As the guitarist maestro Brian Purington from Swallow The Rat said as we drank fine beverages and ate magnificent Japanese bar food at Acho’s on K’Rd. “How often do you get to see a waycool punk/folk band from Japan in a New Zealand Japanese bar?” AlkaSilka are on the weekend’s bill to play with The […]
Twenty years plus since creation and 11 albums on, Ireland’s God Is An Astronaut have finally made it to the shores of Aotearoa, well Te Ika-a-Māui at least, for two shows. Still fronted by founders and twin brothers Niels and Torsten Kinsella, with Lloyd Hanney on drums, GIAA play a synthesis of post-prog-punk-pyschadelia with a […]
2025’s Tamaki Makaurau’s Laneway versus the 2010 inaugural, is quite a different beast. It has grown in size, evolved in music, and shifted venues three times, (with the likelihood of another venue change coming in 2026) Meanwhile the food queues still exist, the early evening waif from the portaloo encampments seeps, and FOMO still plagues […]
It’s Tuesday, Ratu, a rare early week show, an anathema for many working stiffs, but the allure of something new, fresh meat for the grinder drew Simon Coffey, 13th Floor Reviewer from suburbia, to experience Aussie Punk and Rock(ers) C.O.F.F.I.N. aka Children of Finland Fighting in Norway.
There are links between Ōtautahi act Moider Mother and Tamaki Makaurau group Grecco Romank, google reveals all, though where Demons of Noon fits in is a little more mysterious. But on a wet and windy (but warm) rahoroi night all toru groups performed to an unostentatious-sized crowd in a oubliette-like space on Karangahape Rd.
For 30 years Scotland’s emblematic Mogwai have produced post-prog – punkish gems that have spanned 11 albums and an array of lesser formatted configurations. Following their UK no.1 album, 2021’s As the Love Continues, and 2024’s biographical film If the Stars Had a Sound. Mogwai return with their latest endeavour, The Bad Fire, an album […]
UK soulful punks IDLES brought their LOVE IS THE FING tour to Tamaki Makauarau tonight. This is their fourth visit to Aotearoa, with a lineup that has remained stable since 2015, another Glastonbury appearance and a Grammy nominated album Tangk in 2024 under their belts. I almost didn’t make it to the show, long sold […]
San Diego punk personifications The Schizophonics just can’t stay away, as they kicked off their fourth tour of Aotearoa since 2019 tonight. Well, Pat and Lety Beers are back again, this time entrusting the bass duties to Sarah Linton of L.A. garage rockers, the Death Valley Girls.
The law of diminishing returns affects us all in life, well 99% of us, and sadly as Franz Ferdinand have travelled their through their career, they have lost members, voluminous record sales, and unfortunately, on the their sixth album, become the heedful Uncles of indie, rather than sons of (avant) situationism.
City Newton Bombers regrouped for the first time in 6 years at Double Whammy. The occasion was a fundraiser for bass player Simon Nicholls and the 13th Floor’s Simon Coffey and Brenna Jo Gotje were on the scene catching all the action at this first show of the new year.
