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Snow on Madras Street and Moorhouse Avenue, with the Grosvenor Hotel on the corner, Christchurch, 1945

The Grosvenor Hotel

The Grosvenor Hotel opened in 1877 at the corner of Madras Street and Moorhouse Avenue, built to serve the railway workers and travelling public of Christchurch’s southern transport corridor. It operated for over a century before closing in 2001. After surviving the 2010–11 earthquakes, the building reopened in 2012 as The Monday Room — a cocktail bar and events space that hosted DJ nights and occasional live music. In 2018 The Monday Room relocated to High Street; the Moorhouse Avenue building is now NV Interactive.

Ghost Wave

Auckland psychedelic rock duo formed c.2009 by Matthew Paul and Eammon Logan. Known for blending Flying Nun jangle-pop with krautrock, drone, and 1960s psychedelia. Released two albums on Arch Hill Recordings and Flying Nun Records, with mastering by Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3.

Street Chant

Street Chant

Auckland punk-pop trio formed in 2007 as Mean Street by Emily Littler and Billie Rogers. Known for their ferocious live performances, they won the inaugural Critics’ Choice award at the 2010 New Zealand Music Awards for debut album Means and the 2017 Taite Music Prize for Hauora.

Isaac Theatre Royal

The Isaac Theatre Royal at 145 Gloucester Street is the only surviving operational Edwardian theatre in New Zealand. Opened in February 1908 to the designs of architects Alfred and Sidney Luttrell, it has hosted everyone from Anna Pavlova and Louis Armstrong to the Rolling Stones, Split Enz, Crowded House, and Lorde. Heavily damaged in the 2011 earthquake, it reopened in November 2014 after a $40 million restoration and holds Heritage New Zealand Category I status.

Earth Tongue

Earth Tongue is a Wellington heavy psych duo comprising Gussie Larkin (Guitar/Vocals) and Ezra Simons (Drums/Vocals), known for their fuzz-driven two-piece sound and their 2019 release The Well Of Pristine Order on UK label Stolen Body Records.

She’s Insane

She’s Insane were a punk and alternative rock band from Christchurch, New Zealand, active throughout the 1990s, who won the Rejuvenation Battle of the Bands in 1997 and became the most requested band on Christchurch’s RDU radio station in 1998.

Sandoz Lab Technicians

Dunedin-based free improvisation ensemble formed in August 1993, occupying a singular position in New Zealand underground music history across three decades of releases.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra artist photo

Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Psychedelic rock band formed in 2010 by Ruban Nielson (ex-The Mint Chicks) in Portland, Oregon. Originally from Auckland, UMO rose to international acclaim through lo-fi home recordings and five studio albums on Jagjaguwar.

Lyttelton Coffee Company

The Lyttelton Coffee Company has occupied the heritage-listed J.D. Bundy building at 29 London Street since 2007, operating as a café, specialty coffee roastery, and intimate live music venue. Owner Stephen Mateer oversaw a painstaking 2.5-year restoration of the building after it was badly damaged in the February 2011 Canterbury earthquake.

Mëstar – Steamer album cover

Mestar

Biography Mëstar are a pop/rock trio formed in 1996 in Dunedin, New Zealand. The band came together after vocalist and guitarist John White and vocalist and bassist Stefan Bray first met in a high school maths class, where they noticed… Read More »Mestar

Transistors

The Transistors are a garage, punk and power-pop trio from Rangiora, Canterbury, New Zealand, active since the late 2000s and known for a prolific run of self-released and small-label vinyl, cassette and digital recordings across more than fifteen years.

The British

Basement bar in the former British Hotel at the corner of Oxford Street and Norwich Quay in Lyttelton, with a history stretching back to 1849. Known through several names including El Santo, it reopened as the Hellfire Club in 2017 after earthquake repairs and later became The Commoners.