Live from our living rooms: How The Beths accidentally made a variety show

With the world in lockdown, and a new album set for release, The Beths decided to keep playing live – from their living rooms. As the band prepare for their first show in front of a crowd in months, they tell Josie Adams the stories behind Live From ‘House’. When The Beths decided they wanted … Read more

No pressure, just Leisure: how one NZ band cracked the formula for success

Since their first single release in 2015, Leisure has had over 75 million streams and a handful of sold-out international concerts. Jaden Parkes sat down with Josie Adams to talk about the secret of success: leisure time. Leisure is made up of the New Zealand music industry’s shining stars, and its quiet heroes. They’re writers, … Read more

Dominic ‘Tourettes’ Hoey’s Tour Diary Vol. 3: This is the end

Dominic Hoey (aka Tourettes) reports from his 17-town 16-town tour of New Zealand with singer-songwriter Skyscraper Stan and sidekick Josh Jugum.  The tour is over. As I write this I’m back at home smoking weed and watching nature documentaries. I wish I could say the same for Stanley. Who knows why he left, maybe it … Read more

Dominic ‘Tourettes’ Hoey’s Tour Diary Vol. 2: ‘Arson is the new graffiti’

Dominic Hoey (aka Tourettes) reports from his 17-town tour of New Zealand with singer-songwriter Skyscraper Stan and side-kick Josh Jugum.  Day 12 of the tour. I’m pleased to report that Josh didn’t die of seal poisoning, although he has become insufferable, constantly threatening to drive us into oncoming traffic and heckling from the audience. Suffice … Read more

Heart of Darkness in small town NZ: Dominic ‘Tourettes’ Hoey introduces his tour diary

Dominic Hoey (aka Tourettes) used to tour New Zealand as a rapper and, before that, as a drummer in punk bands. This November he and singer-songwriter Skyscraper Stan are playing 17 towns around New Zealand and Hoey will be reporting from the road for The Spinoff – a sort of state of the nation through the … Read more

Nazis, drunks, burritos and Marx: Master Blaster’s European Tour

Negotiating skinheads, inflatable crocodiles, vegan snacks and the ghosts of Marx and Engels, Tom, Justin and Luke of Auckland hardcore punk band Master Blaster recounts their recent tour of Europe – 18 shows across 7 countries in 27 days. And there’s a music video to prove it. The further we headed east in Poland, the hairier … Read more

The Spinoff Mix: Yumi Zouma’s ‘Dissipating Summer’

Auckland and Brooklyn-based dreamy/electro/synth/pop band Yumi Zoumi bid farewell to summer with an exclusive mix for The Spinoff. Seasons don’t change much in New Zealand comparative to other places. You could be forgiven for missing the subtle changes in the weather, but you would really have to be trying to miss things if you couldn’t feel … Read more

‘Dunedin is the reason I will never touch tequila again’: an oral history of the Boost Mobile Hookup Tour

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