Music of New Zealand - Rock/Alternative/Indie

Rock/Alternative/Indie

Kiwi rock is a term used informally to describe New Zealand rock music and the culture surrounding rock music in New Zealand. The first rock'n'roll hit by a New Zealander was Johnny Devlin's hit Lawdy Miss Clawdy, which is reputed to have sold 100,000 copies for Phil Warren's Prestige label in 1959-60.

Throughout the 60s strong rock scenes developed throughout New Zealand. Amongst the key acts were Max Merritt & The Meteors, The La De Das, Ray Columbus & The Invaders, The Fourmyula, and Larry's Rebels.

Some of the more influential bands in the 1970s were Th'Dudes (whose guitarist Dave Dobbyn formed DD Smash in the 1980s), Dragon, Hello Sailor and Split Enz, fronted by Tim Finn, and later, his brother Neil Finn who went on to form Crowded House.

Independent music in New Zealand began in the latter half of the 1970s, with the development of a local punk rock scene . This scene produced several bands of note, including The Scavengers, the Suburban Reptiles, Proud Scum and Nocturnal Projections. One of the most important New Zealand punk bands was The Enemy, formed by lo-fi pioneer Chris Knox. After a reshuffle of personnel, many of the band's songs were recorded over 1979–1980 as Toy Love. The same musicians formed the basis for later groups such as The Bats and Tall Dwarfs.

The 1980s saw the emergence the independent labels like Propeller Records and Flying Nun record label in Dunedin which were highly influential in the development of modern New Zealand rock music. The Clean, hailing from Dunedin, was the first major band to emerge from the Flying Nun roster. The South Island cities of Dunedin and Christchurch provided most of the first wave of Flying Nun's artists. During the early 1980s the label's distinctive jangle-pop sound was established by bands such as The Chills, The Verlaines, The Dead C, Sneaky Feelings, The Bats and The Jean-Paul Sartre Experience.

Formed in Dunedin in 1986, The Dead C had an experimental, lo-fi guitar and soundscape-oriented take on rock music. The band became known internationally through their releases on the Philadelphia record label Siltbreeze, especially the 1992 double LP Harsh 70s Reality.

Rock band Shihad was formed by vocalist/guitarist Jon Toogood and drummer Tom Larkin in 1988. The band's musical style was originally indebted to San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal bands such as Metallica and Megadeth, although the band found wider popularity over the following decade playing a mixture of modern rock, post-grunge and pop-rock. With the release time of their seventh studio album Beautiful Machine, Shihad ranked first equal for most Top 40 charting singles for a New Zealand artist in the New Zealand charts, with 19.

New independent labels developed in the 1990s and included IMD and Arclife in Dunedin, Failsafe Records and She'll Be Right Records in Christchurch, Capital Recordings, Stink Magnetic and Loop in Wellington, and Arch Hill Recordings, Lil' Chief Records and Powertool Records in Auckland. The new alternative pop sound is typified by the likes of The Brunettes, Goldenhorse, The Phoenix Foundation, and Lawrence Arabia. A Low Hum has had a big influence bringing new artists to the attention of alternative music fans in New Zealand putting on nationwide tours and a music festival, Camp A Low Hum, selling fanzine style booklets with free CDs, and releasing artists like The Enright House and Disasteradio on its label.

Independent music in New Zealand has mainly been supported by student radio stations such as bFM and RDU, and fanzines like Opprobium and Clinton.