Waitati is a seaside village 30 minutes’ drive north of Dunedin. It’s a melting pot of alternative life-stylers, academics and a plethora of other folk. It has its own publication, The Blueskin News, and tonight’s ‘Mid-Winter Shin-Dig‘ was a fundraiser for the community paper.

Waitati local Mandy Mayhem is the main driver of the event, and after a couple of raffles were drawn, 5-piece band Barracuda open up the evening.

The third song in was perfect for the chilly Dunedin evening; the aptly named I'm Not Smoking, I'm On Fire. It's great to see an old school open handed drummer, I could have just watched him all night.

Barracuda have a fiddle player, acoustic guitar, lead guitar, bass player and drummer. Their sound is tough to pigeonhole, there’s elements of reggae, blues and at least one of the tunes had a touch of Nick Cave.

It's always great to see musicians having a great time, and Barracuda's drummer definitely looked like he was having the time of his life.

Towards the end of their set, they pulled out a few country numbers which had people dancing to the brisk 2/4. It’s also great watching people who can dance well, swinging each other around the hall.

After an interlude, while more raffles were drawn with brewery and local art prizes going to lucky ticket holders, Bulletproof Convertible came on. They're a three-piece, firmly set in the rockabilly rhythm and blues vein with a double bass, guitar and drums. They had more than half of the crowd dancing.

Bulletproof Convertible gradually increased the tempo throughout their set, going out on a high note with a full dance floor clapping for them.

Then Shakes and the Troublemakers hit the stage - they're the polar opposite of Bulletproof Convertible. Loose and messy with dirty rock and roll. Their set consisted of brilliant originals songs penned by Chris Shakes Prendergast. The fourth song in, Motorbike, is a song he's been playing for around 20 years. It gets an extended workout.

Another pinot noir raffle draw later then the liquidated three piece lurched into a demolition of Chris Issac's Wicked Game, while (Take Me) Back To The Sea had the remaining dancers swaying.

I Could Not See was a faster track with a great off beat guitar part, that most of the remaining people dancing. Pottley and Shakes swap bass and guitar for a classic surf tune, which they followed with the final track from the night, Crimson and Clover.

Throughout the night, the Troublemakers played many great tunes that they have also played at various other venues around the South Island recently.

Photos courtesy of Adam Binns Photography.

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