The New Zealand Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by APN News & Media. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand, peaking at over 200,000 copies in 2006, declining to 187,129 by June 2008. Despite the name, its main circulation area is the Auckland region. It is also delivered to much of the north of the North Island including Northland, Waikato and King Country.

The Herald was founded by William Chisholm Wilson and published its first issue on 13 November 1863. In 1876 it was merged with the newspaper The Daily Southern Cross, owned by Alfred Horton, which was first published in 1843 by William Brown as The Southern Cross and which had been a daily since 1862.

The Wilson and Horton families were both represented in the company until 1996 when Tony O'Reilly's Independent News & Media Group of Dublin purchased the Horton family's interest in the company. The Herald is now owned by APN (Australian Provincial Newspapers), which is majority-owned by Independent News & Media.

New Zealand (Māori: Aotearoa) is an island country located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses ‒ that of the North and South Islands ‒ as well as numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans.

During its long isolation, New Zealand developed a distinctive biodiversity of both animal and plant life. Most notable are the large number of unique bird species, many of which became extinct after the arrival of humans and introduced mammals. With a mild maritime climate, the land was mostly covered in forest. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions caused by the Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates clashing beneath the earth's surface.

Turn On the Bright Lights is the debut studio album by American post-punk revival band Interpol, released in August 2002. The album was recorded in November 2001 at Tarquin Studios in Connecticut, and was co-produced, mixed and engineered by Peter Katis and Gareth Jones. It was released on August 19, 2002 in the United Kingdom and August 20 in the United States, through independent record label Matador Records. Upon release, the record peaked at number 101 on the UK Albums Chart. It reached number 158 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, as well as spending 73 weeks in the Billboard Independent Albums, peaking at number five.

"PDA," "NYC," "Obstacle 1" and "Say Hello to the Angels" were the singles from Turn On the Bright Lights, and a video was shot for each with the exception of "Say Hello to the Angels."

The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on August 29, 2011 for shipments of 500,000 copies.

The release of Turn On the Bright Lights was preceded by the marketing of the band's self-titled Interpol EP in June 2002, their first release for Matador. The EP contained three tracks: radio single "PDA", future single "NYC", and "Specialist". All three tracks later appeared on the album, with "Specialist" included as a bonus track in Australian and Japanese editions. Further promotion continued at the beginning of the following year, when the band played the 2003 NME Awards Tour alongside The Datsuns, The Polyphonic Spree and The Thrills.

Shona Laing (born 9 October 1955) is a New Zealand musician. She has had several hits in her native country, as well as a few minor international hits, most notably "(Glad I'm) Not a Kennedy" and "Soviet Snow". Laing also contributed to the Manfred Mann's Earth Band album Somewhere in Afrika. Laing also contributed music to, and appeared in, the 1985 action film Shaker Run.

Currently she resides in New Zealand and occasionally plays live shows, enjoying a small but devoted fan base.

Laing first came to prominence in 1972 as a 17-year-old schoolgirl, winning the television talent show "New Faces" with her song 1905. Signed to a recording contract with Phonogram, her first two singles, 1905 and Show your Love both certified gold and both peaked at number 4 on the New Zealand charts. In 1973 she won two Rata awards: Best New Artist and Recording Artist Of The Year. Laing twice represented New Zealand at the Tokyo, in 1973 (with the song Masquerade) and 1974. In 1975 she travelled to Britain and was based there for the next seven years, where in 1982, she was a vocalist for Manfred Mann's Earth Band alongside fellow New Zealander, Chris Thompson.