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The Undercurrents

Arclife Records

Arclife Records was an excellent ‘home-grown’ independent label formed by the Arclife Trust, an arts organization that formed out of the Arc Cafe in central Dunedin.

The label had a strong, tight-knit community of local Dunedin groups on its roster – many of whom had moved on from the by-then Auckland based Flying Nun Records.

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The Centre Will Hold

Melodic Christchurch indie-pop trio who released a catchy and incredibly brief 5 song EP, along with a handful of tunes straight to student radio that subsequently turned up on the ‘Indie Hit Disc’ radio promotion CDs. Holloway and Bycroft would later form The Undercurrents.

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'Barnard's Star' EP cover

Barnard’s Star

Excellent Christchurch shoegaze / electronic group with a unique, spacey sound. Released an EP and 2 7″ lathe cut singles on the Beat Atlas imprint in the late 1990’s before going their seperate ways.

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The Steffan Van Soest Hit Machine

Excellent quirky Christchurch rock group who formed in the late 1990’s, had an incredibly prolific few years with 4 albums, an album and a single released in quick succession. The group then transitioned into an occasional reunion outfit, with several of the key members now living out of town or overseas. Led by their namesake (and only consistent member) the band have had many offshoot groups.

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The Dialtones - Better Late

The Dialtones

Long-running country-folk flavoured rock band from Christchurch featuring singer-songwriter Fleur Walden (aka Fleur de Lis). After forming in 1997 it took until 2004 for their debut album was released – a strong selection of songs that date right back to the bands formation.

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Lonely Harris Club

High School-aged shenanigans from future BnP members. Lonely Harris Club were firmly a party band with a focus on covers (specifically a large catalogue of Brian Jonestown Massacre songs, plus a handful of classic nuggets).

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The Sweethearts

Adam McGrath’s early 2000’s attempt at a vocally-driven song-writing group after years of playing in punk and hard core groups – featured a teenage William Daymond; essentially a pre-cursor to the Eastern. Put out an album that went unnoticed.

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Salad Boys

Indie pop-rock out of Christchurch based around Joe Sampson (guitar / vocals / keys / bass etc) with James Sullivan (drums) and Ben Ordering (bass) on most of their recordings.

Strong on melody with big chiming guitar and unfussy rhythmic backing, their songs have a timeless quality to them – sometimes jangling, sometimes driving, and with Sampson’s powerful guitar playing always ready to attack.

Creation

Excellent multi-use space established by the Therapeutic Arts Trust in 2000 – Ciaran Fox was originally involved before Adam Hayward joined the board in 2001 and took over directorship in 2002.

Cecil House

Cecil House was an old retail and residential building on the corner of Manchester and Welles street that was eventually damaged, then demolished after the Canterbury Earthquakes of 2010 / 2011.

Though original built as a Hotel around 1905, by the 1980’s the building had become a mix of residential accommodation and retail shop-fronts. The building itself had fallen in to disrepair and became suitably cheap accommodation, with quite a few musicians occupying flats in the 2nd and 3rd floor during the 1980’s and 1990’s.

The Palace Of Wisdom

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.

All Plastics

A former plastic manufacturing business located in industrial Philipstown, All Plastics was originally leased by Nick O’Keefe of The Undercurrents some time in the 2000’s. O’Keefe, along with his band members (which included local sound-men Marcus Winstanley and Mikey Summerfield, plus Phantom Billstickers’ Jamey Holloway) began using the site as a recording studio and practice space.

Several house-party type shows were put on both inside and outside the studio space, before the last occupant (Rhett Copland of Doctors etc) left around 2013.

Squirm

Brilliant 90’s Christchurch sludge-rock outfit comprised of Brett Lupton, Daryl Kirk and Mike Brassell (Hiss Explosion).

Took a thoroughly DIY, low-budget approach to release a series of warped, discordant guitar albums, based around excellent guitar-work and an inventive, lo-fi and somewhat sloppy (in a good way) approach to recording songs.

Black Market Art

Biography Fantastic youthful Christchurch pop-rock trio from the mid 2000’s. Forming at Cashmere High School, Darian Woods, Joseph Harper and Matt Scobie were a popular band within the All-Ages and eventually the indie-rock scene within Christchurch, releasing a terrific debut… Read More »Black Market Art

Darkroom

Mid-sized live performance and comedy venue located within The Archive a building which has also housed a Gallery / 2nd venue space and front record store.