Sonya Waters


Sonya Waters has been making music for over 40 years, ranging from punk to ambient, indie to country, ska through Krautrock, all the time writing her own songs and following her muse. She’s seen little commercial reward for her efforts but has garnered plenty of respect as a pioneering female voice in New Zealand music.

In her time, she has performed at both Sweetwaters and Glastonbury festivals, been part of London’s squat rock and San Francisco’s alt-rock scenes, recorded for Ripper Records and Flying Nun, and fronted a series of constantly innovative bands.

Sonya Waters in Orange, 1994.
Photo credit: Kim Stringfellow
Instigators - Hope She's Alright (1982)
The first lineup of Fang: Sonya Waters, Ben Howe, Andrea Holmes.
Photo credit: Sonya Waters Collection
Sonya Waters, Instigators, early 80s.
Photo credit: Sonya Waters Collection
Sonya Waters - No Pain, Ripper, 1983
Sonya Waters - No Pain, Ripper, 1983.
Sonya Waters performing at City Gallery Wellington, 2020.
Photo credit: Ben Howe
Sonya Waters - No Pain, Ripper, 1983
Fang - Swim Up Stream (2004)
Avoid!avoid: Sonya Waters, Stephen Reay, Brendan Moran.
Photo credit: Publicity image
White Swan Black Swan. L to R: Rick McShane, Sonya Waters, Ben Howe, Ben Furniss.
Photo credit: Kathryn McCool
Sonya Waters backstage at Glastonbury Festival with the Woodentops, 1987.
Photo credit: Sonya Waters Collection
The Instigators.
Photo credit: Sonya Waters Collection
Orange CD cover, Dewdrops Records, 1994.
Photo credit: Sonya Waters Collection
Sonya Waters, Orange, 1991.
Photo credit: Sonya Waters Collection
Fang - Somewhere Out There (2002).
Sonya Waters at Outsider Sounds, Auckland Fringe Festival, Auckland Town Hall.
Photo credit: Ben Howe
The Instigators at Sweetwaters, 1982.
Photo credit: Photo by Gordon William Bartram
Fang - Yellow (2004)
Instigators - Hope She's Alright (Ripper, 1982)
White Swan Black Swan (album, 2008)
avoid!avoid - Drones (2016)
Sonya Waters at Outsider Sounds, Auckland Fringe Festival, Auckland Town Hall.
Photo credit: Ben Howe
Sonya Waters in Orange, 1992.
Photo credit: Kim Stringfellow
Fang - The Origin of Species (1999)
White Swan Black Swan EP (2007).
Fang - Something Good (2004)
Sonya Waters in Orange, 1992.
Photo credit: Kim Stringfellow
Fang - Man From The South (2002)
Sonya Waters performing with the Instigators at Sweetwaters, 1982.
Photo credit: Sonya Waters Collection
White Swan Black Swan - Finger and Nail (2008)
White Swan Black Swan - I'm Living For You
White Swan Black Swan: Sonya Waters and Ben Howe.
Photo credit: Kathryn McCool
Sonya Waters.
Photo credit: Photo by Bryan Staff
Fang, 2004.
Photo credit: Sonya Waters Collection
Instigators, L to R: Sonya Waters, Tom Rothsey, Eddie Olsen.
Photo credit: Sonya Waters Collection

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