14/05/2026
Weird factoid from Silke's life! Oh, I have plenty, I just sometimes forget about them.
A very long time ago, I occasionally looked after compiling the weekly charts for the IMNZ newsletter, which was pretty simply - you'd get the data, check who was an IMNZ member, weeded out the other artist, made a neat little graphic of it, and that was that. It was such a long time ago, that Fat Freddy's Based On A True Story had only been number one in the Indie album charts for a m e a s l y year or so. 😶
I had just spent hours DIY burning, painting and handwriting 100 copies of my first EP of original music with my darling friend and radio co-host Jess all night, and seeing I'd gig quite a lot back then, I had sold an actual s**t ton.
As the numbers told me, there were two weeks, in which my "album-length" EP would have beaten Fat Freddy's to the number 1 spot in the NZ Indie album charts, had I submitted it it.
Music also paid my rent a few times around then, and that was pretty neat, because I was poor as.
To be honest, the music was definitely not that great, all recorded with a budget Phillips stereo mic I had brought from Germany to interview people on my minidisc recorder (flashy in the late 90s!), and then butchered around the mix myself as a 100% noob. It was THE DIYest, and my songwriting and performing was basic at best. This isn't self-deprecation, guys, I'm a musicologist, and quite self-aware. 👉😊👈 But look, when I wasn't terrified, or having anxiety attacks, I was having fun. Plus, dat money was good. 👍
Anyway. I should have charted the EP. I just didn't really want the attention, I just wanted any money I could get my hands on*, and to be happy.
*At the time I'd have $15 left to buy food/bus tickets/ with, see what I mean? Money meant fresh food! I literally lived of Abe's bagels at bFM.
Good times, and Fat Freddy's were such a big part of that time.
If you can still get tickets for this weekend's gigs, come along. It'll be so great, they're so great.
