Jason Kerrison may sing about the weather a fair bit on Opshop's second album, Second Hand Planet, but given the choice between remaining indoors or risking being soaked by a combination of truck and sodden Auckland street, you suspect he'd opt for the former.
Having stepped outside during filming with TV3's Pulp Sport crew earlier this week, the front man and songwriter for the Auckland-based pop-rock quartet nonetheless basks in something akin to a self-induced glow.
The past 12 months have been good to Opshop: Second Hand Planet has spent 56 successive weeks in the New Zealand album charts, while first single Maybe and, more recently, One Day have been similarly hard to dislodge.
Despite having just returned from a whirlwind trip to London - the band left on a Monday, played a gig on the Wednesday and was back in New Zealand by last Saturday - Kerrison says he's looking forward to the band's national tour, an 18-gig journey that includes Dunedin and Queenstown..
When Kerrison last spoke to the Otago Daily Times, during New Zealand Music Month 2007, Second Hand Planet had just been released.
A year on, the album has gone double platinum with sales of more than 30,000. As of this week's Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (Rianz) album charts, it was sitting at number 21.
Singles Maybe and One Day have also enjoyed significant chart success.
Maybe, the first song by a New Zealand band to reach No 1 on online music store iTunes (in April 2007), spent 42 weeks in the NZ top 40, peaking at No 3. It is now the most played song in the history of New Zealand radio. One Day spent 30 weeks in the top 40, peaking at No 4.
For six successive weeks, from December 17 to January 21, Opshop had both singles in the top 40.
All this suggests a rather large growth spurt in the life cycle of Opshop. With that has come a few growing pains, and band members have had to make some tough decisions regarding their day jobs.
"It's the old economy-of-scale situation," explains Kerrison, who was operations manager and an announcer with Auckland-based radio network KiwiFM.
"The bigger you get, the more you have to put into it. I've certainly loved having a broadcasting career and it is probably something I'll go back to.
"But with what has happened to Opshop in the past year and the connections we've made with people . . . it has got to a point where we've had to choose whether this is us for the long haul. It's been an interesting journey.
"We're all bums these days - professional bums. The reality is, we don't know how long this is going to last. We'll reassess every now and then. But for now it makes sense to be on the same page . . .
"I think you want to take your music or art to as many folk as you can, and there is a certain investment in that as well. Being from the antipodes and trying to break markets around the rest of the world . . . it's an expensive proposition."
Those decisions regarding careers and commitment are a reflection of the strength of the relationships among band members.
"We've all been good close friends for near on a decade," Kerrison says. "Also, as well as being creative partners, we've also been business partners.
"I guess like any venture, you've got to take the opportunities when they arise and I think we've become closer because of that . . . I guess we've taken the bull by the horns, if you like, and taken more of an interest in our own business affairs."
Kerrison cites Opshop's visa problems in the United Kingdom last month as just one reason band members need to take an active role in managing their own affairs.
The quartet had to cancel several shows after they were refused entry at Heathrow Airport and forced to return to New Zealand.
Siren record label representative Tracy Magan said management thought the band could travel under the country's visa-waiver programme, but recent changes to British immigration laws meant documentation was required.
"There have been a number of things, really. In regards to the visas, our drummer, Bobby Kennedy, called it `management malfunction'.
"It made us realise that, at the end of the day . . . those with the most interest are us. People say 'you're musicians; you don't have to worry about money'.
"It's not called the music business for no reason; it's a tangible thing. We've been acutely aware of what that means in the past few months."
Kerrison comes from a musical background.
Born in Invercargill, he was exposed to a diet that comprised equal measures of country music and Catholic hymns.
His father played in covers bands. He spent his teenage years in Christchurch, attending Hillmorton High School and Catholic boys school St Bedes, where he met fellow guitarists Matt Treacy and Tim Skeddon and formed a band with a taste for Living Colour songs.
Years passed, and the members went their separate ways. Kerrison found himself in Auckland where he played a solo residency in a backpackers' bar.
Eventually, Skeddon, then drummer Bobby Kennedy and Treacy joined the outfit. By 2002, expatriate Briton Ian Munroe (bass) was part of the line-up and thus Opshop was born.
The group signed to Siren Records in 2003 and released debut album You Are Here the following year.
The time between that album and Second Hand Planet saw the departure of Skeddon and Munroe. A new bass player, Clint Harris, was brought in but Skeddon wasn't replaced, the band deciding to continue as a four-piece.
It is that line-up (Kerrison, Kennedy, Treacy and Harris) which was responsible for Second Hand Planet, a slick effort produced by Greg Haver, whose credits include Manic Street Preachers, Tom Jones, and Catatonia, among others.
Yet, despite the pride Kerrison has for the 11 songs on Second Hand Planet, he's also keen to move on a bit.
Hence the group's national tour will also provide members with a chance to capture some of their creativity.
"When we head out on this tour, we'll be taking a 24-track recorder. We won't be recording the shows but we will be setting aside time every day to write new material. Hopefully, we'll have about 18 hours worth of jam material to review when we've finished and look at putting a new album together," Kerrison says.
"When you go out on tour you end up becoming a bit of a parody of yourself. It's nice to keep that interest there, to keep that creative initiative."
As his band's profile has grown, so, too, has Kerrison's approach to penning a tune.
"I've experimented with different types of mediums to make music . . . what I'm finding is the studio is the writing tool these days.
"It used to be a guitar, a pick, a piece of paper and a cassette recorder. Then you'd take it to the boys in the band room; they'd deconstruct it, accessorise it and you'd end up with a song.
"These days, I'm turning up with more complete songs. That's not to say we won't rip them to pieces and throw them into the Opshop machine which, of course, we will. But we'll find out over the next 18 dates or so just how they turn out."
Though there have been plenty of gigs in the past year, a few shine bright in the memory.
"There have been so many highlights. It has been an extraordinary year for us. We've been riding a fantastic little crest, and may the surfing continue. I'd have to say the Greymouth gig was right up there," Kerrison says, recalling the "Little Town, Big Gig" concert that signalled the end of New Zealand Music Month.
"The train trip across . . . I haven't done that in a good decade or so. That part of the country is so gorgeous. There is that cherry-on-the-top stuff in that you have a job that can take you around and see the world.
"We played in Dubai last year; that was pretty amazing. We played at the House of Blues [Los Angeles] this year - to a pretty full-on room. I won't go into how many big chiefs were in the room but, just to illustrate, there was a guy who turned down the Police and signed Madonna.
"Now I'm working with Seal's drummer and Madonna's guitarist on a project as well, which is a bit of fun . . .
"But the Greymouth thing was pretty cool. We got a powhiri when we came across in the train and that was pretty amazing.
"But it was like being in the Wiggles when we played that night. It was crazy. The kids were just going off, making up dance moves to Opshop songs. It was a little bit weird."
The West Coast is not on the tour schedule over the next couple of weeks, although the band is covering most bases between Auckland and Invercargill.
Kerrison is hoping for some snow when the band is in Queenstown so he can put in a few hours on the slopes.
The South Island-raised musician is packing plenty of warm clothes for the tour.
"For sure. I'm already in my thermals, mate, and I'm in Auckland. I've got soft."
