Track By Track: No Doggy's Debut Album 'Picnic Lunch'

All champions in Tāmaki Makaurau's musical community, No Doggy are the new kids music super team of Stephen Hart, Anya Henis, Peter Smith and Nigel Wright, whose band credits include N. T. Honey, The Crabbs, The Brunettes, P.H.F, and a whole bunch more. They've used the combined power of their imaginations (and some pretty handy skills on their instruments) to create Picnic Lunch, sharing nine irresistibly fun and thoughtful jangle-pop tunes sung in English and sometimes te reo Māori, for listeners small and tall.

No Doggy are playing a Picnic Lunch midday party at Freemans Bay Community Centre on 8th August — accessible to all-ages with free parking available — with rock 'n' soul funsters Thee Golden Geese reuniting especially for the occasion. You can learn all the words beforehand over at Bandcamp and can even download and colour in the poster drawn by Sophie Watson.

Out today on limited edition compact disc via Sunreturn (the Aotearoa independent imprint's first kids music release?), sporting very swish colourful artwork also by Watson, Picnic Lunch was recorded live, mixed and mastered at Ukaipō Studios by James Dansey (Āku Hapa, Chabs & Milky). The No Doggy gang kindly spilled the beans about every single song on Picnic Lunch...

No Doggy!
Picnic Lunch Album Release with Thee Golden Geese
Saturday 8th August - Freemans Bay Community Centre, Auckland
12pm - Doors open
12.30pm - Thee Golden Geese
1.30pm - No Doggy!
Tickets on sale plus more details HERE via UTR (all-ages)

ACCESSIBILITY:
- INDOOR STEP-FREE ACCESSIBLE EVENT SITE
- PUBLIC BATHROOM
- LOUD AMPLIFIED MUSIC
- FREE PARKING AVAILABLE AT PRATT ST CARPARK OR ON HEPBURN ST.
- SEATING AVAILABLE

Walking in the Ngahere

Nothing beats a walk in the ngahere. Your feet get muddy, the air is fresh and there's no better chance to say hello to all the wonderful beings that live there. It's best to save the hardest questions for the oldest and wisest forest dwellers. Trees know more than they let on.

Grubby Buggy Buddies

Kids are the best and least judgemental friends. It doesn't matter if you're tiny or slimy or shy or grubby. You can be my mate, and you can join my family.

Running Raisin

What kid doesn’t love raisins? They are the perfect size for little fingers, come in a tiny box and have so much personality! This song is like the story of the Gingerbread Man. “Stop, don’t eat me, there are so many cool things I can show you!”

Doggy Disco

We had to have a song about dogs. I was imagining a scenario where all the dogs sneak out at night to go to a party in Western Park. If you have ever been to the annual “Woof” parade, you’ll be able to imagine it too. Plus I had just worked out this really cool disco sequence on keyboard.

Rā Whānau

It turns out that everyone has a birthday at least once every year. There are 8.3 billion people in the world, and at least 1.6 billion pets — 9.9 billion birthdays! As a band we are very supportive of this song being sung 9.9 billion times a year.

Hey Hedgehog

Animals with heaps of things are excellent. Counting heaps of things is hard. Our best advice is just to ask. When asked nicely, animals love to talk about how many things they have.

Spooky Forest

Every now and then a forest comes along that's just a little bit spooky. In nearly all cases spooky forests contain the best adventures, but it can help to take a mate with you. Combining your powers of bravery, smarts and toughness makes any spooky forest a great forest.

What do Diggers do all day?

You know, I really don’t know what most of those big machines in the world do but if you're hanging out with a kid they will probably ask you. Why are kids so into diggers? Pretty soon you will start to notice they are everywhere — on the road side, construction site, sitting on a truck flying down the motorway.

Slow Animals

The world moves fast. Sometimes we don't want to or we can't. Let's celebrate all those nice slow animals that take the slow lane. No hurry, no rush, no worries.