Mermaidens - The Darkroom - Christchurch - 11 October 2019

The Mermaidens just got back from touring Europe and this was the first night on their album release tour of the four main centers of their home country. The new album, "Look Me In The Eye" has been on high rotation at my place and I think it could be a strong contender for my NZ record of the year, just like their last one.

 I am still surprised how a band as good as The Mermaidens(perhaps one of the best indi bands in NZ and on the premier NZ record label, Flying Nun) is still only playing tiny venues like the Darkroom, which although it was pretty full, was not packed to capacity as far as I could see.

  Support band this night was Kool Aid(formally Brian Tamaki and the Kool Aid Kids) a local indie band with three guitars bass and drums. I had seen them before(under their old moniker) but I think I enjoyed their set a lot more this time. The sound was really good tonight, with five of them playing it was not too overcrowded sounding which I think I found last time I saw them. They have some great catchy songs and nice guitar hooks that kept my foot tapping throughout. Most enjoyable.

  The three piece Mermaidens hit the stage at around 10:30pm. Guitarist Gussie Larkin and bass player Lily Paris West both had bright red dresses, on kinda matching the colour of the new albums cover. I had first seen them in Dunedin a couple of years back before I had heard their music and at that gig, although enjoyable enough, was not one that stuck in my memory as great. Since then, I have got much more familiar with their music and very impressed with their recorded output. They have also done a lot more international touring since I last saw them. This time was much better, Gussie has a fabulous voice and her singing is getting stronger and although Lily sings a fair portion of their songs also and is a fine singer, I found myself concentrating on Gussie's vocal performance more and I was very impressed with the power of this tiny woman's voice. The sound was pretty loud but not too muddy this night although Lily's bass was a little distorted but she plays some great bass lines supporting Gussie's great guitar which she can shred bloody well at intense moments in their songs, especially on about the third song they played I think it was. Really enjoyed them much more than the first time. Great night of music.

Nervous Jerk - Darkroom - Christchurch 27th September 2019

Christchurch 3 piece punk band Nervous Jerk put out their first piece of vinyl on 7 inch showcasing three tracks including their contributing track to the Melted Ice Cream CD comp Sickest Smashes From Arson City, "Vitamins".

 I had seen them play a couple of times before including as part of the Melted Ice Cream multi band series of concerts when the aforementioned compilation came out. The two other bands supporting that night also piqued my interest of getting of my lazy butt and getting into the city to see some live music. 

 First up was another three piece band called Mental Fatal. I had caught A snippet of a video of them preforming at another local venue online and was impressed enough to want to see them play at some point. I was not disappointed with their American influenced hardcore punk, classical snotty punk singer and energetic trashy songs that impressed me a lot. I actually enjoyed this band the best of the three on this particular night.

  Next up was a rare appearance by another three piece, The Transistors. I had seen them play a few years back supporting the Buzzcocks and had been impressed enough to track down a copy of their only full album. The album was not as impressive as I had hoped but they were a pretty good live act. They said pretty much all the songs they played that night were from that album and the first few songs didn't really fire me up that much but in the middle section of their set the played three songs that I though were great and really had me tapping my foot and the mosh pit was heaving..

 Finally Nervous Jerk hit the stage to strut their stuff. It was good to see the Darkroom pretty full this night and again the mosh pit was heaving with bodies causing this old fart to retire towards the back og the room. The Jerk played a good set but I didn't think it was as good as the last time I had seen them playing their classic punk. I did get somewhat distracted during their set by going next door to Ride On Super Sounds to purchase some Records. Still, a great punk band and definitely worth checking out live.

Dry Stream Circuit -- 7 September 2019

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No 167

Dry Stream Circuit -- 7 September 2019

Three weekends in a row I am out tramping. Hoping to keep the momentum going but spring planting is almost upon us and there is a lot to do in my garden. Still, It has been great to get back out and I have been able to tramp without too much issues with mu back. I will never be as fast as i was and will need to be careful and watchful on my body, but I hope to get out much more soon.

 This was another CTC club trip with leader Bryce taking us on another of his explorations on different approaches to the Torless range. This time heading up Dry Stream.

 We headed up stream on a overcast but mild morning although it was not really warm. The stream was pretty easy going from the road but soon got scrubby and a little gorgy in places forcing us to climb up a little and sidle over the rocky sections. Eventually we decided to take the ridge up on the south side up to point 1536. This was not quite the route Bryce intended but the valley opposite up to point 1842 looked a lot more challenging and the group wasn't quite that inspired this time. We sidled under Foggy Peak before stopping for lunch, The cloud was starting to break up as predicted and it was turning into a stunning afternoon but still pretty cold.

 Soon after lunch as we headed along towards point 1842, it soon became necessary to don out crampons  and as we got to that point, the group was feeling a bit too lazy to head on to Castle Peak, with most if not all of us having been there before, it was decided just to head straight back to the cars along the western ridge via Mt Plenty. It turned out to be we only walked about 11km all told and climbed about 1140M so we were back at the cars in pretty good time.

Mt Oxford and Wharfedale Track -- 1 September 2019

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No 166

Mt Oxford and Wharfedale Track -- 1 September 2019

This was a CTC club trip, I was a little disappointed about having to do Mt Oxford again after only doing it the week before, but due to a fire up in the kowhai valley, the road was closed, blocking our access to the mountains where we originally wanted to go so it was decided to head to Mt Oxford as this was the closest hill without a lot of extra travel to get anywhere else.

 Fifteen trampers reconvened at the View Hill Car park before heading up the western route up the mount. Lunch on top while discussing the options going back, it was decided to drop down to point 925  on the side track to the Warfdale hut before a bush bash down to the Warfdale track and then the long slog back to the cars. We ended up covering a distance of about 21 Kms and 1200m of height gain, so it was no wonder I was pretty shagged out at the end.

Mt Oxford - 24 August 2019

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No 165

Mt Oxford 24 August 2019

OMG again..... A tramp. It's been awhile. Last years attempt to get back into tramping petered out after three lovely trips. Kinda got busy with other things and also lack of money seems to put a block on things but my intention to tramp was still festering. Recently I thought about getting my hands in another set of walking poles. I had used them for a while a few years back but when they broke I didn't replace them. I was thinking they might help me with my back issues and many people in the club use poles. I found out about some good poles from the US and managed to get them on sale for about $30US and after postage they were still much cheaper than the poles for sale here.

 Anyhow, the poles arrived but I had not yet committed to getting back into the hills when one Friday a post on Facebook came up where a couple of Club friends were going to go up Mt Oxford the next day. Mt Oxford is right on my door step and I would be good to catch up with the people concerned. I messaged Kerrie of my desire to join the trip and rushed about getting ready for the day out.

  Meet Kerrie at the Coopers Creek Carpark about about 8:30am to find she was   alone as Susan wasn't feeling up to the trip that day. So with my new poles, Kerrie and I set off past the Scout hut and took the direct route up the Mount. I have done this hill plenty of times now so we just went to the top and straight back the same way. The snow on top was not too deep but crampons did help with the last part of the climb and even more so coming back down. The wind was bitter on top so we didn't linger too long. A nice warm up trip with pleasant company.

Aldous harding - James Hay Theater - Christchurch - August 28th 2019

OMG, a new blog entry from Uncle Roddus. It's only been over 9 months since my last concert, where did the time go? OK, I did do the Lines Of Flight festival in Dunedin in March, but I never got around to doing a write up on that.

 Anyhow, Aldous had released another new album, "Designer" a more mature and laid back work than her second and one that seems to have grown her audience and reputation even more.

 Mrs Roddus and myself procured tickets for the upper level of The James Hay Theater, after the Town Hall was finally reopened earlier this year, 8 years after the big earthquake of 2011. Seating was general, so we got front row seats on the balcony level and fortunately some friends we were hoping to catchup with managed to get there in time to take some pews behind us.

 The support band was Ben Woods, a band I had seen a couple of times before and although I liked their song on the Melted Ice Cream CD comp I have, I had not been all that impressed with the rest their music. This time I thought they did some more interesting stuff and that had a steel guitar fleshing things out which I don't recall the other times and some of the keyboard noodlings were pretty interesting. Their sound was still a bit murky and Ben's guitar was not loud enough and he was doing a lot of stuff with it. Still, It was the best set I had seen them do at this point.

 During the break I got to catch up with my friends who were sitting behind us before Aldous took the stage first on her own, seated front and center with her acoustic guitar and did a song or two from her first LP. Then the rest of the band joined her and went through a set culled mostly from her new album. The sound was great and the band was fantastic and tight. Aldous had been touring all over the world for the last couple of years and if this was her band on those tours, it showed, they were very impressive. Aldous was quiet spoken and didn't say a hell of a lot this gig but she was in great voice and the audience were right into her music. She didn't play much from her Party album, with a couple of songs from that that both myself and my friend would have liked to hear, and her renditions of the songs did not vary much from the recorded versions. The inevitable encore was demanded and the last song of the night was a brand new song which was more uptempo and bouncy than here other stuff and I though sounded fantastic. Looks like Aldous is changing direction yet again and not for the worse either.

 Another great gig from this wonderfully talented artist.

Orchestra of Speres - Lyttelton Coffee Company - Lyttelton - 30 December 2018

Orchestra Of Spheres are one of my favourite New Zealand Bands and I feel deserve to be playing much bigger venues than the rather small Lyttelton Coffee Co venue they played this night. I have all four of their funky Afrocentric world music albums, with their latest, Mirror, just coming out recently and perhaps being their best to date. I arrived at the venue 30 minutes after doors open to a still nearly empty venue with Delaney and Bruce still sound checking their gear on the balcony out back of the venue where the bands are going to play. The idea is cool, with the harbour lights glistening in the background but the reality is there is little room out there and even though there are two big doors out to the balcony, the view from inside the venue is very restricted and the bands play on the deck with no stage so only those at the front get to see, which is pretty usual in these small venues. Still , the crowd is small enough that perhaps more than half are out on the deck. Although advertised to kick off at 9pm, I hear one of the guys say they will start at 9:30. Once Bruce and Delaney have finished their sound check, I actually get into a conversation with Delaney about his recent gigs in Wellington and his many up coming recording projects as well as a conversation with both Delaney and Bruce about Radio with Pictures, a TV music video program we all use to watch in our youth.

 This night Bruce and Delaney are going to preform together, this is an interesting prospect as they actually inhabit quite different musical spheres. Bruce Russell, of course, is one of the members of legendary NZ noise merchants The Dead C and I have seen him live a couple of times creating his improvised guitar driven drones. Delaney on the other hand usually playes down and dirty blues infused Americana folk surf in various permutations. Of course their set is a freewheeling improvised set Bruce setting up his feedback drenched drone which he then manipulate in various ways while Delaney strums along with is distorted guitar noodlings and an occasional distorted beat from his effects pedals. It kinda works better if you can just close your eyes and let the noise wash over you, which I find difficult to do when standing and surrounded by others. There were times where the two sets of sounds kinda blended into a throbbing crescendo, but other times it was just two guys doing different things and with no actual physical interplay between the two(they had their backs to each other and heads down in concentration) it was hard for me to know how much each was doing was in response to what the other was playing. Interesting set.

 My back has been particularly uncomfortable over the Christmas period and standing still in one place makes for an unpleasant situation, so I needed to sit for a while to ease things. Delaney did two longish solo numbers of his bluesy rockabilly which was pretty cool while I sat and listened inside.

  After the usual break while Orchestra Of Spheres set up, I positioned myself in the crowd on the balcony to await their set. The band came skipping through the audience jingling bells and other things, dressed in the strange costumes they like to wear and set them selves behind their instruments as they set into playing a song I recognized from one of their earlier records. The band are infectious, groovy and their music is great and I was tapping my feet throughout their hour or so set. I certainly recognized many of the songs, including their cool take of Sun Ra's Rocket No 9 and was surprised they did not do so many from the new album, although they did play one song I recognized off the new record, although I'm still getting familiar with all of it. They are a very danceable band although there was not much room for much more than wiggling on the deck but they played well and although I didn't think it was the kind of magic gig you rave about for months after, it still was an enjoyable night and worth the long drive to see them play.

Mt Grey - 11 November 2018

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No 164
Mt Grey 11th November 2018

As part of my "getting back into tramping program", I had scheduled Mt Grey a couple of weeks back, but the previously blogged Mt Oxford trip came up instead.

 I reprogrammed this trip and was delighted to get 5 friends to join myself and Ruby Dog on this lovely walk.

 The Mt Grey loop is not too hard a walk but enough to cause me some stiffness in the following days, but the forest is beautiful and the views from the summit of the Canterbury plains are stunning. There are not a lot of conservation land trips where dogs are allowed but the four main mounts along the edge of the Canterbury Plains from Mt Grey to Mt Oxford are all doggie friendly and Ruby loved every minute of the walk, and the group loved Ruby. I won't say much else, I have done this trip a few times before so just enjoy the photos.

Mt Oxford - Ashley Saddle - 27th October 2018

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No. 163

Mt Oxford/Ashley Saddle

27th October 2018

A real shock to the system, a full on tramping trip, after more than two years of inactivity due to health issues, laziness and spending all my spare money on records. The health issue was the relapse of the disc prolapse in my back a few years back which stopped me in my tracks from walking and tramping and caused me to develop a serious limp. Due to the damage to the nerve in my back, I have been quite restricted in my activities, although, managed to keep working all through this time. Recovery has been very slow and I many never recover back to my full mobility(I can walk fairly fast now, albeit with a limp, but I cannot run).

 Part of my various treatments to get me more mobile again is to actually get back out tramping in the hills. The only walk/tramp I had done since June 2016 was a walk with the wife to Ryde Falls over 12 months earlier. I was feeling confident that I could now actually try some real tramping and the plan was to attempt some of the local hills, of which I was pretty familiar, to gage how well I was able to cope. The weekend previous, now that spring was in full effect and daylight saving time had kicked in, the wife and I tackled Mt Richardson, a local hill that I had done a couple of times many years back and knew it was not too hard. That Trip went well and I was planning to try and get out in the local environs over the coming weeks. I had planned to tackle Mt Gray with a friend this weekend but one of my other friends mentioned there was an impromptu club tramp up Mt Oxford on the same day. I wasn't going to tackle Oxford so soon but it would be good to go on a club trip after soo long. As it was so close to home I took my own car just in cast I couldn't handle the pace of a club trip after 3 years.

 I met the group of 12 others at Coopers Creek just past 9am on a pleasant but not too warm day. I inquired to the leader as to the planned route and discovered that they planned to head up Oxford then loop back via Ashley Saddle and the ridge leading down to point  758 above the Scout Lodge. This was good as I had not actually taken this route before on the several other times I had climbed Mt Oxford.

 So we hit the trail by about 9:30am as I had a catchup with a club friend and was able to keep up with the pace of the group. The climb went well and I didn't fall too far behind, although I was last one to the top. Lunch was had in pleasant conditions with great views over the plains before we set off along the tops towards Oxford Hill. It was pretty easy going, mostly but the scrub and grass got higher and thicker as we started to drop towards Ashley Saddle. We stopped in the soft grass of Ashley Saddle for afternoon tea and to regroup as we had got quite strung out on the way down.

 After point 758 things started to get pretty overgrown but there was a track to follow so it wasn't too bad. The final stretch was along the four Wheel Drive Road, through a nice strand of mature pine trees before we hit the Scout lodge again and then back to the cars by about 4:30PM. After 16KM and about 1200m of uphill work I was pretty tired and sore but I handled it a lot better than I imagined and I haven't actually lost too much condition for so long out of the game. Still a long way off from being properly tramping fit again.