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
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
Political rap/rock supergroup Prophets of Rage are heading to Melbourne’s Download Festival and a sideshow in Auckland (be in to win tickets and flights to that show – and five more Download sideshows – below!). Here are five videos of the ’80s and ’90s powerhouses who have combined forces to form Prophets of Rage, and … Read more
Sam Wicks talks to SWIDT rapper Spycc about the Onehunga group’s new EP and life after Stoneyhunga. With two Tui awards, a gang of iTunes chart entries, and a buzz that can’t be bought, Onehunga rap collective SWIDT was rightfully crowned 2017’s number one draft pick. Eager to capitalise on the wins, Spycc, INF and producers … Read more
Imagine you didn’t get paid for a month or two for your work. Big businesses have used this tactic to keep cash in the bank – but how long do our corporates take to pay? Rebecca Stevenson investigates. In New Zealand, they account for 97% of businesses. In Australia, 97%. In the UK, 96%. Small … Read more
Kate Robertson has, on occasion, soundtracked her life entirely with Shania Twain. Here’s how you can too. GIVEAWAY ALERT: Looks like we made it… closer to Shania’s New Zealand tour! And Spark is giving away 20 double-passes to her Auckland and Dunedin shows. Entries close 27 July 2018. Stop everything you’re doing – the OG … Read more
Before they called it quits in 2006, The D4 were held up as one of the Kiwi saviours of rock n’ roll. Hussein Moses gets frontman Dion Lunadon on the phone for a candid interview about what went wrong and why now is the right time to get back together. The D4 are back, but … Read more
What is it with fights and the Logan Campbell Centre? Don Rowe attends Yelawolf and narrowly avoids a hiding. The jungles of South East Asia have nothing on the humidity inside the Logan Campbell Centre in early summer. Truly the place must be seasoned like an old wok with the accumulation of thousands of punters’ … Read more
Kate Robertson’s seven reasons why you should stop underestimating Halsey. Halsey hasn’t had the easiest run of things since first appearing on our radars in 2015. Sceptics have called her a manufactured popstar, Pitchfork slaughtered her debut album BADLANDS, and people of a certain age like to write about how they don’t get the hype. … Read more
This morning the Spotify-subscribing world woke up to Spotify’s annual ‘your year in review’ package, including a personalised top 100 played songs of the year. Here are music editor Henry Oliver’s top 10 (plus a few more). 1. Aldous Harding – ‘Horizon’ No surprise here. This song cuts deep. For reasons I won’t go into … Read more
Kate Robertson reviews Shawn Mendes, the ever-so-pure former Vine star who performed at Spark Arena on Saturday. Saturday night saw 19-year-old Shawn Mendes, a star so clean-cut Disney could only dream of stamping their brand on him, grace us with his pristine presence for the first time. It’s a gig I’ve not stopped yapping on … Read more
Henry Oliver reviews Drake’s show at Spark Arena on Friday 3 November 2017. Drake and I have always had an ambivalent (one-way) relationship. When he appeared, seemingly out of nowhere but actually with a few years worth of unremarkable mixtapes, the Canadian actor-turned-rapper was part of a wave of post-808s and Heartbreak rappers making sing-songy, … Read more
Last summer, before the release of his amazing album Big Fish Theory, Henry Oliver tried to go deep with Los Angeles rapper Vince Staples and failed, so asked him about basketball and cartoons instead. Vince Staples is young, very skilled and very, very chill. He raps fast, but talks slow. His records are loud, but … Read more
With the release of a new album and a NZ show coming up, Madeleine Chapman spoke to London Grammar’s Dot Major to find out just what’s been happening for the past four years. Scroll to the bottom if you’re just here for the free tickets. I never would have thought there was a place for … Read more
Jazz Kane attends an intimate invite-only Black Seeds show to celebrate the release of their new album Fabric and interviews band leader Barnaby Weir about how things have changed over the band’s long career. Arriving at Caroline Bar in Wellington for the release show for The Black Seeds’ new album Fabric, a couple of drinks … Read more
With the announcement today that Roger Waters is heading back to New Zealand for a tour next January, Pete Douglas takes a look at his intermittent and sometimes misunderstood solo career. It’s hard to imagine now, but when Roger Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985, he initially struggled to match the success of his remaining … Read more
Raiza Biza’s first full length album since 2012 is on the horizon. He talks to Simon Day about the local hip hop community, growing up black in New Zealand, and his upcoming all-ages gig – which we’re giving away tickets to. It’s been a complicated journey for Raiza Biza. His family left Rwanda when his … Read more
Future is coming to New Zealand! Futurehive member Miriama Aoake breaks down why you should be as excited as she is. A few weeks ago, my aging but reliable MacBook Pro crashed and burned in spectacular, day-before-assignment-is-due fashion; taking a vast majority of my music collection with it. Work and uni required an immediate replacement … Read more
Anne-Marie made her name singing on other people’s hits, but now she’s making them on her own. Kate Robertson caught up with her while she was in Auckland this week to promote her forthcoming debut album. If you don’t yet recognise Anne-Marie’s face, chances are you’ll recognise her voice. Lead vocalist on Clean Bandit’s super … Read more
To celebrate the opening of the Spark Boroughs Victoria Park basketball court, The Spinoff gathered together a motley crew of musicians and media-types to play a ‘friendly’ game of 5-0n-5. Watch the highlights here. In the media team: Duncan Greive, Madeleine Chapman, Paul Williams, Melanie Bracewell, James Roque, Jamaine Ross. In the music team: Henry … Read more
Ahead of Splore, one of the final stops on the summer festival calendar, Don Rowe chats to tabla drummer Prabhash Maharaj, the youngest musician in a lineage more than 500 years old. For four thousand years the holy city of Varanasi has been the spiritual centre of India. A lodestone for music, religion, philosophy and … Read more
Songwriting has been accepted as a Level 3 NCEA subject from 2017. Play It Strange CEO Mike Chunn got the scoop and asked some of New Zealand’s best songwriters what they thought about it. This is a watershed moment. Songwriting is now an NCEA subject. Specifically – Level 3 with the Achievement Standard number of … Read more
Spark Ventures CEO Rod Snodgrass on what the ‘exponential economy’ might bring, and how Auckland might tap into it to accelerate its transformation. There’s plenty of noise going on about the future of Auckland, from familiar and unfamiliar voices. That’s no surprise – we all have a vested interest in inhabiting the world’s most liveable … Read more