Sway my way: Bic Runga
On the release of her latest album and upcoming tour, Ōtautahi’s own Bic Runga chats with Metropol deputy editor Tamara Pitelen about empty nesting pains, AI and the future of Kiwi music.
“Bloody technology queens, that’s what we are,” Bic Runga [Ngāti Kahungunu] laughs, as our interview begins, drops out, resumes, and then relocates to her car somewhere between one media commitment and the next.
On the morning that I speak to her, she is juggling back-to-back interviews for the release of her new album Red Sunset, co-produced with her husband Kody Nielson. “I’m running late,” she says. “Do you mind if I call you back from the car? My next interview’s in half an hour.”
She vanishes from my screen, apologising and promising to be right back. True to her word, she reappears seconds later. I’m a little nervous as I watch her navigate Auckland traffic while trying to prop her phone up on the dash so we can see each other. I send a silent prayer to the goddesses of traffic safety and music icons.
Bic is unfazed, though. This is not her first rodeo. The Ōtautahi Christchurch girl, a former student of Cashmere High, has been doing media multi-tasking for 29 years. Ever since her first album, Drive, flew up the New Zealand music charts in 1997 and gave us global hit singles like the platinum-certified Sway. It’s not even morning tea on the day we connect, yet she’s already appeared live on TVNZ’s Breakfast show and done several other interviews.
Plan B
Now aged 50, the daughter of Chinese Malaysian lounge singer Sophie Tang and Māori ex-serviceman Joseph Te Okoro Runga, Bic has notched up a dizzying number of achievements. Her first three studio albums debuted at number one on the New Zealand album charts. In 1998, at the 32nd New Zealand Music Awards, her song Sway won three awards: Single of the Year, Best Songwriter, and Best Engineer (Simon Sheridan). In 2001, it was voted the sixth-best New Zealand song of all time by members of the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and in 2006, Bic was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to music.
But wait, there’s more. In 2016, Bic was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame. Recorded Music NZ CEO Damian Vaughan said, “Bic is one of our most loved and treasured recording artists, her songs are instantly recognisable and have been part of the fabric of New Zealand for more than 20 years.”
Lucky then, that she didn’t get accepted into art school after leaving Cashmere High and so needed a career plan B.
“I thought, well, if I can’t be a painter, I’d better get serious about this music thing. But I didn’t know how to do that, so I rang up the CD store in Cashel Mall and asked if I could come and work there.”
In between selling CDs, Bic kept writing songs. Her break came at age 19 when she moved to Auckland, recorded a demo, walked it into Sony Music and was signed. A story that sounds almost mythical in today’s climate.
“Things were hard in a different way for me,” she says. “Now there’s a saturation of things to be distracted by. When you upload something to streaming services, you’re just adding to the whole 20th century of recorded music that’s at everyone’s fingertips.”
Cutting through the noise might be harder than ever, but the silver lining, says Bic, is that it makes the live show more important.
“Honing your live skills is what I’d suggest people do now, more so than worry about streaming.”
Touring will soon be on Bic’s own radar with Red Sunset, her sixth studio album. It’s been 15 years since she released Belle, but that’s not to say she hasn’t been busy. There’s been the small matter of raising three humans as well as her work with APRA AMCOS (Australasian Performing Right Association and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society).
Mum’s the word
It’s her job as mum, though, that is hitting hardest on the day we speak because Bic’s eldest, age 18, has just left home to study industrial design in Wellington. Although her two daughters are aged just 10 and 12, she is struggling with some new emotions around her son’s flying the coop.
“It was really sad. I can’t even go there,” she says. “I don’t want to say much because I don’t want to make him feel bad about it. It’s actually quite existential. It’s like, what was all that for?”
Beyond writing and performing her own music, Bic also represents songwriters at governance level, serving as a writer-director on the APRA AMCOS board, which jointly represents over 100,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in Australia and New Zealand, and as a delegate to CISAC (International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers), the world’s leading network of authors’ societies. The issue of AI and copyright is currently front and centre.
“It’s not that we are against AI. It’s just that there’s a feeling in the tech world that you can just chuck out the whole concept of copyright, which is just not fair or true,” she says. “Certainly, AI is useful, and musicians are always the first to adopt new technology, we love it. I remember the time when people thought that sampling drums was going to destroy the livelihood of drummers. But, you know, it’ll all work out in the end. I’m quite hopeful that the more people live their lives online, the more they will need human music, human events and in-person concerts. There’s plenty of AI songs out there, and if you want to listen to them, that’s all good, but I think it’s the imperfections of a human soul that have value.”
And the future of the New Zealand music scene? “I feel I’m always worried for musicians,” she admits.
“I think the only answer is to be an exporting industry, just like any other industry. We have to get serious about exporting our music, but also just supporting it more. With APRA, most of the royalties we’re distributing, in all seriousness, are going to America. If we could keep some of that revenue in the country, that would do a great service to our creative economy. It shouldn’t all have to go to The Eagles; that radio airplay could be going to Marlon Williams. That’s the sort of thing we are concerned about, not though about the quality of Kiwi music, that’s really good.”
Fun facts about Bic Runga
- Her full name is Briolette Kah Bic Runga.
- Bic is pronounced ‘Beck’ and means the colour of jade.
- Born on 13 January 1976, which makes her a wood rabbit on the Chinese zodiac and a Capricorn on the horoscope.
- Her sister Boh is lead singer of Kiwi pop rock band stellar* and the owner of her own jewellery brand. Meanwhile, sister Pearl belts out 80s classics with her band AutoMatic80s.
WIN!
Bic Runga will be playing at the Isaac Theatre Royal on 29 March and Metropol has not only a double pass to give away but a vinyl copy of Red Sunset. To be in the draw to win, send an email with ‘win Bic tix’ in the subject field to deputy.editor@metros.co.nz, include your contact details. A winner will be drawn and notified on Thursday 19 March.
All tour and ticket information at livenation.co.nz
