Ōtepoti/Dunedin was the last stop on our noble, semi-anachronistic quest to film a dozen of Aotearoa’s best bands in their natural habitats. Despite the Ed Sheeran mural, the city has retained its cachet. It still remains the home of some of the country’s most uncompromising bands. I still find some of its musical personalities intimidating, cos I feel stripped and seen for the Auckland pop lightweight that I am.
The three bands we chose to host at Dive all manifest varying strains of the local musical DNA. Juno Is comes from the pop side of things while Wet Specimen and Night Lunch both display elements of this uncompromising, intimidating side, despite (regrettably) being irredeemably lovely people.
Juno Is (Mackenzie Hollebon) took the stage with her band and delivered instant thrills to a large audience seeking Genuine Saturday Night Fun with a set dotted with her recent Student Radio Network hits including It’s No Groover (which to the contrary actually is) and Floating.
Wet Specimen is Lucy Hunter, Reg Norris and Christopher Schmelz. They are very exciting to watch live and I have now given myself tinnitus rewatching their set on headphones.
The final band of the tour was current hot ticket, Night Lunch, authors of the massive student radio smash House Full Of Shit. Their set was visceral yet totally hilarious, and it was an apt and euphoric way to end our VHS odyssey around Aotearoa. Writing today from my epidemiological prison, I feel all the luckier for having been able to capture these moments of human saliva particles being emitted with such freedom and joy.
That's the last instalment of Milky's Musical Cities of Aotearoa. You can check out the other three of the series, Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington, here, Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, here, and Ōtautahi/Christchurch here.