thebigcity

Entry 01,442 · Est. 2002

thebigcity

New Zealand Music and Christchurch Culture

m artists

Munkey Kramp

Biography Poppy Dunedin-based 4-piece featuring future Cloudboy vocalist Demarnia Lloyd. The excellent scattering of recordings bassist Pete Gorman has archived on Youtube show the…

Venues

Repertory Theatre

The Repertory Theatre at 146 Kilmore Street was one of Christchurch’s most architecturally distinctive interwar buildings, a 1929 Spanish Mission structure originally built as the Radiant Hall and later the home of the Canterbury Repertory Theatre Society for over eighty years. Demolished following the 2011 Canterbury earthquake, the building hosted decades of theatrical and musical life including productions directed by Ngaio Marsh and performances by leading Christchurch folk, jazz, and indie acts.

Venues

Rockpool

The Rockpool has been a fixture of Christchurch’s central city since 1995, operating as a pool hall on the ground floor and Micky Finn’s Irish Pub — a live music venue — on the first floor. Closed following the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes and reopened in 2015, it remains one of the few pre-earthquake CBD venues still trading, billing itself as the only pub in Central City.

m artists

Don McGlashan

Auckland multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and film composer Don McGlashan — frontman of Blam Blam Blam, The Front Lawn, and The Mutton Birds — has been one of New Zealand’s most acclaimed musicians for over four decades, inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame in 2023.

Studios

Tandem Studios

Also known as: Tandem Recording Studios Location: Originally Colombo Street, Christchurch Central; later 78 Oxford Terrace, Christchurch Central Active: 1974–present (recording studio 1974–c.2000s; media…

Venues

New City Hotel

The New City Hotel at 527 Colombo Street has operated continuously in Christchurch since 1930, when Ballin Brothers commissioned architect John Steele Guthrie to design a Moderne-style building to house a liquor licence dating back to 1864. A survivor of the 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquakes, it remains the last traditional hotel operating in Christchurch's CBD and continues as a live music and entertainment venue.

p artists

Pine

Pine were a Christchurch-based trio of Aaron Beehre, Hannah Beehre and Stephen McCarthy, releasing five albums on Arch Hill Recordings between 2001 and 2010. Operating without a drummer, the band combined jangly Kiwi pop with Britpop influences and toured with Neil Finn. Co-founder Stephen McCarthy later became a co-owner of Arch Hill Recordings.

Radio Stations

Channel Z Christchurch

Channel Z launched on 99.3FM in Christchurch in August 1999, bringing alternative rock and New Zealand music to a city that had few non-mainstream options on the dial. Its two years of local programming — Willy Macalister on days, Melanie Wise on nights — gave Christchurch a genuine alternative voice before the network consolidated all content from Auckland in 2001. The station became Kiwi FM in 2005 and was relaunched as a Christchurch online stream in 2019.

m artists

Marsha

Post-punk four-piece from Ōtautahi Christchurch, formed 2018. Their 2024 debut album In Circles established them as one of the most compelling voices in the contemporary New Zealand indie scene.