Behind The Music

David Bennett is a sound engineer with over 20 years of experience working in the live music industry, from the pub scene to touring, corporate events, television, theatre and pretty much anywhere that microphones and speakers are involved.

In recent years David has been the spokesperson for the Ōtepoti-based music advocacy group Save Dunedin Live Music and has worked with the Dunedin City Council to protect and uplift live music in all its facets in Ōtepoti/Dunedin.

Often the loudest voice in the room when it comes to protecting the infrastructure that makes music possible, he describes this work as simply creating the music city that he and many others want to live in.

Dr. Jennifer Cattermole is an Associate Professor in Music at the University of Otago, New Zealand. She has recently completed a book about the origins and development of Māori and Moriori musical instruments, with the support of a prestigious Royal Society of New Zealand’s Marsden grant. Her other research interests include music policy and politics, community music-making, and the role of music in reflecting and constructing place and identity.

Shane completed his PhD (The Mayor’s A Square) at Macquarie University, Sydney in 1998 on the history of music venue regulation in Sydney. He has authored or co-authored several books on the music industries/policy, including Popular Music Industries and the State: Policy Notes (Routledge 2015); The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Policy (Bloomsbury 2021); and Melbourne Music City: Urban Culture, History and Policy (Bloomsbury 2022). Shane was a co-author with Bruce Johnson on the first commissioned live music report on NSW (Vanishing Acts, 2003) and wrote the first music city review report for Melbourne in 2010. He has previously served as a member of the NSW Live Music Taskforce (2013-14), the Victorian Live Music Roundtable (2011-18) and the Music Council of Australia (2009-15). In 2026, Shane co-authored an economic and cultural study of Australian community music radio stations, Community Radio and Australian Music: Building the Music-Media Ecosystem, which also examined the relationship between venues and local stations.

Dr Fairleigh Evelyn Gilmour is a senior lecturer in Criminology at the University of Otago, a musician (with Hystera; the Watermelons; and the Kaikorai Brass Band) and is one of the organisers for Save Dunedin Live Music. Fairleigh's research includes exploring the impact of regulation on nighttime economies. 

Aaron Hawkins is the Co-Chair of Independent Music Venues Aotearoa, and has a long history of involvement in community arts organisations in Ōtepoti Dunedin. This includes a stories run as the host of Radio One 91FM’s Breakfast Show, and a current stretch as a volunteer broadcaster. 

A big fan of meetings, Aaron is currently on the board of the Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival. He’s served as the Chair of the Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust, who produce the Amped Music Project, and as a Trustee of the Blue Oyster Art Project Space. 

During the day he is the Director of Inspiring Communities, a not for profit that supports grassroots community-led development, and the Strategic Lead for Housing Alliance Otago. 

He is a recovering elected representative and resource management commissioner, serving for 9 years on the Dunedin City Council (2013-22), the last three of these as Mayor. 

Dr Michael Holland is a Senior Lecturer in the Music Programme at the Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, the University of Otago. His research draws upon his experience as a practitioner: over the past two decades, he has worked on records for NZ and international recording companies in a variety of roles, and as an audio engineer for concert tours across NZ, Australia, the UK, Europe and the USA. His current research explores the relationship between human hearing, built environments and creative practices. He has previously published on indie music production practices, music scenes and their historicization, and music production techniques.

Alex Huber is a musician and artist from Ōtepoti. They play in boiled cabbage punk band, Hystera, and have organised and played a plethora of local gigs. They like to take a DIY and anti-capitalist approach to projects, with a focus on community, learning and just getting shit done.

In 2020, with Craig Birch-Morunga, they co-founded Syrup Bois, a YouTube channel featuring live living room performances by local bands and solo artists. The Syrup Bois duo have gone on to shoot music videos for Tall Folk, Calla of Ursa (formerly Calla), and Skin and Bone.

Alex curated and produced the Ōtepoti Music Compilation Volume 1 in 2023. It was released digitally on Bandcamp via Fruit Salad Records, on cassette tape, and accompanied by a zine of band interviews and art. The compilation was a crowdfunded project with sixteen tracks by wāhine, queer and gender-diverse acts. They might do a Volume 2 one day.

Lily Jane has got her finger on the pulse of Ōtepoti's alternative music scene. A visual designer, video editor & director, and Media and Film Communications graduate, she's always working behind the scenes or through her mahi at Radio One 91FM to promote and uplift Aotearoa's independent musical voices - a music video here, a press release there. Having recently taken up the role as Radio One's Breakfast Show Host & Producer (alongside Promotions Manager), she now takes over the airwaves each weekday mōrena delivering in-depth interviews, producing original segments, and curating a wide selection of old & new alternative sounds.

Guitar/vocals in Sogg, play in solo project Carcass Lottery and management of Digital Raccoon

Dr. Louise Kewene-Doig (Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto) is a researcher, writer, musician, and community activator whose work brings together Indigenous knowledge, creativity, climate justice, and community empowerment. Holding a BMus, MMus, and PhD from the University of Otago, Louise specialises in applied Ethnomusicology using kaupapa Māori methodologies.

Lou moves across a diverse professional landscape spanning local government, philanthropy, academia, and the creative sector. 

In her current role as Policy and Research Manager at Otago Community Trust, she moves between strategic research, policy development, climate action, and community investment, helping shape initiatives that strengthen equity and resilience across Otago.

Lana, (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, IndoNZ)
Vocalist for CUCK, Organiser for DANCE HAPPY DOOM CREW

(Philippa) Pip Laufiso MNZM is an Ōtepoti-based Pacific educator, arts advocate and community leader of Samoan and Tongan heritage. Her work spans education, arts and community development, with a strong focus on creating opportunities and pathways for young people and communities to participate, lead and thrive. Pip is a Board Member of NZ Music Commission Te Reo Reka o Aotearoa, founding Chair of Pasifika Festivals Aotearoa and General Manager for the Otago Polyfest. 

Amanda Mills is Curator, Music and AV at the University of Otago’s Hocken Collections. In this role she develops, maintains, curates, and researches the institution’s extensive New Zealand music, sound recording, and audiovisual collections. Alongside working with archival collections of New Zealand music, Amanda writes for NZ Musician magazine, and Audioculture.co.nz (the noisy library of New Zealand music), and co-hosts two radio show on Otago Access Radio (OAR FM): Misadventures in Sound, and Certain Sound – Music from Aotearoa New Zealand. Amanda’s research interests extend beyond New Zealand music, and she has written on art rock, British music history, Glam rock, Britpop, archival music collections, and has a chapter on ABBA in the forthcoming book Synthpop and its Repurcussions. Her Masters of Arts from Univeristy of Otago examined the phenomena of musical artists re-recording their own work.

Craig is a musician and music educator who writes, produces, arranges, records, performs and teaches.

A member of beloved 90s/00s Ōtepoti bands cloudboy, Suka, Mink and Swarm, he's fortunate to have worked recently with OMMU, welling, Jeremy Beck's Project Momentum, Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, The Broken Heartbreakers, Keira Wallace, Tall Folk, Lara Rose, Koilē and David Kilgour.

Craig's teaching practice combines mentoring and community development with instrumental music teaching. His work on Amped Music Project provided solid foundations for much of the young, noisy rock music attracting notice from Ōtepoti.

Between music careers, Craig worked as an arts funding and development advisor for a decade in the UK (Arts Council England) and in Aotearoa NZ (Dunedin City Council).

https://linktr.ee/craigmonk

Sean Norling moved to Ōtepoti Dunedin in 1999, after studying in New Plymouth and Wellington, and briefly working in Auckland.

Since then he has held roles as a venue programme booker (Arc Café), independent designer and publisher (f*INK, Ōtepoti Culture Guide) blogger and archivist (otepotimusic.com), general radio guy (volunteer, promotions manager, programme manager, operations manager, station manager – Radio One 91FM, Barava FM Solomon Islands) and Creative Advisor (Ara Toi – DCC).

Throughout this time, he has also been an active performing and recording artist (Elixir in Flux, Dickthephone, The Futurians, Voodoo Gangster, NVSBLX etc) with releases on independent labels across Australasia, North America and Europe (i.e PseudoArcana, Soft Abuse, Pink Skulls, 267 Lattajjaa, Invisible Generation, Foxglove, Dungeon Taxis, Last Visible Dog, Feeding Tube Records, Planam etc)

Through his position at Ara Toi – Creative Partnerships at the Dunedin City Council, and under the auspices of the Ōtepoti Live Music Action Plan, Sean helped to incept the Ōtepoti Hou local music compilation, released on limited run 12” vinyl and cassette in 2026, and designed to spotlight typically under-served local musical communities by providing mentorship, recording and promotion opportunities.

After seeing the Pixies in Manchester at age 16, I was hooked on gigs! Early '90s in the UK was an epic time to be alive - every weekend we would go to a city and see cool bands (Levellers, Happy Mondays, Sonic Youth, PWEI & Rage to name a few).

At 18 I was experiencing the joys of dance music and moved to Manchester to go to Uni, I fell deeply in love with Jungle music and started to organise breakbeat based gigs, which were really popular. After ten wild years, I came to beautiful Dunedin.

After a few years and a couple of children, old habits kicked in and my passion for bringing people together through music began again. Notable gigs include the Waitati  Music Festival and being part of the incredible Winter Solstice Crew. It's the best hobby :)

Neil Pickering is a part-time music student (who also works in the Bioethics Department in the Dunedin School of Medicine) with a focus on the theoretical and conceptual.  He is a philosopher, and this has intersected with music in the shape of an interest in AI, creativity, and music, on which he has just completed a PG Dissertation.  He is an occasional percussionist and a trustee of the Dunedin Jazz Foundation. 

Peter Porteous is a Dunedin-based musician and event organiser (and an architect in his day job). He runs the biennial Lines of Flight experimental music festival which has been going since 2000, and has helped tour many international acts. He currently plays in Ghost Bells and A Dream is like a Magic Cloak.

Grace Shaw is a 2nd-year PhD candidate in Music at the University of Otago. Her research interests include posthumanism, feminism, and AI in the Music Industry. In particular Grace is always exploring what the impact of such movements or global phenomena is on the average listener, songwriter, composer, or performer.

Alongside research, Grace performs with the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra and teaches violin at Saturday Morning Music Classes.

Stephen is Studio Manager/Technician at Te Korokoro o te Tūī at the School of Performing Arts–University of Otago. A musician, recording /live sound engineer and producer, his career spans decades in Dunedin's music and creative environment, with recording credits on releases through Flying Nun, Merge, Sub Pop, Matador, and School Kids. He led sound production at the Whare Flat Folk Festival for around a decade before stepping into the role of Festival Director for three festivals. Other Festival experiences include supporting shows in the Dunedin Arts Festivals, Dunedin Fringe, NZ Arts Festival, Wellington Fringe and Wellington Folk Festival, He’s also part of the Flying Nun Foundation and the DCC Music Advisory Panel.

I go to local gigs, take photos and videos, as well as audio recordings via a custom in-ear microphone rig, then catalogue them on my website. I've been doing this for about 10 years and archived roughly 500 gigs so far. It is non-commercial and anti-profitable.

Keira Wallace is an Ōtepoti singer/songwriter, Music and Marketing student, and this year’s Amped Music Project Teina Coordinator. Since their first gig at 13, they’ve gained national success as a solo artist, opening for local and international acts such as Mount Eerie (USA), Tiny Ruins, and Ebony Lamb. Today, they also perform in alternative folk band, Dolly Possum, and shoegaze band, Motheaten.