In music, von Sturmer fronted New Zealand punk/art band The Plague, continued with The Humanimals,[6] Avant Garage,[4] and wrote the lyrics for Blam Blam Blam's anti-Robert Muldoon song "There Is No Depression In New Zealand",[2][7][8] which has been described as a 'classic alternative national anthem.'[9] The Plague are particularly known for their 1979 performance at the Nambassa festival, where four members (including von Sturmer) appeared naked apart from body paint.[10]
Von Sturmer is married to Sensei Amala Wrightson (previously Charlotte Wrightson),[11] with whom he co-founded the Auckland Zen Centre.[2][12]
From 2014, von Sturmer has worked with film-maker Gabriel White as the duo The Floral Clocks, with von Sturmer writing lyrics which White set to music.[13] These songs were released as an album Desert Fire, mostly performed by White alone.[14] A second album, A Beautiful Shade of Blue was released in 2017, and their third Gas Giant was released in 2019.[15]
Plays and film scripts
Von Sturmer was involved with the following plays and film scripts:[4]
1976. Circadian Rhythms (dir: David Blythe)
1980. The Green Lion
1981. The Search for Otto
Published collections of writing
Von Sturmer has published the following collections of writing:[1][16]
1988. We Xerox Your Zebras
1991. A Network of Dissolving Threads
1998. Images From The Center (with photographer Joseph Sorrentino)