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.
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Vaguely hippy Cafe on Lichfield street that hosted a number of diverse small-capacity shows in the late 1990s. The Cafe was upstairs from the ‘Lick Er Lounge’ bar and next to ‘Danz Nightclub’.
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Underground rock’n’roll lifers from Christchurch fronted by enigmatic and sometimes confrontational front-man (and downhill Mountain Bike enthusiast) Andrew ‘Ox’ O’Connell. A long cast of supporting characters and a handful of rough-and-ready recordings – all self-released.
When a band’s been around a scene a long time, they start to develop a certain aura about them. Into The Void were always something of a notable band, with a vested interest in the local music and art scenes,… Read More »Into The Void [March 2005]
Biography Late 90’s sleaze rockers out of Christchurch and featuring Garden City rocker extraordinaire Matt Alien (aka Matt Johnson also of The Hi-Tone Destroyers). Made a habit of being even more extreme than The Hi-Tones, with Matt constantly baiting the… Read More »The Black Panthers
Biography During the mid 90’s, no man represented the Christchurch underground rock movement more than Matt Alien (aka Matt Johnstone). As the leader of blue-revivalists The Black Panthers and his long-surviving scuzz-rockers The Hi-Tone Destroyers Matt was the equivalent of Iggy… Read More »The Hi-Tone Destroyers
Biography A Christchurch institution of absent idols (only John Christoffels still resides in the garden city from the classic line-up), dating back to 1993 but seldom surfacing more than a single gig every couple of years. The group was original… Read More »Space Dust
2001, Flying Nun Records, FNCD449 The garage rock explosion of recent times has given way to the world again discovering rock’n’roll outside the borders of the United States. After Japanese outfit Guitar Wolf got everyone pumped up all those years… Read More »The D4 – 6Twenty