An Evening Celebrating Kāpiti Songwriters
It’s the last Local Scene gig for the year, and I’m hoping it goes off with a blast says organiser AJ Crawshaw.
“It’s an evening for local songwriters to showcase their talent to an enthusiastic audience of local punters. It was birthed from a desire to see local songwriters paid for their efforts in what is often a tough industry. The idea was simple – get the best original musicians from Kāpiti, give them tickets to sell then fill the venue. The musicians go out and sell, the gig blows up on social media and the venue gets filled by enthusiastic punters, everyone wins. In the process we discovered that Kāpiti really loves original music,” says Crawshaw.
“We’ve been selling up to 300 tickets for these shows. I think an important part of the equation is making sure the show is professional and the acts are producing good quality music.”
The last Local Scene gig will be happening on the 10th of November at The Social at Kāpiti Lights from 5pm til late. Promising another strong line up, starting with lighter acoustic acts and finishing with heavy rock. There will be some returning acts from the last three gigs but also some new talent on display.
This show includes Old School Road who have been carving up the Rock scene and getting national and international radio play.
Gary Weatherhead from Island Audio, a local sound engineer, is again behind this event, and will be running the desk and bringing along his awesome lighting rig.
At $10 a ticket you get 7 hours of live, quality, original local music. This is great value for Kāpiti’s music lovers.
The acts performing:
Steph Casey
Steph Casey is an incredibly talented singer-songwriter based on the Kāpiti Coast of New Zealand. Her sound is a mix of indie-folk/pop, americana and soul, and her debut album Whisper & Holler went straight to number four in the New Zealand Independent Music Album Charts and number eight in the New Zealand Album Charts upon release. Here is an example of one of the glowing reviews about her music:
“Another great album from a New Zealand artist, joining records by Into The East and Tattletale Saints. Music well worth buying.”
Michael Parks, The International Americana Music Show
Hottie
Hottie a popular originals act from Kāpiti is back. After a bit of a break, and a refocus Caz and Chris will be playing this gig with a more jazz and blues infused vibe. Also featuring in this set will be the incredible talents of Fernando Figueroa on saxophone and clarinet.
www.facebook.com/hottiebandnz/
Brendon Mercer
Brendon Mercer has over twenty years of performing experience throughout New Zealand playing as weddings, festivals, parties, pubs and a variety of other venues, a true professional. Usually he
seamlessly blends his original music in with covers. At this event you will hear a pure original set of his energetic and unique original acoustic music.
Devon Welch
Musician Devon Welch – A natural multi-instrumentalist. Based on the Kāpiti coast with an ever
expanding musical presence, Devon builds his own sound with live guitar, bass and vocals creatively
layered through a loop pedal. Being an end to end artist – he explodes onto the stage with a funk infused feel with elements of reggae, hip hop and soul. Usually covering tunes you know, tunes you don’t know, and debuting his own original tunes.
www.facebook.com/devonwelchmusic
The AJ Crawshaw Band
AJ Crawshaw, is an Indie rock songwriter. He has released two EPs to date, both to rave reviews and strong sales with a bit of indie radio airplay. They recently released a new single for NZ mental health awareness week “Life’s For The Living” which has been getting quite a bit of national radio play. This time around he will again be bringing his full band who take the music to the next level, with epic soaring guitar solos from The Family Music Store owner Cam Sutton and tidy band hits from Simon Laracy and Dan Watson.
“AJ’s talent on both sides of the mixing desk is evident throughout this 5-track EP, a collection of perfectly written and executed alt pop and folk therapies helping the artist to restore his faith in hope. Each song is meticulously arranged into a tight, tidy space, free from clutter. Whether he’s lamenting a regrettable association or embracing an opportunity to let something go, an honesty shines through.
“Each ounce of sonic energy has been placed gently into its own space. Each track is a sharp cathartic knife slicing through the thick, splintered twine of disappointment, or as AJ describes it, ‘an EP about losing and winning and restoring hope.'” – NZ Musician (“Phoenix Burning” Band EP released 2015)
www.ajcrawshaw.com
Old School Road
Old School Road combine classic rock, blues and contemporary influences to deliver a melodic blend of driving rock, and occasionally a subtler ‘heartland’ experience. Old School Road formed in 2007 and since then have released one single and three EPs. The latest EP ‘On The Run Again’ was released alongside the video single ‘Highway 65’ in March 2018. The new EP ‘On The Run Again’ as well as an impressive backlog of professionally recorded material has recently been getting some decent radio play here and overseas. There live show is definitely one to come out for.
Lucifer Gunne
Lucifer Gunne is led by Rory McDonald, a singer/guitarist/songwriter originally hailing from the Kāpiti Coast.
Originally from the UK, Rory has been playing guitar since 2008, and started writing songs in 2014.
Written in an alternative style with metal influences, The Red King was his first EP, led more as a solo project before meeting the rest of the band members Henry Thomas (Drums) Don Mackenzie (Guitar) and Steve Henwood (Guitar). After more than a year of gigging and recording, they are back for their 2nd release, Ninth Hour, a 5-track EP consisting of songs written by both Rory and Don. The first single, HRM, mixes the old and new styles of the band, a concoction of the aggressive guitar riffs seen on the red king, as well as some new catchy melodies to get stuck in your head.
www.lucifergunne.com
Illuminus is a progressive/alternative rock/metal band from Wellington, New Zealand. Their debut album ‘Until the End’ was released in 2012 and received rave reviews.
‘Endless’ is the new album and was release on 1 May 2018,