Biography
Don McGlashan (born 18 July 1959, Auckland) is one of New Zealand’s most celebrated and versatile musicians — a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and film composer whose career spans more than four decades. Classically trained on French horn and percussion, he played second horn for the Auckland Symphonia (now the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra) and was a member of Philip Dadson’s experimental percussion ensemble From Scratch from 1979 to 1986. But it was his restless shift into pop songwriting and performance art that would define his extraordinary trajectory through New Zealand music.
In 1980, McGlashan co-founded Blam Blam Blam with guitarist Mark Bell and bassist Tim Mahon. The Auckland trio became the quintessential art-pop band of the early 1980s New Zealand scene, blending sharp political and cultural commentary with new wave energy. Their single “Don’t Fight It Marsha, It’s Bigger Than Both of Us” reached number 17 on the NZ charts and was named Single of the Year at the 1982 New Zealand Recording Industry Awards. After Blam Blam Blam disbanded, McGlashan formed the multimedia duo The Front Lawn with actor Harry Sinclair in 1985. The pair combined music, theatre, physical comedy, and film, performing twice at the Edinburgh Festival and winning The Independent newspaper’s Theatre Award in 1988. McGlashan’s song “Andy”, written for his late brother, was later listed among the APRA Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time.
I think of writing a song like handcrafting a beautiful tool, a kitchen knife or something like that — it’s gotta feel good in your hand.
Don McGlashan, Under the Radar, 2022
In 1991 McGlashan launched The Mutton Birds, the group that would bring him his widest audience. The band swept the 1993 NZ Music Awards, winning Best Album, Best Single, and Best Group. His song “Anchor Me” won the APRA Silver Scroll in 1994 — New Zealand’s top songwriting honour. Signed to Virgin Records UK in 1995, the group relocated to London and toured relentlessly, with their 1997 album Envy of Angels making The Sunday Times’ ten best records of the year list. Despite critical acclaim, commercial breakthrough remained elusive, and the band wound down by 2002.
Parallel to his band work, McGlashan built a distinguished career as a film and television composer. His credits include the score for Jane Campion’s An Angel at My Table (1990), the TV drama series Street Legal (2001–2004, winning the NZ AFTA Award for best score in 2003), and from 2017 onward the children’s animation show Kiri and Lou — reuniting him with Harry Sinclair. McGlashan’s solo career began with Warm Hand in 2006, followed by Marvellous Year (2009, with The Seven Sisters), Lucky Stars (2015), and Bright November Morning (2022). The latter, recorded with his band The Others — Shayne P. Carter, Chris O’Connor, and James Duncan — became his first ever number one album on the NZ charts.
Don McGlashan is an astute storyteller of poignant parables told with enviable lyrical flair. He points to the universal through the specific. Melodically, he is subversive yet purposeful, often making deliberately ‘offbeat’ choices to mark songs as his own.
Stuff, 2022
McGlashan was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2023 and received an Arts Foundation Laureate Award in 2002. In 2019 he toured New Zealand with a reformed Blam Blam Blam, and in early 2020 The Mutton Birds also reunited for a sold-out national tour. In 2025 he was the subject of the feature-length documentary Anchor Me — The Don McGlashan Story. He continues to write, record, and perform, most recently touring as a duo with Anita Clark.
Bandcamp
Members
- Anita Clark (violin/vocals, Motte)
- Shayne P. Carter (guitar, Straitjacket Fits, Dimmer)
- Sean Donnelly (bass, SJD)
- James Duncan (bass/keyboards)
- Don McGlashan (vocals/guitar/euphonium/keyboards, Blam Blam Blam, The Front Lawn, The Mutton Birds)
- Chris O’Connor (drums/percussion)
- John Segovia (pedal steel guitar)
Discography
- Warm Hand LP (2006, Arch Hill Recordings, AHR024)
- Marvellous Year LP (2009, Arch Hill Recordings, AHR038)
- Lucky Stars LP (2015, self-released, DC001)
- Live In The Lab Live (2016, self-released)
- Bright November Morning LP (2022, self-released, DC003)
- Take It To The Bridge Live (2025, self-released, DC004LP)