Although Girling-Butcher could write a mean ballad (check out the hushed awe of ‘All Moments Leading To This’), Bic Runga’s winsome naivety wasn’t her style. Perhaps she took her tip from assertive post-feminist songwriters like Alanis Morissette, but Girling-Butcher never milked the bitterness from her life experience, or relayed it with unappealing stridency.
Victoria Girling-Butcher - vocals, guitar
Marcus Lawson - bass
Derek Metivier - drums
Lupin Music
Girling-Butcher’s occasional day job until recently was journalism. In 2004, she was working as a court reporter in New Plymouth: “There’s something I really like about reporting. Even community news. I like community. I like the little stuff. Journalism is interesting to me intellectually, I do find it stimulating … but there’s something that does really wear you down when you’re not able to earn money from what your whole heart and love is going into, music.” She also paid the bills by serving time in bands with Dave Dobbyn and Andrew Keoghan.
Derek Metivier has gone on to work in television sound engineering and composition, while Marcus Lawson has performed with Dave Dobbyn and others.