Auckland’s Cross Street Music Festival is back, bringing a laneway street party with a fully Kiwi lineup to the central city this weekend.
The annual block party returns to its namesake street in Tāmaki Makaurau this Saturday, March 8th. And the festival has lined up some excellent local acts for its latest edition.
Topping the bill is Persian-Kiwi artist CHAII, whose debut album Safar landed at number 11 on Rolling Stone AU/NZ’s Best New Zealand Albums of 2024 list.
Joining her is Auckland alternative hip-hop artist WHO SHOT SCOTT, who kept the energy high throughout 2024 with his signature hard-hitting singles. Blake, who featured in our Up-And-Coming Aotearoa Artists series last year, will perform as well.
Lips will also be there, and they might be the most distinguished act on the bill.
The indie-pop powerhouse is fronted by Steph Brown, who started Lips as a solo project but has since recruited Fen Ikner, Ruby Walsh (Dateline, Trip Pony), and Maude Morris (Lexxa) as her stellar band.
It’s quite the boon for Cross Street Music Festival to get Lips, with the band earning a nomination for the Taite Music Prize for their most recent album, 2021’s I Don’t Why I Do Anything.
Expect Brown and co. to play gems from that album this weekend, along with last year’s thrilling single “The Wolf”, which featured a special guest turn from E from Eels. Perfectly timed for Halloween last year, “The Wolf” came together after E was impressed by Lips after hearing them on the radio.
“E had heard us on KCRW in LA, and reached out on Instagram, right around the time we had this track on the boil and were looking for a cool way to end it,” Ikner said. “I’ve been an Eels fan for the longest time, and was truly honoured to hear from him. I still can’t believe he was nice enough to go along with our nonsense.”
“The Wolf” was co-written with screenwriter Ro Bright, who helped add a theatrical flourish to the song. “Many
of our songs have been inspired by Ro’s screenplays, we like to imagine the music that would be playing in that scene and then write from that,” Brown explained.
Ahead of Cross Street Music Festival, we caught up with Brown to discuss the festival, New Zealand music, supporting My Chemical Romance, and more. (But as you’ll see, we really could have just consulted ChatGPT!)
Tickets to the festival are available via the official website.
Rolling Stone AU/NZ: First of all, are you excited to play Cross Street Music Festival this weekend?
Steph Brown: The answer is yes. I also asked ChatGPT if we were excited and it said that, “Considering they are a part of the lineup and festivals like this often bring great energy, it’s likely they’re excited to perform! You could check their social media for any personal insights if you’re hoping for more details on their enthusiasm @lipssongs.”
The lineup is stacked with such great local talent. Are there any acts you’re particularly looking forward to seeing?
Mammalien is top of the list!! We also really enjoy watching Dateline.
The live music scene in New Zealand and Australia has been struggling post-pandemic. How important are events like Cross Street and The Others Way in promoting local music?
Out of 10? 10!
For any unfamiliar Rolling Stone readers, how would you describe Lips in three words?
“Better than Ezra”. Also,”Fun… Fun…FUN!!!”
You’ve been collaborating with some great acts over the past few years. How did “The Wolf” with Eels first come about?
We had the track kicking around on a hard drive, and our friend Ro Bright had written a monologue for it, “Thriller”-style. But we didn’t have anyone to perform it. Then we started talking to E on social media and Fen just asked him if he would do it. And E, in a fit of generosity, agreed. And it was perfect and spectacular and we love it so much.
Were you happy with the response to that collaboration?
Fen turned on [95bFM] one day and it was the end of the song, and the DJ came on and said, “Well, I bloody loved that!” That was a nice response! And we were super stoked to get some new fans.
It’s been a few years since we got a full Lips album! Any new record in the works behind the scenes?
Yes, we’re working on a concept album about how we shouldn’t give away our privacy so easily. And we have a Motley Crue-inspired video called “Night Light” by our family band Spellodies, coming out April 25th on youtube.com/@spellodies. Please subscribe.
Your last album was nominated for the Taite Music Prize – such an honour. Have you had a chance to check out this year’s Taite nominees?
Fen played on Anna Coddington’s album and it’s a banger!
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I saw you support My Chemical Romance at Western Springs in 2023. What a show! How did you feel that day?
Nervous. We were on first and thought maybe there wouldn’t be many people there. But actually thousands of people had camped out and it was amazing. We were also super stoked to meet Frank Iero who supported our music and got us on the gig – thanks Frank!
Where are you based these days? New York? New Zealand?
Let’s throw this one back to ChatGPT. “Lips, the New Zealand band, is based in Auckland, New Zealand.” This is correct, thanks Chat!
