Last dance for live music?
Aotearoa is flying the flag for live music during the pandemic, and the world’s eyes are on our tiny stages. Vicki Anderson reports.
Christchurch band The Wendys, dressed as lifeguards in red and yellow with whistles around their necks, are trying to save the musically drowned.
Although live music is permitted under alert level 2, crowd limits and compulsory seating mean no dancefloors or mosh pits are allowed.
It’s their first live gig since the lockdown and they play to 30 seated people.
It might be a small gig at the bottom of the world, but this is big news on the world stage.
All eyes in the events world are on New Zealand.
Industry insiders say Aotearoa is flying the flag for live music during the coronavirus pandemic.
Stuart Clumpas is the chairman of Live Nation NZ, the antipodean arm of the global touring juggernaut that brings artists such as Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, and Metallica to our shores.
The mastermind at the forefront of the Scottish live music scene, Clumpas established the legendary venue King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow. It supported stars from Radiohead to The Killers, Manic Street Preachers, and Snow Patrol at the start of their careers.
Famously, Oasis were signed by Alan McGee at King Tut’s in 1993.
Now Clumpas runs New Zealand’s largest music venue, Spark Arena in Auckland, and its little sister, the Tuning Fork. This week he’s fielded media inquiries from around the world over a 70-seater gig starring Auckland indie act Daffodils at the Tuning Fork this weekend.
‘‘I’ve had Billboard magazine wanting to talk to me,’’ Clumpas says, ‘‘over a gig for 70 people . . . Everyone is looking at us down here in New Zealand because we are putting gigs on again when noone else is.’’
Connor Treacy, the undisputed king of Los Angeles’ nightclub scene, agrees. Covid-19 has completely upended the industry.
A music manager to emerging talent like TikTok sensation pop singer/songwriter Haley Sullivan, he is guiding his artists through the pandemic of uncharted territory.
‘‘We are shut down tight here, recording is the only thing we can do,’’ Treacy says early yesterday morning from Los Angeles.
‘‘People are being creative, like putting up a green screen in their homes and making videos, which is dope. But I don’t know when shows are going to start happening again here . . .
‘‘New Zealand must be one of the few places in the world putting on shows.’’
Clumpas thinks so. He thinks the future looks positive for New
Zealand’s events scene but says ‘‘those making the rules’’ need to work with the industry to ensure its survival.
‘‘It isn’t like we go to level 1 and a show will happen a few days later. If I put 100 people in an 11,000 capacity venue that’s just an arbitrary number. Is 98 people safe but 102 not safe?’’
‘‘I could safely do 4000. We need to have templates to work to, give us some scenarios of how things will work over coming months, so we can assure people who are booked in for shows in September,
October, that we are going to be able to do them, otherwise everything will just get moved to next March and that will be a disaster for our industry that could have been easily averted.’’
NOT WAVING, DROWNING
Last weekend, at tiny Christchurch venue the Darkroom, in front of a red velvet curtain, punk/surf rock/ garage band The Wendys bounce energetically about the small stage, singing fast-paced songs about going to the beach.
The sold-out show, one of two The Wendys play that night, is limited to 30 people who sit around the edge of the dimly lit room, separated by the tyranny of distance imposed by Covid-19.
Seated, the audience dances, but only from the waist up, to songs like Get In the Flags, an expletiveridden safety warning about swimming against the tide and the importance of sunscreen.
‘‘We had a great weekend,’’ says drummer Nick Vassar, who coowns the venue. ‘‘The Lads On Tour cabaret sold out on Thursday and The Wendys’ 8pm show sold out, 10.30pm was 95 per cent full.’’
The Wendys made their own menu of songs – ‘‘tasting notes and all’’ – so the audience could choose the set list as they played.
Generally, he says, punters were patient and compliant with the rules.
‘‘The audience loved the participation and it meant there was still that connection, even though they were all seated metres away from each other and the stage,’’ he says.
‘‘The seated service meant that people ordered fewer drinks and on the Saturday night we made 50 per cent of what we usually would over the bar.’’
Vassar says it was strange to play without having people ‘‘heaving’’ in front of him.
‘‘Some people just sat down but a lot of people were moving in their seats. It is human nature to want to move to music so it must have been very difficult for some people to stay seated.
‘‘You can tell people just want to get up and dance. I know other places have had difficulties keeping people seated, we just repeat the rules throughout the night and most people get it.’’
Some people initially refused to sign the contact tracing register but Vassar says once they were informed that they wouldn’t be allowed in without signing it, they complied.
12 Bar owner Matt Kamstra opened the venue five months ago, planning to offer blues music. He still offers excellent craft beer but has temporarily halted live music.
‘‘People want to dance, we get that,’’ he says. ‘‘We have had to ask some people to leave because they were not following the rules.’’
Across the city, on Monday morning, Cary Caldwell is studying the lockdown compliance rules.
He is staging weekly gigs for 30 people in the residential, retail and light industrial area of Sydenham at Grater Goods, a vegan delicatessen run by musician Flip Grater.
The first of the Spaced Out Sessions features Ryan Fisherman, who released Down – a dancefriendly song about depression – at the height of the level 4 lockdown.
It’s a radical shift for Caldwell and his wife, Charni Silk, who returned to Christchurch last month.
Both are major players on the world stage, used to working on massive festivals for tens of thousands of people. Their business, 212 Music Group, has offices in Brighton, England, Austin, Texas, and now Christchurch.
During the 1990s, Caldwell toured with Pink Floyd on their Division Bells tour, and the Rolling Stones, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, The Who, KISS, Metallica and Michael Jackson, among others.
He has for years worked as the manager of planning at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, known as SXSW.
His role saw him liaise with everyone from Homeland Security to the CIA, and he worked with celebrities from Morrissey to Michelle Obama.
Born in London, he grew up and went to school in Christchurch and considers it home. Caldwell can’t believe how quickly his life has changed in two months because of
Covid-19.
‘‘SXSW got cancelled, the job was gone, so we decided to come back to Christchurch,’’ he says. ‘‘We still have a huge festival in Hong Kong to do later in the year, but otherwise everything has been cancelled.’’
Silk, the production director for
212 Music Group, usually works on massive festivals in Britain, now she’s working on small, intimate shows.
‘‘I’m excited to be working the Spaced Out Series with Flip for a number of reasons,’’ says Silk.
‘‘With the cancellation of other festivals I was scheduled to work in the United States and United Kingdom this summer with 212 and Live Nation UK; it’s nice to be getting back into it. Especially something small and intimate like this. I think it’ll be a cool way for people to ease back into shows while helping out local artists, the deli, and the crew working it.’’
After the first Spaced Out Session on Wednesday night, Grater is pleased.
‘‘People are so grateful for the opportunity to be out again,’’ she says. ‘‘Importantly, music was the focus of everyone’s attention. It was intimate and really special.’’
‘‘I’ve had Billboard magazine wanting to talk to me, over a gig for 70 people. Everyone is looking at us down here in New Zealand ...’’
LAST NIGHT A DJ SAVED MY LIFE
Michael Daly DJs under the name Skew Whiff. He does a regular themed radio show on Christchurch streaming station 8K and has been in bands from The Renderers to Dark Matter.
Pre-pandemic he’d be getting people moving at Smash Palace on a Friday night.
‘‘When you’re at a bar and faced with dance music, it’s normal to want to dance,’’ says Daly. ‘‘At Smash Palace, though, we also enjoy playing just to create a good vibe, as much as feeding a hungry dancefloor. Already I’ve seen some creative chair dancing.’’
Mitch Ryder and business partner Sam Smith run Hide Club and Cream Events. During the pandemic, when no artists are touring and no-one is dancing, the