The Others Way festival provided an annual smorgasbord of the hottest young independent acts from the local scene, with a smattering of cult acts from overseas. The event reached across generations by featuring much-loved artists from earlier eras to headline alongside the younger acts; in some cases, disbanded groups re-formed just to play the festival.
The Others Way 2015 poster
In the early years, the performances were spread across already active venues at the top of Auckland’s CBD. It soon expanded into more unusual locations including a church and a storage space on Cross Street, and in its final year the festival even shut down a section of Karangahape Road. However this ambitious attempt to increase the scale of the festival wasn’t enough to save it.
The event’s earliest incarnation had modest aims. In 2012, Zac Arnold started working for Flying Nun Records, with the job title of “Good Sort”. Much of his job revolved around online orders for their Flying Out webstore (launched in 2013), though in such a small operation he also helped the Flying Nun director and co-owner Ben Howe and label manager Matthew Davis to run events, including a Christmas Party and Flying Out Record Fair.
Others Way Festival, Auckland, 2016: Celia Mancini; Nick Harte with Shocking Pinks; and Nadia Reid playing at Galatos. - Gareth Shute
Arnold wanted to start a regular club night that could help Flying Out engage with emerging local acts, while also providing a spot where Flying Nun acts could sometimes perform. He booked Thursday nights at the Wine Cellar, luring customers with a cheap door price and free pizza.
Posters for the first two Others Way club nights
He named this club night after the Doublehappys’ song, ‘The Others Way’ and says he probably heard the song through Pennie Black DJing it on 95bFM. In 2015, Arnold had left to work at Radio New Zealand, though he continued running The Others Way club nights and put together a compilation of acts who had played (he returned to work for Flying Out in 2017).
Collision at Samoa House in 2018; Grayson Gilmour onstage in 2017. Others Way Festival, Auckland. - Gareth Shute
Meanwhile, Flying Nun had opened a physical store under the name Flying Out on Pitt Street, taking over from the long-running shaver shop that had been in the same location. Ben Howe had noticed how successful record stores overseas had created a community around them through putting on events and this led to the idea of holding performances in the basement area beneath the shop.
The Others Way 2016 poster
Flying Nun were working with overseas label Captured Tracks and they asked Howe to arrange a tour for US group Beach Fossils. Howe had previously been involved with bringing the Laneway Festival to New Zealand and, although he was wary of doing something on that scale, he came up with the idea of doing a multi-venue mini-event around the visit, with the Flying Out store as its home base. It made sense for the event to also take the name “The Others Way” since it had the same aim of curating the best new acts alongside long-running cult faves, especially those from the Flying Nun stable.
Howe hoped to emulate overseas events such as SXSW and CMJ, but with the aim of avoiding the queues that these events are known for. Even once Beach Fossils pulled out, the plan went ahead and three classic Flying Nun acts were booked to feature – The Bats, Solid Gold Hell, and Garageland – alongside newer signings including Fazerdaze and Aldous Harding.
However, Howe and his team couldn’t restrain themselves from adding some of their favourite artists from the local scene and the line-up expanded to 27 acts, who would perform across six venues in the K Rd area. The mix of rising stars and local legends meant that the festival appealed to multiple generations and this would be a key to its success over the years that followed.
The festival took place in September, so it conveniently coincided with the Going Global conference that brought visitors from the international music industry to our shores. This certainly benefited Aldous Harding: a representative from US booking agency Panache was in the audience for her beautifully emotive set and he subsequently booked her to tour in support of Deerhunter in the US, a key step in her eventually signing to 4AD.
Despite his better judgement, Howe couldn’t fight the temptation to expand the festival the following year: 44 acts appeared across 10 venues, including the striking fale-style main room of Samoa House.
The staff at Flying Nun were originally planning to end the festival at this point. Their applications for various kinds of funding and sponsorship had not come to fruition, so it didn’t look financially viable. Flying Nun’s Matthew Davis explained to the NZ Herald how the event was finally saved:
"My friend Simon [Coley] from Karma Cola rang me about something else completely, and it was the day that we'd decided we wouldn't do it this year. I was pretty bummed, and I was just telling him about that. He really enjoyed the last year and essentially really believed in what it does, [so] he was a really good sort and gave a ring around and helped us secure a little bit of extra cash. People like Karma Cola, Coffee Supreme, Kate Sylvester, Garage Project and Phantom [Billstickers] all helped chip in to make it happen.”
As a result, The Others Way festival was able to continue in 2017 and added a new out-of-the-ordinary venue, the hall beneath the church next to Flying Out. This space was even more well utilised the following year, when it became an all-ages venue for the night, with youngsters able to buy a pass just for this area. This was run in association with Girls Rock Camp Aotearoa, with the best new acts from this programme playing mini-sets. The Beths closed out the Pitt Street church show; only those with all-ages passes could see their set.
The Others Way 2017 poster
Benee at The Others Way festival, 2018. - Ben Howe
The 2018 festival also included three rare performances by legendary Flying Nun acts – Headless Chickens, Bailterspace and Superette – the bass player of the latter being Ben Howe, meaning he had a very busy night. What’s more, Benee did her second-ever show at the event, on her way to international stardom.
The Others Way 2018 posters, including the first all ages stage.
The Others Way 2019 poster
The Others Way was now an essential date on the live calendar for Auckland music fans and many travelled from outside the city to attend. It continued to find new ways to surprise attendees and 2019 was no exception. Blam Blam Blam reunited for a one-off show at The Studio, while other acts performed at one of Auckland’s most iconic and long-lived venues, the Mercury Theatre, at a time when it seldom had music events.
However, two troubled years were ahead. Covid hit the country and the 2020 event had to be cancelled. Then the final Auckland lockdown in 2021 pushed that year’s festival back from September to January of the following year. This led to the odd situation of posters that said “The Others Way Festival 2021” but which showed Saturday 29 January 2022 as the date.
The Others Way 2021 poster
In the meantime, Flying Nun had separated from the Flying Out store, with Flying Out becoming a standalone operation. The festival was associated with the store rather than the label, so Flying Out continued to be the main organisers.
There had been occasional overseas visitors over the years – in particular, Australian acts such as Surprise Chef (2021) – but in 2022 this aspect stepped up a gear with the appearance of Brooklyn solo act Steve Gunn (US), Los Angeles beatmaker MNDSGN & The Rare Pleasures (US), and Sydney’s Laura Jean (AU). By this stage, Matthew Davis had enlisted Sam Harman to book the festival and together they decided to try a new experiment. Galatos Street was closed and an outdoor stage constructed, which took in stellar sets by SWIDT, Che Fu, and The Coolies.
Gideon Voon and Filiva'a James from Shepherds Reign playing at Whammy Bar for Others Way Festival in 2022. - Gareth Shute
Experienced promotion company Banished Music, run by Reuben Bonner, became involved in 2023. More big names from overseas headlined the festival in 2023, with hip hop legends Souls of Mischief and harpist Mary Lattimore at the top of the bill. The following year, an overseas act with a unique local connection returned to perform. Dean Wareham spent much of his youth in New Zealand before becoming a musician in New York. He appeared with his partner Britta, performing songs by his legendary group Galaxie 500.
The Others Way 2023 poster
Behind the scenes, the struggle to keep the festival running was as hard as ever, especially given that it needed to be at a sufficient scale where organisational overheads could be covered, but the venues being used had a limited capacity. A make-or-break decision was made to take the festival to a new level by getting permission to shut down the entire section of Karangahape Rd between Pitt and Queen streets. Revered indie band Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory were booked to headline alongside critically acclaimed Canadian act Saya Grey. The organisers were reliant more than ever on Auckland’s fickle weather, but the sky above was blue all afternoon and gave way to a warm evening.
For those who attended, the event was an incredible success with The Spinoff headlining its review with simply “A Triumph”. Even when things went wrong, they seemed to turn out right, as when Georgia Knight’s band had their flight delayed and she gave a raw, totally-engaged solo performance.
The Others Way 2024 poster
The Others Way 2025 poster
The festival as a whole ran incredibly smoothly, despite the increase in size; there were few queues and access to venues was relatively easy. The tickets sold out, though Bonner later realised they could have sold a few hundred more given demand, while still retaining the capacity to allow for a smooth audience flow between venues. However, the main aim was proving the concept of doing a main stage on K Rd, with the goal of continuing to expand the festival in future.
In 2026 the organisers found that the funding and support on offer was the same as the previous year. They believed that the only way of ensuring the festival was sustainable long term was for it to grow. Instead, they were stalled in their progress and had to make a tough decision, during a difficult economic period.
The government had recently introduced a fund to support large scale live shows, but the festival didn’t fit its requirements – this small but culturally essential event fell through the cracks of being classified as “a major event”.
In May of 2026, Banished Music officially announced that they were closing down The Others Way festival:
“It is with a truly heavy heart and weary soul, we share that The Others Way festival will not be continuing in 2026 or beyond …Delivering an independent boutique festival on the smell of an oily rag is extremely hard, and then throwing in the economic conditions and insane world that is 2026, you have a recipe for wild instability and stress, and very real potential outcomes like ‘we’ll be bankrupt if this goes wrong.’ In short, the magnificent joy received from delivering The Others Way is outweighed by the sheer financial strain and emotional toll it takes on us to deliver.”
For over a decade, The Others Way festival highlighted the best in local music and showcased the potential of central city Auckland as a musical hub. It will be sorely missed.
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Read more: The Festival Collection at AudioCulture
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Eyeliner (Luke Rowell) at Encore Cabaret for The Others Way festival, 2017. - Gareth Shute
Bailterspace at Studio for The Others Way festival, 2018. - Ben Howe
Sam Harman and Hunter Keane working on The Others Way festival. - Ben Howe
Hans Pucket at Mercury Theatre for The Others Way festival, 2019. - Ben Howe
Tiny Ruins at Hopetoun Alpha for The Others Way festival, 2019. - Ben Howe
Straitjacket Fits at Studio for The Others Way festival, 2019. - Ben Howe
Che Fu on the outdoor Galatos Street stage; Circling Sun at Whammy Bar. The Others Way festival, 2022. - Gareth Shute
Te Kaahu at Pitt Street Church, and at right, Earth Tongue at Galatos. The Others Way festival, 2022. - Gareth Shute
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