Dunedin’s teeming musical talent swarms to the spotlights of the U-Bar stage, like moths to a flame. It hovers under the stage lights, incubating, humming and dancing, until it either fizzles out or breaks loose of the underground confinement and storms into the wider world.
But how does this talent — manifested in the students who are also navigating a new city, new studies, and the trials of independence — actually break out?
One person who understands the struggle is Max Came, head of Dunedin’s newest record label, Velvet the Label. Came moved to Dunedin in 2020 to begin a degree in psychology (that he "luckily didn’t really gel with"). He stayed in Cumberland College — a random choice, but perhaps the first beat of the butterfly effect.
In between Covid 19 lockdowns and social distancing, Came formed his band, Hot Sauce Club, with fellow Cumberland College residents. Five years later, with national tours, festivals, and successful EPs under their belt, the band has built a reputation for itself that extends the length of the country. However, as Came explains, it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
"A frickin’ slog," is how the singer-guitarist describes the path to success. Which shouldn’t be underestimated coming from Came — his demeanour is always energetic and challenges are faced with a smile. He attributes the difficulty to both the treatment of student musicians by the industry, and the multitude of setbacks that Covid 19 presented to the scene.
"My experience as a first-year student band was that it was impossible to be taken seriously, even in the Dunedin scene. It was impossible to play at Starters or U-Bar, and so we didn’t really get our first gig until about halfway through second year."
The issue didn’t end there, though.
"Trying to create industry opportunities was really tough, and there wasn’t really any support available. We had to do everything ourselves — we had to set up our national tour ourselves, and we had to figure out how to record the album and release that completely ourselves."
Additionally, Covid 19 had caused a movement away from live music and reinforced a love for drum and bass among students. This meant the band was not only fighting the industry hurdles, but also trying to drive a culture shift back towards live music.
Came chooses to see the positive outcomes of the struggle.
"Not having the resources and consequently having to just make everything happen myself, it gave me a pretty passionate, intense drive to get what I wanted out of the projects I was throwing myself into. I think that’s been the most valuable thing."
"Velvet [the Label] came about as the result of a few heads coming together to figure out how, first of all, our personal projects could be expanded within the industry sense. And then, consequently, how this particular scene could be expanded in that same sense. So, it definitely came about from selfish roots, but then grew outside of that narrow mindset."
The team included Max Hackshaw, from Wellington band Frank on Tap, and Will Georgeson, from Christchurch band Pool House. Together, they formed Velvet the Label in early 2024.
The trio had a clear mission for Velvet.
"I like saying Velvet is by the artists, for the artists. Which means we have a really artist-centric approach to all of our activities," Came says.
"I don’t have 15 or 20 years of experience behind me. It’s purely just the want to make something happen, and doing it in a DIY way. Sometimes Velvet is not as driven by experience as it should be. But what we do have is the passion to try to make something work, and a will to learn along the way, learn from mistakes and apply what we do know."
There isn’t a lot of money in the student music scene, he says.
"But it’s all extremely fair for the artists, and definitely undercutting ourselves. Which is probably the most important thing for me at the moment."
Came acknowledges that the lack of infrastructure has shaped the Dunedin Sound for years.
"Nowhere near as many [music] industry personnel live in Dunedin as they do in Auckland or Wellington. This place is so isolated that that’s where the real DIY attitude comes into play. It’s just ingrained into everyone here, ingrained in the city."
In a single gig, an audience can see the scene’s DIY ethic in action; guitarists using screwdrivers for slides, rustic suitcases for instrument cases, and guitar leads borrowed left, right and centre.
Although Velvet is still young and green, its roots run deep into the Dunedin Sound.
"Maybe it’s been on a little bit of a dip, but I feel like it’s definitely fast on the rise again, and it’s just the natural progression."
He speaks of a new wave within the Dunedin Sound, connected not by genre or style, but the culture of doing big things with few resources. One example he gives is of the band IVY, who work with Velvet. Their music doesn’t necessarily match that of the "traditional" Dunedin Sound — and yet, Came says, it doesn’t matter.
"I think IVY fits perfectly into the Dunedin Sound. I feel like it can be summed up as just the DIY attitude of being a band in Dunedin, which IVY encapsulates in its entirety. And they’re special because they, from my experience with them so far, don’t fit into the strictly university label. They bridge demographics."
On the day-to-day, Velvet is working with bands such as IVY on a range of industry-related skills.
"We’re trying to help them construct their careers in a more professional manner that might allow them to expand quicker."
This involves working on public relations, marketability, artist development, and their live shows, among "a whole raft of different things".
Through Velvet’s ventures, Came hopes future student bands won’t have to face as many hurdles as he did in the music scene.
"It’s not that the talent doesn’t exist here. The talent down here is incredible. I think it’s just that the resources aren’t always available. There’s not much money going around the scene, so people can’t afford to be recording at the latest studios. But the industry requires a really polished product, and to be recognised in the industry is quite a tough thing. But it’s just a matter of just keeping on pushing."
This tenacious attitude is at the core of Velvet, and Came would love to share it with more young musicians.
"Everyone’s so passionate, it’d be cool to see more people stick through with that passion for their music. Because what I realised by sticking through with it is that there is a career in music in whatever avenue you want to go to. There is so much opportunity in music."
Seren Stevens is a University of Otago humanities intern with The Weekend Mix.
