Weather-beaten Reekie, 42, is the head of Pagan Records, and part of the band A Trip To The Moon. He was previously a member of the bands Cosa and Car Crash Set, and a producer of Kiwi bands such as the Mockers.
Pagan Records, he says, started by chance in the mid to late eighties after Reekie met filmmaker Larry Parr.
The first big successes on Pagan were Shona Laing and one hit that Reekie hadn't expected — a Billy T James comedy album arranged through Larry Parr's work with Billy T on the film Came A Hot Friday.
Other early Pagan acts included the Warratahs and Greg Johnson, who stayed with the label until Pagan began a new licensing deal with EMI/Virgin recently, and Johnson was signed direct to EMI.
The new management of the label now also includes Tim Moon (formerly of Tangata Records) who has brought about important changes in organisation and procedure.
"Tim Moon is really helping and shaking things over. For the first time in nearly 10 years we're actually signing artists, I've never had contracts with anyone before, but as a result of the liaison with Virgin it's kind of a conditional thing. It's always something that we should've done but never did, we lost a few acts in the early days because of that, it's just because I don't think on those lines. But Tim's put all those structures in place, and now it's going to be a lot better organised."
Part of the label's restructuring includes a new focus on the Antenna label, set up as home for more alternative acts on Pagan's roster like the late Darcy Clay, Eye TV as well as Reekie's own Cosa and A Trip To The Moon projects.
The Moon outing is Reekie's current musical baby, a musical partnership with jazz pianist Tom Ludvigson, who in the past has worked with Bluespeak (also featuring Greg Johnson), and Inner City Jazz Workshop.
If you're into the old silent flicks you may recognise the band's name, an entirely forgettable rocket ship adventure titled A Trip To The Moon. But as far as Reekie knows, the name doesn't come from the film, it was Ludvigson's idea.
