Before Rachael King was an author and a puller-together of literary festivals, she was a bass player in a heap of bands. At the start, she was a schoolgirl rocking in the Battling Strings, opening for the Chills and other 1980s Flying Nun bands, including Straitjacket Fits. Reading Shayne Carter’s memoir Dead People I Have … Read more
It’s competitive out there for high schools these days. It seems like there are a million exams schools claim to prep their kids for in order to propel them to global dominance. But which high school has produced the most number one albums in New Zealand music history? James Dann investigates. High school can be … Read more
Henry Oliver talks to Astro Children’s Millie Lovelock about the band’s new single and Dunedin’s indie music generational rift. The Spinoff: So… You’ve got a new record out? Millie Lovelock: Yeah, it’s exciting and stressful and all sorts of fun things. How come it’s stressful? I don’t know, I just find the releasing music quite difficult. It … Read more
From small beginnings, with fewer than a thousand punters at the first event in 2014, Nostalgia Festival has grown slowly but steadily to become one of the most unique on the New Zealand summer circuit. James Dann talks to festival director Johnny Gibson ahead of the fifth iteration this weekend. The Ferrymead Heritage Park is … Read more
Graham Reid takes The Chills on a tour of Volume: Making Music in Aotearoa exhibition at the Auckland Museum. A little more than 24 hours before they take the stage at Laneway under a blazing blue sky, five very weary Chills arrive at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. They’ve been up since 5am and are … Read more