place you at the right festivals and supports so you are not wasting time and effort and money."
Fisher's London-based manager Mark Meharry says Fisher's music fills an important gap in the increasingly powerful middle-of-the-road market in London. "There are lots of female singers - Katie Melua, Kate Nash, Amy Winehouse - but not many on the male side," says Meharry. "He has got people talking." Fisher is doing more than just getting them talking. His monthly residency in North London is now attracting some of the city's hippest names like Jay Jay Pistolet and Mumford & Sons.
Another of Fisher's managers, Joe Porn, says things are stepping up a level. "The kinds of artists wanting to play with him, the reputation he is getting, is really exciting. He's had five or six of the best up-and-coming bands play on the night. Especially since South by Southwest," says Porn.
Fisher and his band have been booked by an independent music promoter, The Local, to play festivals and gigs in the UK, and they want to sign him on for another four. As things are taking off, Fisher is now preparing to quit his day job to concentrate on music.
A four-track EP of Rodney Fisher's songs is available via his myspace page www.myspace.com/rodneyfisher. A New Zealand-only album release is planned for later this year.
