Hans. made his name in the Soundcloud rap scene, but last year made the leap with his one-and-only track on Spotify which racked up 1.5 million streams. More recently, he’s been working with another standout from the local scene – beat producer, SWRLY. Gareth Shute catches up with Hans. to discuss this collab and his … Read more
The state of recycling in New Zealand is back in the news after China announced it will no longer take much of our used plastic. But that’s no reason to give up on recycling entirely. We sent Gareth Shute to find out which materials you can most fruitfully keep out of landfill. There’s nothing like … Read more
Josie Moon is a rising indie-pop act, whose work is inspired as much by imagery and colours as it is by musical ideas. Recently she’s been working with Nik Brinkman (Physical) on a new EP of tracks, with a first single ‘After Hours’ out now. She talks to Gareth Shute about how her synesthesia helped … Read more
Co-working space B:HIVE opened its first two floors in December and a third in February, so it’s a good time to check on its progress as it attempts to scale up the benefits of shared workspaces to the size of a five-storey building. Gareth Shute talks to two B:HIVE tenants and Smales Farm CEO Paul … Read more
Vincent Lum has taken many different guises within the Auckland music scene over the past decade: drumming in a punk trio, playing bass in a metal covers band, fronting his own blues-rock group, Whipping Cats. Now he’s released a new album, Weird Days, under the name Vincent HL. Gareth Shute talks to him about his … Read more
At 16 years old, Jackson Owens was handpicked for a pop trio by former Backstreet Boys producer Timothy Coons due to the strength of his musical cover versions on YouTube. Since then he’s left his hometown of Turangi behind to hunt for a break in the US. Gareth Shute catches up with Owens to discuss his … Read more
This week Flight of The Conchords play three nights in a row at the O2 Arena, one of the UK’s biggest covered venues with a capacity of 20,000 people. Gareth Shute determines how they stack up in the history of New Zealand live performers. Back in 2010 it was big news when Flight of the … Read more
Lukas has reached a quarter-million streams with his track ‘Comfort Clouds’, while LMC has produced beats for US acts, most notably one of the tracks off Rich The Kid’s new album, which just went gold in the US. Now they’ve come together to create the perfect downbeat tune for the season, matched by an equally … Read more
Though most Kiwi artists who rack up big numbers on Spotify are chart-topping stars, some remain stubbornly unknown. Gareth Shute investigates the odd paths NZ acts have taken to get to a million Spotify streams. In a small country like New Zealand it’s difficult to get to a million streams on Spotify unless you’re a … Read more
Dream pop is the genre of the moment in the worldwide indie scene and New Zealand is no exception, with acts like Fazerdaze and Yumi Zouma gaining huge international audiences. Back at home, the associated sound of shoegaze has made a return, with a raft of new bands emerging onto the live scene. Gareth Shute … Read more
It’s New Zealand Music Month, an event started in part to encourage local radio to play local music. Did it work? Is it still working? We assigned Gareth Shute to take a sample of the most popular stations to find out. The battle to get homegrown music on local radio goes back a long way, … Read more
The last show of Lorde’s Melodrama world tour took place this week (aside from two dates in Russia in May and the odd festival). One of the remarkable features of this tour has been the sheer number of cover versions she’s performed. Gareth Shute trawled through them all and presents his top five. The … Read more
Aldous Harding and Nadia Reid are at the forefront of a folk scene that is revolutionising how NZ music is seen overseas. Recently both also made the shortlist for this year’s Taite Awards, but Gareth Shute argues they’re just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to local folk success stories. At the end … Read more
You plug in your phone at night, why not the car as well? Gareth Shute describes the joys (and dramas) of being an EV owner. We were just coming down the hill to Piha when I realised our car wouldn’t have enough power to get back to the city. There’d been 100-kilometres on the clock … Read more
Gareth Shute crunches the numbers on who is the most streamed here and abroad – and asks why the two don’t always match. Until recently, it was difficult to track the progress of New Zealand bands once they left our shores. But now Spotify’s publicly available streaming data gives us a window into how well … Read more
Lukas created his first buzz on Soundcloud before crossing over to a wider audience with his track ‘Comfort Clouds,’ which has quickly reached 120,000 streams on Spotify. He explains to Gareth Shute why he sees himself as part of a new wave of downbeat hip-hop acts poised to rise up from the underground. “I wouldn’t … Read more
Gareth Shute examines the varied ways songs are written in the modern era by speaking to three artists who’ve released work recently – Herriot Row, Raiza Biza and October. The last two decades have seen digital technology offering new possibilities not only for the recording process but also the act of songwriting itself. To get … Read more
Gareth Shute talks to Racing about moving on from their first EP – and from the bands of their past. It’s been five years since The Checks broke up, but lead songwriters Ed Knowles and Sven Pettersen have been happy to take their time in bringing their new band, Racing, into public consciousness. Fortunately, there’s … Read more
Gareth Shute delved into the history of All Blacks songs, found them wanting, so wrote his own. New Zealand is a rugby-mad nation but, despite many attempts, there has yet to be a song written for our national team that’s had any staying power. But how hard could it be to write a song about … Read more
Gareth Shute talks to Annabel Alpers about retiring her Bachelorette moniker and finding a new way to play live. From her very first EP as Bachelorette in 2005, Annabel Alpers was lauded by local music critics. Her first album, Isolation Loops, prompted Gary Steel to write in Metro: “Alpers’ imagination makes most songwriters seem like … Read more
The author of the acclaimed book Things That Matter talks to Gareth Shute about health policy in the lead-up to the election – about the obesity crisis, the social investment approach and the kind of place New Zealand wants to be. Dr David Galler has worked at the intensive care unit of Middlemore Hospital for 25 … Read more
Gareth Shute asks for your help in creating a map of all the venues that have existed in Auckland, from the early 20th century through to the present. With less than a month before the Volume exhibition closes, Auckland Museum has posted a series of extended reads on their website on subjects including fashion in … Read more
Prompted by his son’s recent fourth birthday, Gareth Shute look backs and decides which of the preceding “terrible” years did the most to fray his nerves. Before I was a parent, the phrases “terrible twos” and “terrible threes” were meaningless to me. I figured it was a slip of the tongue when people alternated between … Read more
Thirteen years ago, New Zealand hip hop’s king-hitters joined forces for one of the biggest tours this country has ever seen. Gareth Shute talked to many of those involved to get the inside story of what went down. In March 2004, after years of bubbling under underground, the local hip hop scene was riding a wave … Read more
What will popular music sound and look like in 10 or 20 years time? Gareth Shute looks to Japan, where the era of the ‘authentic’ rock musician has already come to an end. Late last year, I was visiting Ebisu, Tokyo and wanted to see what acts were playing nearby. I discovered online what I … Read more
Before there was Flying Nun, there was the NZ punk scene. To celebrate NZ Music Month, Gareth Shute looks back at a 1978 snapshot of the birth of our local indie scene. It was June 1978 when promoter Derek King made a plan for half-a-dozen bands from Auckland to drive south for a Punk Spectacular … Read more
Inspired by more recent NZ On Air funding controversies, Gareth Shute revisits the 1976 historical epic The Governor, and argues why it remains our finest example of a funding furore. Julie Christie recently made headlines for complaining in an email to NZ On Air head, Miriam Dean, that her integrity had been questioned by managers at the funding body. … Read more