The former Sydenham Fire Station at 293 Colombo Street had two lives as a music venue: Wayne Manor from 1979, hosting Christchurch’s early punk and post-punk scene in a BYO cavernous station space, and The Firehouse Nightclub from 1985 — a more polished club that survived a bomb attack and a gunman before ironically being destroyed by fire around 1990.
Vor-stellen is a New Zealand trio featuring members of The Subliminals, avoid!avoid, and Faults, who released their debut vinyl Parallelograms on Flying Nun Records in 2023 before following up with Armature For A Painting on Feral Child Records in 2024.
Dick Move are a five-piece punk band from Auckland, New Zealand, formed in 2019 out of connections made at Karangahape Road’s Whammy Bar, known for their energetic live shows, socialist and feminist politics, and all three of their albums charting in New Zealand’s top 40.
FLASHBACK to July 2022 — Lawrence Arabia, Andrew Keoghan at St Michael.
The building at 124 Worcester Street was designed by Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort and opened in 1875 as Trinity Congregational Church, whose congregation included suffragist Kate Sheppard. Converted to the State Trinity Centre in 1975 — a theatre, bar and restaurant — it hosted The Axemen’s landmark recording session for Three Virgins before earthquake damage in 2011 closed it for over a decade. It reopened in 2023 as The Church Brew Pub, retaining Mountfort’s famous double barrel vault ceiling.
F In Math is the solo electronic project of New Zealand musician Michael Logie, releasing computer-generated music including the 2011 Couch EP on Flying Nun Records.
Auckland indie rock four-piece formed in 2014 by University of Auckland jazz graduates. Known for sweetly sung, self-deprecating power pop, they won the 2023 APRA Silver Scroll for ‘Expert In A Dying Field’ and have released four albums on Carpark Records and ANTI- Records.
FLASHBACK TO July 2022 — Thrill Collins, Log Horn Breed, Brian Luv at Darkroom.
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.
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.
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.
FLASHBACK TO August 2012 — IRD, Gate (Michael Morley) and Pete Swanson at The Physics Room, Christchurch.
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 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 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.