00:00Because that was some years back since you last did it, I imagine, in school.
00:03Um, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:05But it was that one and also the dead Kennedys.
00:08There's a lot of shit in the middle before you have to get to the end of it.
00:11Here we go, do you want to show it to the camera?
00:12That's brilliant.
00:13Extra lightning bolts down the edge.
00:15From Merrimony, that's amazing.
00:16I still firmly believe that all of you older AFs have a fighting chance at finding homes.
00:22Glorious sun, please let today be my day.
00:25Let me find a friend.
00:26Hi, I'm Alex from NME, and today I'm joined by the man behind your favourite films.
00:30It's Hollywood's biggest metal fan, it's Taika Waititi.
00:33Hello, everyone.
00:35First of all, I want to shout out Clara and the Sun's amazing indie soundtrack.
00:39Oh, right.
00:40You've got television, Violent Femmes, Anthony and the Johnsons.
00:43Do you have a particular needle drop that you were sort of most proud of, pleased with?
00:48In this?
00:48Yeah, yeah.
00:48I think it's Violent Femmes.
00:50Yeah.
00:50I mean, that's one of my favourite songs of all time.
00:52I never thought I'd ever have an opportunity to put one of their songs in one of my films.
00:57But, you know, those very seminal moments in my life are accompanied by bands like Pixies,
01:04Pavement, Femmes, Nirvana.
01:08I was very much into the indie.
01:09So you were an indie kid before you got into metal?
01:11Before I was an indie kid, I was into metal and hip-hop.
01:16So my favourite bands were Public Enemy and Metallica.
01:19And then sort of moving into indie.
01:22Because I read an interview where you were talking about Metallica,
01:25because they're one of your favourite bands, they said.
01:27And you said that you spent months and months at the back of class in high school
01:32writing the logo on different things.
01:34Yeah, just all you'd scratch into the desk.
01:36Yeah.
01:36If I were to ask you to sort of try and recreate that logo,
01:39do you think you'd be able to do it?
01:40I'd probably try, yeah.
01:42It's been a while.
01:43I've got a pen, so...
01:44It's been a while, I'll do it.
01:46Don't worry, and if you want a prompt, I've got it on my phone,
01:48I can give you a quick...
01:50But you might not need it.
01:51Well, you know, I know it's just how many lightning bolts,
01:54where the lightning bolts go, you know.
01:55You can have as many lightning bolts as you want.
01:57I can actually do as many as I want.
01:58Okay, cool.
02:01I'm just going to keep going then.
02:02Because I know it was a big part of the Thor Love and Thunder that you did.
02:06So I don't want you to get that in.
02:07Because it was some years back since you last did it, I imagine, in school.
02:11Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:12But it was that one and also the Deb Kennedy's logo as well.
02:17There's a lot of shit in the middle before you have to get to the end of the thing.
02:20The top of it, yeah.
02:21Not like their songs at all.
02:22No, no, no, no.
02:24As long as they've got amazing openings and it's like...
02:27Yeah.
02:27Here we go.
02:28Do you want to show it to the camera?
02:29That's brilliant.
02:30Extra lightning bolts down the...
02:31From Mary and Mary, that's amazing.
02:33I'm Josie.
02:35I'm Clara.
02:36And if I'm going to buy you a robot, I'm not going to be spending money on an old outdated
02:40one.
02:40You said that I can choose and I choose Clara.
02:42She's special.
02:43And she's odd special.
02:4520% off.
02:46Obviously, you've got other bands that you love.
02:48And I was going through a lot of photos of you on the internet.
02:50And you have a pretty impeccable band t-shirt collection.
02:54Oh, yeah.
02:55I wondered if we could sort of go through some of them and get the story behind the band
02:59and you, but also where you've got the t-shirt from, stuff like that.
03:02Is that right?
03:02So the first one, one of my favorites.
03:04This is a bit of an older picture, but it's Leonard Cohen's Songs of Love and Hate.
03:08Yes.
03:09Yep.
03:09Yep.
03:10Beautiful albums.
03:11And I'm a massive Leonard Cohen fan.
03:14And one of the...
03:16Probably my...
03:17I'd say maybe my all-time favorite concert experience was going to see him live by myself
03:22when he played in Auckland.
03:23When was that?
03:25About 2008, maybe?
03:26So a long time before he'd be sold for Southside.
03:29Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:29That must have been amazing.
03:31And it was amazing because I think he was just after the sort of nasty incident with the
03:35manager and stuff.
03:36Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:36And he had to go touring again.
03:37Yeah.
03:38Great for me.
03:39So, yeah.
03:40And I put a Leonard Cohen film in Hunt for the Wilder People, which was one of my proudest
03:44moments.
03:44Oh, yeah, I do remember that.
03:45And I've also got the next one is a Prince t-shirt, which was so good that you wore it
03:51twice.
03:52There's that one there.
03:52You're pretty proud there.
03:53Oh, look at that one.
03:54I'm like, look, everyone.
03:55But tell me about...
03:56I actually kind of wore that until I wore them to the ground until I just started...
04:00It's gone out of its holes.
04:01...and fell off.
04:02Yeah.
04:02It's...
04:03I think it's probably just about half of the picture now.
04:07But that was before I knew that people would be into...
04:10Like, that you should just, like, look after t-shirts like that.
04:13Or just wear it everywhere.
04:15I just want the shit out of it.
04:16Poetically good about wearing it until it fall apart.
04:19Yeah.
04:19I just love it.
04:20Totally.
04:20Totally.
04:22Yeah.
04:22But I'm a massive prince.
04:23I love that man.
04:25And I especially love...
04:28I mean, you know, look, let's face it.
04:29The movie's not great.
04:30But, you know, it's iconic.
04:33You know, it's interesting.
04:34I did this with Pedro Pascal because he also has a lot of band t-shirts.
04:37And he was talking about Prince of the Revolution.
04:39He was talking about the film.
04:40He went with his family.
04:41It's like their family film.
04:42They love it all.
04:43Really?
04:44So, when you're working with him and if he brings that up, don't say that you think it's not any
04:47good.
04:48Okay.
04:48No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
04:50And then this one doesn't really count as a band t-shirt.
04:53But I just thought it was a really cool t-shirt.
04:54And he does have a band.
04:56It's Russell Crowe.
04:58Oh, yeah.
04:58The Russellmeister.
05:00Yeah.
05:00That's right.
05:01Yeah.
05:03And I'm good friends with Russell.
05:04I've listened to his music and I've helped him when he was playing in Italy.
05:09I think we were in Milan.
05:11I did the video mixing for him.
05:13What's his, like, sort of stage persona compared to his on-set persona?
05:17They're very similar.
05:18I really like it.
05:19Yeah, he's like, he's there to do a job.
05:22And, you know, he's going to do it.
05:23He's going to do it.
05:24I'm coming to your house.
05:26Just be face to face.
05:29I know the answers are out there.
05:31Please show me the way to heal this family.
05:37And save us all from the darkness and certain doom.
05:47We ask this to everyone.
05:48Everyone gets to ask one.
05:49We've had some absolutely fantastic choices.
05:50But what is an album that you always go back to?
05:53You can only pick one.
05:54What would it be and why?
05:55Well, I was talking about Pixies.
05:57I'm going to say Surfer Rosa.
05:58Brilliant.
05:58And with Come On Pilgrim.
06:00Why more than Doolittle?
06:01There's three songs on Doolittle that I would, you know, I can't live without.
06:05If I could have them added to Surfer Rosa, maybe.
06:07But there's, I think, Doolittle have got, there's more songs on Surfer Rosa that I'd enjoy more.
06:14And there's, you know, on Doolittle, there's, Doolittle's got, you know, a couple of more kind of poppy ones,
06:20which I'm like, I want to stay in the kind of true kind of fucking real.
06:24Yeah, it's the usual answer is Doolittle, isn't it?
06:26But do you remember when you first heard that album, Surfer Rosa?
06:29I think I was like 18 or something.
06:30Yeah, and it was like incredible.
06:33It just blew my mind.
06:33I did not understand what was happening.
06:36Have you ever met them?
06:38I've met some of them, yeah.
06:39Tell me.
06:40But I've seen them live and they're just, they're great.
06:42And you know what the best thing about them live is?
06:43They don't fuck around in between the songs.
06:46Yeah, yeah.
06:46They just go around like, binglinglingling, next song, straight away.
06:50They don't, you know, they don't sort of talk to the crowd.
06:54Hey, everybody.
06:55They're like here to play the music.
06:57What did you say to them when you met them?
06:58Where was that?
06:58Oh, I don't think I said much.
07:01I really like your show.
07:03I can take a photo.
07:06There's certain people, yeah, that you sort of revert when you meet them, you know.
07:10You revert back into just like, moron.
07:13You know, you've got nothing interesting to say.
07:15And then the other thing I loved was when bands play their whole albums, the way that
07:20they actually record, that they release them.
07:23I think that's great because it takes a long time to curate an album where the songs are
07:28supposed to go.
07:28And they go, well, we've got to go after this and this and this.
07:30And that's the whole journey you're taking the audience on.
07:33I think it's just brilliant when they do that in concert.
07:35And you can't really predict which of your songs are going to blow up and then you'll
07:38have to have them in the set forever more.
07:40And that kind of might mess up the flow a bit.
07:42So yeah, I like that as well, yeah.
07:44But thanks so much for chatting to me today, Tyke.
07:46It's been an absolute pleasure.
07:46Thanks, mate.
07:47Appreciate it.
07:47Cheers.
07:48Great job on the logo.
07:51Okay.
07:52I love you.
07:58You're not the droid we're looking for, honey.
08:00Christy, I think that we could become really great friends.
08:02And I'm just going to get your hand in the box.
08:04Friendship.
08:04Get your hand in the box.
08:05Describe what you're doing.
08:05Yeah, thank you.
08:07You're my advantage.
08:07And then today you're going to be looking for, honey.
08:10That's what I'm looking for.
08:12Once it's a while.
