Hawke’s Bay musicians make vinyl cut

Napier singer and song writer Ella Pollett and the vinyl album on which she features with 10 other up-and-coming Hawke's Bay musical acts. Photo / Doug Laing.

It might not be the cover of the Rolling Stone, but it is somewhere on the way for Napier singer-songwriter Ella Pollett and 10 other Hawke’s Bay music acts who’ve made it onto the latest “Under the Sun” vinyl showcase.

It’s volume four of the series produced to showcase established and new musicians on the Hawke’s Bay scene

It’s hoped the artists and music will gain the attention of agents and others looking for performers.

Featuring with Pollett are Liberty Fowler (I Wanna), Danica Bryant (Acid), Chris Drabble and Thomas Oliver (Real Love), Rosez (Need U), Nick Herbison (Moment), Mahina Lawrence (7 Seas), Kenya Boerman (Ain’t No Way), Phil Edwards Band (Cocoon), Dos-Ovni (Sinners), and Maria Williams (Humbled and Defanged).

Some have experience before large crowds.

Pollett previously performed in front of over 20,000 warming the Mission Concert crowd up for Rod Stewart in April 2023. Danica Bryant did Mission Concerts for Elton John in 2020 and Robbie Williams in November 2023, and Liberty Fowler performed on the Sublime with Rome underbill at Black Barn on January 1.

The three are solo acts who each went to Napier Girls’ High School and cut their teeth on the Smokefreerockquest.

Pollett writes her own music largely by “tinkering”, sorting melodies and riffs as she goes along. Her contribution is one of seven tracks she’s recorded with mainly online audiences, such as via Spotify.

Her appearances have been mainly in Hawke’s Bay. But, taking some time out as she studies at the EIT, she hopes to be able to go further afield taking advantage of exposure from the album and wherever else her music is played. That ranges from Flo and Frankies, a women’s clothing specialist for whom she works part-time in Emerson Street, to an Australian station that gives a bit of air-time to New Zealand artists.

It was not too far away in Emerson St that she was busking a few years ago as a 15-year-old.

The album release is part of an initiative of the Backline Charitable Trust, which was established 10 years ago for the purpose of helping young Hawke’s Bay musicians.

The trustees are event manager Kevin Murphy, Rhythm ‘n Vines promoter Hamish Pinkham, and producer performer and educator Tom Pierard.

Murphy said of the 300 copies of the album pressed, half will go to the management and events industry to promote the artists, with vinyl albums used because of vinyl’s comeback over recent years.

The trust is planning the second Hawke’s Bay Music Industry Gala, on the Opera House Stage at Toitoi Hawke’s Bay Arts and Events Centre on May 1, the start of New Zealand Music Month.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.