Interview: Anthonie Tonnon

For Anthonie Tonnon, releasing new music is only part of the picture.

Three years on from his last release, the Whanganui-based musician is stepping into a new chapter with Cinematographer, an ambitious project that blurs the lines between album, live show, documentary and film.

Rather than finishing the record first and figuring out the tour later, Tonnon has flipped the process completely. The live experience comes first, bringing together new music, archive footage, typography, storytelling and real-time visuals in what he describes as one giant live music video.

Ahead of Cinematographer, we caught up with Anthonie to talk about the changing way we consume music, New Zealand’s obsession with image-making, creating immersive shows that fit into two suitcases, and why sometimes the hard work just can’t be outsourced.

It’s been three years since you’ve released new music. What made now feel like the right time to begin this new chapter?

Music has changed so much since I started. My producer Jonathan and I found ourselves asking, “What’s the point of making an album?”

Now, you can release a record on a Friday, listen to it with breakfast, and by the next week it’s gone.

For me, the real value is in the live experience, so we decided to flip the script and build the show alongside the record.

I’ve become really interested in immersive live shows where the music, soundscapes and storytelling all connect. The record isn’t even finished yet, but we’re taking this new show out first and letting people experience the music in that way.

Your new single, “Executive Assistant”, is the first taste of Cinematographer. What’s the story behind the song?

“Executive Assistant” is partly about the New Zealand dream and our love of being “ideas people”. Having the big idea and then getting someone else to do the hard work.

I noticed a few stories in the news around executive assistants at the time, which got me thinking about that idea.

I include myself in this, but we love sitting at the desk saying, “Here’s my great idea,” while someone else has to make it happen.

But production is pain. Bringing an idea to life is difficult and there’s a certain amount of grind you can’t outsource. It’s an open question whether you can really outsource the hard parts of your life without affecting what you ultimately produce.

The entire project is built around the idea of Cinematographer. Where did that concept come from?

The project started with a song called “Cinematographer”, which became the starting point for the whole body of work.

It came from thinking about how New Zealand has changed since I was a kid. We’ve gone from being a fairly chaotic, low-budget filmmaking nation to becoming incredibly good at taking pictures of ourselves, marketing ourselves and selling an image of New Zealand.

But there’s an interesting disconnect between the image we create and the reality underneath it.

You can drive through a tired-looking town while, a few kilometres away, a drone is filming the coastline for another “100% Pure New Zealand” campaign.

We all curate prettier versions of our lives, but the question for me was: what happens when we become so good at making things look good that we stop addressing the things that actually need fixing?

This isn’t just a concert. How would you describe the Cinematographer live experience?

It’s essentially like one big live music video.

I’m performing with moving images behind me, combining archive footage, typography, new footage from our cinematographer Theo Taylor, and live video of me on stage.

But it’s also part documentary, with me telling the story live rather than appearing inside a screen.

The story follows the Situationist International, a revolutionary art group in 1960s France, and their attempt to take over the world. The conceit is that we’re trying to recreate that group in urban Whanganui.

This is one of your most ambitious live productions yet. What’s been the biggest challenge in bringing it to life?

The challenge has really been bringing together all the things I’ve learned and experimented with over the years, the technology, theatrical tricks, visual elements and storytelling, and making them work as one experience.

The funny thing is that, despite being one of the most ambitious shows I’ve made, it’s also one of the lightest.

The planetarium show was difficult to tour because you needed to find a city with a planetarium, whereas Cinematographer can basically fit into two suitcases.

So the challenge has been packing as much as possible into the experience without making the production itself unwieldy.

You’ve built a reputation for unconventional live performances. Do you consciously try to challenge what people expect from a gig?

I think I’ve always been interested in getting more out of a live show than just playing songs.

When I started touring overseas, I had to learn how to connect with people in small rooms, and over time I became fascinated by how you could make an experience feel much bigger than the space you were in.

I loved the scale and immersion of a Radiohead arena show, but wanted to find a way to create that kind of experience for a much smaller audience.

The planetarium show was a big breakthrough for me, and I’ve experimented with things like taking audiences on trains to rural community halls.

Cinematographer feels like the culmination of all those experiments.

Finally, if Cinematographer were a movie genre, what would it be?

It would be somewhere between a Wes Anderson film about funny, charming, well-dressed, empathetic revolutionaries and an Adam Curtis film.

Curtis makes these incredible collages of archive footage with really interesting, often juxtaposed music, and that’s definitely an influence on the show.

So I’m going to cheat and say those two.

SOUND CHECK, VIBE CHECK

What song are you currently thrashing in the car?
Ha The Unclear, “Astigmatic”. I love it because they’ve written it about Cumberland Street in Dunedin, where we all grew up. I had a real nostalgia trip watching the video, and it’s just such a propulsive, magic song.

Who’s your favourite artist right now?
Delaney Davidson. I saw his Baby Heavyweight show in July and it was incredible. He’s always had this amazing showcraft and a real belief in live music as something transcendent.

I think he’s always fought against the idea that music should just be something you sit on the sidelines of. It should be an experience that changes you.

One thing you can’t perform without?
At the moment, quite a lot of technology.

But actually, my dream is to perform with no instruments at all. I’m really envious of comedians and DJs who can walk on stage with a microphone or a couple of USB sticks and just perform.

I’d love to find a way to do that one day.

Go-to BurgerFuel order?
A T Bird.

FIRE OR BACKFIRE?

Pickles in burgers: FIRE
Crocs: BACKFIRE
Karaoke: FIRE
BurgerFuel Aioli: FIRE
Acoustic performances: BACKFIRE
NZ Music Month: FIRE
Festivals: FIRE
Singing in the shower: BACKFIRE
Pineapple on pizza: FIRE
Supermarket in bare feet: BACKFIRE