Don McGlashan

Donald McGlashan (born 18 July 1959) is a New Zealand composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist who Is best known for membership in the bands Blam Blam Blam, The Front Lawn, and The Mutton Birds, before going solo.

He has also composed for cinema and television.

Among other instruments, McGlashan has played guitar, drums, euphonium and French horn.

McGlashan has played with percussion group From Scratch, and bands The Bellbirds, The Plague, and composed pieces for New Zealand's Limbs Dance Company.

At the University of Auckland, McGlashan studied English and music, and played French horn and percussion in the Auckland Symphonia (later called the Auckland Philharmonia) from 1979 to 1982.

McGlashan began working with Philip Dadson's percussion group From Scratch in 1979, while playing in the Auckland Symphonia.

McGlashan played a number of eclectic percussion instruments, such as the thongophone (PVC piping struck with jandals); the name of the group came from the fact that they produced their own instruments 'from scratch'.

His first hits were with band Blam Blam Blam in the early 1980s.

He later released four albums as lead singer and writer for The Mutton Birds.

He is the 2023 inductee to the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.

McGlashan was born in Auckland, New Zealand.

Both his parents were teachers: his father Bain taught civil engineering at Auckland Technical Institute and his mother Alice was a schoolteacher.

McGlashan was actively encouraged to pursue music from a young age by his father, who bought him various musical instruments to learn on.

McGlashan wrote "Envy of Angels" as a tribute to his father.

At age seven McGlashan began on cello and piano, "then gradually added more instruments to that. [I] went through the tune-a-day for whatever instrument it was, for just about every instrument I think."

McGlashan attended Westlake Boys' High School, on Auckland's North Shore.

While at high school he began playing keyboard in local bands.

"I carried on sort of following those two strands – of learning how to write songs, learning how to be in a band, learning all the sort of extra musical stuff that you have to learn – and on the other side I was learning the French horn."

In 1981, McGlashan replaced Ian Gilroy in punk band The Whizz Kids, who rechristened themselves Blam Blam Blam.

McGlashan's song "Don't Fight It Marsha, It's Bigger Than Both of Us" reached #17 in the New Zealand charts.

Local music magazine Rip It Up deemed it 'best single of the year', and readers voted McGlashan drummer of the year.

On Standards, the album he jointly produced with Ivan Zagni for Propeller Records in 1982, he is credited as playing bass guitar, horn, whistle, percussion, marimba and vocals.

In March 1985, a group formed for the purpose, Left, Right and Centre, released a single, "Don't Go", a protest against the proposed All Blacks tour of South Africa.

The song was written by Don McGlashan, Frank Stark and Geoff Chapple.

McGlashan, Chris Knox and Rick Bryant were the main vocalists.

McGlashan formed multi-media group The Front Lawn with Harry Sinclair.

The duo (in their late stages a trio, thanks to the addition of actor Jennifer Ward-Lealand) won acclaim for theatre shows which combined music with physical comedy.

McGlashan's song "Andy", written in memory of his late brother, was later listed among the APRA Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time.

McGlashan and Sinclair also made and starred in short films Walk Short (in which each played multiple roles), The Lounge Bar and 1990's Linda's Body.

By now Sinclair was growing increasingly interested in directing, while McGlashan was keen to return to the live circuit.

He had also begun composing for the screen.

David Long moved from Wellington to Auckland to work with McGlashan, and the two began working together and auditioning drummers.

After playing their first gig on St Patrick's Day 1991 with a session drummer, Steve Garden, they heard about Ross Burge and convinced him to move back to New Zealand from New York to join The Mutton Birds.

The band began to become successful—"Anchor Me" won McGlashan the 1994 Silver Scroll Award—and later moved to the UK.

However, while the Mutton Birds received acclaim from UK critics and music magazines, they failed to achieve mainstream success.

Eventually they disbanded, and McGlashan returned to New Zealand.

McGlashan's first solo album, Warm Hand, was released in May 2006.

It was nominated for an NZ Music Award for album of the year, and debut single "Miracle Sun" was a nominee for New Zealand's supreme songwriting award, the APRA Silver Scroll.

In March 2009, the album Marvellous Year was released through Arch Hill Records.

The album is credited to Don McGlashan & the Seven Sisters, a band which had begun when he toured Warm Hand.