Do you know anyone who would be horrified by eating pasta with potato? I had a quick chat with ‘Carb on Carb’ drummer James Stuteley, added as late replacements to the Future City Festival line-up, about international touring, their favourite carb on carb dish, and who they are looking forward to most at the festival (hint: the answers band-name is carb-based)! Read all about it on the ->Features<- page!

Excitement is building here at HUP HQ, as there are only 5 days to go until Future City Festival. We are dotting i's and crossing t's like like it's going out of fashion, making final preparations to make sure things run smoothly. A few announcements will be made across the week, starting right now with an update on the ticketing situation!

1. Weekend Tickets

Weekend tickets, allowing entry to the festival on both Friday and Saturday, will remain on sale at undertheradar.co.nz until midnight Wednesday March 1st at $35 each. No weekend tickets will be for sale after this point, either online, or on the door.

2. One Day tickets

Once the final figure for weekend ticket sales is known, a quantity of one-day tickets will be made available on the door on a first come first served basis. $20 for Friday, $25 for Saturday. We will not know how many one-day tickets will be available until Thursday March 2nd.

The best (and most cost-effective) way of securing entry to the festival is by purchasing a weekend ticket online (link below) by midnight Weds March 1st.

http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/ticket/…/Future-City-2017.utr

R E V I E W
'Redbird' album, by Elider

Guitarist for ‘90s Hamilton favourites Inchworm, Justin Harris is now based in Osaka, Japan, and has recently released his first solo album as Elider. Called ‘Redbird’, it is well worth checking out ahead of his appearance at the Future City Festival!
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Despite leaving Hamilton over 15 years ago, Harris still has strong Hamilton connections, and on the album he is backed by various local, or ex-local, musicians; Scott Newth of Rumpus Room, Scott Brodie of Inchworm and Grok and Ben Cole of The Joint Chiefs and The Datsuns. Newth and Cole will back up Harris in Elider at the Festival.

Overall, the album features an array of excellent indie-guitar numbers. The tracks range from upbeat pop songs (such as the 47-second ‘Difference’, and domestic appliance abusing ‘Phone vs Door’) to sprawling epics (the over 8 minute ‘To the Island’, and closing track ‘Your Silent Face’). Redbird opens perfectly with ‘It’s Times Like This’, and it is no wonder this song was picked up by Wellington’s Radio Active, and charted on their Top 11 recently. Another highlight on the album, and perhaps one of the first songs you should listen to, is ‘Lift’ - a refurbished late-Inchworm song, which is a little pop gem.

Does Elider sound like Harris’ previous bands, Spatula Death or Inchworm? Not particularly… but not on a bad way. There is probably a greater level of maturity on show here, which is unsurprising given the years passed inbetween. Compared with Inchworm’s outputs, this album probably also has a greater level of coherence, being all Harris’ compositions, rather than a mix of songwriters (and singers) as seen on the Inchworm albums. Overall, I recommend you check the album out, and make sure you get to his set next Saturday! 

                                                                                                                   - Ian Duggan

Former Christchurch, now Auckland-based band ‘Spawts’ are playing in the final Saturday night slot of the Future City Festival… meaning they are effectively headlining the festival! I caught up with Spawts drummer Jamie Hannah to talk about their sport and movie interests, their move north, and their rather interesting Youtube videos! Read about it on our -> Features <- page.

In just under three weeks time, bands and artists from Hamilton, Wellington, Auckland, Katikati, New York City, Montreal and Osaka will descend on the fair city of Kirikiriroa to perform at the inaugural Future City Festival. HUP is delighted to finally be able to release the schedule for what promises to be a fantastic celebration of underground music. 

In total, 27 bands and artists will play 30 minute sets across the two days. We've crammed the action in, with just five minutes between one band finishing at one venue, and the next band starting at the next venue. This makes it possible to see every band, the walk between venues being about three minutes with minimal dilly-dallying!  

As well as the bands, we are delighted that the very talented Ngamihi Pawa, who has photographed many HUP shows in the past, will be holding on exhibition of her work in the foyer area inside Creative Waikato. We hope to have a few more little surprises to announce in the next couple of weeks too! 

If you haven't got your ticket yet it's probably worth getting on to it soon...festival tickets are available now for just $35 each (covers entry on Friday and Saturday) from undertheradar.co.nz, which you can reach by clicking here ->> GIMME TIX!
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‘Elider’ is the solo project of Osaka based ex-Hamiltonian, ex-Inchworm guitarist, Justin Harris. Elider has just released its debut album, ‘Red Bird’, and one of the songs has gone straight in at #5 on Wellington radio station Radioactive’s Top 11! Even better, Elider is playing at the Future City Festival next month! We talked to Justin from his base in Osaka about the new album, and what to expect from his Future City Festival appearance! Go have a read here.