Plan 9
Janet Roddick David Donaldson Stephen Roche
Janet Roddick, David Donaldson and Stephen Roche compose, perform, record and produce music collectively under the name Plan 9.
Since 1995 they have created scores for over 30 feature films. They've made music for 13 international co-pro tv series, numerous documentaries, programmes and short films, plus music for dance and theatre as well as installations and exhibition spaces around the world.
In early 2024 they worked with composer John Gibson on his score for The Rule Of Jenny Pen. They played and recorded numerous instruments and produced and mixed the finished score. Directed by James Ashcroft it premiered in March 2025.
In the winter of 2024 they composed the score for the Screentime/Real Films Berlin crime series A Remarkable Place to Die playing now on TVNZ+. They also made some music for a web mini-series Shine On Katherine Mansfield featuring New Zealanders talking about the influence of Katherine Mansfield on their work. Produced by Anna Cottrell it is streaming on Radio NZ and Newsroom now.
They scored six part NZ/Lionsgate co-pro drama series Dark City - The Cleaner based on the novel by Christchurch author Paul Cleave. It premiered in March last year on Neon and SKY Originals, and is screening internationally.
Katherine McRae's feature documentary Pacific Mother premiered at the 2023 Doc Edge Festival. It won 4 awards. Plan 9 created the score collaborating with musicians from Okinawa Japan, Hawaii, Cook Islands, Tahiti and Aotearoa. Pacific Mother is now playing around NZ and has been screening in Australia. The film has played at the Hawai'i International Film Festival and Tahiti Film Festival. The film makers commissioned a song by Tokelau artist Olivia Foai.
In 2020 and 2021 while The Lord Of The Rings: Rings Of Power was filming in NZ Plan 9, with David Long, created eight musical pieces for the show. Their song This Wandering Day, with lyrics by JD Payne plays in episode five. It's first sung by actor Megan Richards as the Harfoot Poppy Proudfoot and then plays over the end credits sung by Janet arranged by Bear McCreary.
In March 2022 Plan 9 won the 2021 APRA Silver Scroll SOUNZ Contemporary Music Award for The Bewilderness.
Watch a short teaser with us on Bass, Violin and Harmonium playing in the Stella Maris Chapel.
Listen on to the album on Bandcamp, Spotify & Apple Music
Plan 9 have three times won Best Film Score at the NZ Film Awards for Predicament, Saving Grace and Jack Brown Genius and been finalists four times. They were finalists for the 2015 APRA Screen Composing Award for Life Force. They compose music for film and tv, radio, installations and museum experiences, theatre and dance.
In 2019 they were nominated for the Critics Choice Documentary Awards for Best Score for They Shall Not Grow Old. The best score won, and that was Apollo 11.
They wrote the song Misty Mountains with David Long which was sung by Richard Armitage and the dwarves for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This theme was used by Howard Shore as part of the score. They received a Golden Reel Award nomination for their work on The Hobbit. Plan 9 and David Long created additional music for The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy and King Kong.