“Seven of the songs have been used in a film called The Last Paradise,” says Wastney. “It’s about a documentary on Kiwi sport pioneers and it’s got a real environmental message about it.

“The movie has been touring around some film festivals in America; the Arlington Theatre sold three thousand tickets for their first showing.”

The producer of the film, who lives in New Plymouth, set up a competition for musicians to get a song on the movie and received over two and half thousand entries.

The movie is making its way around New Zealand and will be available in some art house movie theatres in May. More details can be found at www.lastparadisefilm.com

“Up until the last few months I’ve been living in New Plymouth and have done most of my writing and recording there,” says Wastney. “I’ve been touring in Australia maybe one or twice a year for the last four years and now I’m setting up a base in Melbourne. That’s where I want to live, but I’ll still tour and play New Zealand.

“Melbourne, in the Austra-lian music scene, is probably the vibrant place to be at the moment. It’s got lots of arts and little cafes and shows, there’s enough going to keep you quite busy. I lived in Sydney for four years while I was doing my visual arts degree, it’s a little stuffy and lots of concrete. Melbourne is more like Christchurch or Wellington.”

Despite growing up playing the piano in his local church, Wastney is fairly new to the professional music scene.

“I guess I started later in the game,” he says. “It was six or seven years ago when I first picked up a guitar and it was two years later before I went fulltime with my music. I started playing piano when I was about five years old and went right through the grades but I got completely sick and tired of all the exams and spending all my time indoors practising so I got into sports like windsurfing and mountain biking and running. The whole music side just stopped until I was about 27 years old when I picked up a guitar and I just loved it.”

After a time of busking and open mic nights, Wastney got on board an American cruise liner as a musician which allowed him to save enough money to take his music full time.

“I decided I wanted to do this as a fulltime job, to do bigger concerts and sing songs about hope, songs that inspire people and make people feel better, songs that have got a bit of depth to them because I guess I’m quite a deep person. I like music that sounds beautiful,” says Wastney. “I believe in wearing your heart on your sleeve, that what you believe in should change what type of music you play. I think if you’re writing music that’s from the heart it will always come out showing where you’re at. You have to learn to stay true to yourself.

“All my songs have got a real Christian meaning to them. Every single one of them I’ve played in churches as a guest artist or at a baptism or a wedding and I’ve played the same ones in a bar. They’re hope-filled songs about life and personal experiences. I’ve struggled with burnout and with being just really lonely on the road. I had to work my way through what it means to be out in the world on my own and learning how to forgive. There are also times when inspiration just flows out of me and I don’t sleep for days. A couple of weeks ago I wrote four songs in one day. It’s completely amazing to be used as a channel for music that people will listen to if they’ve had a hard day at work or if they’ve lost a loved one and they need a little bit of a pick-up, it’s an awesome walk, all credit to God.”

Although his music has a Christian message at it’s core, Wastney is careful not to be exclusive. “I make a point of not making the lyrics so obvious it excludes people that might be looking at Christians in a different light and I’m really aware of that. I’m always trying to say that I’m a musician who is a Christian,” says Wastney. “If I didn’t have a faith in God I wouldn’t be able to do what I do, I wouldn’t be able to tap into the songs and be able to cope with it. I couldn’t do it without him. I also get a lot of support from churches and from my family.”