Larry's Rebels part 1: Long Ago, Far Away
In 1962, Auckland schoolboy friends Dennis "Nooky” Stott, John Williams, Terry Rouse and Harry Leki formed a band called the Young Ones, changing t...
Rufus Rehu
Ten bits of NZ synth music
I've been looking for and listening to New Zealand synth music for close to 20 years, ever since I found a near-mint copy of the second vinyl press...
On the Road: the pub circuit
Prior to 1967, there was an explosion of New Zealand talent inspired by the early 60s British folk, pop and rock explosion, but performers were fac...
Will Crummer
Tales of The Alhambra
The Alhambra Garden Bar & Restaurant may not register with many outside Ponsonby or those avid supporters of Auckland jazz, certainly not lik...
Anika Moa
Red Mole at Carmen’s Balcony
Deborah Hunt of Red Mole, on stage at Carmen's Balcony, Wellington, 1977. - from Bus Stops on the Moon "Some day all theatre will be like this,”...
Red Mole Diary, 1977-1980
In 1979, after playing in Midge Marsden's Country Flyers, bass player Neil Hannan travelled to New York to back the Red Mole troupe. A two-year ody...
Th' Dudes
Bic Runga
The Swingers
David Long
The Beths
The Phoenix Foundation
Airlord
The Veils
Max Merritt remembered
The death of Max Merritt on 25 September 2020 brought to a close one of the most remarkable stories in New Zealand music, and the hundreds of socia...
The Number One Hits – 1970-1979
The Fourmyula – Nature (1970) The chart-topping impetus of New Zealand artists in the late 60s continued into 1970. The new decade got off to a fa...
Omac
The Proud compilation of 1994 was a game changer. This was South Auckland in a new light – contemporary, confident and unapologetically Polynesian....
Ladyhawke
Carol Davies
Troy Kingi
Kevin Greaves
Ten moments in New Zealand metal
The range of metal tracks to emerge from New Zealand over the last four decades makes it hard to capture the breadth of styles in a short list. So ...
Max Merritt
Ben Tawhiti
Richard Nunns
Ross Cunningham interviews Moana Maniapoto
There's something about Moana Maniapoto's music that keeps me coming back. I first heard it in the late 1980s, and have been happily listening to t...
Ruia and Ranea Aperahama
Tekau Waiata Reo Māori mō te Irirangi – Ten te reo songs for radio
E ngā iwi o te motu, tēnā koutou katoa, me ō tātou aituā. I greet all of the people of New Zealand, and acknowledge those who have left us. Let's ...
Rotorua Maori Choir
Mapping Auckland's venues: the 1980s
Explore Auckland nightlife in the 1980s with AudioCulture's interactive venue map (below). For each venue, we have provided an image and a "Read ...
Airstrike
Mainstreet
At the time it was built in 1938, the Metropole cabaret near the top of Queen Street was Auckland's largest ballroom, catering to 1500-plus pat...
Auckland Tonight, November 1980
"A lot of people in town are saying that Saturday Night is dead,” writes Mark Phillips in this feature from November 1980. After a flurry of ba...
Techtones
Eelman
The Hulamen
Bill Lake: Mammals and Pelicans
Acoustic or electric: Bill Lake's music has worked on alternate currents in the decades since he first appeared on the Wellington blues scene in th...