Arpie was fortunate enough to fire a few questions at The Datsuns drummer Ben Cole, to find out all about their brand new music, plans for touring, as well as get a few insights into the band's songwriting process and find out what's currently ripping it up on the turntable in the Cole household. Click on through to FEATURES to read more.

The first post on our revamped site is Hp's review of the fantastic new LP by Dunedin's Opposite Sex - head on over to the FEATURES page right away/at once/post haste/without delay to read and listen all about it.

"Judged by appearances, Bitter Defeat are a bunch of happily scrappy part-timers who just get a kick out of making music together". We've reviewed Bitter Defeat's debut EP, 'Minor Victory'. Have they "cocked it up"? Read our review -> HERE <-

​'True Colours' was released in 1980, and represented Split Enz’s first major commercial success, charting in NZ, Australia, Canada and the USA. 41 years down the track, a new tribute album, 'True Colours - New Colours', has been released featuring reinterpretations of songs by a variety of New Zealand artists. Does it work? We review the album -> HERE <- !

In just a couple of weeks time, HUP will turn six years old. Our metaphorical milk teeth will be dropping out of our musical mouths and we are planning to grow upwards and outwards and we need your help.

When we started out in 2015, our aim was to help nurture a local indie music 'scene' in/around Hamilton, by writing about locally produced music/bands and putting on events. That will be the case going forward and HUP will always have a mild bias towards searching out and supporting great indie music from Kirikiriroa and its people. The thing is...

We want to do that for the whole of Aotearoa too, and so, duhnuuuuh with the lowest key 'revamp' possible, HUP, (while keeping its name and url), is going to start to have a country-wide focus, not just shining a light on lil old Kirikiriroa.

Now, without being elitist or twatty about it, we are into indie music, and that means different things to different people. To us, it's the weird stuff, the cool stuff, the confusing stuff, the not-mainstream stuff, the 'I wanna be in that band' stuff, the 'oh my gaaaawd I'm alive' stuff, the really really reeeeeally good songs that give you goosebumps and were probably written in a spare room at silly times of day. We're not too cool for school (have you ever met us ffs?) but we know what we like. We don't want HUP to be like the other NZ music sites who publish every press release they receive - there's definitely a place for that and those sites do a fantastic job, but it's not us. We want to get a printed mag going again like the old HUPZINE from a few years back, but on a larger scale. 

To do this, (if you're still reading this by the way, very well done), we need more people all around the country with a love of indie/alternative music - regular contributors to create content (bleurgh!) worth reading/seeing - interviews/Q&A, music/gig reviews, photographs, record or guest  on podcasts etc - and write with a degree of personality about good music. You can choose what you do and suggest ideas, and sometimes we'll mail out with possibilities and see if you are keen. It doesn't even have to be under your own name - pseudonyms all good if you're not into coming out to the masses about your hobby gig.

HUP is not for profit and always will be so you'll want to do it for the love of it and hopefully the occasional freebee if anything comes our way, free entry to shows we put on/get offered, that sort of thing.

Reckon you'd be into contributing something at least once a month? Chuck us an electronic mail at hamiltonundergroundpress@gmail.com 

I hope you as excited as 'Paddles' here about our first show of 2021! As unlikely as it may seem, Matthew Bannister (Sneaky Feelings, The Changing Same), Julian White (The Scones, Bitter Defeat), Ian Duggan (Bitter Defeat), Sam Kimber-Bell (Dick Dynamite and the Doppelgangers), and Rob Shirlow (Bitter Defeat, Ancient Tapes) all play twilight cricket for the same team, the tremendously named 'Lumee Spuds CC'  and they have conspired to make a gig happen this coming Friday, Feb 5th at Nivara Lounge. 

It also happens to be the release day of Bitter Defeat's 'Minor Victory EP' so if you like a bit of indie rock/janglepop head on down to Nivara Lounge from 8pm this Friday, just $10 on the door.
​

Also featuring people playing songs by Pavement, a bit like this...

​Princess Chelsea – on her first tour of Aotearoa in two years - plays Nivara Lounge this Saturday, with Stef Animal and Bitter Defeat! HUP caught up with Chelsea and talked with her about her song ‘The Cigarette Duet’ amassing over 54 million views on YouTube, the influence on her life of the Yamaha Keytar, an early memory of a Hamilton right-of-passage, and more! 

​Read the full Q&A -> HERE <-