Disciplined folk artist turned sensational Kiwi folk-rock act, Mountain Boy are counting down to the release of their sophomore album ‘The Nights’ later in 2026. In the run up the Waikato-centred six-piece are busily releasing a series of well-received singles. Released in early June, their single Monsters featured on the July NewTracks compilation from NZ On Air Music. Mountain Boy’s foundation stone Aaron Clarke talked to NZM about the song.
Aaron Clarke. I was born in Melbourne, moved to New Zealand 16 years ago. I currently live in Huntly.
I’m half-decent at the guitar. Everything else I’m a dabbler – drums, piano, bass, banjo, mandolin, pedal steel, cello, harmonica.
Yeah. I did a Bachelor of Music at a small tertiary institution called Vision College in Hamilton. There were a lot of great things about that course.
Nope, I’m a one trick pony 🙂
Somewhere in between. Until now I’ve put in almost all the effort, but that’s started to shift in the last few years since I formed the live band. I’ve always been open to the idea of Mountain Boy being more than me.
Back in 2017 I came up with this year-long project to write, record and release a song every week. It sounds so absurd whenever I recount this story like – why the hell did I do it? I think I’ve always been captivated by ideas of discipline and mastery – 10,000 hours you know… When I decided to do it I was at a pretty low point, I think I was looking for something difficult to sink my teeth into. To my surprise people were actually interested and that’s kind’a how I came to be known as an artist – and likewise how I came to feel like I was an artist.
So I named that songwriting project after a mountain because it felt like a mountain, and it was such a life changing and formative year of my life that I wanted a name that acknowledged that. I kind of think of it like, ‘the boy who was made by the mountain’ if you know what I mean!
I also like that it sounds like an archetypal character – like a hero or a messianic figure or something. I think that’s because most of the time I don’t feel anything close to that but it’s like a mantle I can forever strive to be worthy of, and often in my songwriting I’m appealing to the best part of myself – like the kind of person I want to be.
I think it’s more simple… and I mean that in a good way. More to the point, I think I spent a lot of energy trying to be clever and complex, but it always felt convoluted. I think what I strive for now is for every song to feel honest and effortless.
We played this show in Sydney last year. It wasn’t our biggest show or anything special but it was the first time where we felt like we really nailed it, the first time I felt like we were a real band. From the outside looking in there’s probably been way more significant moments… when I opened for The Paper Kites, cracking my first million streams on a song, having my song on a TV show… but honestly that Sydney show is the current highlight of my career. Mastery…
You know honestly it didn’t. I think because of how understated it starts out, I didn’t really think of it as a single. But pretty much everyone I showed the album to had Monsters as one of their favourites – if not their favourite – so I trusted their judgement.
I used to have night terrors when I was younger, from as early as I can remember to like 22 I had them. On the other spectrum I used to have these insane, life-like dreams. Sometimes I would straight up see real things that happened to my friends that I couldn’t have known about. It was like both sides of the coin right…
Anyway one day I kind’a wished them away, and both the night terrors and the dreams stopped (yes, I know how crazy this sounds), until I kind’a learnt how to deal with them. Fast forward to now I have a daughter, and guess what ? She’s a crazy dreamer just like me, terrors and all. The song is just me telling her to not wish it away, to see it as a blessing and know that she can handle it.
Selfishly I love the guitar solo at the end, it’s very fun to play!
I wrote this song by myself andrecorded it with the band at roundhead studios in the B room. Produced by yours truly and my best bud Angus Grainger (who also does front of house for the band).
We recorded the whole album as live takes together as a band, we’d done maybe 4 or 5 takes of Monsters and we went into the mixing room to have a listen. I wasn’t feeling particularly excited about the song but when we all heard those stabs on the big speakers for the first time I got shivers down my spine – which RARELY happens with my own music!
I guess like the story above sometimes you gotta take the good with the bad, but we’ve all got the strength within us to overcome it. If there’s one thing I know about you babe, it’s that you’ve got fight.
Writing and recording a song every week was a pretty quick way to cut my teeth. I’ve always been as interested in recording as I have been in writing. At some point I just got confident enough to start doing it myself and putting my name on things. I record/produce other artists as well, I think I’ve cut about 50 records in the last year including my own.
The band – Bailey Sterling (keys, banjo, BV’s), Daniel Ling (electric guitar), Jordan Scott (drums), Jonas Vallandingham (pedal steel), Steven Upton (bass) and Angus (FOH).
We’re independent. No label, no management, no booking agents. DRM distributes our music for us.
We’ve got the album ‘The Nights’ coming out on August 7, and we’re touring the record around Australia and NZ In October. It’s like the biggest tour we’ve ever done, so wild.
Amber Carly Williams: Put You Down
Kill The Guilt: Goodwill
I Am Afraid: Birdlings Flat
Yes, I’ve received funding from NZOA and Outward Sound funding from NZ Music Commission.
Man, too much advice I think… Show that you have a long term (five year) plan and how whatever you’re applying for works into that. And don’t let your career be dictated by whether or not you get funding, try to make as much stuff happen as you can on your own dime. I think that will make you more likely to get funding anyway.
Tape Notes and Song Exploder are both really good.
Compelling performance content, uploaded regularly, paired with meta ads.
The video was shot by Dexter Cheng and Lachlan Carr from Well Done Studios. There was a possum up in the rafters of the shed watching us the entire time we were shooting the video. Creepy as.
Thanks for a lovely opportunity to reflect on my past and what a wild ride it’s been. Although it still feels very much in its infancy.
