Tapeman was killed earlier this year after an extensive tour of Europe… Rumour has it that he died when his soul was sucked from him by a Romanian werewolf practicing witchcraft. His remains were sent back to Pahiatua so his weary bones could rest for an eternity R.I.P. Thanks to some voodoo chants, the blood of a virgin and a great occassion (ie Anna’s 30th Birthday) Tapeman was resurrected from the dead and performed his final show in New Zealand! For all of you that missed it here’s a peek!

Goldenaxe have grown themselves a drummer! They thrashed out their tunes at the Greatest show on earth to a costumed and rather shitfaced audience. They always have the coolest headgear. Where can I get some soccerball sunnies, I want some!

This blog is a documentary project for a paper at Massey University,Wellington, New Zealand. I am documenting the live musical performance of mainly underground bands in Wellington live music venues (some of the bands are from Auckland). What I am trying to illustrate through my photographs is the diverse and rich nature of the Wellington underground music scene. I also wanted to capture the intensity and excitement of a live show. I believe that the Wellington live music scene is the most vibrant in the country and is reaching it’s second peak, the first being in the 1960′s when live bands were present in almost every bar in Wellington. The scene in Wellington is very much centred around cuba street with the city’s two main venues Mighty Mighty and The San Fransisco Bathhouse found here. At the outset of my project I did not focus my attention on these particular venues, but once I was well into my project I found that the bands I wanted to focus on were playing these venues the most. As a consequence of this these venues feature prominantly in my photographs. I also wanted bands to see their photo’s so this blog is for muso’s and fans. I want my project to be a window into the world of music in Wellington and New Zealand.

Thought creature opened at the Mighty Mighty to a receptive crowd who drunk in the atmosphere and well, got drunk… The thing I really like about this band is the drummer has two drumkits! How cool is that? He jumps from one to the other during the show, getting the best mix of electric and acoustic feels. The best way to describe thought creature is an eclectic mashup of sounds, heavily dependent on bass a lot like Joy Division is. They usually have cool puppets on stage with them too for the audience to play with! Super interactive!

Kill Surf City ventured down from Auckland for the show and looked a little worse for wear. Hey it’s a long drive! Maybe this was why a few of their songs were a little bit holey, but when they did get it together it was totally crankin! If they can hone their live set then they will be a band to watch out for in the future. Their guitarist was a little frisky and decided to demolish the drummers crash cymbal unfortunately this was the highlight to a largely bland set (check out the pics below). Incidentally they just won $17,000 dollars in a Burger Fuel competition to further their career! Lucky!

There’s a party at Boss Christs house, who’da thought Boss could get Bossa, Save the planet piss on the lawn! All the Boss Christ favourites came out at this show, the crowd could’nt get enough and sang along religiously! Boss was raised by wolves in the Wairarapa but these days lives in Palmerston North. He dedicates most of his music to beer, his favourite beverage and it’s rumoured he’s growing his side burns for the world side burn olympics in Sweden. If you haven’t seen Boss Christ in the flesh it’s time you did! You can also catch a clip about him on www.tvnzondemand.com keyword the gravy (episode 1 chapter 3).

The Hories started their set with a bit of a rousing of the crowd, a bit of call and response, the classic way to get a lacklustre Auckland audience to wake up, well it worked perfectly in Wellington! For those into high energy low fi rawk n roll such as myself, the hories were great! Nice tight little tunes with excellent riffage and danceability. The audience lapped it up and asked for more just check out the pictures below.

Luxury Liner whipped the crowd into a frenzy as they played their last show for a while down at mighty mighty. The crowd started to get loose and shake booty after a few phat funk tunes were dropped. Guess that’s the power of soul.