Auckland is Bleeding

This weekend, Die! Die! Die! is playing two final shows in Auckland before once again leaving New Zealand to tour the UK. The band came around to our house for a chat last week and shared with us their recent observations of the New Zealand music scene and talked about playing all-ages shows. 

“I think there’s really good bands everywhere but Auckland nowadays” says Andrew Wilson, lead vocalist/guitarist for Die! Die! Die!. “There’s a handful of bands in Auckland I really like, but I find there’s actually more bands I like in Wanganui.” Having been away from New Zealand touring throughout the world last year, all three members of Die! Die! Die! now look at the local music scene with more of an open mind. Coming back to New Zealand after so long away meant making some adjustments, drummer Mikey Prain says “it was kind of funny coming back to New Zealand because you’ve got to get used to not living in a bar.” On the band’s most recent tour in the UK, playing shows in support of their album Promises, Promises which only came out in the UK in October 2008, they were on an intense schedule. “We played so many shows. We played like six months worth of shows, five nights a week.”

The band has been back in New Zealand since December and departs again in a week’s time. This time they are heading to the UK, Scotland and France where they currently have two singles on high rotate. Promises, Promises, which was originally released in New Zealand in October 2007 almost seems old to many local fans but the band doesn’t mind too much. Andrew says, “I only get sick of them when people yell out ‘Ashtray, Ashtray’ and ‘Auckland is Burning’ cos we did these all-ages shows in the South Island that were pretty much free and lots of kids who kinda wouldn’t come or hadn’t come since we last did $5 shows turned up yelling for the old songs.” “Weren’t they bogan kids though?” laughs Mikey.

Aside from having old fans demanding to hear their old songs, the band thinks the South Island music scene is having a resurgence, especially in Dunedin. “It’s crazy how things come back in Dunedin, you know? Just out of nothing there’s heaps of stuff,” says Mikey. Andrew adds, “It’s probably the best I think it’s been since I left there when I was about 18.” The band puts this down to simple economics, and the same dynamics that spawned the ramshackle Flying Nun label. Mikey says, “everyone in Auckland, compared to the rest of the country is really ambitious. Ambitious in a strange way where it’s all competitive. I get a bad vibe.” Andrew thinks it’s down to bands exaggerating the dream of what it’s like to be a successful musician. “I find Auckland bands really believe they are going to be really famous and I think if they tour anywhere they’d realise that there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It’s just hard work, I think even if you talk to someone like The Datsuns they wouldn’t think they’ve made it. Savage for example, he’s done really well and it’s fucking awesome.”

“…you don’t really feel that bad destroying kids ears that are over 14…”

However for many young bands here in New Zealand, Die! Die! Die!’s achievements are inspirational. Even if the band members themselves feel like they have not made it, touring the world is the next step that so many local bands dream off. They have always been huge fans of the all-ages scene and try whenever possible to play for the kids who can’t go to see them play in bars.  It was an all-ages show when Andrew was young that inspired him to pursue his own music career, “I remember one that was HDU that me and Mikey’s high school band played and that changed my life.” The band admits that most people don’t bother with all-ages shows because they are so hard to organise, “some of them don’t work so well and some of them work amazingly well, so it’s worth just pursuing all the time.”

In the UK the approach to all-ages shows is quite different. Many shows are run as R14, meaning most young people can attend without their parents. Andrew likes the R14 idea, saying “it is kinda good, because you don’t really feel that bad destroying kids ears that are over 14, but under 14 and you start feeling really really bad turning your amps up loud. I think all shows should be R14 because when it’s R14 you get a really good balance. You get 14, 15, 16 year old kids that are really enthusiastic to come along to your show and they dance and stuff.”

Unfortunately the reality is that all-ages shows haven’t quite found their niche yet in New Zealand. There is a slow resurgence, but it seems that until a venue is made readily available, regular all-ages shows will be few and far between. Die! Die! Die!, with the help of Moron Says What?! and Nevernudes, has put together an all-ages show this Friday at Cross Street Studios in Auckland. So if you want to support the all-ages scene then head along. It starts at 4pm.

Die! Die! Die! w/ Moron Says What and Nevernudes
4pm, Friday, April 17, 2009 at Cross Street Studios, Auckland

Die! Die! Die! w/ Sets, Peace War and Pins and Needles
9pm, Friday, April 17, 2009 at Bacco Room, Auckland

Die! Die! Die!- Sideways Here We Come: MP3

Die! Die! Die!- Myspace

 

Posted by Nick Fulton under New Zealand