When the Dictaphone Blues tour posters go up around the country this month, the deep blue water of Tawharanui will be on show.
The Auckland-based indie guitar pop merchants are touring from the South Island to Leigh Sawmill in March.
The poster of singer-songwriter Ed Castelow was taken by his friend Lucinda McConnon on her Iphone. They had stopped for a swim on their way to the Sawmill last year.
“Luci had just bought a waterproof cover for her phone and was keen to try it out,” Ed says. “It’s actually pretty funny because she wears glasses and during this swim she lost them in the surf. So it was a totally random great photo that happened to look just like a poster or a potential album cover.”
It will be the first tour the band has made for a few years, since the release of Mufti Day which featured the four alt-radio hit singles Lance’s Tape, Her Heart Breaks Like A Wave, Cryptic Lipstick and 365, featuring Emily Edrosa.
In between, Ed has been busy producing recordings for other acts. He did seven at his Mezzanine Studio in Mt Eden last year.
He has been working with UK producer Dave Eringa (The Who, Manic Street Preachers, Idlewild and Kylie Minogue) on the new record.
Ed says his latest work is influenced by pop songs he loved as a kid in the 1980s like Eurythmics, Cyndi Lauper and Madonna.
“They all tend to be women singers which is interesting. I can’t sing like these wonderful singers but I want to,” Ed says.
He will have two new songs ready for the Sawmill show, including one he wrote in the wake of Brian Tamaki’s sermon on the earthquakes.
Info: Dictaphone Blues plays Leigh Sawmill on March 10.
