NZ Herald: True Harmony Across the Ages

They are two of our best-known voices but one's been rocking pubs since he was a boy and the other is only just allowed into them. So why are Hayley and Dave touring together? They talk to Rebecca Barry.

Dave Dobbyn pulls up outside the studio in a big black Holden with tinted windows, wanders in with his electric guitar and immediately rolls a ciggy. Hayley Westenra isn't far behind, in sky-high heels, toting a big bag of clothes and with no mum in sight. They walk straight into a room of people - photographer, designer, hair-stylist, makeup artist, managers - and the room erupts with chatter and laughter as the unlikely tour companions do the rounds.

Dave and Hayley's In Tune With Nature national winery tour is the second time the pair will have shared a stage since a show in London last year.

Before they head off though, TimeOut wants to take them out of their comfort zones, give them a taste of life on the other side of the musical spectrum by doing a Freaky Friday number for the cover shoot.

For Hayley, that means rocking it up with her tour-mate's guitar.

For Dave it means channelling his inner opera star. While Hayley discusses hair tongs and eyeshadow and selects the best top (she's brought four, including a tight leopard-print singlet and a T-shirt that reads, "I'm with the band"), Dave mucks around on harmonica and plays a little ragtime on the studio piano, nips out for countless ciggies and chats about his favourite folk musicians. Then he pulls on the tux and turns into quite the so-and-so.

Feeling a little apprehensive about letting her hair down - and whipping it sideways, a la Juliette Lewis - Hayley puts on a CD to get in the mood. Not Led Zep or Gunners but a mellow pop band in the Coldplay vein. Dave doesn't look convinced. But what the soundtrack lacks in bluster, she makes up for with some fierce moves. Even with a hairdryer blowing in her face and a haughty man in a penguin suit looking on, she is quite the trooper.

Whose idea was this tour?

Dave Dobbyn: Hers [pointing]. Hayley did this gig in London called 'Hayley's Kiwi Ceilie', which is an Irish word not unlike 'hootenanny'. I'd never come across it before and I'm Irish. I couldn't resist, it sounded like great fun.

Hayley Westenra: I thought I'd ask you because you're a New Zealand legend. And it's just worked so well musically, which was surprising to a lot of people. They wouldn't usually put us together. We've adjusted it with a few more of my own songs rather than the national anthems.

Dave: Plus that gig was people swanning around the Shepherd's Bush Empire. This lends itself to having wine and picnics and lounging about a bit more and consequently, I think our performances will be more relaxed ... I was really nervous in the rehearsal over there.

Hayley: [Looks surprised.] Were you?

Dave: Yeah, I felt like I was going to an audition.

Hayley: Well when I started singing one of your songs I was like, "I wonder what he thinks of my vocals".

So you didn't boss each other around?

Dave: No, there was no diva behaviour on my part or Hayley's. That was refreshing.

But Hayley's a Christchurch girl and you're from Auckland.

Dave: I've got a great deal of affection for Christchurch. I've played with a lot of people who came out of Christchurch. I've played there 30 years on and off and built up quite a relationship with the people ... I'm really giving Christchurch a great big kiss on the lips.

Hayley: I guess I'd better return the favour. Auckland - love it. Love the Jafas.

Dave: I'm a great believer that the most exciting thing in music tends to happen provincially. People let their hair down a little, there's great local food, great wine, all those things. There's something wonderfully civilised about that these days. We've come a long way from your Velluto Rosso and your Cold Duck. It's almost like a holiday eh?

Hayley: Yeah, I can't wait. I've never done a vineyard tour before.Dave: Oh, you'll enjoy it. Except from 5.30 on, that's when Uncle Joe's had a bit too much wine and he starts to get rude.

Hayley: Okay, I'll get out by then.

Dave: No, I'm kidding.

That's when you'll get away with stealing food from people's hampers.

Dave: Or we could do an Oprah and grab a few punters, bring them up on stage and humiliate them with magic tricks.

How do you plan to travel?

Dave: We'll find the best food we can. The best restaurants and the best cafes, the best places for breakfast, coffee.

Hayley: A bit of sight-seeing as well? I was hoping to go white-water rafting in Queenstown but that might be a bit unprofessional.

Dave: Sky-diving in Christchurch? I'd be up for para-ponting.

Hayley: How do you do that?

Dave: It's just jumping off a mountain with a parachute. I've done it twice in Queenstown.

Hayley: You're full of surprises, Dave.

Dave: Or we could just sample olive oil.

How well do you know each other now?

Dave: Well, I know that Hayley is blessed with a wonderful instrument and she's at the height of her powers. The first time I heard her sing I discovered that purity, I got what everyone gets. She's on a roll and I enjoy that so much. There's something about being middle-aged and appreciating people having that success. It's great fun to mix it up a little. I'm usually on my own or with a rock 'n' roll band. This doesn't have the nervous tension that playing with an orchestra does but there's a middle road to interact with harmonies and stuff.

Hayley: When I first had the opportunity it was such an honour. Then I just started working with you as a fellow musician rather than an admirer of "Dave the big star". I've been singing classical since I was little so it's really nice to have the chance to introduce another element.

Surely you have some dirt on each other.

Dave: Not yet.

Hayley: I'll be out with the camera after a few glasses of wine.

Dave: The old truth serum starts spilling out. I don't think we're in any danger of any of that, there's too much music to be had.

You both seem pretty relaxed about the set list.

Hayley: We're trying to keep it under wraps because we haven't done any rehearsals yet. We don't know if the songs are going to work out.

Dave: We will be singing a really old song, Oughta Be in Love from the Footrot Flats soundtrack. It was the song we first rehearsed in London. Hayley hit this note and then started surfing on it and I thought, this is great, it's like bluegrass. She knows exactly what to sing.

Hayley, were you even alive when Dave wrote that song?

Hayley: Well, I was born in 1987 ...

Dave: I think I wrote it in '85, 86.

When did you first hear it?

Dave: In the womb, darling!

Hayley: Yeah, some of your music I'm still kind of digging up if you know what I mean.

Dave: I am too!

Hayley: I grabbed some of your albums when I went to the UK for the first time. I wanted to stock up on New Zealand music. When I'm in London I'm such a Kiwi girl.

Dave: Yeah, you carry that homesickness around with you in a sack, it's always on your back.

Where were you career-wise when you were Hayley's age?

Dave: Are you 20?

[Seems shocked]Hayley: My 21st is in April but unfortunately I'll be in London so I won't have my family with me.

Dave: Will they send you the key to the door?

Hayley: Sorry?

Dave: Do they do that anymore? You get the key to the door when you're 21.

Hayley: I never understood what the key meant. My dad doesn't trust me with keys. He's like, you keep losing the house-keys every time you go out. What do you do with them? I'm like, I don't know.

Dave: I got a banana cake with one candle on it for my 21st. That was a very long time ago, of course. Anyway, when I was 20 I was in Th'Dudes and we were touring relentlessly around New Zealand. Back then it was hard to get a song on the radio.

Hayley: It's the same for me. My songs are not particularly radio-friendly.

Dave: I know what we could do. I could write a song for you and you could have a huge hit and attach it to a movie like Titanic and we'll both retire. Three minutes, no problem. I'll have it by this afternoon.

Hayley: Sweet, okay, sorted.

LOWDOWN

What: In Tune With Nature national winery tour
Who: Dave Dobbyn and Hayley Westenra

Tour dates:

Millbrook Resort, Queenstown, February 16
Mudhouse Winery and Cafe, Waipara, February 17
Montana Brancott Estate, Blenheim, February 19
Black Barn Vineyards, Havelock North, February 21
Alana Estate, Martinborough, February 23
Villa Maria Estate, Auckland, February 24

Also: Hayley Westenra sings at the Lakeside Charity Concert at the National Saddle Centre, Matakana on Saturday February 9 with tenor Shaun Dixon and Elizabeth Marvelly accompanied by the Manukau City Symphony Orchestra. Tickets and info: http://www.matakanacoast.com/

Source: New Zealand Herald