In Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland this March, the usual rhythm of touring cycles and one-off gigs has been replaced by something a little stranger.
Across venues including Powerstation, Double Whammy, Hollywood Avondale, Neck of the Woods and Pitt Street Methodist Church, the Strange Universe series has effectively turned the city into a month-long mini-festival. Rather than a single weekend blowout, it unfolds night by night, bringing together international cult favourites, boundary-pushing newcomers and some of Aotearoa’s most treasured artists.
The concept itself is simple: a collaboration between “promoter pals” Banished Music and Strange News designed to celebrate the venues and scenes that keep Auckland’s live music ecosystem alive.
Or, as Strange News Touring executive director Matthew Crawley puts it, “Putting on shows is really easy, so we decided to do heaps of them all at once.”
The autumn edition is still in full swing. In the past week alone, Norwegian avant-pop duo Smerz have shared the Double Whammy stage with Rolling Stone AU/NZ favourite Erny Belle, Flying Nun legends The Bats celebrated their latest album Corner Coming Up at Hollywood Avondale, and London artist Nabihah Iqbal delivered a late-night DJ set at Neck of the Woods alongside Iraqi-Kiwi producer Mariam.
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Elsewhere on the bill, American psych rocker Ty Segall joined forces with Japan’s notorious garage-punk lifers Guitar Wolf at the Powerstation, while Los Angeles folk artist Annahstasia performs this week at Pitt Street Methodist Church with Auckland songwriter Na’amah Cheiban.
Later in the month, American folk icon Jolie Holland returns for a rare duo show with Steve Abel, and German-Turkish psych-folk outfit Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek bring their hypnotic Anatolian groove to Double Whammy before Swedish psych band Les Big Byrd close out the run on March 24th.
Even as the Autumn series continues, organisers have already revealed the first wave of artists for Strange Universe Winter, which will once again take over venues across the city from late May through June. General tickets for the event go on sale Monday, March 16th at 10am local time here.
The next edition promises the return of retrofuturist pop pioneers Stereolab, Welsh art-pop visionary Cate Le Bon, London post-punks Dry Cleaning, Japanese psych legends Acid Mothers Temple and revered American songwriter Cass McCombs — who will perform in Aotearoa for the first time. Brooklyn songwriter Mei Semones and Warp Records composer Kelly Moran also make their Strange Universe debuts, while Auckland’s own The Veils will close the series with the release show for their new album Fragile World.
With Strange Universe quickly becoming one of the city’s most intriguing live music experiments, we caught up with Banished Music’s Reuben Bonner to talk about where the idea came from, how the line-ups come together, and why Auckland needs a little more chaos in its gig calendar.
Rolling Stone AU/NZ: How did the idea for Strange Universe first come about?
Reuben Bonner: In 2019, Matthew and I combined his Strange News and My Banished From the Universe to created the greatest show on planet earth! Featuring DIIV, Cut Off Your Hands, WOMB, and more.
That was cancelled by COVID making it the worst show on planet earth. Our hearts and hopes were momentarily dashed against jagged rocks, but we vowed one day, Strange Universe would rise again. And it did!
Debuting with Parquet Courts, Marlin’s Dreaming, Mermaidens and Na Noise to a sold-out Powerstation in July 2022. And from there, we have just let it rear up when it felt like it.
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How did you see it fitting into the city’s current live music landscape?
Well, we always need more cool stuff. Auckland deserves cool stuff, and Strange Universe captures amazing acts, ensnares them into a blood pact and sends them off to destroy amazing venues and audiences with their beautiful tunes.
How was the curation process? What kind of mix of acts did you want to book?
It is largely driven by what is coming through Australia on their touring circuit. Our Autumn series aligned with some acts that were playing at Golden Plains in Australia, our Winter Series about to be announced ties in with RISING in Melbourne, Vivid in Sydney, Dark Mofo in Hobart and more.
And then it’s pulling in sensational local talent to fit the programme to showcase their own headline shows in amongst the series, and / or jumping in as a support role to flesh out an already compelling lineup.
