First Reserve

Wellington-based indie artist First Reserve — the project of songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Connaghan — has quickly built a presence within Aotearoa’s independent music scene through a mix of heartfelt songwriting and an energetic live show. Originally from Queenstown, Connaghan moved to Wellington in 2021 to study music at Massey University, where the foundations of the First Reserve project began to take shape before officially launching in late 2023. Since then, the project has steadily gathered momentum through a string of releases and performances around the capital and beyond.

Blending elements of rock, indie folk and pop, First Reserve’s music is rooted in an intimate songwriting process that typically begins alone with an acoustic guitar. Drawing inspiration from personal relationships and everyday experiences, Connaghan’s songs are confessional in tone while remaining stylistically fluid from track to track. Alongside the music, First Reserve has also developed a distinctive visual identity on stage, with bold eye makeup and a theatrical performance style — influenced in part by a background in school theatre — becoming a recognisable part of the project’s live presence.

When did you realise that you wanted to start your own music project?

Well, I'd played in bands for most of my life since high school. So it was always something that I knew I was inevitably gonna do. And after pretty much doing nothing in 2023, I was going kind of crazy. So that's how I knew it was time to start something.

Who's your biggest musical influence?

I think just throughout my life it's probably been Stella Donnelly, She's just one of my heroes. You know, her lyrics, songwriting, everything. I think she's the best.

So what genre would you use to describe yourself?

Anywhere between kind of like rock and indie folk and kind of pop really. Those are like the main genres I'm listening to on a day-to-day basis, and I think that they all kind of manifest in my songwriting. But from song to song, it's usually a different vibe. I'm pretty bad at staying consistent.

What is your songwriting process? What do you start with?

It's usually just me alone in the room with an acoustic guitar. I think the more isolated I am, the easier it is to be kind of confessional and honest with lyric writing and stuff. And also I'm just kind of an introvert as well, to be honest, so I find it better for songwriting.

What do you write about? What inspires the lyrics in your songs?

Just, just whatever is going on in my life. I think a lot of my songs are very much about the relationships I have with people — in any kind of capacity. And I also, I just draw inspiration from kind of my own existence, I guess.

So when you're writing a song how much of it are you doing on your own and how much do you work out with the band?

Well, I guess more recently I've been finishing up the songs first. I'll never show the band a song unless it's fully finished,  at least on an acoustic guitar and with vocals.

But yeah, these days it's, it's more like I'll do that and then kind of have a draft of it ready in the studio. And that just serves as a basis for teaching it to my band. And, we change things together to make things make sense in a live context. But a lot of it is just based off that first acoustic run and what comes out of the studio in a demo.

So if someone was listening to you for the first time, what song should they start with?

Maybe off the last EP, especially either Time Song or Me & My Friends. I think they both get the general vibe across where it's like a bit pop, a bit kind of emo, and then with some rock elements as well.

What are your favourite songs to perform live at the moment?

Well, we just played Newtown Festival and we played a couple of new songs for the first time. So I think anything that feels new is really fun. 

You wear this very distinctive make-up when you perform. Did that take a while to land on that aesthetic? How did you kind of end up with that as your signature style?

I think I stumbled into that aesthetic by not really knowing how to do eyeliner very well. You can see in photos that it looks very different from when I started to now. No two shows are the same.

I think it helps me get more into character when I'm performing and make it feel a little bit more of a persona. I think it is purely for me just to help me feel more comfortable with the process of performing.

And now it's kind of part of the brand now and that's really cool. Um, yeah. And it reminds me of my favourite animals, which are raccoons.

Is there any non-musical influences that really like inspire your performances or the music that you make?

Well, I did do a fair bit of theatre growing up, or at least like in high school, I was pretty interested in that and I always want to bring an element of that into my performance, whether it just be like gestures or, or maybe a certain energy that I bring to the stage. I would say that that probably manifests itself in my performance.

I basically just wanted to be good and entertaining and I think that making it theatrical is a pretty easy way to do that.

Is there any dream venues or festivals that you'd love to play?

There’s so many! Um, I've always wanted to play Primavera sound in Spain. I've also just really wanted to go to that, but playing it would be a total dream. And I'd be really keen to play outside of Aotearoa as well, and take the band on the road internationally. That would be the dream for me.

What about a dream collaboration?

Oh my gosh. Right now, I've been listening to so much of an artist called Allegra Krieger, and to work with her on a song one day would be pretty incredible. I think she's just such an insane songwriting force.

So you're playing CubaDupa at the end of the month. Is there anything else coming up?

Yeah, there's quite a bit in the pipeline, but it's not in the world of the announced yet, I guess. But yeah, we do have CubaDupa coming up and then a show really soon after that. And then later on this year there might be some new music and more shows and stuff. But yeah, stuff is coming, I’m still finishing it up at the moment. But it is coming.

You can find First Reserve on Instagram @imfirstreserve