Local Ōtepoti feminist punk band, SEEK HELP!, has been announced as one of the openers for the upcoming concert of American rock band Foo Fighters. SEEK HELP! made history last year by being one of two bands representing Otago at Smokefreerockquest 2025, and they finished in third place. Now, less than a year later, they (alongside Wellington-based punk band DARTZ) will support the first international band announced to play the new One New Zealand Stadium in Christchurch.
SEEK HELP! has been one of a few Ōtepoti bands to get recent international coverage in none other than Rolling Stone Magazine (Critic Te Ārohi’s much smaller and lesser-known competitor). Rolling Stone was doing a feature about the Dunedin local band scene, and SEEK HELP! had their song ‘Apex Predator’ land on the “Songs You Need to Know” list. In the article, Rolling Stone compared the band to Auckland-based band Dick Move, who has opened for Foo Fighters in the past. SEEK HELP! guitarist Lucy Hughes noted that this comparison was probably how they were able to book the show. Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl must have heard their song.
Lucy cited the Riot Grrrl movement pioneer, Kathleen Hanna, as a major inspiration and hero of hers. Katheen, the lead singer of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, was friends with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and Kurt Cobain during their time in Nirvana. In fact, she inspired the song title for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” when she wrote on Cobain’s wall “Kurt smells like teen spirit.” He also probably smelled like cigarettes, “Smells Like American Spirit” would probably be a more apt title for that song. So needless to say, Grohl has been in close proximity to the Riot Grrrl scene for the past three decades.
SEEK HELP!, whose members hail from Queen’s High School, have been building up their status in the Dunedin local scene for over the past year. They formed in 2024 but just started releasing music in 2025, with ‘Apex Predator’ being their first official release.
They, along with fellow Ōtepoti band Deaf Raccoon, played a Dunedin City Council backed show in the Octagon for New Years. The ODT reported they had not been paid for the gig as of the 20th of February. Hopefully the Foo Fighters are a bit quicker to fork out.
So now SEEK HELP! are moving onto bigger and better things than the tried-and-true Octagon, a difficult concept for those convinced that Subs is the place to be. Instead they’ll be playing for a brand new venue full of 30,000 people and the fighters of foo. Christchurch – look out.
