06/09/2025

Minuit – Double Whammy: Sept. 5, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)

Minuit, the Nelson originating trio of Ruth Carr, Paul Dodge and Ryan Beehre, that ditched drums and guitars to embrace electro-beat, break-beat and electronica, closed out their mini-reunion tour at Double Whammy last night.

Over more than a decade (1998-2012) Minuit wrote a heap of bangers: I Hate Guns, Except You, Fuji, Boy With The Aubergine Hair, and many more, that graced both student radio and commercial radio airwaves, as well as MusicTV. Featured on multiple TV and Movie soundtracks, the trio had three top 20 albums in their homeland and were a favourite of festivals (including Big Day Out, Homegrown and Rhythm & Vines) across Aotearoa. And they put in some serious mileage across the globe, performing from Los Angeles, to Amsterdam and Hanoi to the Czech Republic.

The release of 2012’s Last Night You Saw This Band, had all the bells and whistles, fame beckoned, it seemed golden years were upon them.

But in 2014, it all came to a halt, with a slew of farewell shows, and chosen animosity closing in, Minuit fell out of the music industry. April 2025, and a series of reunion shows were announced, as was the vinyl reissue of the debut album The 88 (which bundled the band’s self-released, first four EPs) Gen X Y & Z, come to the parties as the three dates announced fell like dominoes and sold out. Tonight Double Whammy is a full house, those that remember are in attendance, having travelled to relive their ill-spent youth.

Scritti Politti is playing, their pop period, I’m liking it, a guilty pleasure, Chris Knox wouldn’t approve.

Brother Sister

Like Hanson but older and better looking? Siblings Dave (synth and lead vocals), Taz (bass and lead vocals) and Ben Thomson have a Nelson connection, the singer reminiscing about seeing Minuit on the top of hills in Nelson. Brother Sister have blatantly plagiarized the 80s (maybe a little of the 90s), so consequently owe New Order, The Human League and possibly The Pet Shop Boys royalties.

They are poorly mixed, the drums and bass are not matched by the synth/keyboards, and the same plodding beat dominates. They murder a cover of The Safety Dance. The singer guy talks, rambles far too much between songsThey are off to Japan soon, a second time, thank god.

De La Soul’s Can I kick it harkens the band, that Lou Reed sample is a killer.

Minuit

I’m expecting the room to become an EDM House Party, though the crowd is dressed maturely tonight, as De La Soul fades, the inference is clear, as the trio emerge on stage in the darkness, Carr a little later as Paul and Ryan check check check, to rapture, and the night’s energy begins with Forever, a cut from their second album The Guards Themselves.

The trio form a triangle on stage, Carr in the titular position, she maintains facial symbiosis with them between bursts of lyrics by turning her back to the audience and manipulating her long locks (she no longer sports the signature haircut) Minuit flip back to The 88, and radio wave bangers arrive early, Species II gets the audience moving, while Menace, maintains the momentum.

Carr seems to have lost none of her empathy for her audience, as she shared, reflected and revelled at another sold out show, the two lads are beaming in the back seats. Fuji arrives early, but is marred by sound feedback issues, not helped by Carr’s propensity for waving her mic stand around the monitors like she is the singer in a hair-band. Carr is still an enigmatic front person, beyond just her unique vocals, her onstage persona, body moving, and emphatic energy well masks her 53 years, though the heat does play havoc with her hair it seems.

Through the remainder of the set of 17 songs, it’s cardinal that most in the crowd know Minuit’s music and words, singing, mouthing occurs again and again, as ingrained cuts like Except You, Last Night You Saw This Band, and the ever loved crowd pleaser Aotearoa (alongside The Boy With The Aubergine Hair) come hither. However, not all was perfect tonight. The volume level was criminally low early on, and occasionally tech issues faltered proceedings, and while there was aroha in the air, the room was partially stilted at times. Thankfully I Hate Guns, the final song of the ‘official’ set erupted in the room (and the sound volume). And as the gentlest song of the night; Sum Of Us fronted the trio of encore songs, it was obvious Minuit, gone for more than a decade, is long remembered, still loved and dear to many. One wonders if we’ll ever see Minuit again.

Simon Coffey