The Great Southern Coast Road Trip
In an effort to reconnect with my southern roots I followed Soft Plastics from Christchurch down to Dunedin and had a lovely time.
Self-Discovery On The Southern Highway
Listen to the podcast / audio version here
As I was cruising the near straight line of state highway one between Christchurch and Timaru my meditative state (read: daydreaming) connected me with a new feeling ~ or really a lack of something.
Three days after arriving down south my brain translated that feeling into the idea that somehow I felt lighter ~ like a dark cloud that had been hanging over me had moved on and only now did I realise I had been in the shade at all.
It would be too simplistic to say that dark cloud was Auckland itself. A more thoughtful exploration of this feeling would reveal the parts of my life that had stagnated and ‘darkened’ within the city limits.
I don’t think I realised how much change and challenge energised me. Historically change and challenge has been elevated to an existential threat by my lack of resilience emerging as hyper-vigilant anxiety.
Now, somewhat free from those inner narratives this move represented the first time I’ve experienced change in a healthy way ~ and I’m loving it.
Softies On Tour
I’ve seen Soft Plastics multiple times now and their set at the darkroom was the best yet ~ they have recently added an in-ear / tracks system into the setup and it added a subtle yet undeniable new level to the live show.
The thing that I love about the songs of Soft Plastics ~ something that you can hear clearly on their wonderful latest album ‘Saturn Return’ ~ is their use of pace and space in service of the songs and Sophie’s voice.
The metronomic addition of ‘the computer’ (as the band put it) means that the guitar band cliche of speeding up songs through overexcitement is defeated and the tunes are translated in an almost hyper-real state for the audience.
There was also a gig that night at Space Academy ~ literally across the road from the darkroom ~ where I was lucky enough to catch Violet French and The Horrible smash out some raucous jangle pub poetry with the swagger only southern bands can really channel. If you haven’t checked out their record from last year then get onto it!
360KM Door To Door
Its five hours give or take from Christchurch to Dunedin with Timaru acting as a rough halfway point. I listened to a couple of Bring Me The Horizon albums before jumping onto my playlist ‘Best Of 2022’ which you can check out below.
Homemade plunger coffee in the keep cup for the first leg and you’re out of luck for another good coffee until you get to Tees St Café in Oamaru. Toilet stop in South Ashburton, not the Botanic Gardens as they are always too busy. Butter Chicken pie at Wild Bean in Timaru. Classic stuff.
Dunedin will always feel like a childhood home to me as musically and socially thats really where my life started.
I will always switch the radio over to R1 and enjoy the eclectic tunes and awkward dead air before someone realises whats happening. I’ll always crave some fries from Squidys, use the Uni library for a toilet stop and end up parking somewhere close to Otago Boys High School before walking down to the Octagon to save costs.
This visit there was a weed smoking delegation on the central round with a DIY speaker system and a DJ playing filthy dubstep to the students and their parents struggling to find things to talk about at that Mac’s bar on the corner. Never change.
I had a wonderful time catching up with Julie & Josh from every Dunedin band and trace / untrace records at Woof! before a lovely pre-gig dinner at Itsu. I spotted Marlon Williams and almost fainted. I had the Chicken Katsu Curry.
Yours was a vibe.
The anarchist, worker run space has a strong pay-what-you-want policy for everything. It took me a while to catch on after ordering my first coffee that it was up to me to put into the EFTPOS machine how much this coffee was to cost.
There is a flat stone wall backing the stage in a square tiled room ~ so the sound is a challenging affair. All in all though it sounded pretty good considering the limitations of the space and with the right kind of band ~ punchy noisy in your face guitar bands the like of which Dunedin is crawling with ~ this is really no problem at all. For example Francisca Griffen’s wall of sound shoegaze dominated the space in an impressive way, the same as I assume a band like Dale Kerrigan or Night Lunch would.
It was a good night of live music because the crowd and community is strong and considerate, filled with exactly the kind of music fans we want at local gigs.
As is always the case ~ there is a lot going on underground in the south and if you can find a way to hear about it then you’ll inevitably find a treasure trove of personalities and art.
I arrived back into Riccarton on Sunday afternoon feeling full of inspiration and motivation to be part of as many of these coastal cities scenes and stories. Ideas for shows, tours, music, interviews and more cascading around my head with one image burned into it that will not fade.
Who wants to watch Dale Kerrigan live at Larnach Castle?!
I think next time you're getting the butter chicken pie @ BP you should get a coconut flat white too. Coconut milk is hit or miss, Wild Bean use the hit one. Best gas station coffee imo