Strawpeople are a New Zealand band. They were created by Paul Casserly and Mark Tierney after they had met while working at the Auckland university radio station now known as 95 bFM. Over the years, Strawpeople has brought together various New Zealand songwriters, vocalists and musicians in a collaborative effort and achieved some success.

Early years

Strawpeople was created by Paul Casserly and Mark Tierney in 1985 when they were both working at 95bFM. In 1990, Strawpeople released the single "One Good Reason", a cover of The Swingers' song from 1981, which was followed by their debut studio album Hemisphere. In 1992, Strawpeople released Worldservice, which included a cover of "Have a Little Faith", which became their first single and album on the New Zealand charts. The third album Broadcast was released in September 1994 and reached number seven on the New Zealand charts. The single "Sweet Disorder" won the 1995 APRA Silver Scroll Award as well as winning the duo the Songwriting award at the 1996 New Zealand Music Awards. "Sweet Disorder" was voted one of the APRA Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time, and was included on the related Nature's Best 2 CD. In 1996 Tierney left Strawpeople. Casserly began writing with Victoria Kelly. In August 1996, the group released their fourth studio album, Vicarious, which became their most commercially successful album, peaking at number four on the New Zealand albums chart and winning Album of the Year at the 1997 New Zealand Music Awards. In 1997, the group released the remix album, 100 Street Transistors. In April 2000, the group released their fifth studio album No New Messages, followed by the compilation The Best Of 1990>2000 in November of the same year. Their cover of The Cars' "Drive", featured vocals from fellow New Zealand musician Bic Runga and peaked at number 7 on the singles chart. Recorded over a 3 year period, the group released their sixth studio album Count Backwards from 10 in August 2004. In August 2023, Strawpeople released their first album in 20 years, titled Knucklebones recorded at Bigpop studios with long time collaborators Joost Langeveld & Chris van de Geer

Vocalists

The Strawpeople, being a studio based recording outfit, have had a revolving door lineup of vocalists, normally female and from New Zealand. Notable vocalists include Leza Corban, Stephanie Tauevihi, Fiona McDonald (a vocalist from New Zealand band The Headless Chickens).

Discography

Studio albums

Remix albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

Aotearoa Music Awards

The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards) recognise achievements in New Zealand music. ! Ref.