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Tag: Christchurch

Studios

Nightshift Studios

Nightshift Studios is a recording studio at 27 Whittington Avenue, Woolston, Christchurch, founded and operated by Dutch-born engineer Arnie van Bussel and in continuous operation since approximately 1976. Built around a custom-built console in a converted outbuilding at the rear of van Bussel's home, Nightshift became one of the key spaces of the New Zealand independent music scene — capturing Flying Nun's debut release (The Pin Group's Ambivalence, 1981), The Clean's Tally Ho, and a string of Bats albums across three decades, while remaining open to every genre from death metal to choral music.

i artists

indi

Indi is the solo moniker of musician and composer Indira Force, formerly co-writer and lead vocalist of Christchurch neo-trip-hop duo Doprah. Following Doprah’s disbandment in 2016, she relocated to Berlin and released her debut album Precipice (2018, Flying Nun Records), fusing electronic production with orchestral arrangements of trombone, violin, saxophone, and flute. Force has since released music as Aridni Orca.

c artists

Cripple Mr Onion

Cripple Mr Onion were a progressive metal band from Christchurch, New Zealand, formed in 1996 by Mike 'Fud' Fudakowski and Andy Woodd. Their name was borrowed — with Terry Pratchett's blessing — from the fictional card game in the Discworld novels. Active until 2016, they were known for a sound described as spellbindingly beautiful one moment and violently cataclysmic the next.

Venues

The Bedford

The Bedford was Christchurch's premier large-capacity live music venue of the 2000s, a converted warehouse on Lichfield Street capable of holding around 1,000 people. Demolished after the 2011 earthquake, it was kept alive through a series of marquee pop-up venues by owner Wendy Alfeld — earning national recognition for keeping live music alive in the city through years of disruption.

Live Music Reviews and Photos

ChartFest 2008

FLASHBACK to June 2022 — ChartFest 2008.

Venues

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.

Radio Stations

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.

Radio Stations

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.

c artists

Carb on Carb

Auckland emo/pop-punk duo Nicole Gaffney and James Stuteley toured seventeen times around New Zealand and fifteen times through Australia over twelve years, releasing three LPs of mathy, heartfelt punk before calling it a day in 2024.

Venues

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.

Venues

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.