The Front Lawn's Songs from the Front Lawn
(Hardback)
Available Formats
Publishing Details
The Front Lawn's Songs from the Front Lawn
By (Author) Matthew Bannister
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Bloomsbury Academic USA
29th June 2023
United States
Classifications
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
Musicians, singers, bands and groups
782.42164099
Physical Properties
Hardback
128
Width 127mm, Height 197mm
Description
The Front Lawn is a multi-award-winning, much-loved New Zealand duo-turned-trio made up of Don McGlashan, Harry Sinclair and, eventually, Jennifer Ward-Lealand. A 1980s variety act, The Front Lawn was part of an Aotearoa/New Zealand alternative tradition of duos that combine music, comedy, theatre and film. Their debut album Songs from The Front Lawn (1989) distilled McGlashan and Sinclairs theatrical stage show and their groundbreaking short films, Walkshort and The Lounge Bar, while also thrusting the band into the burgeoning New Zealand indie scene. The album is a snapshot of 80s New Zealand, a turbulent, creative period for indie music, indie film and musical theatre, celebrating local identity in new ways. Starting with a social and cultural background of New Zealand in the late 1970s, the book covers McGlashan and Sinclairs upbringing on Aucklands North Shore, early artistic influences and overseas experiences leading to the formation of the group. Much attention is paid to the duos philosophy, early performances, the process of recording the album including The Front Lawns collaboration with Wellington avant-garde/cabaret group Six Volts and the addition of Jennifer Ward-Lealand as the groups third member and analysis of each of the albums 10 songs. In parting, Matthew Bannister discusses the groups second and final album, More Songs from The Front Lawn, as well as the individual members subsequent artistic careers
Author Bio
Matthew Bannister is a postgraduate theory supervisor in the School of Media Arts at Te Pukenga, Kirikiriroa/Hamilton, Aotearoa/New Zealand. He has written three previous books: Positively George Street: Sneaky Feelings and the Dunedin Sound (1999), White Boys, White Noise: Masculinities and 1980s Guitar Rock (2006) and Eye of the Taika: New Zealand Comedy and the Films of Taika Waititi (2021). He lives in Kirikiriroa/Hamilton with his partner Alice Bulmer and has two sons.
