trace/untrace records, which has dubbed itself "a (very) tiny, independent record label", celebrates its beginnings and introduces its current roster of bands before releasing its first sampler cassette tape at creative workspace the Attic tonight.
"The show’s just the perfect way to announce the singles that have been released by the artists, and basically put it under the one banner. All the bands on the label are not only established live acts, but, we think, really strong," Richard Ley-Hamilton, one of the label’s co-founders and the musician behind asta rangu, said.
"This is the first phase of what the label is going to be about: consolidating what we know, and what we know is great. This gig cements that, cements the releases, and now we can move beyond that to the future."
Julie Dunn , the other half of trace/untrace, agrees: "These bands play together all the time. All the times Space Bats have played, it has been with the Rothmans or Koizilla. In some ways, it actually feels not that special because it’s a gig that’s happened a lot before, but it is also really special at the same time.
"Richard and I had just been talking about our visions of our future lives, and we both realised that we wanted to be running a label in that future.
"I don’t think we would have done it on our own, so it was good to take it from a pipe dream, to actually doing things.
"I’ve signed myself up for the life of cold emailing," Dunn joked.
Ley-Hamilton said he always thought it would be good to have control of the production process.
"I always thought it would be great to have full ownership of the whole production process, from creating to promoting.
"You don’t have to rely on anyone else, and at the same time, it’s great to have a different guise to promote your music that isn’t just the band saying ‘Hey, listen to one of my greatest songs’."
While the pair’s early signings lean towards the aggressive (The Rothmans), noisy (Space Bats, Attack!), and psychedelic (Koizilla) the duo have plans to diversify their line-up, expand the label’s sonic template, branch into film and videography, as well as presenting overlooked or unreleased albums from the recent Dunedin music archive on cassette tape format.
THE CHILLS
Kiwi indie-pop legends The Chills are undertaking a major nationwide tour, heading out on what they’ve dubbed the "Vigorous and Far-reaching New Zealand Tour".
The band stops in a number of major centres, though there is oddly no Dunedin date, as well as some key outreaches, playing Queenstown’s the Sherwood on Saturday.
See it, hear it
• trace/untrace label launch with The Rothmans, asta rangu, Koizilla, and DJ Moonsneaker, tonight, at Attic, 140 George St, Dunedin. Doors at 9pm. Tickets $10, BYO (no glass).
There will be a limited run of sampler tapes available at the door featuring tracks from the label’s current cast.
• The Chills’ "Vigorous and Far-reaching New Zealand Tour", Saturday at the Sherwood, Queenstown. Tickets $40 (plus booking fee) from utr.co.nz
