Don McGlashan
For many listeners Don McGlashan is the consummate singer-songwriter of three solo albums this century, while for others he’s forever helming The Mutton Birds, one of the few New Zealand groups to bring a taste of New Zealand to the international stage with any degree of success.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg with McGlashan, an artist whose 40 years in music – thus far – has seen the multi-disciplined musician swerve into many surprising configurations. Depending on their age and inclination, every fan has their own version of McGlashan: the drummer-singer from the legendary early 1980s new wave group Blam Blam Blam, sometime percussionist in experimental assemblage From Scratch, prolific film and television soundtrack composer, one half of the musical-theatre duo The Front Lawn, the writer of surprise hit ‘Bathe In The River’ ... but wait, there’s more!
Blam Blam Blam - Don't Fight It Marsha, It's Bigger Than Both Of Us
Don McGlashan
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Photo by Jenny Pullar
Making Music - Don McGlashan, 2005
Don McGlashan and Ivan Zagni - Standards
Don McGlashan, Bar Bodega, 7 March 2012
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Photo by Wendy Collings/Tymar Lighting
Watch: Don McGlashan's Writer Director speech at the APRA Silver Scroll Awards, TSB Arena, Wellington 2014.
Don McGlashan in Scotland, 1989.
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Don McGlashan collection
Songs From The Front Lawn (1989)
Go Back In (2021)
Don McGlashan - I Will Not Let You Down (2006)
The Mutton Birds - A Thing Well Made (Shepherd's Bush Empire, 27 Oct 2012)
Front Lawn promotional sticker.
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Don McGlashan collection
Don McGlashan - Hold On To Your Loneliness (2015)
The Mutton Birds.
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Publicity photo
The Mutton Birds - Dominion Road (1992)
The Adrenal Glandy Memorial Big Band live album from 1986 included performances by Don McGlashan, Rex Reason, Lindsay Marks and Derek Ward, all under pseudonyms
The Front Lawn - Walkshort (1987)
Don McGlashan - Lucky Stars (live on RNZ, 2015)
Don McGlashan - Miracle Sun (2006)
Don McGlashan - Song For Sue (RNZ, 7 September 2018)
The Mutton Birds.
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Publicity shot
Don McGlashan, 1981.
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Don McGlashan collection
Now's the Place (2021)
Don McGlashan on Sunday, 2003.
Don McGlashan, The Mutton Birds.
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Don McGlashan collection
Don McGlashan - Lucky Stars (2015)
Don McGlashan - Bad Blood (2009)
Blam Blam Blam late 1981, back: Mark Bell, Tim Mahon, Don McGlashan. Seated: Dick Driver
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Photo by Jenny Pullar
Don McGlashan
Don McGlashan, The Mutton Birds.
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Don McGlashan collection
Don McGlashan and Harry Sinclair, The Front Lawn.
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Don McGlashan collection
The Front Lawn - The Lounge Bar (1988)
Don McGlashan, 2005.
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Don McGlashan collection
Don McGlashan in New York, 1990.
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Don McGlashan collection
The Mutton Birds - Your Window
The Mutton Birds - Pulled Along By Love
Don McGlashan, 2021.
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Diane Smithers
Blam Blam Blam: Tim Mahon, Mark Bell, Don McGlashan.
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Don McGlashan collection
Don McGlashan in the back of the "Milk Wagon", somewhere South of Auckland
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Photo by Jenny Pullar
Blam Blam Blam Live at Mainstreet, 1984
Don McGlashan interview and performance on Talk Talk with Finlay MacDonald, 2009
The Front Lawn's promotional touring vehicle.
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Don McGlashan collection
Don McGlashan - on composing for film and television, 2009 (NZ On Screen)
All the Goodbyes in the World (2022)
Don McGlashan, Paul Rose, The Newmatics' Syd Pasley, The Screaming Meemees' Tony Drumm, Syd's partner Angela, Simon Grigg and unknown, 1981. Taken at the NZ Music Awards, Logan Park, 1982, the year Grigg was given a special award for Outstanding Contribution to the New Music Industry.
Right, Left, and Centre - Don't Go (1984)
The Mutton Birds - Giant Friend
Don McGlashan and Friends, 2010.
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Don McGlashan collection
Harry Sinclair and Don McGlashan goofing off in Dunedin.
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Don McGlashan collection
Watch: Don McGlashan's speech at the 2011 APRA Silver Scroll Awards, Auckland Town Hall, 13 September 2011.
Don McGlashan
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Jenny Pullar
Don McGlashan.
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Don McGlashan collection
Don McGlashan, Blam Blam Blam.
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Don McGlashan collection
Don McGlashan with the 2006 APRA Silver Scroll for 'Bathe In the River'
Harry Sinclair and Don McGlashan, The Front Lawn.
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Publicity photo
Don McGlashan - Lucky Stars (2015)
The Mutton Birds - Ngaire
Don McGlashan, The Mutton Birds.
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Don McGlashan collection
Don McGlashan - Harbour Bridge (2006)
The Mutton Birds: Alan Gregg, Ross Burge, David Long, Don McGlashan.
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Don McGlashan, New York, 1990.
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Don McGlashan collection
The Front Lawn.
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Don McGlashan collection
Don McGlashan in Antarctica, 2012.
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Don McGlashan collection
Blam Blam Blam - Luxury Length
Blam Blam Blam: Don McGlashan, Mark Bell, Tim Mahon.
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Publicity photo
Don McGlashan discusses From Scratch (Philip Dadson: Sonics from Scratch, 2015)
Don McGlashan, 2021.
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Diane Smithers
The Front Lawn: Harry Sinclair, Jennifer Ward-Lealand, Don McGlashan.
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Don McGlashan collection
The Mutton Birds - She's Been Talking (NZ Version)
The Mutton Birds.
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Publicity shot
The Mutton Birds - Dominion Road (UK Version)
Don McGlashan and Hollie Smith, Womad.
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Michael Flynn
The Mutton Birds - April
The Mutton Birds - Anchor Me (1995)
The Mutton Birds - Come Around
First page of a press release for 'Don't Go' by Right, Left and Centre - a 1984 single released to protest against a proposed rugby tour of South Africa that year.
The Mutton Birds - The Heater (1994)
The Front Lawn, Edinburgh 1989. From left: Jennifer Ward-Lealand, Don McGlashan, Harry Sinclair.
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Don McGlashan collection
Mark Bell and Don McGlashan
Mt Raskil Preservation Society - Bathe In The River (2006)
The Mutton Birds - Nature (1992)
Blam Blam Blam - There Is No Depression In New Zealand
Don McGlashan in From Scratch.
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Don McGlashan collection
Don McGlashan, The Mutton Birds.
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Don McGlashan collection
Don McGlashan, 1981
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Photo by Jenny Pullar
Don McGlashan - Bright November Morning (2022)
Don McGlashan, 2005.
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Don McGlashan collection
The Front Lawn "Lawnmobile" checking in to a Dunedin motel, with Jennifer Ward-Lealand at left.
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Don McGlashan collection
The Mutton Birds - In My Room
The Bellbirds: Sandy Mill, Sean Donnelly, Don McGlashan, Victoria Kelly
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Stephen G Perry
Blam Blam Blam: Don McGlashan, Tim Mahon, Mark Bell.
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John Reynolds
The Mutton Birds.
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Publicity photo
The Mutton Birds - The Heater (Shepherd's Bush Empire, 27 Oct 2012)
Don McGlashan in Edinburgh, 1989.
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Don McGlashan collection
Trivia:
In 2008 McGlashan stated that he "would rather have sex with a very ugly crayfish" than let the National Party use his music. He was upset that TVNZ used the song 'Anchor Me' by the Mutton Birds when the National Party won the New Zealand election. (The song was however used in accordance with APRA's blanket licence with TVNZ.)
“A bunch of fans in England got together and made a second Mutton Birds B-sides and rarities album, and we were appalled, because we felt that we’d been scraping the very bottom of the barrel and they came up with another whole album full of stuff by bribing second engineers in studios that we’d done demos in to get jams and outtakes. But it’s quite neat, and they called it Out Of The Prying Fans, which I thought was a masterstroke. We have some very cool fans in England.” - Don McGlashan
Don McGlashan was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame | Te Whare Taonga Puoro o Aotearoa in 2023. The Hall of Fame is an initiative of Recorded Music NZ and the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), whose support of AudioCulture enables the site to stream music content.
Links:
NZ On Screen backgrounder by Nick Bollinger
Small towns, surprising songs and sexy crayfish: Grant Smithies interview, Stuff 2018
Discography