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
From his home in Mt Eden, Paul Crowther makes one of the best distortion pedals in the world. Henry Oliver asks him how he does it. The first distortion pedal I ever wanted was a Boss DS-1. But only because I knew that Kurt Cobain used one and I was learning guitar by playing his … 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
Every year Shihad’s 1997 single ‘Home Again’ helps countless New Zealanders remember how Daylight Saving works. But as Calum Henderson discovers, its famous opening line was almost something completely different. Jon Toogood was 24 years old when he wrote one of the great New Zealand song lyrics. “Put your clock back for the winter” is … Read more
Volume: Making Music in Aotearoa is currently on at Auckland Museum. Don Rowe visits, is astounded, and comes away considering a Southern Cross tattoo out of love for this country. Deep within the bowels of the Auckland Museum lurks the nucleus of music in New Zealand. Like some forbidden experiment, it’s sequestered behind sliding opaque … Read more
A 1960s psychedelic poster featuring local musicians selling tea to teens? WTF? Henry Oliver investigates. In the late-sixties, young people everywhere were tuning in or dropping out, and dropping tabs, but apparently not drinking tea. Okay sure, the extent to which teenagers of the era were wandering the streets tripping balls are over exaggerated by … Read more
We indulge our gadget-curious side at Volume: Making Music in Aotearoa There’s no shortage of weird and interesting stuff to be discovered at Volume, the New Zealand music exhibition at the Auckland Museum. There is, of course, handwritten lyrics, posters, t-shirts, records … all the things you’d hope to see at a popular music exhibition. … Read more