Brendan & Alison Turner
Brendan and Alison first met in 2013 at Auckland’s Wine Cellar. He was playing bass as part of Bond Street Bridge - she was in the front row. They bonded over a beer, many cigarettes, a mutual love of 70’s acoustic music and a distaste for 9-5 jobs.
Within six months, they were singing together. Within a year, they were married - eloping while on a national tour as half of the acoustic four piece The Bitter Years.
Following the tragic death of their band mate and Best Man, Sam Prebble, they holed up in a shonky villa in Taumaranui, speaking only to each other and a stray cat. They whiled away the long days and evenings on its rustic porch, watching paint peel in the fading light. Armed only with a guitar, wine and tobacco, they slowly pieced together the bones of their first album, Ghost Of A friend.
Returning to the road with the likes of Paul Ubana Jones, The Bads and Great North, they slowly hammered out the cricks and creases, and in 2016 recorded the album live and pared back, at the world-class Revolver Studios.
In the spirit of their favourite artists - Neil Young, John Prine, Townes Van Zandt and Gillian Welch – they recorded specifically for vinyl, using reel to reel tape.
Ghost Of A friend will be released on the 30th March 2019, when Brendan and Alison will embark on an extensive cross-country album release tour.