The Golden Awesome are a Wellington-based four-piece playing loud, fuzzed-out, blissed-out guitar rock with girly vocal harmonies. In terms of influences, they veer between early-90s shoegaze and Flying Nun-style psychedelic jangle. Singer Stef Animal has previously played with Mestar, guitarist Johannes Contag with Cloudboy and Jay Clarkson, and rhythm section Matthew Steindl and Justin Barr are also known for their accordion-driven sea-shanty-meets-swamp-rock band the Raskolnikovs.

What is the inspiration behind the song 'Ruby'? What is it all about?

The Golden Awesome's music exists purely within the sounds created by the players - the inspiration is simply to form songs intuitively, making them fit into our ever-growing, ever-shifting, never-articulated concept of what the band is about. This song is titled "Ruby" to celebrate the birth of our bass player Matthew Steindl's daughter Ruby-Jean.

Who did you work with on the song?

The Golden Awesome do all their recording and mixing autonomously, with guitarist Johannes Contag having mixed numerous songs and albums from a range of artists over the 90s and 00s. "Ruby", as well as the rest of debut album "Autumn", was mastered by Warn Defever of His Name Is Alive, an 80s/90s US band associated with the 4AD record label.

Does it have a video? What is that about?

The video for "Ruby" is the Golden Awesome's latest video and was produced by Matthew Steindl. It was filmed entirely in New York City.

What other New Zealand artists do you look up to?

As far as musicians go, we are largely influenced by the artists traditionally associated with the Flying Nun and Xpressway labels. Current acts we enjoy include T54, Ghost Wave, Terror of the Deep, the Blueness, Detrytus, Beastwars, Little Bark, Marineville, Die!Die!Die!, Surf City, Street Chant, Badd Energy, Disasteradio, Manthyng, and many others.

What instruments do you play?

Voices, guitars, basses, drums.

What do you consider when you're getting dressed to perform (clothes/ makeup/ hair do etc)?

We like to wear casual clothes that we feel comfortable in, and our on-stage outfits may or may not match. Unlike with other bands we have played in, we have no intention of presenting a uniform band appearance. The music projects everything that this band is about; the visual dimension is simply a band on a stage without much further pretense than the high-volume onslaught coming from the speakers.

Lucy grew up singing under the strict instruction of a conductor who listened to Mendelssohn and Gatecrasher 1999. Darian grew up under the(toxic?) smell of burning polystyrene. Since 2009 they've been playing music under the name of Wet Wings, a band name that appears on Twitter when people tweet about their infatuation with (greasy) wet (chicken) wings. We recently spoke to Wet Wings about their track, Feeeel It, which features on the RUBY album.

What is the inspiration behind the song? What is it about?

This song is about ghosts, superstition, and other nonscientific whimsy.

Who did you work with on the song?

This song has Lucy and Darian playing all the instruments but Jon Lemmon did the mastering to make sure the song didn't hurt people's ears.

Does it have a video? What is that about?

This song does have a video. We haven't spoken to the people who made the video, Johnny Lyon and Sophia Jenny, about the video very much. But they did a great job. Sophia's in a field running around, getting some exercise.

What other New Zealand artists do you look up to?

Joseph Ernest Harper (comedy), Jonathan Phillips/Mount Pleasant, Jon Lemmon, Jonathan Bree. If your name starts with Jo, you are someone we look up to. Lucy hastens to add that she also loves Bachelorette.

What instruments do you play?

We sing over guitar, keyboard (primarily a Casiotone MT-45 or Casiotone. MT-65 for when we want the extra 20 MTs), some viola, and programmed beats. There is also clarinet and flute on the album thanks to family.

What do you consider when you are getting dressed to perform (clothes/makeup/hair do etc)?

Not embarrassing ourselves. Once I accidentally wore a pair of cords that make it look like I have a constant erection. I'm not that virile.

Where is your favorite place to wear your Converse kicks?

The rain.

wetwings.lilchiefrecords.com

What is the inspiration behind the song 'Longtime Love'? What is it all about?

The song was sparked after listening non-stop to Debussy's Clair De Lune and feebly trying to work out what makes it so beautiful. I guess at the time I was also thinking about the kind of unknowable, meancing forces that lurk in the dark forests of Fairy tales.

It is about falling out of love mostly.

Who did you work with on the song?

I wrote the song in my bedroom in 2008 and David Parker from Little Monster Studios engineered, mixed and mastered the song amongst the cows and chickens in pretty Oratia.

What other New Zealand artists do you look up to?

No video yet, I'm afraid. (Hello NZ On Air!)

What other New Zealand artists do you look up to?

Hollie Fullbrook from Tiny Ruins and James Milne from Lawrence Arabia are at the top in my book - they truly are amongst the country's finest songwriters, the calibre of their writing is just astonishing. St Liq/Jellphonic and Reggie Blount are bedroom genuises and I love losing my mind whenever Spring Break and The Cosbys play.

What instruments do you play?

I play keyboards mostly, all my songs were written on a very heavey Hohner Pianet T which has served me well over the years. I occasionally also shake a tambourine fro Tono & The Finance Company.

What do you consider when you're getting dressed to perform (clothes/ makeup/ hair do etc)?

I consider what is in my closet. I usually want to look really great and interesting but then leave it to the last minute and am forced to wear whatever is on the floor.

Joe Blossom is a renaissance man who hails from Wellington, New Zealand. An exponent of sonic piano “The Bloss” strives for minimalist avante garde pop. In other words he likes melody, but also likes the rough edge. He is backed by an "unusually inventive" rhythm section in his brother Flash Floods on bass and best mate Jack Frost, on drums. Recently they added Howl Wind on the guitar. His influences are the Top 40 songs he heard on the cowshed radio as a kid and the shimmering tones of the bands on legendary New Zealand indie label Flying Nun. A unique amalgam. His debut album NOCTURNES has been critically acclaimed and received a number of 5-Star reviews by some of the New Zealand's leading music critics. Joe's track, Thinking of You, features on Volume 1 of our RUBY album.

What is the inspiration behind the song? What is it all about?

What inspired Thinking of U was that feeling of lasting the distance through an evening out on the town and you're watching the sunrise. You're with a new mate and you are sharing that feeling of having conquered the night together. You're witnessing a new day and all the new possibilities that it brings. "A little bit of you, a little bit of me.... Ooooo the possibilities..."

It’s is my favourite song on the Nocturnes album. I had the album all ready to roll with the artwork and one of the last changes I made was to change the "Thinking of You" to "Thinking of U"... Why? Well for some reason I felt like giving a nod to Prince who seems to use the letter as a pronoun. Not that the song bares any resemblance to a track by Prince.

Who did you work with on the song?

My brother plays the bass and me good mate drums. I asked Bek Coogan to sing a backing vocal and I still wonder if we could have made it a duet. The cello is musician/actor Mr Nigel Collins who (like Bek) is in the Wellington Ukulele Orchestra and also performs live with Flight of the Conchords. And finally a lady named Bessie Bunter plays the violin... she swore me to secrecy on revealing her name, but you could make an educated guess as to who that person might be. James Goldsmith patiently mixed it.

Does it have a video? What is that about?

Not yet... but I have the song in my sights for a video after I get my current video completed. I think it'll be a fun one to make.

What other New Zealand artists do you look up to?

I respect all artists who go before me in taking their music to the world... So So Modern, Disasteradio, Lawrence Arabia, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Liam Finn, Connan Mockasin, Orchestra of Spheres... I love The Clean (along with the Flying Nun movement) for what they've done in bringing attention to NZ music as well as Neil Finn who I think is great because he keeps himself moving nicely.

What instruments do you play?

I strum the guitar, tinkle the ivories and mash the drums.

What do you consider when you are getting dressed to perform (clothes / makeup / hair do etc)?

I just think "show-biz".

Where is your favorite place to wear your Converse kicks?

Well... where should one not wear them? Maybe they're not so good on the farm.

joeblossom.bandcamp.com/track/neon-beaus