Articles tagged with "Opinion"
For one night only
14/07/2022
On an average Sunday in April of 2022, an iconic Dunedin venue is resurrected. The venue? Sammy's, built in the 1800s, previously served as a theatre, cinema, and storage facility. It's contemporary musical history began in 1983 when it was purchased by Sam Chin, and became one of many locations fostering a thriving scene later known as the "Dunedin Sound". Back in the present, a relaxed crowd mingle,... More
Spaceland vs The World
14/08/2021
It’s been a winter of discontent for the local music community here in Otepoti. Old grievances which have tormented the scene for decades are bubbling to the surface and erupting. A petition aiming to “Save Dunedin’s live music” through noise control reform accumulated over 1,700 signatures, spurred by clashes between residential inner-city dwellers and musicians/audiences who just want to play/hear music at 10pm on a Friday. Meanwhile, the... More
The Dunedin music community unites over a terrible opinion
13/03/2021
On the 9th of March 2021 a local musician woke up in a rage. "Why don't I get paid more?" he roared, "Why does the public value creme eggs more than me?" The answer, he decided, must be because: * Musicians, specifically Dunedin musicians, are terrible at what they do * Also, these terrible musicians charge the public too little for the privilege of seeing them * And... More
Jutland Street: The venue which wasn't a venue
5/12/2020
Around a year ago I wrote about None Gallery. None Gallery was a collaborative art space which hosted art exhibitions and music gigs since 2003. It ended when the building was sold to a property investor. It is now a gym. A few months ago I wrote about The Attic. The Attic was a venue and practice space which was a cornerstone of the indie/alternative scene since 2011.... More
“Music has to go somewhere”: The Attic and the value of practice spaces
10/10/2020
Located at the very top of a three story commercial building on George Street, the venue known as The Attic was the most important place you haven’t heard of. As well as providing a space for artists to practice and record, it hosted gigs from national and international acts such as The Beths, Miss June, Kane Strang, L.A Suffocated. More importantly, it formed the core part of the... More
Live music during a global pandemic
4/04/2020
It’s hard to believe just over a week ago I was interviewing a band who were preparing to embark on a national tour, and now we’re living in a world where every step outside our bubbles must be carefully considered. We could all see the storm clouds on the horizon but had no idea how quickly and viciously it would hit. The local live music scene quickly had... More
2019 was a year
31/12/2019
Here we stand, tentatively poised on the cusp of the roaring 20s, the perilous 10s behind us. If this year could be summed up in a single word it would be “change”. First, in May, was the news that New Zealand’s longest running artist run space None Gallery had been sold to a property developer who, as is typical for their ilk, had no interest in supporting the... More
Goodbye None
26/05/2019
A few weeks ago the art and music community received some sad news: None Gallery had been sold and, since it’s new owners had purchased a cashflow opportunity not an art gallery, the residents had 30 days to collect 16 years of history and get out. None Gallery was founded in 2003 as a collaborative art space. The building on Stafford Street included six huge bedrooms, studio spaces,... More
Record Store Day 2018 at Relics (video)
28/04/2018
Twenty years ago if you wanted music you had to leave your house, go to a record store, talk to some people, part with $30 and return with a CD to pop in your discman. But today we have near instant, near free access to most of the last few hundred years of recorded music. So that makes record stores obsolete, right? Well there’s certainly less demand but the... More
Life in the shadow of the Dunedin sound
10/03/2018
On Tuesday the 27th of February 2018 two masked terrorists committed a heinous act of vandalism. before and after coyote Baying for heretic blood In an expletive-laden video, they recorded themselves graffiting a powerbox displaying The Chills inspired street art and, in doing so, desecrated a sacred altar to the Dunedin Sound. Acolytes retaliated swiftly and violently in comments sections across social media. “Morons! Losers!” they chanted, “Without... More
The L$D Fundraiser Bomb Scare: A retrospective
28/10/2017
In June this year an internationally recognized local sound artist grew tired of asking money for his works and decided to give them away for free. He was inspired by local photographer and musician Lance Strickland who, the month before, had posted his photos around Dunedin for the public to take. This sound artist planned to do something similar with his latest work. The work was a music... More
Extended thoughts on L$D Fundraiser and recent events
3/07/2017
On the 16th of June, late on a Friday afternoon, central Dunedin was cordoned off and closed down for what was described as a bomb scare. The police flew down the Bomb Disposal Squad to blow up what turned out to be an audio cassette containing StreetNOISE the latest album by Dunedin musician L$D Fundraiser. After detonating the cassette and discovering it was not in fact a bomb,... More
