As I should have worked out, Victoria's studio was not situated in a gigantic complex, but rather an office in one of the many old Parnell villas that have been converted to commercial premises - this one also being home to a nanny agency and a smart drinks business. However, as it turned out, the distant musical past of this particular room was also interesting, as it had been the bedroom of one Trevor Reekie, who once upon a time ran Pagan Records from the very same premises.
But back to the subject at hand. Victoria Kelly's name should ring a bell for anyone who's familiar with New Zealand director Scott Reynold's film, The Ugly, as she composed the chilling soundtrack. Victoria is also known as a former singer for the Strawpeople and wrote all the string sections for their album, Vicarious, and subsequently performed the same task on Greg Johnson's Chinese Whispers.
More recently, Victoria has composed the soundtrack for radio drama,Claybourne, with fellow Strawpeople/Greg Johnson collaborator, Joost Langeveld, and has just finished work on the soundtrack of Reynold's upcoming film, Heaven.
I spoke to Victoria to get the inside story on these projects and gained some interesting tidbits on the long-awaited Fiona McDonald solo album in the process.
To most New Zealand music fans, Victoria would have first come to their attention in the early 1990's when she joined the Strawpeople through a purely chance encounter. "I got involved with the Strawpeople by accident. I was invited to sing at the APRA (Australasian Performing Rights Association) awards in 1993 or 1994 and Paul Casserly and Mark Tierney were there and heard me and asked me if I'd like to be involved in Strawpeople, because at that stage they were looking for a singer."
