Interview /// Concrete Playground Meets An Emerald City

An Emerald City has been travelling Europe's festivals in 2011 and return home for what could be their last appearance for a long time. Their upcoming March tour sees them feature in Wellington as part of the International Arts Festival and finish up in Auckland as part of the final series of the Silo Sessions at Silo Park.

Concrete Playground caught up with one of the creative heads behind An Emerald City, Reuben Bonner, and talk politics, fashion, Chimps, Jack Nicholson and blogging.

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Hello Reuben, what have you been doing of late?

I have  been enjoying being home in New Zealand. Catching up with friends and family, getting with heaps of guys at parties and running lots of baths to create alternative zones for people to hang out when i'm housesitting.

Nice. What are you wearing?

Blue jeans, purple t-shirt and a nine dollar pair of shoes. Underpants I got for christmas. A baseball cap that says Eskimo Parts, Barrow Alaska. One silver ring on my finger.

Emerald City, such a cool name for a band. Where did the name come from?

Its AN EMERALD CITY. Not EMERALD CITY. Big difference as there is a crusty band from the states called Emerald City who suck and play Poison covers.

The name came from a time capsule we found which had been forced out of the ground when a small meteor plowed into earth in 2003. We had gone on a pilgrimage to find the meteor and we came across the capsule and figured it was a sign.

What has been the highlights from the past year for Emerald? Believe Europe got a taste?

I think the highlight was touring Denmark in Autumn 2011 and really getting a taste of that country for the first time. Its an incredible place. We also played a Festival north of Berlin called Sommerfest at a lake called Biesenthal. It was like another world, a huge mirrorball in the middle of the lake that shot lightbeams out into the sky. Boats that we took out onto the lake in the middle of the night that were shaped like the eleven boats from Lothlorien in Lord of the Rings. Beautiful naked french mermaid type girls following behind the boat and swimming beside us. And just a great vibe. There was also a guy who looked like Jack Nicholson who was lurking throughout the party offering people liquid acid from a glass vial the size of my fist.

It was also a real pleasure to have the pleasure of having two new bass players filling in for us this year, one being James Duncan, the other being Nick Buckton (sidekick nick). They were great people to have around, and now dear friends to us all.

What's in store for Emerald City 2012?

We have a small tour in March which includes two shows at the NZ International Arts Festival. After that An Emerald City will be going on an indefinate hiatus. No further plans for us this year or beyond. We are going to be doing our own things with a couple of us moving back to Europe and the other guys staying in New Zealand. Who knows what will happen in the future, but I would say come and check out these shows in March just in case they are our last.

And you recently were winner of the best Media, Arts and Culture category in The Bloggers 2011. Where to now for Whatever or Whatever ETC? I see you are looking at publishing a book?

I just chip away at that blog. I am a lazy blogger but it was great to win it as I love to write. And yes, am writing a book, have been for 18 months or so. I hope to finish it this year, and little parts of it pop up on the blog among the other weird crap I tend to put up there.

Heard from Grant lately?

No, he owes me an email. But I do plan to go and visit Grant and the other Chimpanzees at Whipsnade Zoo when I head to the UK later in the year. Here is the background on that cute little guy http://whateverorwhateveretc.tumblr.com/grant

National, Labour, Greens or none of the above?

I am not a hugely political person and am not as well informed as I would like to be. But I love what the greens stand for, as at the end of the day the environment and conservation is everything because without it we are all poked. I think Labour have some great ideas and a good attitude to equality and a charming new leader in David Shearer, and I think National are onto it for some of the things they have done for our economy in a pretty dark time. But more importantly I really dislike their attitude to offshore mining, fracking and generally treating the country as an asset for sale despite the environmental risks and the fact that a huge percentage of the country are against it, including some National voters who weren't as informed about the issue as they probably would have like to have been before the election.

If you could be anyone or anything, who or what would you be?

Larry David or a Scorched Almond

Your favourite song right now?

Homme Lune by Air from their new record.