Goldenhorse | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | New Zealand |
Genres | Pop, folk-pop, pop-rock |
Years active | 1999–2007 (hiatus), 2011, 2016 |
Labels | Siren Records |
Members | Kirsten Morrell, Geoff Maddock, Joel Wilton, Ben King |
Goldenhorse is a pop and folk-pop band from New Zealand. The group was formed in 1999 by lead vocalist Kirsten Morrell and guitarist Geoff Maddock, who brought in Joel Wilton and Ben King from other projects to found the initial lineup. [1]
Goldenhorse found success in 2002 with their debut album Riverhead , a slow-burner on the charts which peaked at number 1 in 2004, and went triple platinum. [2] Goldenhorse built on the late success of Riverhead with the 2005 release of Out of the Moon which also went platinum. [1] The albums spawned charting singles including "Maybe Tomorrow" which became the most played local song on radio in 2003, [3] [1] "Wake Up Brother", and "Out of the Moon".
Goldenhorse is considered a significant New Zealand band from the 2000s, with Riverhead featured in subsequent books and articles as a notable album in New Zealand music. [4] [5] [6] It was also a finalist in the 2003 Australasian Performing Rights Association's Silver Scroll Awards, among other award nominations.
In 2007 following a European tour, the band released Reporter , their final album to date, which briefly entered the top 40 charts at 38. After mediocre commercial performance, the band entered a long hiatus. [7] [8] [1] Goldenhorse has reunited twice, once in 2011 and again in 2016, [9] [10] for one-off performances in support of local events, but the group has not officially reformed or worked on another project since, with its members moving onto different projects.
In 1999, Morrell formed Goldenhorse with guitarist Geoff Maddock. [11] The pair were seeking to form a band to play at a wedding; Ben King was brought in as a founding member, and Maddock brought over drummer Joel Wilton from his existing band Bressa Creeting Cake. [1]
Goldenhorse began recording their first album Riverhead on a low budget and without a label. Morrell had secured limited funding from her mother, and the group had used its local connections to acquire equipment loaned from Tim Finn and Neil Finn. [11] [1] The project was recorded on and off over a year, with most of the recording taking place in the Waitakere Ranges from a small home studio. [1]
Riverhead was a slow-burner upon release, remaining on the charts for two years before climbing to number 1 in 2004. [2] [5] The success of the album subsequently lead to a record deal with Siren Records. [12] The album spawned singles including "Maybe Tomorrow" which was nominated for several awards, including as a finalist in the 2003 Australasian Performing Rights Association's Silver Scroll Awards and in the 2004 New Zealand Music Awards. [13] It was also the most played local song on New Zealand radio for 2002/2003. [14]
Following the latent chart-topping of Riverhead, Goldenhorse returned to the studio for their follow-up album, Out of the Moon . Now with a bigger budget and more resources, the group worked with veteran producer Murray Grindlay on the project, describing the process as a stark contrast to the difficulty of recording Riverhead. [1] Their studio dynamic had also been influenced by the addition of guitarist Andrew Clark, [1] and saw the introduction of Ben Collier and Vincent Hine into the mix. [15]
Out of the Moon reached number 2 on the charts and went platinum. [16] The singles "Out of the Moon", "Fish", and "Run Run Run" saw radio play and music videos to support their release. [1] The band began a touring schedule overseas, particularly Europe, including England and Germany. [7]
In 2007, Goldenhorse had returned from their overseas tour and were preparing to release Reporter as a return to the New Zealand music scene. [7] The album was recorded in Roundhead Studios with sound engineer Clint Murphy and producer Phil Vinall, the latter known for working with Radiohead and Placebo among other big acts. [1] In addition, Nick Gaffaney joined the band to provide drums. [1]
Reporter was released to lackluster commercial performance, spending a week in the top 40 charts peaking at 38. [17] Goldenhorse entered hiatus shortly after, and to date, has not reformed to work on a new project. In 2013, Morrell claimed that she still saw Goldenhorse as an "entity" but that the band members didn't all get along with each other. [18]
Goldenhorse's members have since moved on to other projects. Morrell embarked on a solo career with her 2010 debut album Ultraviolet . King has worked as a producer and began a new musical project named Grand Rapids which debuted with Faintheartedness in 2011. [19] Wilton, who had formerly been a science and chemistry teacher, returned to study and subsequently became the principle of Havelock North High School. [20] Maddock moved to Los Angeles where he has worked with Natasha Bedingfield and Daniel Bedingfield, and has written soundtracks as a composer. [1]
In 2011, Goldenhorse reunited for a single performance as part of the Rugby World Cup 2011 celebrations. [10] [9] In 2016, Morrell flew in from London to reunite with Goldenhorse for a one-off performance at an event in honour of Hone Tuwhare at Opera House in Wellington. [9]
Goldenhorse discography | |
---|---|
Studio albums | 3 |
Singles | 8 |
Year | Title | Details | Peak chart positions | RIANZ Certification |
---|---|---|---|---|
NZ [21] | ||||
2002 | Riverhead |
| 1 |
|
2005 | Out of the Moon |
| 2 |
|
2007 | Reporter |
| 38 |
Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album |
---|---|---|---|
NZ [21] | |||
2002 | "Golden Dawn" | — | Riverhead |
2003 | "Maybe Tomorrow" | 10 | |
"Wake Up Brother" | 17 | ||
2004 | "Northern Lights" | 43 | |
"Run Run Run" | — | Out of the Moon | |
2005 | "Out of the Moon" | 21 | |
2006 | "Don't Wake Me Up" | — | |
2007 | "Jump into the Sun" | — | Reporter |
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
In 2003, the single "Maybe Tomorrow" was awarded an APRA Silver Scroll Award for Most Performed New Zealand Work. [23]
In 2005 and 2008, Maddock was nominated for an APRA Silver Scroll Award for his songwriting on the singles "Out of the Moon" from the album of the same name, and "Say My Name" from Reporter. [24] [25]
Alan Gregg is a New Zealand musician, originally from Palmerston North, now based in London. Originally a keyboard player, Alan has mainly played bass guitar in his professional life. After moving to Auckland, New Zealand, Alan was a member of the Dribbling Darts of Love before joining The Mutton Birds, which he was part of from 1992 to 1998. In The Mutton Birds he contributed bass, vocals, keyboards and wrote a number of songs. After leaving the Mutton Birds, he acted as a producer and studio and touring musician before recording his first solo album, under the name Marshmallow in 2002. Other musicians on the album included Bic Runga, Ron Sexsmith, and Andrew Claridge.
Che Kuo Eruera Ness, better known by his stage name Che Fu, is a New Zealand singer, songwriter and producer. A founding member of the band Supergroove, as a solo artist he has gone on to sell thousands of albums both in New Zealand and internationally. Che Fu is considered a pioneer of hip hop and Pasifika music in New Zealand.
Peter Wadams, better known by his stage name P-Money, is a New Zealand DJ and producer.
Riverhead is the debut studio album of New Zealand band Goldenhorse, released in October 2002. Three versions were released of this album; the original in 2002, a limited edition 2-CD version in 2003, and a new edition released in 2004. The 2004 version was released to celebrate a year on the album chart and achieving double platinum sales.
"Maybe Tomorrow" is the second single released by New Zealand band Goldenhorse from their debut triple platinum selling number-one album, Riverhead. The song, written by Geoff Maddock, has a laid-back guitar based tune and is a song about how that "maybe tomorrow, all of your sorrow ...will fade away in the air".
"Anchor Me" is a 1994 single by New Zealand rock band The Mutton Birds. The song peaked at #10 in the New Zealand singles chart, and charted for nine weeks. The song was from the group's 1993 album Salty, with three other album tracks used on the single. "Anchor Me" is a love song, written by the Mutton Birds' lead singer Don McGlashan about his wife.
Siren Records was an independent music label based in Auckland, New Zealand formed in 2000.
Downtown Puff is a solo album by Edmund Cake. Although multi-instrumentalist Cake played various instruments and performed vocals on the album, other musicians and singers on the album include Anna Coddington, Neil Finn and Tim Finn. Geoff Maddock and Joel Wilton of Cake's short-lived earlier band and Flying Nun phenomenon Bressa Creeting Cake, now of Goldenhorse, also appear on the album.
Strawpeople are a New Zealand band. They were created by Paul Casserly and Mark Tierney after they had met while working at the Auckland university radio station now known as 95 bFM. Over the years, Strawpeople has brought together various New Zealand songwriters, vocalists and musicians in a collaborative effort and achieved some success.
The New Zealand Music Hall of Fame | Te Whare Taonga Puoro o Aotearoa is a figurative hall of fame dedicated to noteworthy New Zealand musicians.
The 2010 APRA Silver Scroll Awards were held on Wednesday 8 September 2010 at the Auckland Town Hall, celebrating excellence in New Zealand songwriting. The Silver Scroll Award was presented to Alisa Xayalith, Thom Powers and Aaron Short of The Naked and Famous for their song “Young Blood”, and classic rock group The Fourmyula were inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame. The evening also included a tribute to Pauly Fuemana of OMC, who had died in January 2010.
Joel Little is a New Zealand record producer, musician and Grammy Award-winning songwriter. He is best known for his work as a writer and producer with artists Lorde, Taylor Swift, Broods, Sam Smith, Imagine Dragons, Ellie Goulding, Khalid, Elliphant, Jarryd James, Shawn Mendes, Marina Diamandis, Amy Shark, Goodnight Nurse, Noah Kahan, Years & Years, the Jonas Brothers, and Niall Horan.
Ria Hall is a Māori recording artist, singer-songwriter, television presenter, and political candidate. She has released two solo albums, Rules of Engagement (2017), which topped the Official New Zealand Music Chart shortly after its release, and Manawa Wera (2020). Her work reflects Māori society and history, and Hall regularly sings in Māori as well as English.
Tamara "Tami" Neilson is a Canadian-born New Zealand country & soul singer/songwriter. She is the winner of multiple awards, including the 2014 APRA Silver Scroll Awards and Best Country Song Award; she is also the winner of the Best Country Album at the New Zealand Music Awards in 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2015, and Best Female Artist at the New Zealand Country Music Awards in 2010, 2011 & 2014.
Chelsea Jade Metcalf is a South African-born New Zealand singer-songwriter and record producer based in Los Angeles. Vice has described her as New Zealand's "Accidental Dream Pop Hero". In 2017, she was nominated for New Zealand’s Silver Scroll Award for song of the year for her song "Life of the Party." As a songwriter, Jade has written with numerous artists including The Chainsmokers, Cxloe, Jai Wolf, and Attlas.
Foley are a pop music duo from Auckland, New Zealand. The duo is composed of multi-instrumentalists, songwriters and vocalists Ash Wallace and Gabriel Everett. Foley have been nominated for three Aotearoa Music Awards alongside two APRA Silver Scroll Awards. The band has toured with Remi Wolf, and played shows with Tove Lo, Still Woozy, BENEE, Two Door Cinema Club, Flight Facilities.
Kirsten Morrell is a British-born New Zealand singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the band Goldenhorse.
Ultraviolet is the debut solo album by New Zealand singer-songwriter Kirsten Morrell, released in 2010. It was Morrell's first commercial release since the hiatus of Goldenhorse.
"Out of the Moon" is a single released by New Zealand band Goldenhorse, taken from their 2005 sophomore album of the same name. The single entered the charts on 6 June 2005, and remained for 12 weeks, peaking at 21.
Morrellium is an upcoming solo album by New Zealand singer-songwriter Kirsten Morrell, expected to be released in late 2024. It will be her second solo album since the release of Ultraviolet in 2010.