The Darkroom Holiday Special - The Darkroom - Christchurch - 23 December 2017.

25 Bands in one night, across two stages in a tiny venue. Didn't know about this till the last minute, almost, but there were several bands that I was quite keen to see and some of them I have records of their music. Others I had seen before and was quite impressed, so there was plenty of interest, the rest I had never heard of. I believe all were local bands.

  So things were suppose to kick off about 5:20pm, all the first 8 bands I had never heard of and it wasn't until Motte at 8pm that I was interested in seeing. I had had a very busy day in my garden and didn't leave home until just after 6pm.

Arriving at the venue about 7:30pm, I soon found that already they were just under an hour behind the schedule. I just caught the end of The Teasers, I think, a duo of acoustic guitar and drums and sounded not too bad from what I heard, although I didn't pay too much attention as I was getting a drink and checking out the set up of the venue. The north stage, is the usual stage they use most of the time, the south stage was set up in the back part of the venue. Each band had a 20 minute set while the next band set up on the other stage and there were almost no breaks between sets.

 Next I caught the full set of Butterflies Welcoming Spring, another duo with drums and electric guitar. This band was pretty ferocious with some quite impressive guitar pyrotechnics and the guitarist throwing himself about all over the place while he thrashed away at his axe. I liked it quite a bit. 

 Dave from Galaxy records turned up soon after this and opened his shop, so I really didn't see anything I can remember from the next two bands as I was browsing his shop and chatting with Dave.

 Motte was next and I was very keen to see her preform again. I first saw her at the start of the year supporting Jay Clarkson's Breathing Cage and then purchased her album later on which has been a highlight of the years releases.

 This time she had a dude on drums lightly improvising behind her as she set up her violin loops and played over the top of them. The first piece had quite a drone going which I didn't recognize, although I think the playing over the top sounded familiar, but the rest of the stuff she played sounded unfamiliar to me and also she didn't preform and vocals like she did on her album, so I was slightly disappointed but still enjoyed her set.

  Big  Beach I am a bit vague on but I think they were doing some quite enjoyable surf rock and the crowd was getting into them, but I was back in the record shop for some of their set.

 Dark Matter was the band I most wanted to see this night with Steve Cogle of the Terminals leading this project, I have their lone album which is really good and I really enjoy Steve's distinctive voice. Their music is not all that far removed from The Terminals but with slightly different instruments, one being this very cool electric string instrument that the player bowed, making a wonderful noise that slightly dominated the bands sound. Their set was excellent.

 No Broadcast I had seen before and they played a catchy almost commercial sounding heavy rock and I like their music. I found a seat and sat off to the side to ease the tension in my back from standing for so long. Their set was pretty good but they had it cranked way too loud, probably the loudest of the night.

  Jim Nothing/Wurld series were next and I had seen Wurld Series before and had really enjoyed their Flying Nun pop but this was a different set up with Motte on Violin supporting guitar and drums. Nice acoustic music and an enjoyable set.

 Salad Boys have a new record out soon and although I have their first LP, I haven't had it long and am not yet all that familiar with it. They played a great indie pop set with the bass lines of their songs particularly catchy, another highlight set of the night and I asked the singer/guitarist if all the songs were from their new album which he confirmed they were, so really looking forward to getting that.

 I think Piha Rescue played next instead of the listed band, who played later. They were another kinda surf rock band although I don't recall much about their set.

 Ruling Elite I sat out their set again to relieve my back but their set sounded quite interesting.

 Prodigies were up next and I had never heard of them but it turned out that Dave from Galaxy was playing guitar along with a second guitar, bass and drums backing the singer. They played a fantastic kinda 80's rock and I just loved their set, maybe the best of the night.

 The next band that I really focused on, and I had heard of them, was Opawa 45's. They also played a kinds surf/rockabilly/punk hybrid and had a really cool sound, great dirty bass, really enjoyed their set also.

 Log Horn Breed were the last band I was really interested in seeing this night and it was now well past midnight when they hit the stage. They also have a great record out that I have and had been wanting to see them live for a while. They played a dark industrial electronic noise with this the big bloke screaming into his treated mike, whichy made it pretty difficult to hear anything he sang.

 I was really getting into their noise when this bloke went right up into the singers face and started saying something to him, the singer, who already looked pretty antagonistic, was not impressed and told him to fuck off a couple of times, then not long after in the middle of the piece everything went dead, like the power was cut off and the band just started packing up. It was a pretty short set and I'm not sure if the abrupt termination was actually part of their act, quite probably.

 At 1am, I still had an hours drive to get home and did not know any of the last bands so I hit the road. It was a great night of music and I didn't hear anything all night that I didn't like.

Blazed and Confused - The Great Southern Doom Fest - New City Hotel - Christchurch - 9 December 2017

The title will inform most as to the sort of music presented on this night of noisy mayhem. I was most interested in seeing Triumphs again and hopefully picking up their latest slab of vinyl and Arc Of Ascent of whom I also have a couple of records and was keen to meet their leader, Craig, whom I kinda knew through a Facebook Group, Also Bloodnut was one I had heard a little via Bandcamp and liked enough to bee keen on seeing them live.
 The stage was split into two halves with a band playing on one half of the stage while the next band set up behind curtains on the other half of the stage. Each band played an approx 30 minute set.
 The first three sets were from Old Haven, Shetland and Yarnspinner. I knew nothing about any of them, enjoyed the first with just guitar and drums with some vocals and also enjoyed the second band with a larger line up. A week later as I right this, my memory of their sets is already fading, but I do remember liking what I heard. YarnSpinner seemed to be somewhat louder than the first two bands who I thought played at just the right volume but I was actually struggling with the loudness of Yarnspinner and so went out to get some ear plugs from my car for the rest of their set. I don't recall much about what they played.
 Triumphs were up next and unlike last time I saw them, I believe they played more material from the earlier album than the new one as I seemed to recognize more of the tunes, although I had listened to the new record on Bandcamp a couple of times. Their music is all instrumental, so no vocal melodies to help identify their tunes but I definitely knew all they played. Their set was blood excellent and I would have loved them to play longer. I had removed my earplugs for their set as I didn't enjoy the muffled sound with them in.
  The next two bands, Opium Eater and Enfire, I can't sat too much about as I got distracted by checking out the growing crowd, moving to the back of the room for a drink and a respite from the earsplitting volume and also got into a shot conversation with the guitarist from Triumphs as to what had happened to their new album, which I was intending to buy a copy of while at this gig. Unfortunately the album had been delayed from the pressing plant for an unknown time.
 Next up was Bloodnut and I was pretty close to the stage for this ferocious 3 piece who played some excellent bass lines, some great guitar  and thundering drums, I really enjoyed their high octane set although there was a fair bit of distortion that muddied the sound and I couldn't understand much of what the singer said or sang.
 Then Arc of Ascent hit the stage, their first gig in Christchurch for many years, and perhaps the band I was most looking forward to. I already had their first two records and picked up their latest from the merch table earlier in the night. I also sorta knew the band leader from Facebook so was keen to say hello at some stage. Anyhow their set was as good as I expected, the band was tight and the riffs awesome, with I think a majority coming off the latest record(which I think is their strongest). There was a tall, quite old looking gentleman with a beer in hand and conservatively dressed next ot me as they played their last track. He just stood there looking straight ahead and not moving as the wall of great noise hit us. as they finished, he turned to me, cracked a big and slightly drunken smile and said"that was fucking awesome! What are they called?"
  I managed to catch Craig's attention before he left the stage and introduced myself and he said he will catch me after he packed up. I caught some of the next band, Stonehurst, but spent the rest of their set in conversation with Craig. The last band was from Australia and called Hobo Magic, but it was already 12.30am and I had an hours drive home so I excused myself from Craig and left.

Aldous Harding - Issac Theater Royal - Chriatchurch - 30 November 2017

Regular readers(if indeed such persons exist) may recall me seeing Aldous back in early February, not long before she released the album for which this tour is supporting. The Album went on to get many positive reviews and much support in certain circles with one song even getting nominated for a Silver Scroll award here in New Zealand. In between times from the previous gig I attended, Aldous had been touring extensively The  USA and Europe and even had an appearance on Later with Jools Holland. The last gig at which I saw Aldous was preformed in an intimate small pub venue at which I have seen several great gigs over the course of the year and so after the year of touring and the fact that the Issac Theater Royal is a much larger venue than Blue Smoke, it was going to be interesting to see how she preformed in such a different venue.

 I had purchased the tickets for this concert way back in July and yet even that far back I was unable to secure seats down on the ground floor, so we had to settle for second row center on the second level of the theater. From what we could see, the gig was a near sell out in the 1300 seat venue, so a great testament to how far Aldous has come this year.
 Support was from Chills front man Martin Philips, who preformed some old and some new Chills songs, mentioning there was a new album out next year. He just played his electric guitar solo and it was nice to hear him doing Pink Frost and the other songs, the later ones I was not familiar with so much. I would prefer to see these preformed with the full Chills lineup, but it was still enjoyable and went down well with the crowd.
 There was a good 40+ minute wait before Aldous quietly took the stage in her white trousers and grey coat, seated herself on a stool center stage and with out a word started in on her first song of the night, singing something from her first LP I think(I should be more familiar with all her stuff by now). She did play a few other tracks from her first album, singing in that pixie/Irish voice she uses and which I think sound actually better on the record than live. Still not having spoken, but now with the rest of her band in support, the third song she did was my favourite, Horizon, from the Party Album, and although it was a good performance of a very good song, it failed to reach the heights of goosebump inducing jawdropping awe which was induced in me the previous time I saw her preform it. Also, I believe it is the sort of song to either open the show with a powerful statement or as the final number like at the previous show I attended.
 She finally spoke to the audience about half way into the show in response to some cat calls from the audience, but she was much more detached and less out spoken to us than the loquaciousness she displayed at the previous gig I mentioned. She played two new songs that she had recently written that were both impressive and aided in building excitement for the next album, bith songs she sung in the lower register voice she uses which recall Joni Mitchell to a drgree and that is not a bad thing.
 Overall, the show didn't have the same impact as the Blue Smoke gig, which didn't surprise me as I think her music and style of preformance suits more intimate venues, but still it was a great show and I love her music and it is great to see her doing so well.