The month of May is upon us, and as is Music Month across the motu – a time of year that has its roots firmly intertwined with student media. That’s a lot of M’s.
The pioneers of Music Month are our radio stations, which consistently lift the bar in promoting Aotearoa tunes. Music Week was initially created by student radio stations, launched in 1997. From here, some larger radio stations thought “wow, sweet idea” and adopted New Zealand Music Month in 2001. It can look like a few things: showcasing music from our own backyard in broadcast media, live-to-air performances, and giveaways.
If you pop the hood on Otago University’s very own student-led station Radio One, you’ll find Lily (Promotions Manager), Logan (Music Director), and John (Tech Manager). There’s way more people that work there, but that’s all Critic could find upon waltzing next door for an interview. Radio One couldn’t decide how they wanted to promote NZ Music Month, so they decided to do everything possible: giveaways, live-to-airs, performances, and playing even more Aotearoa tunes than they already do.
Logan’s particularly excited for NZ Music T-Shirt day, which will be happening on the 30th of May. “You’re supporting local bands, all wearing their merch. It looks really cool, with everyone in a fun t-shirt,” he said (probably looking forward to wearing some of his own Beatniks merch). He encouraged those who want to be a part of the day to come up to the Radio One office for a group photo of everyone in their band shirts. If you want to snag a tee for free, make sure to keep an eye on @radioone91FM on Instagram for Music Month tee giveaways. Total cheat code.
R1 are even hosting acoustic sessions at $4 lunch on the 14th and 21st of May, featuring IVY’s Jesse Hanan, and Luc Hackner, and Will Murrell from NO DANGER, respectively. A meal and live music is absolutely cracking for under a fiver. On top of all of this, Lily plugged that during the last week of May, Radio One will play 100% Aotearoa-made music for the whole week. “For the rest of the month, we just up the ante.” That’s a lot of Lorde songs.
Radio One does live-to-airs pretty much every Monday, Thursday, and Friday of the month. Live-to-airs broadcast band performances in real-time, transmitting your fave Pint Night line up straight into the airwaves without any delay. “However, we’ve run into an issue,” Lily told Critic, explaining that Radio One’s patchbay studio is kind of broken. “We’ve had to go a bit DIY and do live-to-airs in places that aren’t usually used for live-to-airs.”
When asked what was wrong with the patchbay, Lily mumbled that it was “something technical” before shrugging and letting out an “ehhh” sound. She explained that they recently hosted one of these haphazard gigs in the R1 office “tiny desk” style, featuring local student bands Audio Visual Drop Kicks and Caribou. Despite the improvisation, Lily was told that it was “the best gig they’ve been to while at Uni” by some keen listeners (including one or two Critic tag-alongs).
But that’s what it’s all about. Music binds people together, and as Tech Manager John put it, Music Month is about “seeing musicians in their habitats”, recalling sitting on the porch of legendary musician Robert Scott, bassist for The Clean. Basking in the waning sun before we’re plunged into winter, watching musicians work, it’s a month that is about “getting out there a bit,” and making use of a decent internet connection to show the rest of our nation what local gems are waiting to be found.
“If you want to discover more NZ music, especially local NZ music, there’s a lot of great stuff out there,” Lily told Critic. If you’re looking for a place to start, Radio One has a lot of NZ music-based playlists on their Spotify, Radio One 91FM.