There’s a lot happening in Ōtepoti Dunedin music right now, a distinct feeling that there is Something Going On. Bands including Pearly*, Ivy, Deaf Raccoon, and Seek Help are part of a new, diverse alternative scene, while Ash McFarlane’s new Stapled Noise ‘zine has captured the moment in print. There’s also the Dunedin City Council’s arts and cultural arm Ara Toi Ōtepoti who have recently released ‘Ōtepoti Hou’, an album of new local music. However it’s the work of long time local music mentor and label founder Natasha Griffiths that’s making waves, as Amanda Mills reports.

Long a champion of the local and youth music scenes, Natasha Griffiths has a new label, DUN Records. DUN is emerging into the spotlight with ‘4EPs’, a new ‘Dunedin Double’ for the 21st century showcasing work by four new local talents – Sivle Talk, Sogg, U-no Juno, and Vagina Dry.

Griffiths was always surrounded by music with a cabaret-singer mum, and a musician brother. “I was just kind of around it from when I was really young. And it was normal, you know?” she reflects.

Writing for Tearaway and Rip It Up magazines while at high school, she also recorded shows for Otago University student radio station Radio One.

“I got a certificate at my school assembly the same day that Danyon Loader got a certificate for getting a gold medal at the Olympics,” she laughs.

She wrote an article for her school newspaper titled Will They Be Playing Our Song?, which received a strong response from the music community.

“I was very young and going around and interviewing the [radio] program directors, and they were so rude about the music… because they just thought they were talking to some young kid.”

The Otago University student newspaper, Critic, asked her to expand it and get a counter response from those in the scene. Officially joining Radio One and Critic on her first day of university remains etched in her memory – she was told she could write for the magazine if she got an interview with Straitjacket Fits.

For the uninitiated, Griffiths is closely connected to them as her brother Shayne P. Carter is the lead singer and guitarist, so no big deal.

“I didn’t tell them that for about a week,” she grins. “Shayne arrived that night… they sold out the university union.”

Her friends were in local ’90s Dunedin bands My Deviant Daughter, Kid Eternity, and Das Phaedrus, and she recalls they were all watching The 3Ds and Straitjacket Fits and The Chills heading overseas, a time she reckons was “… the last time there was a bigger community.”

Griffiths was also producing her magazine on Dunedin music called DUN, short for the city and also ‘getting it done’. A request to extend the magazine Australasia wide made her realise it wasn’t her long-term goal. Also, she had an offer to move north and work for Flying Nun, although she insisted on staying in Dunedin until her 21st birthday.

“Flying Nun was amazing. We worked so hard. Not many of us and a whole lot of work to do… I feel very lucky.”

Returning to Dunedin she subsequently founded Turbine Records, started her own artist management company (Missmanagement), and has since worked with and mentored many young musicians in Ōtepoti, through independent and official channels.

DUN Records is Griffiths’ new Dunedin label focused on releasing material from emerging, up-and-coming, or less well-known artists. Through the various music scene she has become close to a number of young artists, and been involved with Jonathan Holloway’s work as supporter of all-ages gigs at Port Chalmers’ Pioneer Hall, a key venue for youth music in Dunedin.

“I have a front row seat being Sivle Talk’s mum and just seeing where Tane was at… and all these bands as part of a bunch that I’ve gotten close to… especially the bands playing through Pioneer Hall.” It got her thinking.

“It’s a time where a lot of bands go into the wilderness here, going around in circles,” she muses. “I thought, ‘Well they need a record. I’ve got no money, but I’ve got skills… why don’t I put out a record?’ Then, I thought why don’t I do a Dunedin double?”

She’s organised a new double EP, called ‘4EPs’ with Sivle Talk (Tane Cotton), Sogg, U-no Juno, and Vagina Dry, initially designing it analogue by drawing plans on a napkin showing each band with their own side and artwork. Griffiths approached acts that were her first choice, and was relieved when they said yes.

“Obviously I spoke to Tane. Sogg, I felt like we’ve got a really good relationship, they’re up for anything and they trust me. Then U-no Juno and Vagina Dry, I didn’t really know them as well, and just said to them, speak to Tane… so that’s how it happened!”

She had first thoughts about the EPs while organising bands to play for an audience of 1300 at the Dunedin premiere of Shayne Carter’s film, Life in One Chord, at the Regent Theatre.

“That made me realise… what’s another crazy project that we can do that has more of an effect?” she remembers. “These bands felt like the right combo. I knew they would all have a definitive EP inside of them ready to go… I can’t imagine a world without them.”

Each of the four EPs (‘CRYBABY’ by Sivle Talk, ‘Freezer Thaw’ by Sogg, ‘you know?’ by U-no Juno, and ‘Vagina Dry’ by Vagina Dry) are a testament to the multi-faceted community of practice approach, with musicians of all bands involved in all aspects of the artistic process.

Initially inspired by old shellac records with printed sleeves in gel bags, Griffiths recognised the artwork was vital, and although expensive, everyone wanted a vinyl release. ‘4EPs’ has artwork by Ramona Mahutte (U-no Juno), Ollie Kemmett (Sogg), and El Checkets, created by themselves and for each other. Layout was done by Stefan Keller (U-no Juno), and Caleb Tulloch from Vagina Dry created the posters. 

The bands are listed alphabetically with Sivle Talk and Sogg in one sleeve, then U-no Juno and Vagina Dry in the other. The vinyl double EP was pressed at Stebbing in Auckland, and both sleeves are in a gel bag and can be turned around, so each of the bands can be at the front. Wanting a more organic feel around the release, Griffiths decided on pre-orders rather than go down the Boosted route.

“Boosted is amazing, but I just wanted the vibe to be a bit more punk rock and independent.”

She’s big fan of the EPs, saying they’re better than she could have imagined. “Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t ours want to be the worst EP… they raised their game!”

Sogg took a week off school to record with Nick Roughan at Southlink Studios, while Tane Cotton recorded his EP at his own WarPossum Studios with Sam Charlesworth mixing. As Cotton has the ears, U-no Juno and Vagina Dry asked him to record their EPs as well.

Music is a form of political resistance whether it’s a statement to government, a fight for venues, or a rallying call for the arts and culture. There is support from local venues for the new bands and artists, Griffiths thinks.

“You draw into the safe third spaces… with The Crown… with Pearl Diver… and with Pioneer Hall you have that.”

She knows ‘4EPs’ is rife with political messaging, and wants the musicians to be their authentic selves.

“This is what is saving lives; people being able to say it, sing it, yell it, and people in the audience being able to yell it back.”

‘4 EPs’ is a powerhouse recording of energy, urgency, a sense of desperation and frustration at the ways power imposes itself on people, communities and society as a whole. Anger may be an energy, but so is disenchantment. Each band has a statement sound; punk, noise rock, riot grrrl, hardcore, and post-punk, but these sounds are fluid, refusing to be fixed to one artist. Sivle Talk’s EP is possibly the most overtly political.

“The opening track of ‘Cry Baby’ is There’s an FBI office in Wellington… One of my favourite songs is Sisterhood, there’s nothing like a whole room chanting ‘fuck brotherhood, where’s my sisterhood’. Then you’ve got everyone yelling it into the microphone as he’s handing it round,” Griffiths laughs.

Each band can lay claim to a political message or two, whether it’s Vagina Dry’s Brutalised, U-no Juno’s Skyscrapers, or Sogg’s sonic response. And that’s just looking at a surface level.

“That’s the thing,” Griffiths observes. “How inclusive and diverse and gender diverse, and everything about these young people, is so fucking beautiful. Feminism’s not even a word, It’s like humanism… it comes out in their music.”

There will be an inevitable comparison with the 1982 original ‘Dunedin Double’ EP, and Griffiths thinks both are connected by the linearity she sees happening.

“I think a lot of that is the musicianship, the community… you know, I believe in 20 years’ time, these will be seen as iconic EPs. They are really good.”

She’s aware of the momentum and support from the Dunedin Sound era musicians with endorsement from Carter, and from David Kilgour and Robert Scott (of The Clean) playing with not only Sogg, but also artist Phaedra Love (from Pearly*), and band Bunchies Big Score.

There’s support across the board for ‘4EPs’; Auckland University Press donated books as prize-draws, and the Martin Phillipps Estate paid to master the double EP and also provided Phillipps’ own copy of the ‘Dunedin Double’ as a give-away. It’s come full circle, Griffiths thinks.

“Maybe the timing is quite perfect… things like The Clean book, or losing Hamish, and losing Martin, or the Life in One Chord film – they’re all powerful statements.”

She recently shared Carter’s Art For All piece on being an artist on the DUN Records’ Instagram page, and his words ring true, especially about how music saves lives.

“I believe that for the young group of this community in the last few years it’s been saving lives… because it’s given a sense of community and taken away the loneliness in this crazy world.”

4EPs’ is available on vinyl and CD (the CD has four extra tracks). Initially available from independent record stores and at gigs, interest in it has expanded.

“JB Hi-Fi came through and said that they would like to buy 150 copies… All of these bands will have their vinyl in JB Hi-Fi without having to sign any of their rights away, showing that you can be indie and still be in these places.”

Griffiths is a strong advocate of artists retaining music rights.

“This is where you can lose ownership of your music really easily,” she says. “From the word go I said to these bands, ‘I’m an umbrella, you own your music.’”

The bands are also getting tour-ready. Over June each band played an in-store gig in Ōtepoti’s Relics Records to support their single before the double EP release show and the South Island tour in August.

“We’ve got all these young people who don’t get to experience this music, and we’ve got these bands who can go there and put on amazing shows.”

Dunedin has always punched above its weight with record labels including Xpressway, Fishrider and trace/untrace, and Griffiths considers the last two have especially had a huge impact.

“How many records wouldn’t be out there if it wasn’t for those guys? I think they’re really inspiring and they’ve proven that you can do it… and everyone having their own stamp on it,” she says. “We all complement one another and definitely all support one another. It’s not all competitive” she laughs.

Griffiths has plans for more DUN Records releases, seeing the label as part of a continuum.

“This is where the bands are at. They need to release a record, and also have people believing in them,” she reflects. “It’s all about creating a support network… we’ve got so much to celebrate in Dunedin music. When we say we’re going to support these artists we need to support them every way, and provide the spaces and the pathways for that.”