The first song I remember hearing
The Monkees – ‘(Theme From) The Monkees’
“I watched the show as a kid, when I was five or six years of age. And I think my mum got me a cassette tape, ‘Best Of The Monkees’. It was the very first pop music that I remember identifying with.”
The first album I bought
Prince – ‘Batman’
“This was the first time I went to a record store with the intention of buying something. It was from a Sam Goody chain store, which was a smaller American version of HMV. You’d find them in malls. It’s possible that I was on location in Baltimore filming [Oscar-nominated 1990 drama] Avalon [directed by Barry Levinson]… I have an older brother who’s seven years older than me, and he’s a huge Prince fan. So I was born and bred on Prince.”
The first gig I went to
The Smashing Pumpkins at Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, 1996
“It was on the Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness tour and Garbage opened for them. I was just about to turn 16 and it was absolutely incredible. It was at that time when Billy [Corgan] basically wore the ‘Zero’ shirt for the better part of two or three years. It was also the first time he shaved his head. I was a huge, huge Pumpkins fan and so for them to be my first concert was so appropriate.”
The songs that remind me of home
Daimi – ‘Jeg Kommer’
Gal Costa – ‘Baby’
“Home could be Los Angeles, it could be New Zealand… but really it’s wherever my wife and my kids are. These two songs stand out. ‘Baby’ is just a great Danish pop song that reminds me of my wife.”
Does it remind you of Viggo Mortensen too?
“It’s funny, obviously he’s Danish, but we didn’t talk about it when we were making The Lord Of The Rings because I wasn’t familiar with Danish culture at all. We have a lot to talk about now.”
“The second song is because I love Brazilian music from all eras, but specifically the ‘70s. This is just an iconic song.”
The song I wish I’d written
Aphex Twin – ‘Avril 14th’
“It’s been covered so many times because I think everyone feels the same way about it. It’s deceptively simple but it instantly draws you in – and it’s also an earwig that you cannot get rid of in the best way. I think Kanye sampled it on ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ [the track forms the basis of West’s 2010 song ‘Blame Game’, featuring John Legend.]”
The song I can’t get out of my head right now
Way Dynamic – ‘Miffed It’
“They’re from Melbourne. I think “miffed it” means to kind of mess up. The song seems to be about a love that could have happened but the person effed it up. I just love the instrumentation. I love the drum sound. It’s really catchy. I think I found it on a Spotify playlist. I try not to [discover music that way] because I don’t want the algorithm to be what’s serving me. I prefer recommendations from friends and finding music the good old-fashioned way.”
Who gives good recommendations?
“Sophie [Thatcher] from Yellowjackets. She has exceptional music taste. She’ll fucking school anybody her age, or older. She reminds me of myself a little bit when I was in my twenties, with this voracious appetite for music.”
The song I can no longer listen to
Metallica – ‘Enter Sandman’
“It’s specifically because of my son. He was about four when I introduced him to it and then it became the only song that he wanted to hear for a very long stretch of time. It’s actually not too inappropriate lyrically. It’s a little scary, but there isn’t anything too gnarly.”
The song that makes me want to dance
Tyla – ‘Water’ (Vanco edit)
“This isn’t on any of the streaming platforms but you can hear it on YouTube or buy it on 12-inch vinyl. I credit my friend Zach Cowie, who I DJ with, for introducing me to it. Man, it is such a banger!”
The songs that make me want to cry
Daniel Johnston – ‘True Love Will Find You in the End’
The Langley Schools Music Project – ‘God Only Knows’
“It’s just so tender and vulnerable. I could cry thinking about it. Knowing his story and how innocent and pure he was, but also tortured – it permeates the song. And then The Langley Schools Music Project cover of The Beach Boys. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the record but in the 1970s, there was a teacher that taught kids music at four different elementary schools in Langley School District in British Columbia, Canada. And the way he taught kids was to engage them in playing pop songs of the time. Songs that they knew. And he recorded them and then gave all of the family members vinyl copies of the recording at the end of the school year. Someone found those records and they were re-released in the late ‘90, early 2000s. This one is so heartbreakingly tender, it’s awesome.”
The song I do at karaoke
Stevie Wonder – ‘Superstition’
“I don’t have a good answer for this but I can give you an anecdote. One time I was in Wellington, New Zealand, shooting pickups for The Lord Of The Rings and a bunch of us went out for karaoke. Very naively, I decided I was going to sing ‘Superstition’ by Stevie Wonder. It’s incredibly difficult. A couple of bars in, I realised, ‘Oh dude, you’re out of your depth – you cannot do this.’ But I had to commit to the whole song, and it’s not a short one. So yeah, that was a tragic error on my part.
It wasn’t just friends either – there were locals there as well. It wasn’t a private karaoke booth; it was an open bar situation, so people were definitely watching. They probably knew who we were.
I don’t really remember what the others sang. I mean, if Billy Boyd was there, he probably did a Proclaimers song – and it would’ve been good, too. Billy’s amazing. He can really sing.”
The song I want played at my funeral
Joubert Singers – ‘Stand On The Word’ (Larry Levan mix)
“I’m going for the end of the spectrum that is celebratory rather than miserable. This is an instant uplifter. At my funeral, I want people to leave with a feeling of celebration and happiness. I love that song and I’ve DJ’d it many times out in the world.”
The albums that remind me of filming The Lord Of The Rings
Travis’ ‘The Man Who’, Coldplay’s ‘Parachutes’, The Stone Roses’ ‘The Stone Roses’, Granddaddy’s ‘The Sophtware Slump’ and Beck’s ‘Midnite Vultures’
“Dom [Monaghan], Billy [Boyd], Sean [Astin] and I – who played the four hobbits – talk a lot about how huge music was for us while we were making those films. We always had these case logic [wallets] filled with CDs and would take turns essentially DJing in the morning. We would also go to the local record shop a ton and spend all of our per diems – about $300 a week, enough to get food and a few CDs. Those albums instantly pull me back to that time.”
‘Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come’ is in cinemas from March 20