{Empress} were formed by guitarist/singer Lora Thompson and drummer Craig Gilliver after the demise of their previous project, {Cheshire Grimm} with whom they toured the length of NZ, played with international acts and local superstars, as well as releasing material...

It has been a few years since Northland quartet {Tempist Fujit} (yes, the spelling is quite deliberate) have released a single, but they are back with Fallen, which is a great introduction to the band for anyone who has yet to come across them. The band are a hard...

One may be able to discern from the title that the latest release from Roulettes (they dropped the “The” a while back) is taken from a series of demoes and home recordings. Since forming the band in the early 2000’s there have been some additional musicians here and...

Venom Dolls are an all-female indie punk trio who formed at the end of last year, and comprise lead guitarist Carawai Gao, drummer Summah Auvae, and vocalist/bassist Jessica Frank. From looking at their photos I can see they have played Dead Witch, so I am going to...

Originally released in 2009, then remastered and reissued with some additional tracks some ten years later, here we find Ben fairly early in his recording career. These days Ben can be found during the day at Waiuku College, where he is head of music, but outside that...

2017 saw Ben Ruegg start another project, Manon Peak, where he brought in other guests and musicians such as Sio Andrews. Daniella Kriek, Royce Dawson, and Sophie Hamer. When Ben sent this to me it actually filled in a missing piece, as the opening number is...

As I have said previously, 2020 was a breakthrough year for {Channeled}, as Ben Ruegg recorded the second album and formed an operational live band to make it more than just a studio project. They made it through to the final of the Ding Dong Lounge Battle of the...

This cannot be right. According to the information I have in front of me, this Wellington-based band was formed from a group of music students in 2017, started performing live in 2018, and their ages now range from 15 to 18! When a band sounds this good, yet somehow...