Skip to content

The Side Effects

Mysterious surf-guitar out of the Whanganui-Manawatu region on the famed Stink Magnetic label and featuring label regulars Dylan Herkes and Boss Christ.

#nzmusic #surfmusic #thesideeffects #thechandeliers

Gate

The mostly-solo recordings of The Dead C’s Michael Morley. From noise, destructive guitar in the late 1980’s and 1990’s through sampling diversions and drones in the 2020’s, Morley has been a particularly creative force.

#nzmusic #undergroundmusic #gate #michaelmorley #deadc

Bang! Bang! Eche!

Live: Darkroom’s 1st Birthday

Flashback to October 6th, 2012 – Celebrating post-Earthquake venue The Darkroom’s first birthday with a show featuring Bang! Bang! Eche, The Transistors and Brown Leaves.

#nzmusic #darkroom #bangbangeche #thetransistors $brownleaves

Matt Alien

Matt Alien is the long-standing nom de plume of Matt Johnstone; a multi-instrumentalist born-frontman from the likes of Christchurch groups The Hitone Destroyers and The Black Panthers, Auckland group Slavetrader, and most recently Melbourne group Levitating Churches. Harnessing the swagger of early Aerosmith or AC/DC, but with a great deal more noise and the feeling that things might just fall apart at any moment.

#nzmusic #mattalien #hitonedestroyers

Edmund Cake

Edmund Cake is the quirky alias of talented Auckland-based musician and producer Edmund McWilliams – or at least it was for his 2004 album ‘Downtown Puff’. McWilliams has made his name with the brilliant trio Bressa Creeting Cake and as a producer to the likes of the Finn brothers, Anika Moa and Bic Runga.

#nzmusic #edmundcake #bressacreetingcake #piewarmer #rikstarrr

Graeme Gash

Former singer song-writer (and artist) with popular late 70s Auckland folk-pop group Waves, Graeme Gash made his solo debut with After the Carnival in 1981, which saw some praise in John Dix’s excellent history of New Zealand Rock and Pop ‘Stranded in Paradise’.

#nzmusic #graemegash #waves #nzfolkmusic

Reptiles At Dawn

Punchy proto-punk styled group featuring the core duo of Tony Collins and Anthony Norman (both from Dum Dum Boys and The Henchmen). The new group spent several years travelling between Sydney, London, Paris and back to Auckland – releasing a couple albums on French label New Rose Records and finding some US college radio success with their single ‘Zenith’ before splitting in 1991.

#nzmusic #reptilesatdawn #dumdumboys #thehenchmen

LIVE: Witchuals and Kutomo

Flashback to January 28th, 2011. Local electronic noise + percussion duo Witchuals supported Brisbane-based Finnish performer Kutomo at the High Street Project and I was in a very-sparse audience.

#nsmusic #undergroundmusic #witchuals #highstreetproject #kutomo

Onanon

Dunedin 4-piece indie-rock outfit with a sound heavily indebted to the classic early Flying Nun groups. Self-released a couple albums and toured with support from A Low Hum before ending in 2009.

#nzmsuci #onanon

Johnny Velox and the Vauxhauls

Popular early Christchurch punk group that were regulars at the legendary Mollett Street and The Strand.
Survived by a single recording on ‘Teenagers from Outer Space’ – a rare compilation of Christchurch groups compiled by Andrew Schmidt.

#nzmusic #nzpunk #thevauxhalls

Phil Elverum Tour of New Zealand 2023

Phil Elverum of The Microphones and Mount Eerie is currently touring New Zealand; with his first show kicking off in Dunedin tonight.

Here’s a link I previously posted to the ‘Cabin Porn’ website, detailling the most amazing, decrepit cabin that he lived in for a year near his home town of Anacortes, Washington.

#mounteerie #themicrophones #cabinporn

Victorian Coffee Gallery

Bohemian Cafe that was one of the very few late night spots in Christchurch during the late 1970’s through to early 1980s. The Clean filmed the music video for notable early single ‘Beatnik’ here in 1982. The Volkswagens played here regularly, along with the likes of The Topp Twins (as 17 year olds!), and various other folk performers.

#nzmusic #nzvenues #theclean #beatnik #thevolkswagons #topptwins

Dribbling Darts

Dribbling Darts was Matthew Bainnsters post-Sneaky Feelings song-writing vehicle from 1989-1993. Known for their catchy singlecand silly video ‘Hey Judith’.

#nzmusic #dribblingdarts #sneakyfeelings #flyingn

Live: Tiger Tones Album Release Party

Flashback to May 9th, 2008!

I attended an afterwork album release gig in a basement next to NG Gallery (on Madras Street – now part of the Te Kaha Stadium site) with Pinacolada Records presenting the Tiger Tones self-titled album.

#nzmusic #tigertones #pinacoladarecords #nggallery