September 3, 2024 • 9 mins
Wellington band Mystery Waitress have just released their second album, their singer Tessa called up for a chat about gaming, recording in loos, and how the people of our capital city have inspired a lot of her songs.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Radio Hodakis Off the Record podcast with Greg.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Let's have a chat with Mystery Waitress Curta Tessa.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Greg.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
How's it going?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yeah pretty well? Thanks? So how's the capital city being today?
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Dreadful? But I don't mind a rainy day?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, I quite like it really does. Is it inspiring
for you for music? Do you conjure up things that
you could write songs about when you're looking at the
window and it's all well.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I have a song complaining about the Wellington winter on
the first Mystery Waitress album, Nest, and it's called Fiji
and I've never been to Fiji. It was really just
a dream, a dream song wishing I was somewhere warmer.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I'm reminded of the Good Shirt song. It is an
older song now, but it's cool maybe yeah about being
in Hamilton.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I was teased about that actually because I was absolutely
an accident. But there's two songs on that album, one
of which is called Fiji and the other of what
is called Baby. Yes.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
If you're looking through the track list you're thinking, oh,
this is a good shit album or.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Oh I've totally ripped them off, but accidentally.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
So if anyone's not familiar with how much music you've released, so.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
As a mystery waitress, we just have the two albums,
both have eight tracks on them.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
First was four years.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Ago, I think released it's called Nest. That was when
we just had three out of the four members that
we have currently, so we didn't have a bass player
bass player Xanthe Rook and she had not joined the
band yet.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Just so it was myself writing.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
The songs and singing, and James Morgan on the lead guitar,
Olivia Champion on the drums, and James actually did all
the engineering himself, so it was very much a DIY project.
We were just using our workplaces, boardroom after hours to
record the album, used the bathrooms for the great vocal
(02:00):
clarity that bathrooms provide. Now four years later, we've just
released Bright Black Night, which has come out through Flying
Nun Records, which we stoked about.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
It's so cooled to be working with them.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Flying None. There's a legendary label that goes back several decades,
mostly out of the South Island. Who are some of
the bands that you grew up listening to? Thinking I
want to join that roster of that family of artists.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
AH like the classics though the Cells. I loved their
sound as soon as I heard it.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
So the new album is out now and it's got
a song on it called Console.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
It was written all in one kind of sitting, and
I love when that happens. It just sometimes happens, and
it's like a magical moment where something's kind of speaking
through me almost.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
It sounds a little corny.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
But it does happen, and it's really exciting when it happened. So,
of all things, the inspiration was what was happening on
a console in front of me. So my partner was
playing Red Dead Redemption too. I don't know if you
know the game, but it's a very western country environment.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Things are pretty rough in that world.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I've always loved the idea of the dark, moody cowboy life.
Something about that really affected me and I just had
to go off and pick up my guitar and I
wrote Console.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Your partner did he clock the game that night?
Speaker 4 (03:23):
It was a long.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
No.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
This was right at the start.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
I think he just started playing and I was watching
along because it's got beautiful graphics and everything, so I
was sort of like watching a movie.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
So there's no way he finished it.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
In that's sitting, and then how did the rest of
the band add.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
To it the whole insection. Actually, that was James's. That
was James's invention. I was thinking, I don't know how
to finish the song. I don't know how to finish it,
and he just played something beautiful and I wrote along
some lyrics to it, and I think that really ends
the song nicely and kind of summarizes it, which is
what it needed.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Well, we'll get to the ending shortly, but first let's
hear the beginning.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yes, sure, So, I'm Tessa Dillon from Mystery Waitress. This
is Console, off of our new album Bright that Night,
and you're listening to it on radio.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
How lucky.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
It's radio heard ache Let's Brain new from Mystery Waitress.
It's called Console, and we're lucky enough to have this
singer Tessa on a zoom with us. Now culled to Tessa,
thanks for bringing us that tune.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
I Greg nice to be here.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Was that one of the songs that was recorded in
your workplace's boardroom?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
No, we moved up, We leveled up for this album
and we actually recorded we recorded the bulk of it
in surgery studios in Wellington, and we had James Goldsmith,
the legend, doing all the mixing and ended up doing
the mastering as well.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So is that because you're on Flying None that you
got it to go into this recording studio rather than
sort of do the DIY thing in the lose and
in the boardrooms if your workplaces after that.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Oh no, it's actually just because I wanted a bigger,
better sound from this album. I thought the songs deserved that,
and we didn't know at that point that we would
be signifying None. So no, it just so happened that way.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Great stuff. So when did the album come out?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Almost precisely a month ago today, so it came on
on the second of August.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
And what plans for the spring do you have now
that you've got this album? How do you intend to
share it with the world.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Well, we'd love to do a tour. We are just
in the process of organizing one right now. It's proving
a little difficult to organize some of the places we'd
love to play. We want to play everywhere, which is
maybe a bit ambitious, but we'll get there.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Where are some of the places that you'd like to go?
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Well, I have a stream idea that we will do
a homecoming tour and play in each of the places
that the band members grew up because we all grew
up in different cities. I'm from Willington, James is from Crispin,
sent these from Auckland, and Olivia's from Hastings, So it
would be really cool to we kind of bring it
back to our hometowns.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
It's a great stretch of the country to encompass too, Yes.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Although nothing in the South Island, so we will also
be visiting the South Island.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And if we want to keep an eye on those
tour details, where's the best place to find information about
your band?
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Yeah, so it's very simple.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
No one else had the name mystery waitress, so it
is simply a mystery waitress on Instagram and same on Facebook?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Was there a mystery waitress?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
More like it's a part of who I am.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
I've just done a lot of work in hospitality and
I always loved the idea of, you know, having a
certain part of you that comes out to greet people
and do the hospitality work, but it's not really your
whole self.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
It's the mystery waitress alter.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Ego, right, So it's that you put on the uniform,
you become someone else, like a superhero.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
That's right, like a superhero. I ever thought about it
like that, but I will from now.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
And so a lot of musicians around the country still
have day jobs. Are you still that mysterious waitress?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
I have moved on to be a mystery retail worker,
which doesn't it quite have the same ring.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
But yes, definitely still needing a day job.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
As much as I love the music, i'd love to
do it all the time, I'm not quite there.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
And some people write songs about certain people, They create
characters and songs, and I guess if you're dealing with
people every day in the retail environment, you might get
some inspiration for certain character traits or characters.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
And oh, definitely, it's constant entertainment. Really, anyone can walk
in and anyone does. It's really fun. And I love people.
I like meeting people and seeing their quirks and little
five minute friendships throughout the day. It is very inspiring, actually,
And that's what I write a lot of songs about,
(07:56):
is you kind of meet someone and it's not necessarily
true what you write about them, but you do form
an idea of what their life could be and you
can just run with that and create a song around it.
It sometimes comes to me more easily than it should.
And I've made up a whole life visitory for someone
who I know nothing about.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
But you know, that's the creative outlet, right.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
So that song Console is that about?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
That was about your boyfriend, wasn't it? Are there any
songs on the latest album? I whan we just heard
Console before? Are there any others that inspired by your
day to day dealings and your working life?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
It is actually more about me my own stories, which
I find harder to do because it's like opening up
a part of you that you're not necessarily comfortable with
people seeing. It's also the best way to connect with people,
and I've had some really nice feedback and I know
it has connected with people.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Yeah, it's worth it.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
If we want to have a listen to this album
and get to know you a bit better. Where do
we find it?
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Band Camp?
Speaker 3 (08:57):
If you'd like to buy the album, you can digit
purchase it through bandcamp and you can buy the record
through there as well.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Oh you got it on vinyl? Yeah? Yeah, fantastic. Well
all aboust with that. Tessa from Mystery Waitress thanks for
your time on hod ache.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Greg Radio hold Aches Off the Record podcast. Why not
subscribe so they download automatically and don't forget to rate
us five stars?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Thanks mate.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Find out more about this podcast and the people who
make it at hodache dot co dot nz it
Welcome to Radio Hodakis Off the Record podcast with Greg.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Let's have a chat with Mystery Waitress Curta Tessa.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Greg.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
How's it going?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yeah pretty well? Thanks? So how's the capital city being today?
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Dreadful? But I don't mind a rainy day?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, I quite like it really does. Is it inspiring
for you for music? Do you conjure up things that
you could write songs about when you're looking at the
window and it's all well.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I have a song complaining about the Wellington winter on
the first Mystery Waitress album, Nest, and it's called Fiji
and I've never been to Fiji. It was really just
a dream, a dream song wishing I was somewhere warmer.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I'm reminded of the Good Shirt song. It is an
older song now, but it's cool maybe yeah about being
in Hamilton.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I was teased about that actually because I was absolutely
an accident. But there's two songs on that album, one
of which is called Fiji and the other of what
is called Baby. Yes.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
If you're looking through the track list you're thinking, oh,
this is a good shit album or.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Oh I've totally ripped them off, but accidentally.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
So if anyone's not familiar with how much music you've released, so.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
As a mystery waitress, we just have the two albums,
both have eight tracks on them.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
First was four years.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Ago, I think released it's called Nest. That was when
we just had three out of the four members that
we have currently, so we didn't have a bass player
bass player Xanthe Rook and she had not joined the
band yet.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Just so it was myself writing.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
The songs and singing, and James Morgan on the lead guitar,
Olivia Champion on the drums, and James actually did all
the engineering himself, so it was very much a DIY project.
We were just using our workplaces, boardroom after hours to
record the album, used the bathrooms for the great vocal
(02:00):
clarity that bathrooms provide. Now four years later, we've just
released Bright Black Night, which has come out through Flying
Nun Records, which we stoked about.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
It's so cooled to be working with them.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Flying None. There's a legendary label that goes back several decades,
mostly out of the South Island. Who are some of
the bands that you grew up listening to? Thinking I
want to join that roster of that family of artists.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
AH like the classics though the Cells. I loved their
sound as soon as I heard it.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
So the new album is out now and it's got
a song on it called Console.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
It was written all in one kind of sitting, and
I love when that happens. It just sometimes happens, and
it's like a magical moment where something's kind of speaking
through me almost.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
It sounds a little corny.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
But it does happen, and it's really exciting when it happened. So,
of all things, the inspiration was what was happening on
a console in front of me. So my partner was
playing Red Dead Redemption too. I don't know if you
know the game, but it's a very western country environment.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Things are pretty rough in that world.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I've always loved the idea of the dark, moody cowboy life.
Something about that really affected me and I just had
to go off and pick up my guitar and I
wrote Console.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Your partner did he clock the game that night?
Speaker 4 (03:23):
It was a long.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
No.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
This was right at the start.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
I think he just started playing and I was watching
along because it's got beautiful graphics and everything, so I
was sort of like watching a movie.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
So there's no way he finished it.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
In that's sitting, and then how did the rest of
the band add.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
To it the whole insection. Actually, that was James's. That
was James's invention. I was thinking, I don't know how
to finish the song. I don't know how to finish it,
and he just played something beautiful and I wrote along
some lyrics to it, and I think that really ends
the song nicely and kind of summarizes it, which is
what it needed.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Well, we'll get to the ending shortly, but first let's
hear the beginning.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yes, sure, So, I'm Tessa Dillon from Mystery Waitress. This
is Console, off of our new album Bright that Night,
and you're listening to it on radio.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
How lucky.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
It's radio heard ache Let's Brain new from Mystery Waitress.
It's called Console, and we're lucky enough to have this
singer Tessa on a zoom with us. Now culled to Tessa,
thanks for bringing us that tune.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
I Greg nice to be here.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Was that one of the songs that was recorded in
your workplace's boardroom?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
No, we moved up, We leveled up for this album
and we actually recorded we recorded the bulk of it
in surgery studios in Wellington, and we had James Goldsmith,
the legend, doing all the mixing and ended up doing
the mastering as well.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So is that because you're on Flying None that you
got it to go into this recording studio rather than
sort of do the DIY thing in the lose and
in the boardrooms if your workplaces after that.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Oh no, it's actually just because I wanted a bigger,
better sound from this album. I thought the songs deserved that,
and we didn't know at that point that we would
be signifying None. So no, it just so happened that way.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Great stuff. So when did the album come out?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Almost precisely a month ago today, so it came on
on the second of August.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
And what plans for the spring do you have now
that you've got this album? How do you intend to
share it with the world.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Well, we'd love to do a tour. We are just
in the process of organizing one right now. It's proving
a little difficult to organize some of the places we'd
love to play. We want to play everywhere, which is
maybe a bit ambitious, but we'll get there.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Where are some of the places that you'd like to go?
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Well, I have a stream idea that we will do
a homecoming tour and play in each of the places
that the band members grew up because we all grew
up in different cities. I'm from Willington, James is from Crispin,
sent these from Auckland, and Olivia's from Hastings, So it
would be really cool to we kind of bring it
back to our hometowns.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
It's a great stretch of the country to encompass too, Yes.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Although nothing in the South Island, so we will also
be visiting the South Island.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And if we want to keep an eye on those
tour details, where's the best place to find information about
your band?
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Yeah, so it's very simple.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
No one else had the name mystery waitress, so it
is simply a mystery waitress on Instagram and same on Facebook?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Was there a mystery waitress?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
More like it's a part of who I am.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
I've just done a lot of work in hospitality and
I always loved the idea of, you know, having a
certain part of you that comes out to greet people
and do the hospitality work, but it's not really your
whole self.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
It's the mystery waitress alter.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Ego, right, So it's that you put on the uniform,
you become someone else, like a superhero.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
That's right, like a superhero. I ever thought about it
like that, but I will from now.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
And so a lot of musicians around the country still
have day jobs. Are you still that mysterious waitress?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
I have moved on to be a mystery retail worker,
which doesn't it quite have the same ring.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
But yes, definitely still needing a day job.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
As much as I love the music, i'd love to
do it all the time, I'm not quite there.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
And some people write songs about certain people, They create
characters and songs, and I guess if you're dealing with
people every day in the retail environment, you might get
some inspiration for certain character traits or characters.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
And oh, definitely, it's constant entertainment. Really, anyone can walk
in and anyone does. It's really fun. And I love people.
I like meeting people and seeing their quirks and little
five minute friendships throughout the day. It is very inspiring, actually,
And that's what I write a lot of songs about,
(07:56):
is you kind of meet someone and it's not necessarily
true what you write about them, but you do form
an idea of what their life could be and you
can just run with that and create a song around it.
It sometimes comes to me more easily than it should.
And I've made up a whole life visitory for someone
who I know nothing about.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
But you know, that's the creative outlet, right.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
So that song Console is that about?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
That was about your boyfriend, wasn't it? Are there any
songs on the latest album? I whan we just heard
Console before? Are there any others that inspired by your
day to day dealings and your working life?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
It is actually more about me my own stories, which
I find harder to do because it's like opening up
a part of you that you're not necessarily comfortable with
people seeing. It's also the best way to connect with people,
and I've had some really nice feedback and I know
it has connected with people.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Yeah, it's worth it.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
If we want to have a listen to this album
and get to know you a bit better. Where do
we find it?
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Band Camp?
Speaker 3 (08:57):
If you'd like to buy the album, you can digit
purchase it through bandcamp and you can buy the record
through there as well.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Oh you got it on vinyl? Yeah? Yeah, fantastic. Well
all aboust with that. Tessa from Mystery Waitress thanks for
your time on hod ache.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Greg Radio hold Aches Off the Record podcast. Why not
subscribe so they download automatically and don't forget to rate
us five stars?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Thanks mate.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Find out more about this podcast and the people who
make it at hodache dot co dot nz it
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