2012

After the 2011 earthquake, Christchurch’s music scene was severely disrupted. Venues and practice spaces were destroyed, people moved away, and the ones still there were often traumatised and not playing music in public. Over the next year, things slowly started to happen – house concerts, outdoor gatherings and the like. We were approached by the Christchurch artspace the Physics Rm, and asked if we would like to do a Lines of Flight in Christchurch, as part of the rebuilding of the community.

Over the years there had been vague questions over whether we would ever do a Lines of Flight out of town – maybe Wellington, or even Auckland? We had been emphatic that LOF was a Dunedin festival, and if people wanted to see it they could come here! But this seemed different – it aligned with our community- focused ideals, it would only be one day (so slightly different), and anyway we had friends up there it would be good to catch up with! Best of all, we didn’t have to do much organizing – we would choose eight acts, then the Physics Rm would sort it all out – funding, venue, air fares, sound engineer, PA, advertising, etc, etc. We said yes, and the date was set for September.

Saturday 29 September, 1pm, Physics Room
- Stanier Black-Five
- Adam Willetts
- Hermione Johnson
- Eye
Saturday 29 September, 8pm, Physics Room
- Bruce Russell and Peter Wright
- Rachel Shearer
- Omit
- The Stumps

The venue was the Physics Rm’s temporary space in Sydenham, an industrial area populated by car yards and warehouses. The afternoon soundcheck was a chance to reconnect with out-of-town friends, and by the time the music started things were feeling familiar. I perversely enjoyed seeing strange faces coming through the door, as opposed to knowing most of the audience members at the Dunedin shows! As we only had eight acts, we had chosen strong established performers throughout, all who had played at LOF before. Two Christchurch acts started the show – Stanier Black-Five and Adam Willetts, with their separate approaches to electronic music. Hermione Johnson played a wonderful prepared piano set, and then Eye finished up with our usual dynamic shifts between the calm and the storm.

At the beginning of the evening session, Bruce Russell lead a toast to the recently published 'Erewhon Calling', a book about the underground experimental communities in Aotearoa (published by the Audio Foundation). It was a nice addition to the day, and very appropriate.

Bruce Russell and Peter Wright played a dense twin guitar feedback and drone set, which then lead into Rachel Shearer’s hypnotic minimalism. Omit brought his teetering table of cracked electronics and played a stunning set to a Kim Pieters film of driving past Blenheim, blurred and slowed down to glacial speed. Wellington band the Stumps closed out the night with their propulsive noise-rock, and we were done. Another inspiring set of performances, and lots of thanks from the Christchurch contingent.

Following on from the festival a series of archival films from previous 'Lines of Flight' festivals were installed in the The Physics Room, and featured the work of musician/artists Campbell Kneale, Rachel Shearer, Nathan Thompson and Kim Pieters.

Kiran Dass interviewed me, Peter Wright and Rachel Shearer, the next day and put together a segment for RNZ.