Like many in the arts, performance opportunities for McGlashan were severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, so he is delighted to be on tour, through Australia and now at home, playing with band The Others and engaging with audiences again.
"In many ways it was a luxury to have the album out there and sitting with people for a while before embarking on the tour — and it has had a really good response, which has been great," he said.
The album went straight to the top of the New Zealand charts, becoming McGlashan’s first No 1 album.
"It is a real blessing to know that we are going out on tour with a No 1 record — that’s exciting."
The Dunedin Arts Festival was the ideal opportunity for McGlashan to come to Dunedin again, for the first time in several years, for a one-off performance at Knox Church tomorrow.
He is joined for the show, and the tour, by band The Others, comprising friends and fellow musicians James Duncan, Chris O’Connor, Shayne P Carter, and Anita Clark, whose support he really appreciates.
"It’s a real testament to everyone that they are so willing to help each other out — something that I think has happened more in recent years."
That willingness among New Zealand musicians to collaborate has been vital to a project McGlashan has been working on for the past couple of months — being musical director for "Topp Class: The Topp Twins Tribute Show", to be held in Auckland in November and filmed for a TV special.
Among the performers for the show, which marks 40 years of the Topp Twins’ contribution to show business, will be Tami Neilson, Anika Moa, Ria Hall, Dame Hinewehi Mohi, Troy Kingi, Jackie Clarke, Annie Crummer, McGlashan himself, and the Viva Voce Choir and brass band, who will perform Topp Twins songs with a twist.
"I have been beavering away, scoring Topp Twins music for brass band, which has been fun," McGlashan said.
Dames Linda and Jools Topp, who have both been battling breast cancer, will also appear on stage in the show.
"It’s going to be a very special night, which will really underline the amount of love there is out there for them," McGlashan said.
Another musical project close to his heart is composing the musical scores for children’s animation show Kiri & Lou, written and directed by his old Front Lawn partner, Harry Sinclair. The pair have been working on the award-winning project since 2017, and it now has fans around the world.
