Returning to the shores of Lake Whakatipu
Indie-folk artist Graeme James will perform at Yonder this week in celebration of the 10 year anniversary of his project, Play One We All Know. The Wellington multi-instrumentalist started his musical journey here in Queenstown, busking on the shores of Lake Whakatipu over the summers of 2010-2012, and playing in bars and restaurants during colder winter months.
Since his time performing down here, Graeme has amassed over 50 million streams of his music on Spotify and has lived and toured over in Europe and the US. It was Queenstown where it was first suggested that he record an album of the busking tunes he was playing. Graeme is a loop artist, meaning he records and plays back a piece of music in real time, allowing for him to perform as a solo artist while providing a full band-like experience. Instruments that he plays include electric violin, guitar, bass guitar, baritone ukulele, mandolin, keys and drums, in addition to singing.
“I originally had the desire to be a classical violinist,” says Graeme. “I followed that through all through my high school years, and then ended up going to uni and doing something completely different because I was having shoulder issues from overuse. I dropped the violin and didn’t play for two or three years, and eventually I bought a loop pedal. I started jamming out on the guitar and then thought, ‘I should probably get the electric violin out.’
Graeme soon started busking around the North Island and then decided to pack up and head down here. The move really shifted his career and focus, and helped to deliver some of what we hear today. He ended up in town during a particularly good-weather week and fell in love with the lakefront and atmosphere.
“I ended up in Queenstown during a week of ridiculously warm lovely nights and I busked down on the waterfront. Every night 200 – 300 people would turn up, sit down, listen and just party and it just became this nightly thing. That really ended up being pretty formative to me both in terms of deciding to do it as a fulltime thing, but also learning how to play to big crowds and a lot of those people have helped to form the core of my fanbase.”
Over the past few years Graeme has been living in Europe, but he’s excited to be back in Aotearoa and returning to the home of his first album. Play One We All Know was inspired by Queenstown, recorded in Wellington and was paid for in part from a lot of the busing money he made here. His show will pay homage to that – it’s set to be an upbeat night.
“A lot of the show’s been quite improvised and this allows for a lot of fun in terms of the audience participation because I can just do whatever comes to mind. I appreciate the freedom of that.”
Graeme will take the stage at Yonder on Thursday 24 August. For tickets and more information on Graeme, you can head to graemejamesmusic.com
