Pearly* are fast becoming one of the new faces of Ōtepoti Dunedin music. The alt-rock guitar band of Joel Field, Phaedra Love, Josh Nicholls and Ryan Hill formed in 2023, very quickly establishing themselves as the ones-to-watch on the local Dunedin scene and beyond. Released at the end of August their debut album ‘Not So Sweet’ builds on an international following gained with their self-titled EP from mid-2024. Amanda Mills talked with the band’s songwriters.

Apart from guitarist Ryan Hill, all members of Pearly* are in, or have been in, other Dunedin bands. Phaedra Love (bass/vocals) began performing with Fairuza (named after ‘90s actress Fairuza Balk) before being shoulder-tapped for Pearly* by Joel Field, who she was already friends with, and who was a fan of her band.

Fairuza lasted only about a year, a short run that included opening for Mermaidens and Soft Plastics before disbanding, but proved a good starting point for Love.
“I knew Phaedra could sing,” Field says. “It wasn’t till like I heard some of the Fairuza songs, I’m like… ‘Phaedra is a good songwriter!’”

Field (guitar/vocals) began in the alt-pop band Porpoise, before moving on to Dale Kerrigan, who are soon headed overseas to play shows in China, which will be Field’s first international shows. Drummer Josh Nicholls is also in Dale Kerrigan, and well-known in the Dunedin music scene from bands including Space Bats Attack, Koizilla, Asta Rangu, Bathysphere, and Fazed on a Pony.

Pearly* are named after a Radiohead b-side, asterix and all.
“I’m unapologetically the biggest Radiohead fan,” Field concedes. “‘OK Computer’ was the first album I listened to where I was just like… music can do this to you!” he smiles.

Their song Pearly* appealed, as did the way it looked.
“That word looks cool! You know, you don’t want a band name with bad letters… it’s really important to have a good looking band name.”

Both Love and Field (the primary songwriters in Pearly*) have been writing music for years, Love since primary school though Field only more recently.
“I thought of myself as kind of an artist way sooner than I thought I was a musician. It just kind of did all the things that painting did for me but was actually way more fun… far more fulfilling to do music than it was to be alone, painting on a canvas.”

The band all collaborate on material, but the two begin songs alone, bringing them to the band once they’ve worked them to a point.
“If I’m singing something it’s what I’ve written, if you’re singing something it’s what you’ve written,” Love clarifies, while Field  considers the way they work together. “Phaedra will bring a song on a guitar and it will be a couple of chords… I just go and do some guitar notes stuff to it.”

Both think the writing process for them is broadly similar to their other bands, although Love notes a wider group approach.
“This is a lot more collaborative, between Joel and I, and then also there’s Ryan and Josh.” Field agrees and considers it similar to writing with Porpoise as “…everyone is all trying to work it out the best it can be, but it’s less restrictive in that place. Where Dale [Kerrigan] is… collaborative.”

In 2023 the band released a self-titled EP, which gained them a new fanbase and wider industry traction when the EP was re-issued on a 7” disc by US label MPLS.
“Joel and I made a little homemade video one afternoon for The Ground Beside You after the EP was already released,” Love recalls.

Christian Fritz, founder of MPLS heard the EP, and contacted them about releasing it on 7” vinyl.
“I thought it was a scam,” Field laughs. “He was kind of like, let me print your vinyl. And I was like, whatever man!”

There was no catch, and the vinyl release quickly sold out. The reaction to the vinyl, Field reckons, made everyone take them more seriously.
“I think to have a physical release meant more. It meant you were willing to invest in yourself, and people saw that.”

That success meant more opportunities opened up, including signing to local labels Pinacolada Records and Leather Jacket Records after they opened for Australian band Twine in Christchurch.

“It’s just all been from just playing good shows,” says Field. “I had the same haircut as Liam Gallagher, and Tim [Baird from Pinacolada] is a big Oasis fan, and I was wearing sunglasses… he was like, these guys are cool.”

Having the labels’ backing led to the band recording their debut album which is distributed through Flying Nun. ‘Not So Sweet’ makes a strong impact, notably with the singles Superglue, and title track, Not So Sweet. The lyrics and themes are personal to both songwriters.

“It’s quite an angsty album. Joel and I… we’re definitely talking about a lot of personal experiences and things in life that have affected us,” Love considers, noting that she wrote the lyrics to the title track at age 17.

“Each song, you could kind of name a different thing or person it’s about, I guess,” she laughs.

“That was an accident,” Field counters, “We didn’t set out to talk that much shit that we did.”

They began writing the album in August 2024, going into the first recording sessions with Superglue, Scream, Not so Sweet, I Want to be With You, and Opposition City, then writing the rest afterwards.

Recording was very quick, but they acknowledge that for less experienced bands it could be seen as taking a longer time, Love noting it took longer for the mixing and mastering than the actual recording of the songs. ‘Not So Sweet’ also features Richard Ley-Hamilton of Space Bats Attack and Asta Rangu on keyboards. Ley-Hamilton played keys on their EP too, and Field says he “really did a lot” for this record.

Evident traces of musical influences are mostly from the UK. Field agrees Britpop is a touchstone for him, notably Oasis, citing other bands including Radiohead, Joy Division, The Smiths and Primal Scream as key. Lorde’s ‘Pure Heroine’ was a massive influence for Love, as were The Pixies.  

“When I was 13, I got super into the ‘Doolittle’ album, and all my friends got really worried about me because I was listening to this weird music,” she laughs.

Both note how Pearly* have gone from having no industry connections to having people they can call friends and mentors, including Nick Roughan, of The Skeptics, and founder of Dunedin’s South Link studios.

“We just stumbled across him, really, and recorded with him. He pretty much told all his cool NZ music scene friends like David Kilgour… that we were the shit. And it grew from there!”

They met Roughan when he contacted Dale Kerrigan about recording an album together. Joel was, again, sceptical.
“I thought it was a scam,” he grins. Francisca Griffin (Look Blue Go Purple and the Bus Shelter Boys) made him reconsider. “I’d heard of The Skeptics, but I didn’t know Nick Roughan… Francisca pretty much just told me about how much of a legit thing it was.”

“We get along with him, which just makes it more fun,” adds Love. “He gave a quote for a vinyl sticker… something like, ‘everyone in Pearly* is a wanker except Phaedra, she’s cool,” she laughs.

2025 has seen the band expanding their live shows, playing in and out of Dunedin.
“Compared to the other bands I played in as well, we just don’t actually play in Dunedin as much. We didn’t have that same… battling it out at The Crown, just because we had the experience already we were just like, ‘Let’s just go out of town straight away.’”

They recently played Junkfest Festival, which they enthuse about.
“Junkfest is an amazing look at what NZ music is right now… NZ is one of the most exciting places to be for modern rock music. And being there it felt like that.”

There is a lineage of Dunedin music across the decades, both indie pop and noise, and Pearly* definitely consider themselves part of that sonic continuity.
“I think we’re super Dunedin,” Love enthuses.

“Dunedin has been the only scene in NZ that has like, a cohesive thing going,” says Field. “Dunedin has some of the best bands to ever come out of NZ. In that aspect, it’s been very boundary pushing and very forward thinking… I hope we can join that lineage.”

The city’s climate is a driver as he notes.
“If you’re not getting enough vitamin D, you’re going to be… depressed for half the year. So you write half your songs when you’re feeling like shit. And then you’re playing them over summer!” he laughs. “Then you come back and write ‘em while you’re… crying. That’s how Dunedin works. That’s why we have the best music in New Zealand.”