It seems Dunedin musicians are trying to top the rest of the country in the number-of-gigs stakes - I defy anyone to get to all the shows on tonight and not turn into a gibbering mess.
For the Dunedin launch of NZMM, Die! Die! Die! returns to Dunedin to play with Logan Park High School band Sewage. The show starts at 4pm in the Kings High School auditorium.
Following the all-ages gig, Die! Die! Die! plays at Chicks Hotel at night, when the band will also be filming a video.
Also tonight, Mountaineater play at the Provincial with Idiot Prayer.
Mountaineater comprises Chris Livingston (drums), Anaru Ngata (bass and guitar), and former HDU front-man Tristan Dingemans (guitar and vocals).
The band started jamming in September 2008 and has played shows around the country.
Playing with Mountaineater is a new band of oldish hands, Idiot Prayer, who are: Sam Brookland on drums, Tiddy Smith on guitar and vocals and Dave Ager on bass.
Brookland says the band will release an EP in July, record another EP in the next three months and go touring in June.
Chills at Empire
New Zealand Music Month will have a busy start for Idiot Prayer as the band follows tonight's show by supporting The Chills when the seminal Dunedin band returns to play at The Empire on Wednesday.
The Empire is now being managed by musician John Fogarty (best known for his role in Dunedin band The Knobz, who won some fame in 1980 with their song Culture, which took a swing at then prime minister Robert Muldoon for rejecting the notion that New Zealand's pop music was culture.)
Fogarty says: "It's a great thrill for me to have The Chills coming back to The Empire, and for me it represents a resurgence of another chapter in Dunedin's musical history".
Chills frontman Martin Phillipps says: "This is exciting! The Empire Tavern, where most of us Dunedin bands from the early '80s played some of our finest gigs, is now back in good hands - and the upstairs bar is once again ready to become the home to wonderful live music.
"We are honoured to be the group lucky enough to lead off this new era in the old 'Bavarian Bar' with a gig on May 5 and we will be supported by... Idiot Prayer, which features Tim Smith from Carriage H, who I have known since he was a young boy."
On May 5, the band is tipped to take part in the launch of the New Zealand Music Industry Centre (NZMiC), a joint venture between the University of Otago and www.dunedinmusic.com.
The centre takes in the university's Albany Street Recording Studios, where a 128-channel SSL recording desk was recently installed.
Phillipps said the state-of-the-art installation consolidated Dunedin's place on the world map as a "true centre for musical excellence".
Erica Stichbury (keys/violin/vocals) is flying in from San Francisco to join the Chills line-up of Phillipps (lead guitar/vocals), James Dickson (bass/vocals), Todd Knudson (drums) and Oli Wilson (keys/vocals) for the gigs.
The band is also booked to play Melbourne, where it has sold out, and Sydney.
There is further good news for Chills fans with the complete discography going public for the first time on the band's website: www.softbomb.com. This will occur sometime during May.
•See them
Wednesday, May 5: The Chills play at The Empire Hotel in Dunedin from 9pm.
Quieter moments
If tonight's musical mayhem isn't enough, or you need a place to chill out, then tomorrow the Botanic Garden's soundshell stage will be the venue for a very special family affair, with Kay Row and whanau entertaining for three hours from noon.
The show will feature Hinewai Broughton, Adam Row and Jesse Broughton-Row along with their mum, singer songwriter Kay Row, and her busking partner from the '80s, Boyd Jansen.
This event gives the family a rare opportunity to combine talents and put on a show that will include original material as well as covers from Tracey Chapman and the Indigo Girls, Alice Cooper and Tuck Andres.
