Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2013
Japan’s view of New Zealand tends to be of wine and nature—and when it comes to music, a few bands like Crowded House and The Datsuns that have signed with major labels.
But Failsafe Records’ Rob Mayes is now bringing a wealth of undiscovered Kiwi music to these shores. “Making music in New Zealand is quite different due to the isolation and lack of mainstream support for local content,” he tells Metropolis. “It’s not going to get played on commercial radio so they don’t try and tailor it for that market. That makes for some well kept secrets that I think Japan based music fans will enjoy discovering.”
Having recently moved to Tokyo, Mayes is delivering local releases that represent some of the freshest output from Failsafe, which he launched 30 years ago in Christchurch. The acts range from the grungy instrumental postrock of How to Kill to the moody pop of Kimo to a retrospective look at vintage ’80s New Zealand postpunk legends Pop Mechanix.
Mayes has high hopes for their reception here. “Japan is a unique and highly developed environment for music,” he says. “There are many people here who appreciate and think deeply about music, which for serious musicians is the holy grail of audiences. Failsafe has always been a ‘thinking person’s’ label and now being resident in Japan we’re excited to present select items from our catalogue of almost 100 albums to Japanese music lovers.”
