Welcome to April everyone!

Easter is nearly upon us, which can only mean plenty of chocolate and hot cross buns! I hope you can all manage to get away for it and make the most of whatever sunshine we have left.

Keeping an eye on our music news here and online - there are some epic tours coming up, such as Head Like a Hole's 25th Anniversary Tour, kicking off on April 29 at Auckland's Ding Dong and the Family of Strangers Tour featuring the brilliant These Four Walls, Armed in Advance, His Master's Voice and Blue Ruin! What a line-up, and with only a four date tour, be sure not to miss out!

We have a jam packed newsletter for you this month, kicking off with some fantastic features from Wellington Pop-punk trio, Mishap, and some exciting music news from Auckland's own, Hunt The Witch. We also check out Folk-Pop trio, Skedaeddle from Napier, and talk to Paul Matthews from I Am Giant and Matt Brooks from Like A Storm.

As well as all that, we also have our latest and greatest music news, find out more about the inaugural Elemeno P, and give you all the details of the Taite Music Prize!

Stay tuned and whatever you're currently listing to, turn it up loud!

- Kerry

Beginnings:

Elemeno P appeared seemingly from out of nowhere, a four-piece with straight-arrow, energetic, power-pop anthems. Equipped with a fun-loving attitude and the charm of frontman Dave Gibson, the band soon became household favourites across the nation, releasing a trifecta of top tier albums in the space of six years.

Despite rumours they were manufactured in a record label boardroom, Elemeno P was founded by friends Justyn Pilbrow and Dave Gibson. The pair met hitchhiking back from a party in their teens and subsequently crossed paths in various bands in the Auckland jazz and punk scenes.

It was there that Gibson cut his teeth as a drummer, holding down the seat for the Queen City Big Band, Nickel and Elephant. Before picking up the microphone in a band, his distinctive baritone voice was put to use as one half of the breakfast show on George FM. The attraction to the limelight also transitioned to the screen, where he appeared in numerous commercials and as the character Nev in low budget horror The Locals, from director Greg Page. The Elemeno P song Christmas also appears on the film’s soundtrack.

Between producing music for TVNZ, including the theme song to Montana Sunday Theatre, Pilbrow played bass with the jazz-rock band Relaxomatic Project, alongside guitarist Dan Sperber from The New Loungehead and drummer Luke Casey of Eye TV. He also contributed to the debut album from pop artist K'Lee, a stepping stone in his longstanding songwriting career.

Becoming flatmates, the pair decided to transform their living room into a studio, borrowing equipment from friends and using a basic Pro Tools rig. According to an interview with NZ Musician magazine (June/July 2003), the duo was inspired to get serious with music after hearing the Shania Twain song From This Moment. The plan was to record three demos. With producer Sam Gibson at the helm, the initial living room sessions yielded Fast Times in Tahoe, Every Day's a Saturday and Fast Pop Song (later called I Don’t Know).

“I played drums on it. I sang ’cause there was no one else there to sing. That was basically the only reason I became a singer, because I just fell into it. Justyn played bass and guitar, and after we made the demo we thought, ‘This is cool, this feels good, let’s start a band’.” says Dave.

An initial placeholder name, Pookie, was given to the project, though was ultimately replaced with the off-the-cuff suggestion LMNOP from Sam Gibson (changed phonetically to Elemeno P).

Yet to assemble a complete band and live show the pair boldly went about delivering their three-song demo to various record companies. With no response for eight months from various record companies, the pair had more or less given up on the project, when they were contacted by Festival Mushroom Music out of the blue. Their offer was soon followed by another from Universal Music. The band signed a P&D (pressing and distribution) deal with Universal for the release of their debut album and were quickly thrown into their first gig, supporting US pop-punk band Sum 41.

The rest of the band were rallied; Taranaki-bred Scotty Pearson, who put his solid drumming style to use with a number of local bands, was recruited. The rhythm section was solidified by Paul Gerring on bass, though his presence was short-lived. After the release of Fast Times in Tahoe he was replaced by Lani Purkis from punk-rock band Foamy Ed. She proved to be a valuable addition, also leading a large chunk of the band’s signature group backing vocals. In the gap between bassists, and for the sake of having a bass player in the video for Nirvana, Gibson’s long-time friend Julian Currin was enlisted temporarily.  

2003 - Love & Disrespect

With a record deal in place and a solid line-up, the four-piece began honing their live show and writing more material for their debut album. Parts of tracks were lifted from the original living room recording sessions, however the bulk of the album was recorded across Auckland’s Revolver and York Street studios with Sam Gibson and friend Nic Manders as producers.

Ahead of their debut album Love & Disrespect, four singles were released: Fast Times in Tahoe, Nirvana,Urban Getaway and Everyday’s a Saturday. The album was released on 4 July 2002, making its debut at No.1 on the NZ Album Chart. Drawing comparisons to Weezer and The Exponents, Love & Disrespect overshot Universal’s initial sales expectations and sold around 45,000 copies, earning a triple platinum certification.

The band supported the album with an extensive 32-date tour around the country. Off the back of Love & Disrespect the band gained the management support of Teresa Patterson of CRS Music Management and Universal were happy to pay for international production on their second album.

2005 - Trouble in Paradise

Trouble In Paradise was released on 24 November 2005, debuting at No.2 on the local album charts. With the rise of digital downloads and decline of record sales, the album fell short of Love & Disrespect. Much like its predecessor, Trouble In Paradise retained a fun-loving party attitude, characterised by fast-paced, snappy songs, up-front group vocals and big, melodic choruses. This time the response was more confident, the production and improved playing in particular gaining praise.

Off the back of the record the band won Best Group at the 2006 New Zealand Music Awards out of four nominations. In 2007 they were invited to perform at the South by Southwest festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas.

2008 - Elemeno P

Following up from Trouble in Paradise, their next album; self-titled, was released on 26 May 2008. Stylistically it was a much more varied record than their previous releases, including the more dominant keyboard of Godfrey de Grut. The album peaked at No.3 on the New Zealand Album Chart.

The album was supported by The Rock n Roll Caravan Summer Tour with Supergroove and Deja Voodoo.

Departures:

During Elemeno P’s set at the 2009 Big Day Out it was announced that founding member Justyn Pilbrow would leave the band to seek songwriting opportunities in New York. The remaining members continued to perform live, with Dave Goodison, formerly of Garageland and the City Newton Bombers, standing in on guitar.

With one of the band’s key songwriters out of the picture, momentum naturally slowed. The band members began to focus on different career paths. Gibson took up several opportunities as an MC and launched the band merchandise website www.closet.co.nz. Pearson joined Pop Science, the house band at York Street Recording Studio, and Purkis contributed to the debut solo album of Kurt Shanks from Stellar*.

Pilbrow returned to the band in late 2011 for a performance to mark the 2011 Rugby World Cup. It was followed with a relatively unnoticed new song called Slow Down Boy, released for free download via social media. The band also reformed in 2013 for the Jim Beam Homegrown festival in Wellington.

Hiatus:

Although Elemeno P never officially broke up, drummer Scotty Pearson said it was hard getting the band together as singer Dave Gibson and guitarist Justyn Pilbrow had moved to the United States.

Dave Gibson now resides in Brooklyn, New York performing in alt-country seven-piece Streets of Laredo with his brother Dan and wife Sarahjane. The band are signed with Canadian independent record label Dine Alone.

Justyn Pilbrow is also now based in New York and he continues to write music. His latest projects include composition for US pop artist Halsey and production work for Brooklyn band Wet. Closer to home he has worked with Ruby Frost on her Volition album, Zowieon the singles Toss The Coin and Broken Machine, and with Chelsea Jade and Cairo Knife Fight.

Lani Purkis continues to play in Foamy Ed on occasion, and plays in electro-punk band Delete Delete alongside Kurt Shanks and Chris van de Geer from Stellar*.

Scotty Pearson is the studio and touring drummer for Jamie McDell, and he is also a former member of Dunes. He also works as a master builder in his own company, Scotty Construction. Scotty also runs www.scottydrums.co.nz/.

Reunited:

In September 2016, Scotty Pearson announced the band would be reuniting to play two (subsequently four) shows, starting with Wellington's Homegrown in March 2017, the first time the band had played together since 2013's Homegrown. After playing Homegrown in Wellington on March 4, Elemeno P played Auckland's Kings Arms Tavern on March 10, Christchurch's Blue Smoke on March 11 and added another show back in Auckland at Kings Arms, March 12, due to the sell out of their Auckland March 10 gig.

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_{*Content sourced from www.Audioculture.co.nz and www.muzic.net.nz}

This is the year Wellington pop punk Mishap is making a comeback! We’re going to be hitting the road with lame jokes, pizza and our pop punk friends inBraves, Fire For Glory, Lookin Up, Barracks and heaps more rad bands!  

For Mishap, 2017 sees the release of our brand new music video, a 2nd EP titled Not Feeling This and national tours, starting with a weekender in April with Fire For Glory and Barracks. The music video for our single/title track, Not Feeling This was released on the 16th of March and features a whole bunch of our friends from around Wellington. We’ve also got another video shoot lined up for late March for our song, Hey Allie, from Toaster EP. We’ve also got a big surprise in store for Hey Allie! This is what we’ve got coming up gig wise in April:

7 April @ Snails, Palmerston North
w/ Minimum Wage and Churlington
8 April @ Moon 1, Wellington - Not Feeling This EP Release Party
w/ Retriever and Pigeon Park
20 April @ Zeal, Auckland
w/ Fire For Glory
21 April @ Zeal, Hamilton
w/ Barracks
22 April @ Thistle Hall, Wellington
w/ Fire For Glory, Pale Lady and Retriever

In the second half of the year, we’re going to be doing some shows with Braves when they come back from their Aussie tour, making our way down to the South Island and maybe across the ditch to Aussie to catch up with fellow Wellington boys, Bakers Eddy!

Mishap is Sean Beales (drums), Datu Beech (bass, vocals) and Isaac Lundy (guitar, vocals).

Website Links

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ReverbNation Page 
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EP Review: Toaster

This in from Auckland band Hunt The Witch:

We hit the studio early March this year to begin recording our first album with Olly Harmer at The Lab and we produced excellent results with the 3 songs recorded so far. Olly knows how to pull a big sound and is easy going to work with so we are stoked to have found a solid engineer/producer/mixer.

We’re planning to record  the album over multiple sessions so as to space out the creative process and not get overwhelmed with an entire albums worth of material to focus on all at once. This is great breathing space for Olly who’s engineering and mixing our new material and also great for us to focus on 3/4 songs at a time in order to get the very best result for each track. We hope to complete our first album by end of the year or early next year, providing we have the funds, it’s not cheap recording a full album in NZ unsigned with all the promo and production necessary but we are all passionate and determined to get a Hunt The Witch album out there as soon as we can, we had a really great response to our 2015 EP Into The Black which was amazing. 

We also plan to release a single from the album end of May in NZ music month, and we are going to put on a single release show at the Thirsty Dog with our mates Thunderwulf from Christchurch and local band Ginzu and the Steak Knives on May 27. We are looking to film our very first video to go along with the new single at some stage so we have plenty on this year, so stay tuned for plenty of witch goodness coming your way.

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Hunt The Witch are Sam Whitley (vocals), Bevan Carbines (guitar), Anthony Lakin (bass) and Jason Peters (drums).

Website Links

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SoundCloud Page

Skedaeddle's music is probably best described as Folk pop. Self produced, what begins life as acoustic, singer/songwriter stuff with simple live arrangements takes on a different aspect when spat out the back end of a popular digital audio workstation. Barry Holt talked about Skedaeddle and answered the following questions for Muzic.net.nz:

At the beginning of 2017, Barry Holt decided to release one of his songs each month and have maybe 3 EP’s or an album completed by the end of the year. The first track, Final Friend was released in January, along with a video. The second track, Episode 8 in the Continuing Saga of Donna & Mark will be released by the end of March.

Aside from working in the home studio, recording and producing my songs, I’m also looking to get more local gigs for Skedaeddle as a live act. At present we consist of myself (Barry Holt) on 12 string guitar and vocals, Glen Kilmister on bass guitar and Pete Bagley on congas. We’ve been together for a little over a year and enjoy playing locally. It’s good to work on the performance side of things too. Last but not least, Glen also has a band called Rope Tin. We kind of help each other out, he plays bass for me and I play guitar for him. Very different musical styles though. He has a set of songs that we are both pretty keen on recording, so that’s on the list as well.

How did you become involved in music?

My father was a great music lover, and music filled our house continuously from when I was young. I absorbed it, then my older brother bought a guitar, which he ended up discarding. Once I picked it up, I taught myself to play and never looked back.

If you could perform with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?

Simon Jeffes and his Penquin Café Orchestra. I really admire his music and have done for a long time. He blends classical music with folk, blends cellos, guitars, harmoniums and found sounds with rhythm and harmony. I find his arrangements and instrumentation inspiring.

Which one of your songs are you most proud of, and why?

I have a song called Days. It’s a new song and I’m still working on the final lyrics but I’m really pleased with the way it’s turning out. I was playing it the other day and my partner really liked it, which is cool. She knows stuff.

How would you describe your music to someone who hasn't heard it before?

Acoustic, folky kind of melodic pop music.

What can we expect to see from you in the next year?

One complete album of songs with videos to accompany each track and hopefully some live recordings of Skedaeddle.

What NZ musicians or bands would you like to see more of, and why?

Bachelorette, I believe she lives in New York at present. Discovering her music was the most exciting thing I’d heard in years. Love her lyrics, use of tempo and the whole sampled synth/organ sounds. I would love to see her live.

What local albums have you been enjoying recently?

East by Alex Moffat & the Scarecrows was released a few years ago now, but have recently revisited it and am really enjoying his music again. Also a local band called Dead Heroes Collective, came across their music after playing on the same event as them.

What is your favourite NZ venue, and why?

Recently played on the Soundshell at Napier, a beautiful, semi circular art deco stage which was awesome as an outdoor venue, but would have to say The Cabana also at Napier, just because of the history of the place, so many good muso’s have played their and they support local bands.

Have you got any tips for dealing with nerves before a gig?

No, I wish I did. My only advice is to just keep getting out there and playing more gigs.

How do you balance your music with other obligations; family, job etc?

My wife and kids never tell me to shut up directly, although I often hear a door slam. They’re used to it, I suppose. As for work, I think it’s overrated. It just gets in the way. But in all seriousness, I’m pretty organized and set myself targets so that I can get everything done.

Where do you get your inspiration to create music from?

Other musicians.

Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians?

Believe in what you do, keep learning.

Skedaeddle is (in order of above photo) Barry Holt (vocals, 12 string acoustic guitar), Pete Bigley (congas)
and Glen Kilmister (bass).

Website Links

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Official Website 
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Single Review: Final Friend

Chris Morgan spoke to Paul Matthews of I Am Giant about their upcoming third album, the line-up change and what to expect from I Am Giant in 2017.

What has been happening the last 12 months for I Am Giant

We had a new singer Ryan Redman after Ed left, Ryan didn’t really work out. We were in a position on what should we do now as we already had the Homegrown 2016 show booked so we thought let’s get Aja to sing it because he is a great singer so he could pull it off, and he did more than pull it off, he was fantastic. We thought let’s do a record, write one and see how it goes. In recording it so far he sounds fantastic.

On the recording process for this album

They haven’t really changed to much, quite often the fundamental ideas with the songs start with me, I’ll write something and show the guys. Shelton and I will bounce ideas of each other in terms of the songs. Aja lives in Sydney so he hasn’t really been able to come and sing melodies in the writing process.

What to expect from the new album

We decided to strip it back and be a bit more straight up rock and roll. We thought let's just make the best songs we can, not over think things. Make them good fun and good energy.

Aja was the lead singer for a NZ heavy rock band The Gaze, what influence has his heavy background had on the album?

Aja comes from a really heavy background he was in a very heavy band called State Of It, he was also in a two-piece band The Dark Shaft with Michael Triponel who has filled in on guitar for us previously. He brings a harder edge to the vocals which has been well received.

Aja has a really good voice, he hadn't been singing a lot, so he came over to the U.K. And we spent some intense periods of time working on his vocals, we are still recording his vocals now, but he is naturally a really good musician.

On the new single Dead Flower

One thing a lot of people are saying is it sounds like I Am Giant, there's been some great feedback, people are saying we like the slightly harder edge and the additional rawness in places whilst still hitting the high notes.

New music on this tour?

Well we'll be playing our new single Dead Flower, we will also be shooting a video for our next track, Playing with Fire so we are going to play that for the first time at Homegrown and we've been going over it at rehearsal to make sure it's as tight as everything else we've done for the last 9 years.

On the demise of the Kings Arms Tavern as a music venue.

Auckland house price I suppose, the lands really valuable what can you do? It's really sad, the first gig I played here was in '99 I think. I've played here in all the bands I've played in; With Stylus we had our second album release here, I really love the Kings Arms, it's got a good in house system and it just works, it's a shame but change is inevitable.

There's been some cool memories here, my favourite one? Maybe when Aja got locked upstairs, he didn't realise everyone was leaving, he went to leave and he was locked inside, he had to wait until the morning.

Whisky or Beer?

Beer, well actually I’ve been drinking a lot of gin and tonic, I’m getting old mate.

What are you listening to at the moment?

Tina Turner, Pet Shop Boys, I'm an old guy.

So, you're sitting there drinking your gin and tonic, listening to Tina Turner, whilst writing rock music?

She can really sing, as a producer I listen to her vocals I don't believe they were tuned too much she kills it, she's an amazing singer. In terms of newer bands there is a band called If These Trees Could Talk, it's kind of instrumental rock it's really nice.

What do you do outside of music to rejuvenate your creativity?

Besides from eating? I don't really need to do too much, I don't really have gaps in creativity I just get started. I always start with something and if it’s not sounding great initially I just keep going.

I’ve always got stuff to do.

What is Paul Matthews Music Production currently working on?

This ones exciting, I’m working on Jason Kerrison’s new EP.

The I Am Giant album needs to be finished, I’ve got a UK band The Alchemy’s album coming up. As well as a band of kiwi expats called Agent, they are based in London as well and I am finishing up their album.

I’m working on a track with a young Auckland based band called Stature, they’re a fledgling band so looking at working with them to see what they can do.

I Am Giant are Aja Timu (vocals, guitar), Paul Matthews (bass) and Shelton Woolright (drums).

Website Links

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Official Website 
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Record Company Website

Gig Review: I Am Giant @ King Arms Tavern, Auckland - 09/03/2017
Photo Gallery: I Am Giant @ The Kings Arms Tavern, Auckland - 9/03/17

I Am Giant Release Brand New Single Dead Flower (press release)

Ahead of Like A Storm opening for Alter Bridge at Auckland's Powerstation on Friday 31st March, Muzic.net.nz's Alex Moulton and Chris Morgan sat down with Like A Storm's lead guitarist Matt Brooks for an in-depth look Inside The Music.

You can watch the video over on YouTube or read the interview below:

Alex: You’re in New Zealand and you’ve finally played your first big proper gig. How was Homegrown?

Matt: It was amazing. We grew up on the shore, and so we’ve been lucky enough to spend the last 10 years overseas touring around, and we’ve always had this dream of coming home and playing. Every year we have tried to plan it; previously we would be touring for 11 months, we’d have one month off to see friends and family here. If you tour for that month, and then go back and tour in the states for another 11 months, you’re basically touring for two years without a break. We used to come home to visit people but we never played here, and to come home and play Homegrown was a really big thing for us. To play with bands like Shihad and Blacklistt who we grew up listening to, it was very cool.

A: We do see on your Facebook timelines when you guys are over here, and it does make a lot of people jealous not being able to see your show. How long until you will be coming back to perform again?

M: We’d really like to make it a thing that we do every year. We’d like to come home in the kiwi summer. Leave the North American/Northern Hemisphere winter, come down for the kiwi summer and play here. It’s something we’ve been building up to, but something we’d like to be an annual thing for us.

A: You guys are quite well recognised over in the US.

M: Sometimes.

A: You have five Top 40 singles (in the US Billboard rock charts)

M:We actually just got our fifth Top 40 single this week. While we were home, Pure Evil got Top 40, which is insane. We are very grateful for it. We grew up in Torbay, so to have our music on the radio in the States is a really surreal thing.

A: How does the reception compare over here to overseas?

M: People always say it’s hardest to play your hometown. You go away and you play music, you come home and it’s like now you are playing those songs for the people that you grew up with, for your family. It’s almost like a juxtaposition. But we thought that playing Homegrown was amazing. It was our first New Zealand show in a long time, and it was unbelievable. It was something we were really looking forward to, and in terms of coming back, the New Zealand music scene, and all these bands we had really looked up to…it’s about as good as it gets.  

A: Did the family come down and watch?

M: They did, they did. Mum came down, cousins came down. Actually, we play in Auckland this Friday, and our grandpa is going to come, and he’s 94 years old. I keep telling him we can get him side of stage, and he’s says “No, no. I want to be down in the crowd.” So, if you come to the show and see a 94 year old man, please be gentle.

A: You guys had said in another interview that you had to make a didgeridoo…

M: Yeah, Chris plays the didgeridoo in our music and he plays custom didgeridoos that are cut to the key of different songs. He started playing didgeridoos made out of plastic, largely because they are indestructible on the road. A wooden didgeridoo, a traditional one, has a beeswax seal on it, which is really fragile. You put that in the trailer with the guitars, you get it out for the second gig of the tour, and the beeswax has smashed off. Now you don’t have a didgeridoo, you just have a piece of wood. So Chris started making them out of plastic, but because they are so customised, when we came down here he had to make them from scratch. Basically, we came down from Vegas, where we’ve been making our record, and the first thing Chris has to do is make some didge(ridoo)s.

A: Do you get much of a difference in (sound) from a homemade PVC one?

M: They sound different. They sound different because tonally, plastic is brighter than wood. Just like if you have an electric guitar made of plastic, it has a different sound. And what was really cool that we didn’t expect, was that a plastic didgeridoo actually fits better with guitars and drums because it has a brighter tone to it. A wooden didgeridoo, which is an amazing sound, is quite a dark sound. Full, but dark. It’s not particularly bright, so when you are making music and starting to layer different instruments, it’s kind of like a puzzle, and we found that plastic didges actually fit better with a rock band. That was a cool surprise.

A: We’ve already mentioned your latest single Pure Evil has done quite well, and will possibly go on to do a lot better?

M: It’s a song that we just wrote to showcase the direction we are going in, and so it’s not even necessarily a song that I thought would ever get on the radio.

A: It does feel a bit heavier.

M: Yeah, we grew up listening to a lot of heavy music, and we also grew up listening to a lot of stuff like The Prodigy and Nine Inch Nails, where they combine these atmospheric layers. For us, Pure Evil was combining these metal influences with atmospheric textures, and I think that is something we are going to look at doing more of on the new album

A: Listening to some of your earlier stuff I noticed some influences; Breaking Benjamin vibes, Three Day Grace, and Disturbed. Do you find your music is influenced by bands you have performed with? Or do you try to find bands that already have a similar sound, for you to tour with?

M: We’ve been really fortunate to tour with a lot of bands that we grew up idolising. We got to tour with Slash, who I think for any guitar player is…sort of god. The Alter Bridge guys are a huge source of inspiration for us, but I think more than that, we’ve always wanted to make music that is both heavy and anthemic, but also melodic. So each record we make, we are trying to find more and more ways of doing that, but we have always been drawn to music that is melodic but also has that heavy dark sound to it.

A: Who else do you want to tour with? What else would you want to do? You’ve played with quite a few big hitters…

M: As a New Zealander, one of the things I’m really looking forward to, is this summer we are playing Download festival in the UK. Devilskin are playing too. We’ve hung out before in London, but we’ve never played together, so as two kiwi bands I think that’s going to be cool.

A: Kiwis taking on the Dogstooth stage

M: Exactly. So that’ll be really awesome. Other than that, we’ve been really fortunate. We’ve played with a lot of bands that we grew up listening to, or a lot of bands that we idolise now. A band I have always wanted to tour with, for personal reasons, is Tool. But I always say I don’t want to be the band opening for Tool, because then the band after you is Tool, so I don’t know if I want to put myself in that position. But personally, that is kind of a bucket list band for me.

A: You never know, they are still working on an album…

M: They certainly take their time. We’ve been lucky enough to meet those guys, which was enough. We grew up as massive Tool fans. Adam Jones is one of my favourite guitar players, so just to meet those guys was enough, but if I was going to be greedy I would say it would be great to play with them too

A: Going back to the didgeridoo. As is often the case with great kiwi things, do Australians ever try to claim you as theirs?

M: Well you know, we are about to go to Australia with Alter Bridge, so I’ll have to let you know. I will say that a lot of the time people will think we are Australian. Probably because of our accents, and we do have a didgeridoo, so I can forgive people for looking at us and going “these guys have that down under accent”. But as far as Australians trying to claim us, I’ll have to let you know.

A: New Zealand Rock acts in general, they can do well in New Zealand. There aren’t too many of them, but often they have struggle when they go overseas. You guys skipped that whole “make it big” here and went straight overseas?

M: You can’t really predict the way things are going to go. I can look in hindsight and say we decided to go overseas, it was more that we had this dream of touring the world. We are massive fans of kiwi music, a lot of our favourite bands are kiwi bands. We would go to see bands at the Powerstation (Auckland), and it would be a band from America, a band from the UK, bands from all around the world. We thought how awesome would it be to do the reverse. Imagine if a band from New Zealand got to go to America, or go to the UK. Honestly, we just threw ourselves in the deep end. We moved up to Canada and we used that as our jumping off point in North America. But we didn’t know anybody there, we had no business being there. We moved to Canada and started playing every show we could, which to start with were not glamorous; playing for two drunk guys and a homeless man on a Wednesday night kind of thing. We built that up to headlining at this rock club on the weekend, and that led to us meeting some people in Los Angeles, where we have been, our careers have been largely been focused in the US from that point onwards. It isn’t that we sat in Torbay and decided we would go to Canada and the US, we just had this dream of playing music, and the way that its worked out has meant out music has taken off overseas first. But it’s really important to us as New Zealanders to play at home. Which is why it’s such a special thing for us to come back and play Homegrown or play with Alter Bridge this Friday.

A: You guys have a lot of history with Alter Bridge, you’ve played together a few times…

M: The guys have been amazing. I think half the touring we have ever done we’ve either done with Alter Bridge, or Creed (which is three of the same guys), or Slash (which Myles fronts), or Tremonti, which is Mark Tremonti’s solo project. We really owe those guys a tremendous amount, and we are just massive fans of theirs, they are a really inspiring group of dudes to be around. As a band to be on tour with them and see them play every night, it makes you want to lift your game as much as you can.

A: Does it go beyond being fellow musicians? Are you great friends? Do you hang out?

M: We do hang out, yeah! I mean they are awesome guys, they really are, and to their credit they have been awesome to us since the first time they met us. Now we have the benefit of a few years of history playing together, but from the first time we met those guys they were amazing to us. At that point we were opening up for Creed in the States, and the guys in Creed were in Los Angeles making their reunion album, and we were making our first album. We were just some band from New Zealand in LA, no one knew who we were. The guys in Creed heard our songs, liked them, and took us out on a massive arena tour of America. Those guys gave us our start in the US, and even from the first time we met them then, they were awesome. They have been a real inspiration for us, not just musically, but also to show us that people that have achieved so much can still be such grounded human beings. It makes a difference, you grew up and idolise these people, and meet them and they are really cool dudes. It’s nice when it happens that way

A: What product does Chris use in his hair? How does he keep it in place throughout an entire show?

M: This is for you, right? A “fan” question, but you just want to find out for yourself haha. Chris uses a brand of hair spray that you can get for $6 at the pharmacy called “Got to be Glue” and its basically industrial grade plastic in a can. The crazy thing about it, is when Chris wakes up in the morning, his hair looks exactly the same.

A: …so does he have to apply it multiple times? Or was it a one-time use?

M: Haha yes! He used it once, six years ago. No, he does take it with him, but it was a trial and error thing until he found this one hair spray that was unbelievably powerful. One of our favourite things on tour, when we are out for a while with a band, one of the guys in the other band will always pluck up the courage to try that hairspray. It’s always a “Something about Mary” type thing, it’s so much more powerful than they realise that they walk around for the rest of the tour with their hair sticking up like that. Now, next time I see you you’ll have your hair spiked up.

A: I’d have made a mistake, used too much, and it’d have been stuck like that for years.

M: That’s the trick. You don’t need as much as you think.

A: Do you guys have any guilty pleasures, music-wise?

M: The thing about a guilty pleasure is that you have to feel some guilt when you listen to it. We listen a really wide range of stuff, I don’t think we feel any shame about it. We grew up listening to a ton of different stuff from our parents, they were big into the Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the Eagles. Then we got really into really heavy music, but I think as musicians we tend to gravitate towards different genres, so we play heavy rock, but what I listen to is everything from black metal, to Joe Bonamassa (the blues guitarist) or contemporary jazz, just because I think that musically you are drawn to something that different. But we don’t feel any guilt, so I don’t know if that qualifies as a guilty pleasure. We just love different kinds of music. There are good songs in every genre. Even in pop radio there are good songs, interesting production methods, same with hip hop and everything. If you really love music you can appreciate it in all its various forms.

A: You guys tour a lot. Do you have any passions outside of the music industry? Do you have time for anything else outside of playing with Like A Storm.

M: My favourite thing to do when we come back from tour is to lock myself in my room and watch Netflix. Our life does revolve around music, but that’s because we are lucky enough to do what we love. We are often recording and writing while we are on tour, so Pure Evil, we were finishing that song up while we were on tour in the States. It got to the point where Chris and I weren’t even going to sound check anymore, we were on the bus trying to get the song finished on time. It’s all encompassing because it’s what we love to do. For me, one of my hobbies is playing drums. Drums was one of my first instruments, and now guitar is what I do, but now every time I can, if someone has a drum kit I’ll just disappear and play that. But music is really our lives and we are really grateful that we are allowed to spend as much time playing music as we are.

A: Your upcoming album Catacombs, is it coming out in May?

M: It’s coming out in May…plus a couple of months. Initially it was going to come out then, but we got offered a couple of amazing tours that we didn’t want to turn down. One of them was going to the UK and Europe with Alter Bridge at the end of last year, which was this insane arena tour we got to play, like the O2 in London, and these bucket list things that you just don’t turn down. The other one was coming here. We really wanted to come home, we wanted to play Homegrown, and do this tour with Alter Bridge. Every time you leave the studio it pushes back the album a little bit, but it’s been really cool to balance the two. We played Homegrown at the start of March, we flew back to Vegas for two weeks (we’ve just been recording now), I got back into town two days ago, and after the Australian tour, we go back to Vegas again and finish up the record there. It’s a cool way to do it because the studio and live are so different, it’s hard to believe it’s a part of the same job. So different. To play live and to have the energy of that, to go back into recording and take that with you, I think that’s a really cool thing. It’s puts you in a good headspace for writing music. It means the album will be slightly later, but I think it’ll be a better record.

A: With the new album, you have preorders available, with options to get your name in the album and signed copies. Are special options the new direction, with physical CDs becoming less popular?

M: I think of a physical CD as becoming a collector’s item, it makes sense. You can consume music digitally now, iTunes, Spotify, or watching videos on YouTube. Ultimately, as an artist it’s great that people can consume music digitally. It means you can reach people in corners of the globe you’ve never been to. I definitely think in terms of fans buying CDs and collectibles, I think that physical things are becoming more collectible and a fan experience. But I also think there’s a resurgence in vinyl. An interesting parallel where digital music is much more compressed…I won’t bore you with the details but it sounds very different. Vinyl is sort of the opposite of that. You have these two parallels, cutting edge technology and vintage technology, and they’ve both gotten more and more popular. I think it shows that people are still interested in sonic quality, and people are still interesting in owning something, something physical that they can hold.

A: And of course, vinyl is quite easy to customise. All CDs look the same

M: Vinyl is so cool too. You have these massive booklets, with the artwork on it. Vinyl is an experience. Whereas digital is about convenience, and being able to explode your music out to anyone with the internet. I can see why people like vinyl. It’s a truer representation of what that music actually sounds like.

A: Chaos Theory Part One. When is Part Two coming?

M: It’s kind of like a riddle. Actually, what happened with Chaos Theory was something that we never expected and it was amazing. Chaos Theory Part One was an EP that we made completely independently. We actually recorded it while we were out on tour in the States. So we would record it in hotel rooms and back stages. All of these crazy places that you’d never think you’d be making a record. We put the record out, and one of the songs (“Love The Way You Hate Me”) started to get played on the radio. It was never really released as a single, and at that point in time we weren’t even signed in America. But a couple of radio stations started playing it and it took off organically. From that we got the chance to turn Chaos Theory into a full album, and have that released in America and the UK, Europe and here in New Zealand. So Chaos Theory Part One became Awaken the Fire. When we made Chaos Theory Part One, we were always intending to make a Part Two, it just took off in this amazing direction we never could have predicted. Awaken the Fire is for lack of a better word Chaos Theory Part One and Two put together.

Like A Storm is Chris Brooks (guitar, lead vocals, didgeridoo, keyboards, programming), Kent Brooks (bass, vocals, keyboards, programming), Matt Brooks (guitar, vocals, keyboards, programming) and Zach Wood (drums).

Website Links

Muzic.net.nz Page
Official Website 
Facebook Page 
Twitter Page 
Youtube Page 
iTunes Page

Album Review: Awaken The Fire

Like A Storm Return To NZ After Breaking Records With New Single (press release)
Like A Storm to open for Alter Bridge (press release)
Like A Storm - Live in NZ for the first time! (press release)

The Taite Music Prize: Unveiling The Finalists

Independent Music NZ is very pleased to announce that the finalists for the Taite Music Prize 2017 have been confirmed. Now in its eighth year, the Taite Music Prize recognises outstanding creativity for an entire collection of music contained on one album.

Named after the late Dylan Taite, one of New Zealand’s most respected music journalists, the prize-winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000 to be spent as they wish, thanks to Taite Music Prize founding partner Recorded Music NZ; recording time at Red Bull Studios Auckland; and a year’s supply of Red Bull product.

This year’s eight finalists, from a lengthy list of 70 nominations submitted by record labels both independent and major from across the country, are:

Aaradhna / Brown Girl (Universal Music NZ)
Hopetoun Brown / Look So Good (Melita Music)
Lawrence Arabia / Absolute Truth (Flying Nun Records)
LEISURE / LEISURE (THE LEISURE COLLECTIVE)
Lontalius / I’ll Forget 17 (POD/Inertia)
Pacific Heights / The Stillness (Warner Music)
Shayne P Carter / Offsider (Flying Nun Records)
Street Chant / Hauora (Arch Hill Recordings)

The eight albums in contention for the 2017 prize include fresh faces and familiar New Zealand musicians alike. Previous Taite Music Prize winner Lawrence Arabia returns as a finalist with Absolute Truth, and his label-mate Shayne P Carter enters with his acclaimed Offsider album. Brand new finalists include Lontalius, Hopetoun Brown and LEISURE – all with their debut albums.

2012 Taite Music Prize finalist Aaradhna is back with her fourth studio album Brown Girl, as are 2011 finalists Street Chant with their second record Hauora.

Independent Music New Zealand chairperson, Matthew Davis, says, “We are very proud to celebrate the extraordinary musical and artistic expression found in New Zealand, through the recognition of these great albums. This year's finalists (and the impressive list of nominees) for the Taite Music Prize show that creativity, diversity and imagination within the New Zealand recording sector is thriving."

Founding partner Recorded Music NZ’s chief executive, Damian Vaughan, says it’s been a pleasure to be closely involved with the event. “This year’s finalists are a true reflection of the best local recordings. I’d encourage everyone to listen to these truly outstanding albums and I wish all the finalists every success,” he says.

This year the Taite Music Prize will be announced at a presentation at The Civic’s Wintergarden in Auckland on Tuesday 18^th April 2017. Alongside the main prize, two additional awards will be presented at the ceremony: the already established Independent Music NZ Classic Record Award and the newly created Auckland Live Best Independent Debut Award, celebrating the freshest talent of Aotearoa, and including a $2,000 cash prize and a live performance slot at Auckland Live Summer in the Square 2017/2018 – Auckland’s biggest backyard summer party.

TAITE MUSIC PRIZE 2017
TUESDAY 18^th APRIL – WINTERGARDEN, at The Civic

Presented by: Independent Music New Zealand (IMNZ)
Founding Partner: Recorded Music NZ
Official Partners: NZ On Air / The Taite Family
Event Partners: Auckland Live
Supporting Partners: NZ Music Commission / APRA AMCOS / Media Arts Lawyers / Songbroker /
Red Bull Studios Auckland / Commotion Ltd. / McCarthy Design / Spotify
Media Partners: 95bFM
Charity Partners: The NZ Music Foundation

Taite Music Prize: Announcing The Winner Of The
'Independent Music NZ Classic Record' Award

IMNZ is proud to announce the 2017 recipient of the ‘Independent Music NZ Classic Record’ award, which acknowledges Aotearoa’s rich history of making fine records that continue to inspire us and define who we are.

The judges have given the nod this year to The Clean – Boodle Boodle Boodle (Flying Nun Records, 1981) as one of Aotearoa’s classic records. 

The award will be accepted by members of the band and awarded to them by Doug Hood, who recorded the EP with Chris Knox way back in 1981.

Founding member of The Clean, David Kilgour, says it’s a great pleasure to accept this award. “Especially as it’s in the spirit of Dylan Taite, someone I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times throughout his life,” he says. “Boodle was a really important recording for The Clean and all involved in many ways. I have nothing but joyous memories of making Boodle (give or take the odd seizure!) – I’m reminded almost weekly about the work we did in those short few years in the late 70’s / early 80s. It never ceases to amaze me how far the recordings have travelled. The work we did back then pretty much propelled me into a life in music. 

In some ways, everything I’ve done since this period has been in the shadow of this work really, but I’m lucky I got a shadow! Ha!”

L – R: The Clean - Hamish Kilgour: Drums, vocals / David Kilgour: Guitar, vocals / Robert Scott: Bass
Photo credit: Craig McNab, 1982

Images courtesy of http://www.audioculture.co.nz/

NOTES ABOUT THE RECORD:

The Clean
Boodle Boodle Boodle
Flying Nun, 1981

This EP followed the pioneering Dunedin band’s top-20 debut single Tally Ho into the charts, peaking at number five and staying in the Top 40 for 19 weeks. 

Five songs were recorded over three days in a hall on Bond St in Auckland’s Arch Hill. The recording was overseen by Chris Knox and Doug Hood using Knox’s Teac 4-track machine and a budget of $750.  Chris also drew the cover art from a photograph by Carol Tippet of The Clean sharing a bath. Chris Knox provided backing vocals on the song Sad Eyed.

The EP was recorded Sept 7^th and 8^th, 1981. It was listed as FN003 in the Flying Nun Records catalogue after The Pin Group’s #1and The Clean’s Tally Ho. 

The five songs were all ‘Kilgour-Kilgour-Scott’ compositions, except Point That Thing, which was written by the Kilgours and Peter Gutteridge. 

The building in Bond St was a Legion of Frontiersman field headquarters, which was nicknamed ‘Frontear’.

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Previous Taite Music Prize winners

2010 - Lawrence Arabia - Chant Darling (Honorary Bedouin Records)
2011 - Ladi6 - The Liberation Of (What? Music)
2012 - Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra (Seeing Records)
2013 – SJD - Elastic Wasteland (Round Trip Mars)
2014 – Lorde - Pure Heroine (Universal Music NZ)
2015 – Jakob – Sines (Shoot The Freak)
2016 – Silicon - Personal Computer (Weird World/Domino Recordings)

Previous Independent Music NZ Classic Record recipients

2013 - Gordons – Gordons (Flying Nun)
2014 – Various Artists - AK79 (Ripper Records)
2015 - Herbs – What’s Be Happen? (Warrior Records)
2016 – Upper Hutt Posse – E T? (Jayrem Records)

Website Links

IMNZ - Taite Information

WOMAD 2017 - that's a wrap!

The 13th anniversary "of the most beautiful outdoor festivals in the world" WOMAD 2017, set in the stunning 55-acre Brooklands Park and TSB Bowl of Brooklands, New Plymouth was one of the highest selling WOMAD weekends in its 13 year history, including a completely sold out Saturday, putting the site at capacity with 12,500 audience members and over 16,000 people in total including all of the workers, artists and vendors. Friday audience numbers were 11,500 with Sunday numbers looking to be similar.

Event Director and NZ Programme Manager, Emere Wano said the festival team was thrilled with the attendance and good weather. “The magic of WOMAD is the journey of discovery, finding a new favourite food, point of view and of course, artist. We really tried to provide a diverse line-up that was appealing to all age groups, and this year with the inclusion of Mt Eden and BAYNK, we definitely widened our demographic."

Suzanne Porter, Taranaki Arts Festival Trust CEO, comments,  "It was a very solid line up across the board. The new programme World of Words went off and was very successful, especially the Poetry Slam which was at capacity. Poetry Slam judge, Penny Ashton performed a very moving, original poem that left not a dry eye in the crowd."

Full Article

Rap Rock Unleashed

Rap Rock groups Play Big and Legion of Dissent unite to unleash a night of "in your face, loud & proud" rap orientated rock.

Imagine Rage Against the Machine vs Bodycount vs a heavy Eminem, Cyprus Hill & Beastie Boys kinda flavour.
With special guests, The Carradines, bringing you their quirky, down & dirty brand of Rock. 

Play Big are from the Hibiscus coast, North of Auckland and Legion of Dissent are local boys from Tauranga. The two bands are joining forces and unleashing their high energy Rap orientated rock. It’s loud, it’s proud, and it’s uncensored. These bands will be kicking some serious arse with their songs about social, political, and the metaphysical. To kick off the night, The Carradines will be exciting you with their brand of sexy, down & dirty Motorhead style rock. The Carradines & Play Big have both had lot’s of airplay on the NZ Hard Rock Show.

15 April 2017
Doors open 7:30pm,
TOTARA ST, MT MAUNGANUI

$15 on the door, or $10 on eventfinda

Tickets available on Eventfinda: ($10 including booking fee)   

Facebook Event Page

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New Releases

Oscar Dowling - Free and Easy
David Dallas - Fit In
Lorde - Melodrama
Dave Dobbyn - Slice of Heaven - 40 Years of Hits
Head Like A Hole - 13 (re-release)
Lake South - If You're Born On An Island The Ocean Heals You
Alex De Vries - Take Me For A Ride
Thomas Oliver - Floating In The Darkness
Ciaran McMeeken - Which Way Shall We Go?
Shakes - Waiting On A Feeling
Li'l Chuck The One Man Skiffle Machine - Utility Blues
Logic Defies Logic - Magic & Science
While The Swamp Rocks compilation
Sola Rosa - Back To You
Mzwétwo - Young Stunna
Thomas Oliver - Losin'
David Dallas - Hood Country Club
Paul Gurney with The DeSotos - Highway of Dreams
The Map Room - Hold Me Up To The Sun 
Anti Matter - Deadspace
Lord Echo - Harmonies 
David 'Duck' Barraclough - Duckshit
Like A Storm - Pure Evil
Rei - Hati
Look Blue Go Purple - Still Bewitched
Aldous Harding - Party
Fazerdaze - Take It Slow
Hex - Page Of Pentacles
Cymbol - Roll It Up
Janine - Don't Love Me
Meech Brothers - Brown Owl

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April 2017 Gigs & Tours

(in no particular order)

Local

Nadia Reid
4 April @ East Street Café, Nelson - 5 April @ Mussel Inn, Takaka - 6-7 April @ Meow, Wellington -
8 April @ Tuning Fork, Auckland
Punk It Up
8 April @ Kings Arms, Auckland
French for Rabbits
7 April @ REC, Auckland - 8 April @ The Stand, Rotorua Race Course, Rotorua - 9 April @ Leigh Sawmill, Leigh
Anna Hawkins
5 April @ Whanganui Collegiate, Whanganui - 6 April @ 4th Wall Theatre, New Plymouth -
7 April @ The Hangar, Karapiro - 8 April @ The Vic Cinema and Café, Devonport, Auckland
Underworld @ Oro 2017
8 April @ Te Ngahere o Woodhill (Woodhill Forest), Waimauku, Auckland
Jon Toogood
12 April @ Blue Smoke, Christchurch - 15 April @ The Water Bar, Wanaka - 21 April @ Yot Club, Raglan -
22 April @ Mayfair, New Plymouth - 23 April @ The Waterfront Bar, Raumati - 28 April @ Leigh Sawmill, Leigh -
29 April @ Kings Arms, Auckland
Checaine with Midnight Switch and Alpha Coda
29 April @ Nivara Lounge, Hamilton
The Topp Twins
5 April @ Regent Theatre, Hokitika - 6 April @ NBS Theatre, Westport -
8 April @ Main Auditorium, ASB Theatre, Marlborough - 23 April @ Matakana Country Park, Matakana -
26 April @ Town Hall, Dargaville - 27 April @ Forum North, Whangarei - 29 April @ Turner Centre, Kerikeri -
30 April @ Main Hall, Te Ahu, Kaitaia
Bulletbelt
28 April @ Valhalla, Wellington
Andrew Keoghan
8 April @ Taranaki Retreat, New Plymouth - 21 April @ Blue Smoke, Christchurch - 27 April @ Meow, Wellington
- 28 April @ Tuning Fork, Auckland
The Slacks
6 April @ The Wine Cellar, Auckland
Family of Strangers Tour
with These Four Walls, Armed in Advance, His Master's Voice and Blue Ruin
28 April @ Darkroom, Christchurch - 29 April @ Valhalla, Wellington
Head Like A Hole
29 April @ Ding Dong, Auckland
Dave Dobbyn
12 April @ Forum North, Whangarei - 13 April @ ASB Waterfront Theatre, Auckland -
14 April @ Waiheke Jazz Festival, Waiheke - 15 April @ The Plaza, Putaruru - 16 April @ Gaiety Theatre, Wairoa -
20 April @ Civic Centre, Feilding - 21 April @ Opera House, Wanganui - 22 April @ Old St Paul's, Wellington -
26 April @ Trafalgar Centre, Nelson - 27 April @ Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch -
28 April @ Glenroy Auditorium, Dunedin - 29 April @ CentreStage Theatre, Invercargill
Lake South
7 April @ Caroline, Wellington
Cosmic Shambles
with Jon Toogood, Hollie Smith and Lawrence Arabia
4 April @ ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland - 8 April @ Opera House, Wellington -
10 April @ Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch
While The Swamp Rocks Compilation Release Gig
with the Bing Turkby Ensemble, Swampton Creeps, Turbostill and Deadset
29 April @ Snails, Palmerston North
Li'l Chuck The One Man Skiffle Machine
8 April @ The Wine Cellar, Auckland
Punk for Anzac
with Battlecat, Sugarleaf, The Recently Deceived and Liberated Squid
24 April @ Nivara Lounge, Hamilton
The Chills with Anthonie Tonnon
26 April @ San Fran, Wellington - 27 April @ St Peter's Hall, Paekakariki - 28 April @ Cabana, Napier -
29 April @ Royal Opera House, Whanganui
Rap Rock Unleashed
with Play Big, Legion of Dissent and The Carradines
15 April @ Totara Street, Tauranga
David Dallas
21 April @ Secret Location, Auckland
Paul Gurney with The DeSotos
7 April @ Birkdale North School, Birkdale - 15 April @ Tauranga Jazz Festival, Tauranga -
16 April @ Coopers Creek Winery, Kumeu - 16 April @ Waihi Beach Hotel, Waihi Beach -
22 April @ Thirsty Dog, Auckland
The Map Room
7 April @ Whammy, Auckland - 8 April @ Meow, Wellington
The Nukes
7 April @ The Laboratory, Lincoln - 9 April @ Central Lakes Trust Crystal Palace, Wanaka Festival of Colour
Night of the Ram Skulls
15 April @ The Embankment, Christchurch
My Name is Moana
12 April @ Mussel Inn, Onekaka - 13 April @ Playhouse Theatre, Mapua - 14 April @ Old Lodge Theatre, Hokitika
- 16 April @ Town and Country Club, Geraldine - 18 April @ The Cellar Door, Alexandra
- 20 April @ Community Centre, Stewart Island - 21 April @ Centrestage Theatre, Invercargill
- 22 April @ Puketeraki Marae, Karitane - 23 April @ Trust Event Centre, Ashburton - 24 April @ The Laboratory, Lincoln - 26 April @ Expressions Arts Centre, Upper Hutt - 27 April @ Theatre Royal, New Plymouth
- 28 April @ Playhouse, Taupo - 30 April @ OSPA, Onewhero
Six60
21 April @ Horncastle Arena, Christchurch

International

Santana and The Doobie Brothers
18 April @ Vector Arena, Auckland
The Doobie Brothers with Avalanche City
20 April @ TSB Bank Arena, Wellington
Protest The Hero with the Heavy Metal Ninjas
19 April @ Kings Arms, Auckland
Cyndi Lauper and Blondie
18 April @ Horncastle Arena, Christchurch - 17 April @ Vector Arena, Auckland
Snarky Puppy
6 April @ Powerstation, Auckland
Snarky Puppy After Party
6 April @ Neck of the Woods, Auckland
Helmet
21 April @ Bedford, Christchurch - 22 April @ Kings Arms, Auckland
Milky Chance
26 April @ Powerstation, Auckland
Jess Locke and Carb on Carb
18 April @ Nivara Lounge, Hamilton - 19 April @ Whammy, Auckland - 20 April @ Snails, Palmerston North -
21-23 April @ Sad By Sad South, Wellington
Lindsey Stirling
19 April @ Powerstation, Auckland
Rust
6 April @ Valhalla, Wellington - 7 April @ Nivara Lounge, Hamilton
Jimmy Buffett
18 April @ Opera House, Wellington - 21 April @ Theatre Royal, Christchurch
Andy C
21 April @ Studio, Auckland
8Foot Felix and Blunderbuss
15 April @ Casita Miro, Waiheke - 21 April @ Thirsty Dog, Auckland - 22 April @ Leigh Sawmill, Leigh
Disparo with Starving Millions
3 April @ Alternative Entertainment Bureau, Levin - 5 April @ San Fran, Wellington - 6 April @ Club Paradox, Nelson -
7 April @ Darkroom, Christchurch - 8 April @ The Crown Hotel, Dunedin
Maribou State
20 April @ Cassette Nine, Auckland - 21 April @ 2 Plimmer Steps, Wellington
Josh Pyke
19 April @ Wine Cellar, Auckland - 20 April @ Blue Smoke, Christchurch - 21 April @ Caroline, Wellington

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Latest NZ Music News
Latest Gig and Tour Announcements

New Artists

The following new artist pages were created on muzic.net.nz during March:

It is 100% FREE to add yourself or your band to muzic.net.nz, and you'll get free access to update your page, as well as access to add mp3 and photo galleries:
Add Artist Form
Info about filling out the add artist form

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Useful Links

Muzic.net.nz - What we do for Musicians and Bands

Self-Promoting Gigs and Tours

Important 2017 Music Industry Dates

Muzic.net.nz - Promo Photos

FYI: TV & Radio Promotion

**NEW** FYI: Promoters and Publicists **NEW**

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Rap It Up: Interview with Alpha

Alpha AKA Angus Grace is a Hip-Hop artist from the Auckland Hip-Hop scene. He's the kind of artist that works hard and takes every opportunity to perform and spread that goodness. James spoke to him for his Rap It Up blog, and you can read the full interview here.

New Reviews

Check out our latest reviews at the below links:

Seas of Conflict - EP Review: Vestige
Written by Terry

Gig Review: Jim Beam Homegrown @ TSB Arena, Wellington - 04/03/2017
Written by Alex

Brendon Thomas and The Vibes - Gig Review: Brendon Thomas & The Vibes @ Cabana, Napier - 11/02/17
Written by Ria

The Map Room - Album Review: Weatherless
Written by Corinne

Gig Review: I Am Giant @ King Arms Tavern, Auckland - 09/03/2017
Written by Alex

Cheshire Grimm - EP Review: Rain or Shine
Written by Alex

Hiboux - Album Review: Command the Earth to Swallow Me Up
Written by Alex

Gig Review: Cheshire Grimm @ REC, Auckland - 10/03/17
Written by Sarah

Ginzu and the Steak Knives - EP Review: Crow Hand
Written by Alex

Album Review: Naught For Nothing
Written by Paul

Kenington - Album Review: Going Nowhere (Faster Than You)
Written by Kerry M

Brendon Thomas and The Vibes - EP Review: Wrap You In The Sun
Written by Alex

Lake South - Album Review: If You're Born On An Island The Ocean Heals You
Written by Corinne

Gig Review: Gorguts and Marduk @ Valhalla, Wellington - 12/03/17
Written by Terry

The DeSotos - Album Review: Shadow of Love
Written by Corinne

The Nukes - Album Review: III
Written by Lora

Like A Storm - Gig Review: Alter Bridge @ The Powerstation, Auckland 31/01/2017
Written by Alex

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All of our reviews can be read here.
All our interviews can be read here.
Email [email protected] if you would like us to review your music.

New Photos

Our photographers have been busy adding some extraordinary photos during March. Check out all our latest photo galleries at the below links:

Anna Coddington
Miller Yule
Sunny Ray
Dictaphone Blues
Te Huhu
The Phoenix Foundation
Lydia Cole
Hedlok
Justin Bieber
Stack & Piece
Kings
Sola Rosa
Nice n' Urlich
Tiki Taane
Photos by Steve

Callum Gentleman
Miss Peach and the Travellin Bones
Legion of Dissent
Photos by Corinne

I Am Giant
Armed in Advance
Silence The City
Cheshire Grimm
Brendon Thomas and The Vibes
Skinny Hobos
Bakers Eddy
Alter Bridge
Like A Storm
Photos by Chris M

Pixies
Midge Ure
Fairday Music @ Newtown Festival
Twenty One Pilots
Don Henley
Julie Lamb
Photos by Reef

Taking Back Sunday
Photos by Matt H

Miss Peach and the Travellin Bones
Photos by Nikita

Homegrown 2017
Photos by Bradley

Cheshire Grimm
Skinny Hobos
Coridian
Dead Favours
Rebel Sound Radio
Photos by Jamie

All of our photo galleries can all be viewed here.
Some of our photographers also take professional promo photos.
Email [email protected] if you would like us to photograph you.

Tour Features

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All muzic.net.nz tour features can be viewed here
Email team@muzic.net.nz if you would like us to create a tour feature for you.

Our NZ Music Month special edition newsletter is going out on Sunday 7 May 2017!

If you are a NZ musician and you would like to promote your music,
we would love to feature you in our newsletter
and you can choose the date which suits you

We can also feature record labels, venues, music stores, music websites...
anything that has something to do with NZ music

Check out this forum and email [email protected] for more information about our newsletters

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• 1
  Head Like A Hole
• 2
  Horror Story
• 3
  Fraser Ross
• 4
  Fur Patrol
• 5
  Michelle Rounds
• 6
  L.A.B.
• 7
  The Boondocks
• 8
  Late to Chelsea
• 9
  Springloader
• 10
  Baconfoot

• 
  Nadia Reid @ Loons, Lyttelton - 16/11/2024
• 
  Pull Down The Sun @ Franks Bar, Whanganui - 15/11/2024
• 
  Elidi @ Franks Bar, Whanganui - 15/11/2024
• 
  Infinity Ritual @ Franks Bar, Whanganui - 15/11/2024

• 1
  APT.
  ROSÉ And Bruno Mars
• 2
  DIE WITH A SMILE
  Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
• 3
  BIRDS OF A FEATHER
  Billie Eilish
• 4
  TASTE
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 5
  I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
  Gracie Abrams
• 6
  ESPRESSO
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 7
  SAILOR SONG
  Gigi Perez
• 8
  LOSE CONTROL
  Teddy Swims
• 9
  A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
  Shaboozey
• 10
  GOOD LUCK, BABE!
  Chappell Roan

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