darryl baser

Darryl Baser (sic) plays 'elevator music' in the public lift at Dunedin City Library during the inaugural Nook and Cranny Music Festival in 2016.

Dunedin-based musician Darryl Baser moved to New Zealand’s "independent music capital" in March 1993 and promptly began organising gigs for himself and a host of his peers. Initially shy and waiting for the phone to ring he soon discovered a simple truth: if you want gigs to happen, you’ve got to make them happen. Suffice it to say he beat the fear and has made a bunch of friends in the music scene, simply by either meeting them at shows, or picking up the phone and asking them to play shows. Over his two decades in Dunedin he’s played with some of the city’s favourite sons and daughters, along with musicians from around New Zealand and has even toured the South Island with a couple of Australians. He put out a cassette in 1995 and a 7” single in 1997 before family and work matters took a front seat to song writing, performing and recording for around a decade. He spent 15 years as a music writer for the Otago Daily Times. In 2013 he and a musician friend came up with the idea of recording an entire album on a smart phone, entitled ‘Raw Selfie’. Baser says "the title reflects both the modern ‘selfie’ obsessed generation who seem driven by a need to take pictures of themselves and their friends on their phones and promptly posting them online". The title track was written in late September 2013. The main core of the songs were recorded in his lounge at St Kilda, Dunedin between June and October 2013. However some additional songs recorded under the name Seedy were recorded at Dunedin’s Albany Street Studios in 2001 with noted Dunedin engineer and producer Stephen Stedman. Raw Selfie was released in Jan 2016 on Zelle Records and Powertools in Aotearoa.