PRESS RELEASES
THE FLIGHT OF THE CROWS
Takaka rockers building a nest of new music
by Stan Humphries
Band members:
Levity Beet: (Beet Mohua): Guitar, bass, vocals and production
Alan Johnson: Drums, percussion, drum technology
Carlton (Carl) McRae: vocals, rhythm guitar
Jason Selby: lead guitar
Peter Kearns (keyboards on Spellbound)
The NZ rock band, A Murder of Crows, are from the small town of Takaka, Golden Bay. Three of them even live on the same street!!
While Levity Beet is widely recognised in New Zealand for his award-winning children’s music, this specific project represents a different, rock-focused direction for him. Levity has spent over two decades creating warm-hearted music for young audiences. Beyond his own performing career, he is an active songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist (and highly inventive instrument maker).
He has achieved significant recognition, including being a three-time winner of the APRA Children’s Song of the Year and a two-time Tui Children’s Musician of the Year.
Alan Johnson is highly respected around Golden Bay as a top-tier, go-to session and collaborative drummer. He is widely known for his versatility, precision and ability to lock down a groove - across widely different genres. More than just a time-keeper, Alan's snare crack and explosive fills brought a completely fresh, modern edge to the Christchurch scene, when a member of 3D during the '80's.
In fact, Levity has publicly credited Alan’s drumming for helping shape the definitive sound on several award-winning children tracks, providing the exact driving drum tracks he had been trying to achieve for 20 years.
Carl McRae is a veteran NZ multi-talented creative. He is an experienced singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actor, poet, author and film editor, who has spent roughly four decades deeply embedded in the kiwi arts scene. As a songwriter, he is highly regarded for treating music as a deeply personal medium and he brings that brooding, dramatic indie-pop theatrical energy from his days in Wellington with The Pagans, circa 1989/90.
Jason Selby, whose outstanding guitar work is evident on 'Dirty Coal', is a local Takaka musician who is an active part of the vibrant, close-knit Golden Bay arts and culture community. Grassroots musicians in this region, like Jason, frequently play together, in multi-instrumentalist fashion, as spontaneous jam partners.
He was a founding member of one of the Bay's musical institutions, the ska/punk/reggae influenced 'State of It', during the early 90's (Carl was also involved with this band).
COLLECTING SPARKLES
A CABINET OF SONIC CURIOSITIES
Takaka's, A Murder of Crows, eye a 'shiny' new release.
by Stan Humphries.
'Curiosities, Rarities and Shiny Things' is absolutely the ultimate title for the debut work by Takaka based rock band, A Murder of Crows.
Curiosities - experimental tracks and spoken word pieces. Rarities - desk mixes that have spent decades sitting on old master tapes. Shiny Things - brand new, polished studio recordings.
It is a retrospective cabinet of wonders that connects their eclectic pasts and grounds it in Golden Bay/Mohua, 2026.
When you look at the alchemy of this specific group, they cover every single base required to make something truly memorable. They are capable of producing a spectacular, world class independent record.
Levity Beet is the perfect connective tissue for this entire project.
As the architect, he brings technical brilliance and sonic imagination. An award winning producer who specialises in unique, rich textures, he won’t just hit 'record', he will find the exact sonic space to make the new shiny things shimmer.
Alan Johnson’s drumming is perfect. A grounded, rock solid and organic rhythm, a heavy, driving pulse.
Carl McRae's raw emotional core means the songs will have a genuine, fiery soul that cannot be faked.
The raw songwriting chemistry between the Crows has hit on something genuinely transcendent. Their next release, ‘Spellbound’, carries some serious magic and it is clear that Carl’s deep regard for his longtime muse, has been translated into a powerful piece of music. Levity is doing world-class work capturing that spark right out of the gate.