The denial factor

Press, 17 May 1989, Page 22

The denial factor

COLIN HOGG had a few more questions for Tim Finn when he talked to him about his new album the other day:

It could be argued that there isn’t a hell of a lot to be happy about in New Zealand these days?

“There’s always been a lot of sadness in this country. Colin McCahon was onto that — the line on one of his paintings where he put something like ‘Even' the manuka in bloom can breed despair.’ “And I think it’s all to do with the past. Like we put a big sticking plaster over the past and pretended it didn’t happen. The confrontation between the two races was horrendous. There was a lot of bloodshed and a lot of cruelty on both sides. And a lot of misunderstandings. “Deep down inside the psyche of New Zealanders, there’s that denial factor. Until we peel the bandage and take a good look at the wound, we’ll never move forward. “All the fast money people are just skimming around the surface of life anyway. There’s a deeper thing going on.”

Is that, in a way, how you feel about the new

album — you’ve made it, you’ve got feelings about it and those feelings won’t be changed by whether it goes straight to number one or straight down the toilet? “Basically, yeah.” Isn’t that going to be heard to hang onto when you’re surrounded by people who judge things on the most shallow level? “Exactly. Our western society worships at the altar of success. You’re humiliated, patronised, whatever, by a perceived lack of success. “So there’s a lot of pressure on me to want success and also, when I think right back to childhood, I was always very competitive, wanting to achieve, in a way to win parental approval. “It became a habit for me. So to break it takes a lot of time. And yeah, I suppose there has been a certain amount of intellectual rationalisation going on, but deep inside your feelings are going to be hurt if you’re rejected.

"It’s a balancing act. Whatever I say, success does change you. You try and pretend it doesn’t, but it does. So-called failure changes you, too. “I’ve had enough beatings from that sort of stick to see it for what it is. Even if it is, in part, intellectual.”

You never even seemed to get much fun out of being famous?

“I didn’t enjoy being a celebrity. All I enjoyed was the momentum it gave you. It oils the wheels. Being recognised in the street, being told that you’re great or terrible or whatever threatens you. “There’s a part of me that would like to withdraw. But that fight is part of what helps inform my work. “It’s like New Zealand. There’s no support system here for music, and you can either go down or it gives you something to sharpen your axe against. "There’s something to be said for that struggle. I refuse to become bitter."