Miriama Aoake looks at the Taite Music Prize finalists and asks: Why are most of the finalists white? And why do they nearly all have guitars? The Taite Music Prize finalists for 2018 were announced today. Among them, the talent boasted by the finalists is unquestionable. The line-up is dominated by incredible women: Aldous Harding, … Read more
Cops, doctors, variety shows writers, reality show producers, women are running the show – and running the shows. To celebrate International Women’s Day, Tara Ward is saluting ten of Lightbox’s best shows made by women. It’s a well-known fact that women are awesome. They also make awesome television, whether its comedy, drama or a bicycle-riding … Read more
Erena Shingade talks to Womb, a Wellington indie-folk sibling trio whose new album was released this month. When I first heard Wellington’s Womb back in 2016, I listened to the self-titled album ritualistically for months. Charlotte Forrester’s ethereal voice became my private, secret music of nights and dawns, colouring the interface between sleep and waking. … Read more
Sam Rutledge is a die hard McLeod’s Daughters fan. Here she posits her (entirely canon and correct) theory that all the characters in the show are, in fact, gay. If you somehow managed to miss every single episode of McLeod’s Daughters when it aired, because you didn’t have a television or you had better taste than me, … Read more
It takes a certain kind of obsessive mindset to want to play six degrees of separation – even more so to try and link fictional nobility to soon-to-be-actual royalty. Sam Brooks did it, and did it with Lightbox shows. You know that game six degrees of separation? No? Well, you probably mostly know it as … Read more
Grace Jones performed at Auckland City Limits to an enthusiastic crowd. Then Dan Carter appeared and ruined everything. Madeleine Chapman reports. When the end of days arrives and humans are on a slip’n’slide to oblivion, the skies will open, light will beam down from the heavens, and Dan Carter will appear on a big screen … Read more
The Spinoff (or a sizeable chunk of it) went to Auckland City Limits on Saturday. Here’s our collective review. Head Like A Hole I’ve never seen a hard rock band perform at 1 pm. I’ve also definitely never seen a hard rock band do an energetic, spot-on and intermittently impressive cover of ‘Immigrant Song’ at … Read more
It’s the day of everybody’s favourite celebrity GIF generator: The Oscars. We’ll be here from 2PM to discuss this year’s Academy Awards as they happen in real time. This content, like all television coverage we do at The Spinoff, is brought to you thanks to the excellent folk at Lightbox. Do us and yourself a … Read more
Ahead of Fall Out Boy returning to New Zealand on their MANIA tour next week, Alex Casey fulfils her teenage dream by getting one-on-one time with Pete Wentz. “What did you say? I’m sorry, I can’t hear you.” For someone who spent the better part of 2007-2008 daydreaming about the first words that Pete Wentz … Read more
On Saturday the second Auckland City Limits went down at Western Springs. Simon Day spent the day roaming the speedway with his camera. The Spinoff’s music content is brought to you by our friends at Spark, a major sponsor of Auckland City Limits. Listen to all the music you love on Spotify Premium, it’s free on all … Read more
Over the years, TVNZ’s Ondemand service has spat out some pretty weird offerings. Alex Casey brings us the best of whats hidden on the homegrown streaming service. Who can forget the classic series I Can’t Stop Farting? The reality show about the perils of teaching women to drive? Whichever iteration of budgies, cats, kids or … Read more
Rent Week 2018: Shortland Street expert Tara Ward finds the best – and worst – places to live in the mythical Auckland suburb of Ferndale. It’s a hard road finding the perfect place to live, but friends, I bring exciting news. I’ve stumbled across a suburb that is the answer to every renter’s dream, a … Read more
The Kings Arms, legendary Auckland music venue, closed forever on Wednesday night. Joel Thomas was there with his camera. The Spinoff’s music content is brought to you by our friends at Spark. Listen to all the music you love on Spotify Premium, it’s free on all Spark’s Pay Monthly Mobile plans. Sign up and start listening today.
We talk to Etienne Marais, event producer of Auckland City Limits and probably the only person to work at every New Zealand Big Day Out. Etienne Marais is one of the most experienced music event managers in New Zealand. He started by selling water at the first Big Day Out in Auckland in 1994 and has … Read more
The tar-black anti-rom-com You’re the Worst hits Lightbox today. Sam Brooks explains why the show is the most authentic, beautiful and relatable romance on television today. What’s the difference between being a good person and being a bad person who is trying to do good? Even more crucially, what’s the difference between being a bad person who doesn’t … Read more
Art-pop innovator Grace Jones is playing Auckland City Limits this weekend. To help prepare you, The Spinoff retraces her career in 120 seconds. ‘Slave to the Rhythm’. ‘Pull Up To The Bumper’. A demented version of Sondheim’s ‘Send in the Clowns’. All of your pop faves owe what they do now to Grace Jones – new wave … Read more
Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ on the news of the moment. Today, Henry Oliver answers your questions about Donald Glover’s mysterious Pharos Experience announcement. So… Donald Glover is coming to play a Childish Gambino show in New Zealand? Yes. Kind of. Yes – he’s playing. Well, Childish Gambino (his current, … Read more
What is the greatest New Zealand TV theme song ever written? Our search continues with a long forgotten Dave Dobbyn masterpiece from 1989. Previously in our search for New Zealand’s greatest TV theme song: Country Calendar Any major boomer will tell you: 1980s New Zealand was a different world. A world where you could smoke … Read more
Calum Henderson watches The Wall, the new extravagant quiz show that might just outrun The Chase. This is the summer of The Chase. An episode in the morning, another in the afternoon, a Celebrity Chase most evenings – for the last couple of months it has been possible to plan your day around appointments with … Read more
If the Kings Arms, which closes today, was the physical epicentre of Auckland’s ’90s/2000s alternative music scene, The Fix was its pre-Facebook-invite guide. Steve Newall recounts the venue’s history through The Fix’s gig guides and talks to its editor Richard Cooke. Auckland in the ’90s was a very different place: light on venues and outside … Read more
LA bass-guitar extraordinaire Thundercat is playing Auckland City Limits this weekend. To help prepare you, The Spinoff retraces his career in 112 seconds. Thundercat, known to his mother as Stephen Bruner, is a bass guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer from Los Angeles. If you don’t think you know his songs, you probably do. And if you … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week on The Real Pod, Jane, Alex and Duncan froth over an explosive few days on Married at First Sight NZ – possibly the greatest episodes in reality TV history. How are Dean and Davina … Read more
Bridie Chetwin-Kelly talks to producer and singer Jon Lemmon about his relentless positivity and how to bring gender inclusiveness to dance music. Dressed in blue pants covered in birds, a white button up, long hair and a huge glistening smile – it was hard not to be caught up in Jon Lemmon’s positive energy. Which … Read more
The Filthy Rich Trade Me account reveals an embarrassment of riches, discovers Alex Casey. In a discovery more intriguing than when Gloriavale was flogging bulk Geisha wigs and a haunted goat named Hector, the people behind Filthy Rich have started a Trade Me account to sell off their opulent wares. The account filthy-rich, registered under the … Read more
In this very special bonus episode of The Real Pod, Jane Yee and Alex Casey sit down with Olivia Caridi from season 20 of The Bachelor US. It’s no secret that Olivia Caridi is one of the greatest Bachelor contestants in the rich history of the franchise. Vying for the affection of Ben Higgins in the 20th … Read more
Simon Day looks back on what might just have been the best Splore ever. Once a year a utopian paradise appears at Tapapakanga Regional Park. For three days Splore is a vision into a world where everyone embraces each other’s difference, where people are encouraged to express themselves, where everyone looks after each other, and … Read more
Wellington synthpop genius Disasteradio is playing Auckland City Limits this weekend! To help prepare you, The Spinoff retraces his career in 121 seconds. Wellington synthpop maestro Luke Rowell has been making hi-fi and high energy music under the pseudonym Disasteradio since 2000. He’s been on a prolific run ever since, playing over 400 shows in 22 countries … Read more
Ahead of UnREAL season three arriving exclusively to Lightbox tomorrow, Olivia Caridi from The Bachelor US takes us behind the curtain of reality romance. To use the quote the astute words of Rachel from UnREAL, her job as a reality TV producer is basically “Satan’s asshole.” Working as a puppeteer behind the scenes of a … Read more
Ten Brits run around the countryside being chased down by investigators (and also a camera crew) in order to win £100,000. Don Rowe watches the show and finds the hunting bizarre and, quite frankly, lacking in actual hunting. Self-improvement is often a matter of asking yourself better questions: where do I want to be in … Read more