Q&A WITH BRET MCKENZIE OF FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS

Q. How would you describe South By Southwest to New Zealanders?
A. It's hard to describe this festival. Imagine the Masterton Golden Shears Awards, but multiply it by one thousand and replace the shears with electric guitars. Incredible.

Q. Were you given any good advice by famous (or not so famous) folk at SXSW? Can you share it with us?
A. We spoke to the Canadian electro-sex-punk goddess Peaches and she told us to be ourselves.

Q. What, if any, secrets did you discover about how to "rock it" on stage in the unforgiving American music market?
A. The Americans apparently like things big and loud, so I wore my jersey with horizontal stripes creating an optical illusion of being wider, and Jemaine turned his guitar up.

Q. Some of your gigs were debacles. Have you since considered becoming a non-acoustic band?
A. As an acoustic band people often suggest we go electric, but it didn't work for Dylan. What's he been doing since '65?

Q. Is life on the rock'n'roll road easier for a comedy act? Or vice versa?
A. They say what goes on tour stays on tour but because we had a TV crew following us around, what goes on tour, ends up on TV.

Q. Did you leave Austin in the same shape you found it?
A. Austin was a great city, but I don't think it really noticed us in amongst the thousands of other bands. Most people we talked to hadn't heard of any New Zealand music, some were suprised New Zealand even had bands.

Q. What are you up to at the moment?
A. I'm in New York working on an HBO pilot. It's a cross between Crocodile Dundee, Friends, and Shortland Street.