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The Civilians feature in Canta, September 1998. The band performed at Players and Hustlers during 1998.

Players and Hustlers

Players and Hustlers was a pool bar and live music venue at 96 Oxford Terrace on Christchurch’s The Strip, hosting DJ nights, rock, and metal acts through the late 1990s — including a Judgement Day dance party in 1997, a Brutal Truth show in 1998, and performances by The Civilians and Gaia. The building previously housed the Player Tenpin Bowling Centre, largest in New Zealand in 1995. The venue was demolished following the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes; the site is now the Riverside Market.

Plains FM

Plains FM (later Plains Media) has broadcast on 96.9FM from Christchurch’s Ara campus since 29 February 1988, serving Canterbury as one of New Zealand’s twelve community access radio stations. Governed by the Canterbury Communications Trust and part-funded by NZ On Air, it produces over 100 programmes a week in 15 languages, representing communities largely absent from mainstream media. In April 2025, after 37 years, the station rebranded as Plains Media to reflect its expanded reach across digital platforms.

Caledonian Hall

Caledonian Hall

Canterbury Caledonian Society Hall at 135 Kilmore Street West, home of the Zodiac Lounge rock and pop dance venue in the 1960s. Hosted Faith No More, Fugazi, and Pavement in the 1990s. Damaged in the February 2011 earthquake and demolished in March 2011.

Calvin Johnson performing at Zebedees, Christchurch, November 2006

Zebedees

Zebedees was Christchurch’s only all-ages, alcohol-free live music venue, operating from a 400-capacity hall at 479 Blenheim Road, Sockburn from approximately 1998 to 2014. Run by Steve and Jennie White as a charitable trust for sixteen years, it hosted hundreds of local and touring bands for teenage audiences and was widely regarded as one of the best youth music venues in the world.

kRkRkRk cassette label, Christchurch

kRkRkRk

kRkRkRk is a Christchurch experimental and industrial cassette label founded in 1992 by TMA-1 members James Robinson and Peter Wright. Operating on a DIY ethic, the label grew to over one hundred and thirty releases, documenting a generation of Christchurch underground artists across cassette and digital formats. After Wright moved to England in 2003, David Khan took over as label head, continuing as a portable studio engineer until health issues brought its active phase to a close.

CRY TV

CRY TV was New Zealand’s first dedicated music television channel, broadcasting on UHF 56 from the Port Hills above Christchurch between July 1993 and April 1997. Founded by Christian Birch and Chris Clarkson, it pre-dated Auckland’s MAX TV by three months and launched the careers of Petra Bagust, Jason Fa’afoi, Francesca Rudkin, D’Arcy Waldegrave, and Dave Yetton (Jean-Paul Sartre Experience), who met Jason Fa’afoi at the station and went on to form The Stereo Bus.

Riccarton Hotel on the corner of Riccarton Road and Deans Avenue, Christchurch, circa 1885

Riccarton Hotel

One of Christchurch’s oldest licensed premises, the Riccarton Hotel on the corner of Riccarton Road and Deans Avenue can trace its origins to an 1853 Canterbury Almanack advertisement for “The Traveller’s Home.” Over 150 years it traded as the Plough Inn, the Riccarton Hotel, DB Riccarton, and — most memorably — Nancy’s, named for the beloved publican Annie (Nancy) Hancock who ran it from 1930 until the 1960s. In its final chapter it became the Fat Ladies Arms student bar before being demolished and replaced by a fast food restaurant.

Radio One 91FM

Radio One 91FM

Radio One 91FM is Dunedin’s student radio station, broadcasting on 91.0MHz from the University of Otago since 6 February 1984. Owned and operated by OUSA, the station played a central role in the Dunedin Sound era of the early 1980s, championing Flying Nun Records artists including The Chills, The Bats, Sneaky Feelings, and The Verlaines when commercial radio would not. Among its alumni are Shayne Carter, Jan Hellriegel, and Lesley Paris. In 1987 it became the first radio station in the world to broadcast news of the Fiji coup. Still active as the voice of Ōtepoti student music culture.

Bickertons Pub (formerly Aranui Tavern), 317 Pages Road, Aranui, Christchurch

Aranui Tavern

The Aranui Tavern at 317 Pages Road was a working-class pub in Christchurch’s eastern suburbs that became one of the city’s most significant live music rooms from the mid-1970s through the 1980s. Bon Marché and The Newz held a three-year residency from 1978 to 1981, nurturing emerging acts including Pop Mechanix and the Dance Exponents — whose own Aranui residency led directly to their Mushroom Records signing in 1982.

Allen Street Rock Club

Allen Street

Biography Allen Street Rock Club occupied a former motorcycle shop at 32 Allen Street in central Christchurch, opened as a live music venue in the post-earthquake rebuild era. The interior was designed by Dean Johnstone — a set designer with… Read More »Allen Street

95bFM

95bFM

95bFM is Auckland’s student and independent radio station, broadcasting on 95.0FM from the University of Auckland since 1969 — first as the pirate Radio Bosom and then as the licensed 95bFM from 1990. New Zealand’s longest-standing independent broadcaster, it championed Flying Nun Records and first broke Sister Underground, OMC, Che Fu and Savage on Auckland radio, founded the bNet NZ Music Awards in 1999, and in 2005 conducted the interview in which Don Brash admitted foreknowledge of the Exclusive Brethren’s election campaign.

Concert at St Michael and All Angels Church, Christchurch

St Michael’s and All Angels Church

St Michael and All Angels is a Heritage New Zealand Category I Anglican church at 84 Oxford Terrace, Christchurch, designed by William Fitzjohn Crisp and consecrated in 1872. One of the largest timber Gothic Revival churches in the Southern Hemisphere, it survived the 2011 earthquakes intact and has served as a concert venue for Lawrence Arabia, Andrew Keoghan, Anika Moa, Boh Runga, Hollie Smith, Marlon Williams, and Holly Arrowsmith.

RDU 98.5FM

RDU 98.5FM is Christchurch’s independent alternative radio station, founded on 23 February 1976 as Radio U under the University of Canterbury Students’ Association. It became the first FM station in Christchurch in 1986 as UFM, and rebranded as RDU 98.5FM in 2002. Controversially privatised in 2006 when sold to James Meharry and Karyn South for $2, the station survived the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes by broadcasting from a converted horse truck, and moved to its permanent home in the Boxed Quarter in 2015. In 2026 RDU marks its 50th anniversary as a cornerstone of Christchurch’s independent music culture.

Volcano Cafe and Lava Bar

Cafe and bar at 42 London Street in Lyttelton, run by Lois Ogilvie and Pete Llewellyn Evans from 1988 until the 2011 earthquakes. A creative hub for Lyttelton’s arts community — painter Bill Hammond designed the iconic 1994 LAVA poster for the venue.

George FM logo

George FM

George FM is a New Zealand dance and electronic music radio station founded in 1998 by brothers Thane and Richard Kirby from a spare bedroom in Grey Lynn, Auckland. Starting as a volunteer-run low-power FM station, it went city-wide in 2001 through a partnership with the Manukau Urban Māori Authority, became commercial in 2003, and was acquired by MediaWorks in 2009. Now broadcasting nationally — including on 95.3FM in Christchurch — George FM is New Zealand’s leading dance radio brand, drawing around 202,000 weekly listeners with a presenter-led format that gives DJs full control over their music selection.