I visited Exchange Christchurch and talked to the coordinators about the creative space, upsetting locals and why physical space and community is so important in 2025.

Lyttelton has quietly been hosting Aotearoa's best new arts festival. With the 2025 edition of Port Noise around the corner, I traveled port-side to learn more from the locals who put it on.

In 'Exploring Ōtautahi' I meet the music community of Christchurch one interview at a time, gaining perspectives of the southern city from those who call it home.

On this episode I chat to Kaye Woodward, founding member and guitarist of Flying Nun legends The Bats. We talk about the gig scene of the '80's, the impact of the earthquake and paying $15 rent a week.

Follow The Hahkoverse podcast for more interviews and keep up to date with all things Hahko by subscribing to Hahko's Excessive & Extensive Thoughts On Culture Newsletter here

Duncan Greive, founder of The Spinoff & host of The Fold podcast, is my go-to source for the nerdy side of media and culture analysis here in Aotearoa.

It was a real pleasure to talk to Duncan about his experiences in media and business through the rise of social platforms and to get his perspective on the digital landscape us creatives are currently swimming in.

Make sure you go and listen / subscribe to The Fold (hosted by The Spinoff Podcast Network) if you enjoyed this discussion.

Follow The Hahkoverse podcast for more interviews and keep up to date by subscribing to Hahko's Excessive & Extensive Thoughts On Culture Newsletter here!

In 'Exploring Ōtautahi' I meet the music community of Christchurch one interview at a time, gaining perspectives of The Garden City from those who call it home.

On this episode I hung out with fellow millennial indie-kid T.G Shand to discuss how the earthquake impacted our musical journeys, the complications of growing old as a creative and end the show with a tune from French For Rabbits.

Follow The Hahkoverse podcast for more interviews and keep up to date with all things Hahko by subscribing to Hahko's Excessive & Extensive Thoughts On Culture Newsletter here

The Spectre Collective are a "psych-band" from Wellington whose latest record 'Neuro Death' sounds like a dance party at the end of the world.

Enjoy tracks from the record as well as my conversation with Will, Lochie & Jono as we talk about the DIY recording process, cosmic horror & Rob Zombie.

Follow The Hahkoverse podcast for more interviews and keep up to date with all things Hahko by subscribing to Hahko's Excessive & Extensive Thoughts On Culture Newsletter here

In 'Exploring Ōtautahi' I meet the music community of Christchurch one interview at a time, gaining perspectives of the southern city from those who call it home.

On this episode I chat to Ryan Chin AKA Ryan Fisherman. We discuss alt-country, the all-ages scene of the late 2000's and why everyone returns to Christchurch eventually.

Follow The Hahkoverse podcast for more interviews and keep up to date with all things Hahko by subscribing to Hahko's Excessive & Extensive Thoughts On Culture Newsletter here

I caught up with Ben Woods over the phone to discuss his experience of moving from Lyttelton to Melbourne fresh from the release of his critically acclaimed album 'Dispeller'.

We talk about the reality of making new friends, navigating a diverse music scene and the benefits of working the bar at a music venue.

Follow The Hahkoverse podcast for more interviews and keep up to date with all things Hahko by subscribing to Hahko's Excessive & Extensive Thoughts On Culture Newsletter.

Office Dog make cutting guitar music for the modern age and on their debut album 'Spiel' (Flying Nun) the three-piece embody "the band as it should be" - in a room, loud and instinctive.

On this deep dive I chat to Kane, Mitch and Rassani between explorations of the songs from 'Spiel' - serving as the perfect introduction to the band.

Follow The Hahkoverse podcast for more interviews and keep up to date with all things Hahko by subscribing to Hahko's Excessive & Extensive Thoughts On Culture Newsletter here

De Stevens is an audio, mixing and mastering engineer as well as musician operating out of Auckland's Roundhead Studio and within bands such as Marlins Dreaming and School Fair.

De's fingerprints have been all over some of Aotearoa's best sound records recently, from Erny Belle, to debut records from Ringlets, Office Dog and Violet Hirst.

Follow The Hahkoverse podcast for more interviews and keep up to date with all things Hahko by subscribing to Hahko's Excessive & Extensive Thoughts On Culture Newsletter here.

In 'Exploring Ōtautahi' you'll hear from the music community of Christchurch one interview at a time, gaining perspectives of the southern city right from those who call it home.

On this debut episode I chat to Melted Ice Cream CEO Brian Feary. We discuss rural desperation, getting away with a suburban jam house and the power of good taste.

Follow The Hahkoverse podcast for more interviews and keep up to date with all things Hahko by subscribing to Hahko's Excessive & Extensive Thoughts On Culture Newsletter here

Neil Macleod and Oscar Keys are both ambitious, talented and incredibly nice. I had a conversation with them about their new ambitious visual album 'I Need A Battle' and its Boosted crowdfunding campaign amongst other topics.

Donate to the Boosted campaign for I Need A Battle here - https://www.boosted.org.nz/projects/i-need-a-battle

Here's my weekend recap ft music and audio excerpts from my time spent at three gigs in three nights - including A Night With Buda and the Ōtautahi festival 'Better Living IRL' 

I caught Violet Hirst and collaborator Reuben Scott (Salt Water Criminals) before their Christchurch show to talk about the new Violet Hirst album 'Donegal'

Enjoy music from the bewitching and beautifully-crafted album alongside my interview and discussions on Central Otago, vulnerability and finding sustainability in the music industry.

Part audio-diary, part solo-podcast, Weekender is the continuation of an experiment in podcasting that I started with the FODRPODR on tour with my band FODR.

Listen to what I got up to this weekend in music world alongside relevant audio clips I collected from the events I'm describing!

This episode features Violet Hirst, the Fazerdaze solo show + opener Pickle Darling and an all ages show organised by high school band Stonechild.

The best music event I've been a part of is back and hitting Wellington for the first time at the wonderful Vogelmorn Bowling Club.

Tickets from UTR

"at our venue it's been exclusively comedy festival all through music month"

read the newsletter here - https://hahko.substack.com/p/nz-music-month-the-annual-corporate

In an effort to reconnect with my southern roots I followed Soft Plastics from Christchurch down to Dunedin and had a lovely time.

Read the newsletter version here

Soft Plastics are a three-piece shoegaze / indie rock band from Wellington that put beautiful vocals up-front, fill the middle with lush atmosphere and finish it all off with big bombastic rock-outs.

I chat to the band about recording, track-listing, approaching the live sets and the challenges of being an independent band between tracks from the wonderful debut record 'Saturn Return' out now.

https://softplasticsband.bandcamp.com/album/saturn-return

https://hahko.substack.com/

My personal philosophy for selling digital music in the modern music industry and how streaming platforms fit into it.

You can receive this podcast directly each episode, and support my work, by signing up to the newsletter here - https://hahko.substack.com/