Grant Hewison can be found entertaining market goers with his local band, Group Therapy.
How often are you at the Grey Lynn Farmers Market? Every second Sunday, Covid-19 and holidays permitting.
Who is in your band?
There are five of us – Alan, Billy, Geoff, Jo, and me. We are all multi-instrumentalists so we like to mix it up a bit, have a bit of fun, and share around the roles. As well as being one of the main vocalists in the band, I also play guitar, ukulele, drums, harmonica, and I’ve been experimenting with a mini sax. We like to write our own songs too.
What do you like about playing at the market?
It pushes us to keep practicing and improving. It’s fun to be part of the community of regulars and locals enjoying the market. The thing we didn’t expect was the amazing reaction that we have had from children.
What reaction have you had from children?
We noticed that children really enjoy being able to get close to the music, so we have shakers, tambourines and ukuleles that we bring along for them to play. They really picked up on those, so we have added in some songs that suit our younger fans. We’ve been playing at the market for four years and we love seeing our young fans growing up before our eyes.
Have you always been a musician?
Not at all. I owned a guitar when I was a teenager but didn’t really learn to play it. In my 40s, I set myself a goal to learn and it’s been a wonderful journey of lessons, online tips, forming our band, and learning from each other. Playing in the band is very social and it has taught us a lot about listening to each other and respecting the skills of each other. My grandmother learned to play music as an adult, so maybe it runs in the family.
Is music your day job?
No – I’m a lawyer and policy consultant. I have worked for some large law firms but I also had a stint working at Greenpeace many years ago. I also worked at Auckland Council before the creation of the Super City. Now most of my work is social justice type legal work and policy work.
You think of yourself as a lawyer with a focus on social justice.
Yes – I have done a lot of pro bono work supporting South Auckland communities to keep new liquor outlets out of their areas. We’ve been very successful; in the past four years there have been no new liquor outlets opened in vulnerable communities in South Auckland despite some robust attempts. I also do some resource management work and am privileged to also appear before the Waitangi Tribunal on their Kaupapa enquiries into health, housing and mana wahine. I also am pleased to do policy work on climate action for the local board. Here my role has been to activate community action, but also to set broad policy to make change. One of the great successes of that has been the songwriters4climateaction initiative.
And you are also a trustee on the Grey Lynn 2030 Trust.
Yes - that role came out of connections made at the market. GL2030 was inspired by the transition town movement and was born out of a desire to transition away from fossil fuels and toward greater social justice. I love the way that the trust provides a vehicle for locals to initiate community projects that contribute to reducing our climate impact. It’s all about empowering our community to take action.
Why Grey Lynn?
When I moved to Auckland to study law at university, I flatted in Grey Lynn. I have lived here on and off since then. My heart is in Grey Lynn. I love the character of the place, the old villas, pocket reserves, the trees, and the people in our community. I have deep roots here now - family and friends – and music.
GREY LYNN FARMERS MARKET @ the Grey Lynn Community Centre, 510 Richmond Road, www.greylynnfarmersmarket.co.nz
Published 4 March 2022