November 5, 2025 • 13 mins
Resident opera singer and aircraftsman for the Air Force band, Barbara Graham joins Nick Mills in studio for an interview and treats us to a performance. This is a taster for the upcoming Air Force in Concert with Hollie Smith performance at the Michael Fowler Centre on Sunday 9 November.
Get tickets here: Tickets: Air Force in Concert featuring Hollie Smith, Wellington | Sun, 9 Nov 2025, 2:30 pm | Ticketmaster NZ
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk SEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Right now, this is quite interesting for this show. We're
going to be joined where we are being enjoyed by
Barbara Graham. She's a leading air craftsman with the Royal
New Zealand Air Force and they have got a major
concert on at the Michael Fowler Center on the ninth
of February, which is this Sunday, direct morning. And welcome,
by the.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Way, thank you, Thanks Matete.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Can you gimme a little bit closer to the mic? Yes,
I can pretend that you're singing to me. That didn't
sound right. We're going to give a couple of passes
away for this concert as well.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Welcome, thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
How can you be a marine biologist in the Air
Force and a singer all in one?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Good question?
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Well, I started out as a singer. I've been singing
for a long time, and then about ten years ago,
in twenty sixteen, the director of the Air Force Band,
the then director of the Air Force Band, asked me if.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I would like to be their vocalist.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
And the members of the Air Force Band, we're about
sixty five strong, are all reservists, So that means that
we are part time. So we're in the Air Force.
We have a uniform, we have a rank, we have
a service number, but we're only part time, so we're
not full time forces or anything like that. We wouldn't,
I seriously hope we would not ever be sent off
(01:33):
to war if it ever came to that.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I feel now that I know we are, I couldn't
quite work it out. When you know air Force marine biler,
just how do they work together? Now? I got it?
So you are a marine biler just in a normal
job and a reserve for the Air.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Force, exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
And I'm currently studying for my PhD in marine biology.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So where's the band based.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
So we're Wellington based. We're the only military band in
Wellington and we're the biggest in the country, I believe,
and that's mostly because we're a reserve force band. So
everyone in the band has day jobs and a lot
of them are freelance musicians doing all sorts of different
things around the country and internationally. We're very a lot
of big talent in the band actually, and and other
(02:19):
people have you know, other day jobs.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I think we have a post. We have people that
work in the sort of corporate.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So how does it work with being a reserve. How
often do you have to train? What do you have
to do for that?
Speaker 4 (02:34):
So the band rehearses every week. In terms of sort
of military training, we don't really have to do much
in the way of that. You might have to do
a fitness test now and then.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
But you've got a uniform, you said earlier.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Yes, yes, that's right, yeap, So we look very smart
when we go out on parade or when we're performing
for foreign dignitaries, which is kind of the bread and
butter of the band, you know, doing paid for it? Yes, absolutely,
oh great.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
So it's actually a gig, yes right now. How often
does does the Air Force band play?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Very regularly?
Speaker 4 (03:09):
So, I myself aren't needed as much as the vocalist,
but the other members of the band do a lot
of ceremonial work, parades, sort of military events, graduations and
things like that, as well as performing for ANZAC commemorations
any other commemorations like that. We do a tour every
year to part of the country, you know, choose, choose
(03:31):
a part of the country, and so we.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Play in the uniform and it's like a full military.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Type thing, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
And it's a it's a symphonic band, which means it's
very similar to an orchestra, but without most of the strings.
So it's a wind band. We've got brass and woodwind
and percussion.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
And what sort of music do you play your normal gigs.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
It varies, so there's a lot of symphonic band music,
so sort of what you'd expect from from brass bands.
There's a lot of musical theater and classical music.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
There's we've got a.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Jazz orchestra as part of the the band who who
aren't incredible?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
And they do.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
We've got really really good jazz musicians in the band.
They perform by themselves as well as in our big concerts.
We've got a drum line, We've got we get got
Murray Mansfield who comes in and does bagpipes for us.
He's he's an incredible bagpiper. And yeah, pop music, I
don't know you name it, we do it.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
You've got Holly Smith we did the Sunday Now I
mean Holly Smith and an air Force band. That's pretty out.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
There, isn't it it is?
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Yeah, it's the first collaboration with with Holly, and I mean,
as you know, she's she's she's an amazing alter a
musician and she yeah, I mean she's she's well known
for her for her songwriting, for her for her musician ship.
I think it's going to be really cool. So the
band is going to support her doing doing a number
(04:59):
of songs from her catalog. I think she's she's planning
on releasing an album earlier next year, so this hopefully
be be some.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Good EXPERI so, how many times will you sing? And
how many times will she sing?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
She's got more than me.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
She's kind of the she's the major, she's the feature
for this one.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Well, I'm the punters will decide that they.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Will, but they'll love Holly. I'm there all the time,
you know, I'm old hat. So I do a couple
of pieces.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
And the other soloist, the bagpiper, Murray Mansfield, he'll he'll
do a couple of pieces, and Holly will do a
big a set of her.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Has she come down a rehearsal. She's going to come
down and just go bang with you guys.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Yeah, I think she's coming in tonight for a rehearsal.
And then we've got dress rehearsal on Saturday and then
the big big event on on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
So right, and it's selling well, I hear.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
I believe, so yeah, So get in quick.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
We've got a couple of tickets to give away, eight
hundred and eighty ten eighty. The concert's called the Air
Force and Concert. It's at the Michael Fowler Center on
the ninth of February. Now, a little Bertie told me
that you sang at Gallipoli. Tell me about that this year.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Yeah, it was a wonderful experience actually being being over
there and kind of seeing The cool thing about those
trips is that you learn a lot about the history
of the place and you at the same time you're
seeing it for yourself with your own eyes. You know,
this is a spot where, you know, tragic events happened
(06:24):
for New Zealand, the Kiwi soldiers and for all the
people who were there. And it's a really emotional experience.
It was quite heavy at times, you know, and I
say it would be.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I mean, I can see it in your eyes right now.
You know it's got some real meaning.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Yes, absolutely, And as a vocalist, you know a lot
of a lot of what I do comes from obviously,
everything comes from my body.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It comes from my heart.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
So if I'm feeling a bit sort of down and
upset about things, then it can be quite a hard
job to actually then have to get up and sing
some of course, sing some songs. So it was Yeah,
it was hard work, but it was really really rewarding,
and I was I want to be privileged.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I want to get that feeling because I can see
it in your emotion, that feeling of actually arriving there
knowing the history. I mean, you're obviously a smart person,
so you've worked it through and you could feel the
death around you.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Well, honestly I would if any any other New Zealander
has the opportunity to go there, even not for an
Anzac Day commemoration, just to go there and have a
tour over on the peninsula, I would highly recommend it
as quite a formative experience to be able to it.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, and you're going back next year as well.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Yes, yes, I am lucky enough to get to do
it again.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
So they take the whole sixty five of you over there.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
No, no, So it's a try service thing.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
So it's it's not just air Force, which is what
our band is it will also be Army and Navy,
and so lots of different people go for various roles
on these trips, so it's not just the musicians either.
So the band will normally be a mix of those
three services. And so previously they have had an Army
(08:11):
singer there and a Navy singer.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
So yeah, I'm still intrigued on how you can put
all those three things together. I mean, you know, your
work day job, your military stuff, your vocal stuff, your rehearsals,
your shows. I mean it's pretty impressive.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
It can be a juggle.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
And I'm also a parent, so oh my gosh, anyone
out there who also has young children can attest that
that's quite hard work too.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
So yeah, it is a juggle sometimes.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
But but for me, I really love that balance because
it means that I can still get a lot of
joy out of singing. I think if I were a
full time musician, then for me, I think it would
get a bit too stressful, and that's it's you know,
some people don't feel that way, but for me, that
that's what it is. So I like that I have
these different strings to my bow and I can actually
(09:04):
put the singing aside for a bit work on the science.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
We got to take a short break and guess what
Barbara's going to sing us a little tune. I have
no idea what she's going to sing, or how she's
going to sing, or how she's going to do it,
but she's promised after the air break to sing us
a little song. Barbara Griffith. She is in the Royal
New Zealand Air Force Band. She's the vocalist of it,
(09:28):
and she's also a marine biologist.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
Sh you trying to cony?
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Is?
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (10:17):
Your dude, it's rich and your boy is good?
Speaker 5 (10:33):
Middle pad?
Speaker 6 (10:36):
Wann't you.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
Cron love is b you are going? He's a se.
Speaker 6 (11:07):
Spread adio president Mosca. What is a north a kind of.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
Star? Like stop?
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Wow? Wow Wow, that's all I can say. Wow. How
are you feeling? First live in a radio studio?
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Do it in a radio studios?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Amazing? Amazing, Barbara, thanks for coming in. Pleasure break a
leg on Sunday. It's this Sunday, the ninth of November,
I said February. It's the ninth to November. It's the
Royal New Zealand Air Force Band with Holly Smith and
of course their own vocalist, very very talented Barbara Graham.
I have a bit emotional, but it was a bit
(12:44):
different from me. It was a bit tough. It was amazing.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Thank thank you, thanks for coming in, Thanks so much
for having me.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
All the very best. Don't forget that. Gig is on
at the Michael Fowler Center the ninth of November with
Holly Smith.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, Listen live
to news talks It'd be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk SEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Right now, this is quite interesting for this show. We're
going to be joined where we are being enjoyed by
Barbara Graham. She's a leading air craftsman with the Royal
New Zealand Air Force and they have got a major
concert on at the Michael Fowler Center on the ninth
of February, which is this Sunday, direct morning. And welcome,
by the.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Way, thank you, Thanks Matete.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Can you gimme a little bit closer to the mic? Yes,
I can pretend that you're singing to me. That didn't
sound right. We're going to give a couple of passes
away for this concert as well.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Welcome, thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
How can you be a marine biologist in the Air
Force and a singer all in one?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Good question?
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Well, I started out as a singer. I've been singing
for a long time, and then about ten years ago,
in twenty sixteen, the director of the Air Force Band,
the then director of the Air Force Band, asked me if.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I would like to be their vocalist.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
And the members of the Air Force Band, we're about
sixty five strong, are all reservists, So that means that
we are part time. So we're in the Air Force.
We have a uniform, we have a rank, we have
a service number, but we're only part time, so we're
not full time forces or anything like that. We wouldn't,
I seriously hope we would not ever be sent off
(01:33):
to war if it ever came to that.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I feel now that I know we are, I couldn't
quite work it out. When you know air Force marine biler,
just how do they work together? Now? I got it?
So you are a marine biler just in a normal
job and a reserve for the Air.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Force, exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
And I'm currently studying for my PhD in marine biology.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So where's the band based.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
So we're Wellington based. We're the only military band in
Wellington and we're the biggest in the country, I believe,
and that's mostly because we're a reserve force band. So
everyone in the band has day jobs and a lot
of them are freelance musicians doing all sorts of different
things around the country and internationally. We're very a lot
of big talent in the band actually, and and other
(02:19):
people have you know, other day jobs.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I think we have a post. We have people that
work in the sort of corporate.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So how does it work with being a reserve. How
often do you have to train? What do you have
to do for that?
Speaker 4 (02:34):
So the band rehearses every week. In terms of sort
of military training, we don't really have to do much
in the way of that. You might have to do
a fitness test now and then.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
But you've got a uniform, you said earlier.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Yes, yes, that's right, yeap, So we look very smart
when we go out on parade or when we're performing
for foreign dignitaries, which is kind of the bread and
butter of the band, you know, doing paid for it? Yes, absolutely,
oh great.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
So it's actually a gig, yes right now. How often
does does the Air Force band play?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Very regularly?
Speaker 4 (03:09):
So, I myself aren't needed as much as the vocalist,
but the other members of the band do a lot
of ceremonial work, parades, sort of military events, graduations and
things like that, as well as performing for ANZAC commemorations
any other commemorations like that. We do a tour every
year to part of the country, you know, choose, choose
(03:31):
a part of the country, and so we.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Play in the uniform and it's like a full military.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Type thing, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
And it's a it's a symphonic band, which means it's
very similar to an orchestra, but without most of the strings.
So it's a wind band. We've got brass and woodwind
and percussion.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
And what sort of music do you play your normal gigs.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
It varies, so there's a lot of symphonic band music,
so sort of what you'd expect from from brass bands.
There's a lot of musical theater and classical music.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
There's we've got a.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Jazz orchestra as part of the the band who who
aren't incredible?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
And they do.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
We've got really really good jazz musicians in the band.
They perform by themselves as well as in our big concerts.
We've got a drum line, We've got we get got
Murray Mansfield who comes in and does bagpipes for us.
He's he's an incredible bagpiper. And yeah, pop music, I
don't know you name it, we do it.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
You've got Holly Smith we did the Sunday Now I
mean Holly Smith and an air Force band. That's pretty out.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
There, isn't it it is?
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Yeah, it's the first collaboration with with Holly, and I mean,
as you know, she's she's she's an amazing alter a
musician and she yeah, I mean she's she's well known
for her for her songwriting, for her for her musician ship.
I think it's going to be really cool. So the
band is going to support her doing doing a number
(04:59):
of songs from her catalog. I think she's she's planning
on releasing an album earlier next year, so this hopefully
be be some.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Good EXPERI so, how many times will you sing? And
how many times will she sing?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
She's got more than me.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
She's kind of the she's the major, she's the feature
for this one.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Well, I'm the punters will decide that they.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Will, but they'll love Holly. I'm there all the time,
you know, I'm old hat. So I do a couple
of pieces.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
And the other soloist, the bagpiper, Murray Mansfield, he'll he'll
do a couple of pieces, and Holly will do a
big a set of her.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Has she come down a rehearsal. She's going to come
down and just go bang with you guys.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Yeah, I think she's coming in tonight for a rehearsal.
And then we've got dress rehearsal on Saturday and then
the big big event on on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
So right, and it's selling well, I hear.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
I believe, so yeah, So get in quick.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
We've got a couple of tickets to give away, eight
hundred and eighty ten eighty. The concert's called the Air
Force and Concert. It's at the Michael Fowler Center on
the ninth of February. Now, a little Bertie told me
that you sang at Gallipoli. Tell me about that this year.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Yeah, it was a wonderful experience actually being being over
there and kind of seeing The cool thing about those
trips is that you learn a lot about the history
of the place and you at the same time you're
seeing it for yourself with your own eyes. You know,
this is a spot where, you know, tragic events happened
(06:24):
for New Zealand, the Kiwi soldiers and for all the
people who were there. And it's a really emotional experience.
It was quite heavy at times, you know, and I
say it would be.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I mean, I can see it in your eyes right now.
You know it's got some real meaning.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Yes, absolutely, And as a vocalist, you know a lot
of a lot of what I do comes from obviously,
everything comes from my body.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It comes from my heart.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
So if I'm feeling a bit sort of down and
upset about things, then it can be quite a hard
job to actually then have to get up and sing
some of course, sing some songs. So it was Yeah,
it was hard work, but it was really really rewarding,
and I was I want to be privileged.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I want to get that feeling because I can see
it in your emotion, that feeling of actually arriving there
knowing the history. I mean, you're obviously a smart person,
so you've worked it through and you could feel the
death around you.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Well, honestly I would if any any other New Zealander
has the opportunity to go there, even not for an
Anzac Day commemoration, just to go there and have a
tour over on the peninsula, I would highly recommend it
as quite a formative experience to be able to it.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, and you're going back next year as well.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Yes, yes, I am lucky enough to get to do
it again.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
So they take the whole sixty five of you over there.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
No, no, So it's a try service thing.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
So it's it's not just air Force, which is what
our band is it will also be Army and Navy,
and so lots of different people go for various roles
on these trips, so it's not just the musicians either.
So the band will normally be a mix of those
three services. And so previously they have had an Army
(08:11):
singer there and a Navy singer.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
So yeah, I'm still intrigued on how you can put
all those three things together. I mean, you know, your
work day job, your military stuff, your vocal stuff, your rehearsals,
your shows. I mean it's pretty impressive.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
It can be a juggle.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
And I'm also a parent, so oh my gosh, anyone
out there who also has young children can attest that
that's quite hard work too.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
So yeah, it is a juggle sometimes.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
But but for me, I really love that balance because
it means that I can still get a lot of
joy out of singing. I think if I were a
full time musician, then for me, I think it would
get a bit too stressful, and that's it's you know,
some people don't feel that way, but for me, that
that's what it is. So I like that I have
these different strings to my bow and I can actually
(09:04):
put the singing aside for a bit work on the science.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
We got to take a short break and guess what
Barbara's going to sing us a little tune. I have
no idea what she's going to sing, or how she's
going to sing, or how she's going to do it,
but she's promised after the air break to sing us
a little song. Barbara Griffith. She is in the Royal
New Zealand Air Force Band. She's the vocalist of it,
(09:28):
and she's also a marine biologist.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
Sh you trying to cony?
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Is?
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (10:17):
Your dude, it's rich and your boy is good?
Speaker 5 (10:33):
Middle pad?
Speaker 6 (10:36):
Wann't you.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
Cron love is b you are going? He's a se.
Speaker 6 (11:07):
Spread adio president Mosca. What is a north a kind of.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
Star? Like stop?
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Wow? Wow Wow, that's all I can say. Wow. How
are you feeling? First live in a radio studio?
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Do it in a radio studios?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Amazing? Amazing, Barbara, thanks for coming in. Pleasure break a
leg on Sunday. It's this Sunday, the ninth of November,
I said February. It's the ninth to November. It's the
Royal New Zealand Air Force Band with Holly Smith and
of course their own vocalist, very very talented Barbara Graham.
I have a bit emotional, but it was a bit
(12:44):
different from me. It was a bit tough. It was amazing.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Thank thank you, thanks for coming in, Thanks so much
for having me.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
All the very best. Don't forget that. Gig is on
at the Michael Fowler Center the ninth of November with
Holly Smith.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, Listen live
to news talks It'd be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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