Wellington Music: The Eighth Note - Don and The Divorcees
An interview with Pōneke band Don and The Divorcees, whose debut album, 'Bit Players', is due out in April.
Band logo by Alex
Who are you? Tell us a bit about your music:
Don and the Divorcees is a collaboration among Te-Whanganui-a-Tara singer/songwriters and multi instrumentalists Don Mackay, Hollie Wright and Beans Wright (no relation).
The three friends had from time to time performed together in various ad hoc combinations, giving rise to the decision to work together as a trio, with each bringing their own compositions to the team. As each tends to write a slightly different style of song, the unifying element of their sound comes from the tight vocal harmonies over multiple stringed instruments. While this gives breadth and variety to their live performances, it does make the band, in marketing terms, seriously genre non-compliant.
Since they debuted the line-up during the winter of 2023 the band has performed regularly around the broader Wellington area, at music venues, around the local folk scene, and at local festivals (most recently headlining on the Songwriters Stage at the Newtown Festival 2025).
What have you been working on lately? Any new tracks or albums on the way?
Back in June last year, we recorded our debut album, Bit Players. Our first single, Seventeen, is out now on all the usual digital channels. The album will be released initially on CD on 13 April, with a digital release later in mid 2025. We’ll be releasing a couple more singles before then, so follow us to keep informed on when these are coming out.
"Seventeen" Single on Spotify
Where is the best place people can follow you & find your music?
The best place to get information on our goings on is our Facebook page, Don and the Divorcees. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for live videos from our gigs, or follow us on Spotify or Apple Music to listen to the latest releases.
What were the 3 most influential albums to you growing up?
Hollie: I first started finding my voice by singing along to Eva Cassidy’s Songbird (link is for Vinyl). Later on I discovered John Martyn’s Solid Air, and loved his heartfelt unpolished style. Portishead’s Dummy featured heavily on one of my mum’s mix tapes for long car journeys, which introduced me to ethereal vocals and synths.
Beans: Chris de Burgh cassette tape of various tracks - very theatrical! Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour: A mixture of absurdity and story telling with interesting character depictions. Original cast recording of Phantom of the Opera! Did musical theatre degree for context!
Don: Dylan - Blonde on Blonde, Grateful Dead - American Beauty, Gram Parsons - GP; all boomer classics I am afraid.
(Interviewer aside: All catalogue links above are for CDs, unless otherwise indicated.)
Which other Wellington musician (s) would you most like to work with?
Beans: Has done the rounds with most of Wellington’s folk circuit already - the musical equivalent of the town bicycle!
Don: I’m pretty promiscuous and am generally flattered enough to say yes to anyone who wants to play with me.
Album cover
Debut album 'Bit Players" available as a limited edition CD from April 13th.
What’s your favourite Wellington venue to play in?
We love Moon in Newtown and consider it our home venue, since Don ran the Songwriter’s Showcase there every month for 6 years! Also Vogelmorn Upstairs is a gorgeous little venue with great vibes.
In your songwriting or composing (or the band’s songwriting) how do the compositions and songs take shape?
We each work on our own songs separately then bring them to the band to add in the other parts. This will usually start with some vocal harmonies and a bassline, before adding another layer of either guitar or mandolin.
Beans: Used to run a songwriter’s round table, which will be started up again soon. A good opportunity to bring ideas to a group and get feedback and help to progress it
Don: If you sit quietly in the garden for long enough a bird will come and sit on your hand. Really though, I am not quite sure, they just happen.
Where/when is your next gig?
We’ll be releasing the album on CD in time for our last gig for a little while, at Moon on April 13th, as Hollie will be heading back to the UK for family reasons. We intend to pick up where we left off when she’s back though!