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

Funded by

Partners with