Ian Chapman

Ian Chapman's musical interests lay primarily in contemporary rock music, in particular glam rock and the work of David Bowie. In 2005 he completed a masters thesis examining Bowie's invention of the Ziggy Stardust performance persona, comparing the artist's performance style during the glam rock era to Berlin cabaret during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Currently he is in the final year of his PhD, conducting an interdisciplinary (art historical / musical) analysis of Bowie's album covers, 1967 - 1980.

A drummer, vocalist and guitarist, Ian has been a professional musician since 1980. During his career he has worked with many rock, jazz and cabaret acts and also performed with artists including Rob Guest, Brendan Dugan and Billy T James. Ian also studied classical guitar and composition at Otago in the early nineties and is a published composer of songs and television/radio jingles.

Since 2007 his main research and performance activity has centered around the development of the Dr Glam performance persona, an unabashed exploration of glittery interdisciplinarity. While initially created as a means of providing a performance platform for one of the worlds newest musical instruments, the Swiss-made, hang drum, the Dr Glam figure has evolved into a fictional, theatrical/musical assemblage of popular culture touchstones, becoming a model for performative reinvention and self-expression. Plus, his makeup is to die for. Check it out at www.drglam.co.nz.

Doctor Glam

Dr Glam's 'Glitterspreader' cd/dvd album was released in 2008 and features the hang drum in original compositions written by the doc' and others, performed by some of New Zealand's finest jazz musicians. Also, as Dr Glam, Ian Chapman has just completed a book on New Zealand in the 1970s, to be published by Harper Collins NZ on October 1st, 2009.

Titled 'Glory Days; from gumboots to platforms', the book is a visual and textual grab-bag of 1970s eclecticism, loosely outlining the struggles of a country (and of a boy) coming of age in flamboyant and confusing times.

Having done dastardly things to the jazz idiom on 'Glitterspreader', Dr Glam is now firmly ensconced back in his more familiar world of rock music, and a second album - a glam/goth hybrid - is being recorded for release in 2010.

Teaching: MUSI 132, MUSI 145, MUSI 185, MUSI 235, MUSI 245, MUSI 345, MUSI 385, MUSI 407, MUSI 431, PERF 201/301, ENG 219

Conference presentations:

David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust: I Could make a transformation as a rock'n'roll star Combined NZMS & MSA Conference, Music and Locality: towards a local discourse in music, Wellington, NZ (November, 2003)
Ziggy Stardust: Life is a Cabaret Symposium of the International Musicological Society, Melbourne, Australia (July, 2004)
Dressed To Kill: An Interpretation Of Kiss Album Covers. Australian Musicological Society Conference, Music and Social Justice, Sydney, Australia. (October, 2005)
Suzi Quatro: Just One Of The ~~Boys,~~ ~~Girls~~ . . . er . . . Boys. International Association for the Study of Popular Music Australian & NZ Conference, Wellington. (December, 2005)
Black Singlets And Silver Sequins: Dodging The Glam Rock Bullets, Kiwi-style. Australian Musicological Society Conference, Music as Local Tradition and Regional Practice, Armidale, Australia. (September, 2006)
It Came From Outer Space: The Hang Drum - instrument, style and performance practice. International Association for the Study of Popular Music Australian & NZ Conference, Music on the Edge: University of Otago, Dunedin. (Nov/Dec, 2007)
Luncheon on the Grass with Manet and Bow Wow Wow: Still Disturbing after all these Years. University of Otago conference, Re-thinking Music in art: New Directions in Music Iconography, Dunedin, New Zealand. (June, 2008)

Book Chapters:

KISS: Alive! An iconographical approach to album cover analysis. In Asbjørn Grønstad & Øyvind Vågnes (eds). Coverscaping: Discovering Album Aesthetics - Museum of Tuscalanum Press (University of Copenhagen). Publication Sept 2009. ISBN 978 87 635 0774 5.

Books

Glory Days: From gumboots to platforms Harper Collins NZ Ltd. Auckland, New Zealand. (October , 2009) ISBN 978 18 695 0728 2

Albums

Dr Glam Presents Glitter Spreader CD&DVD. Ode records, Auckland, New Zealand. (September, 2008) ISBN 942 10 242 1305 3

Affiliations:

Member of New Zealand Musicological Society
Member of Australian Musicological Society
Member of International Association for the Study of Popular Music
Writer Full member of Australasian Performing Right Association Ltd
Associate of the Institute of Registered Music Teachers of New Zealand