Vera Ellen


It has a strange atmosphere, the crevice they call Myers Park just off K Road in Auckland. The sunshine struggles to enter, a homeless man shuffles past. Where did he come from? Where is he going? I’m with Vera Ellen and we’re in full view of the graffitied statue of Michelangelo’s Moses which is absurdly out of place, sitting heavily at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to St Kevin’s Arcade. The statue was a gift to the city in 1971 from Milne and Choyce Department Store who imported the full-scale marble copy for their centenary celebrations. (They imported a matching David as well, but the city rejected it. God knows where that is now.)

Vera is 28, a time in your life when you’re acutely aware that if you haven’t got a plan you’d better start thinking of one soon; the party’s nearly over; people are heading back home, back to their real lives. Vera’s dream would be to spend half the year touring the world and the other half recording, a working musician, and it’s not beyond the realms of possibility – that’s if she can tap into an international audience or, closer to home, be embraced with all the vigour MSM have for, say, a Dobbyn or a Lorde. The latter seems unlikely as she’s too much of a square peg (for that round hole) but she’s at the tipping point for being noticed globally, with accolades piling up by the year.

Maple Syrup playing an Eyegum Music Collective house show in Wellington, 2015.
Vera Ellen at the Broadway Junction in Brooklyn, New York, 2024.
Vera Ellen in Austin, Texas, March 2024.
Girl Friday - Headstones (2019)
Vera Ellen - It's Your Birthday tour poster, January 2022.
Maple Syrup - How About You? Live at San Fran, Wellington (2016)
Sweater - Sunday Skool video (2018)
Vera Ellen in a newspaper clipping from Hutt News
Photo credit: Hutt News
Vera Ellen - It's Your Birthday music video (2022)
Vera Ellen of Girl Friday performing at UCLA Royce Hall in LA.
Portrait of Vera Ellen in March, 2023.
Vera Ellen performing at Whammy Bar, Auckland, November 30, 2023.
Photo credit: Jana Te Nahu Owen
Sweater - Planet Hollywood video (2018)
Girl Friday poster, 2021.
Vera Ellen performing in Hollywood, 2017.
Girl Friday - Decoration/Currency music video (2019)
Vera Ellen performing at Whammy Bar, Auckland, November 30, 2023.
Photo credit: Jana Te Nahu Owen
Girl Friday with Vera Ellen, September 2021.
Vera Ellen in Austin, Texas, March 2024.
Girl Friday in September 2021
Vera Ellen in the Wellington Flying Nun store where she works, 2023.
Photo credit: Tony Stamp
Vera Ellen - Lenny Says music video (2023)
GAOL B8 Live at Mighty Mighty, Wellington Pt 1 (2013)
Vera Ellen - Ideal Home Noise album cover, 2023.
Vera Ellen performing in Austin, Texas, March 2024.
Vera Ellen performing her first album launch for Monte Cassino in 2015.
Vera Ellen Radio One 91FM Live To Air (2023)
Vera Ellen - Homewrecker music video (2023)
Vera Ellen NZ tour poster promoting Ideal Home Noise, 2023.
Vera Ellen in 2021.
Portrait of Vera Ellen in March, 2023.
Vera Ellen at age 9 performing in her band Rock Solid with her cousins at the Cossie Club in Upper Hutt.
On the Rise: Vera Ellen on The Project NZ (2023)
13th Floor MusicTalk with Vera Ellen (2021)
Maple Syrup NZ tour poster from 2016.
Vera Ellen on RadioActive 88.6FM Live (2023)
Vera Ellen - Joy music video (2021)
Vera Ellen - Crack The Whip music video (2021)
Vera Ellen's first solo album, Monte Cassino, 2015.
Vera Ellen's third solo album It's Your Birthday (2021)
Vera Ellen in Girl Friday
Vera Ellen performs Telegram 2 live at Flying Nun (2022)
Maple Syrup - Yes I Am. A short documentary about the music and experiences of Vera Ellen (2016)
2016 poster for Maple Syrup, Goya, Astro Children, Department and Soda Boyz playing at Meow, Wellington.
Vera Ellen - I Want 2 B Boy music video (2021)
Vera Ellen in Girl Friday, September 2021.
Vera Ellen and the Exploding Rainbow Orchestra perform 'Andy' in tribute to Don McGlashan at the 2023 APRA Silver Scrolls Awards
Maple Syrup - Who is Maple Syrup album cover (2017)
Girl Friday - Slap Me (Live on UCLA Radio) (2018)
Vera Ellen - Carpenter music video (2023)
Vera Ellen in 2021.
Vera Ellen with Girl Friday
Girl Friday - Public Bodies (2022)
Girl Friday live from Quarantine Cabin (2020)
GAOL B8 Live at Mighty Mighty, Wellington Pt 2 (2013)
Vera Ellen - November 2023 tour poster.
Girl Friday - This Is Not The Indie Rock I Signed Up For music video (2020)
Maple Syrup's 2016 EP Ace & Gab's Honeymoon.
Vera Ellen - Stuck w Me music video (2022)
Poster for Gaol Bait playing at Moon in Wellington, 2014.
Sweater - Turn Up The Dirty (2017)
Vera Ellen - Broadway Junction music video (2023)
Vera Ellen
Photo credit: Nicola Sandford
Vera Ellen performing in Sweater
Vera Ellen flyer promoting US tour in March 2024.
Vera Ellen in March, 2023.
Vera Ellen in June, 2022.
Vera Ellen - YOU! (2021)
Maple Syrup - Maybe Someday (I'll Have a Friend) music video (2017)
Vera Ellen at age 8 with Rock Solid.
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