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A group of local musicians are busy learning songs by other local artists, ahead of the sixth annual Christchurch Echo Chamber, which will take place at Darkroom on Saturday 30 May.
Feather Shaw of Darkroom has organised the event every year since 2021 and she shared the ethos of the popular event with us.
“Echo Chamber is our spin off of Circle Jerk. The history of these kinds of events in New Zealand dates back to 2005, when a group of Kirikiriroa Hamilton musicians, who were frustrated that their city’s musical community was often overlooked when compared to cities like Auckland or Wellington, decided to host their own event in celebration of their local music community,” Feather explains.
“The event saw local bands playing covers of songs by other local bands, and it quickly became an annual tradition, with 10 Hamilton Circle Jerks held over the years. Ōtepoti/Dunedin has also run their own version of the event off and on for years now.
Feather originally hails from Dunedin, which is where she first encountered the concept of Echo Chamber.
“I remember being in the audience at Sammy’s for the Dunedin Circle Jerk about 15 years ago now, and thinking I’d love to be a part of something like that one day!
Fast forward to 2019, and Feather and business partner, Nick Vassar, had taken over as owner-operators of Darkroom.
“After the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, we came back into the venue with this fresh motivation and determination. It was a really inspiring time for us creatively, and a few different projects came out of that era that I’m really proud of. There’s my band, Bin Day, formed in late 2020. Then there’s our ongoing free artist development sessions that help to upskill emerging artists with the administrative skills to support their creative skill sets. I started those in 2021. Another thing I started in 2021 was bringing Circle Jerk to Christchurch.”
The Echo Chamber concept is a simple one: The participating bands each play a 20-minute set, including a minimum of two covers by other local musicians. Participants are welcome to choose any local song, and the song can be contemporary or historic. Musicians of any experience or ability can participate, with many bands simplifying the songs to match their genre or playing ability.
“People putting their own spin on the songs is so fun,” says Feather. “We had Goodbye Starlet do a jazz cover of my punk band, Bin Day‘s song ‘F*ck Off’ last year. In fact, last year there were three bands who covered that song, and the year before we had three bands all play a version of ‘Ram Raiders’ by Stonechild.”
Over the years, the list of bands that have been covered is impressive in its variety: Violet French, The Wendys, Motte, Too Woke for Toast, Sexy Animals, Saint Peter’s Thursday, Marsha, This Dog, There’s a Tuesday, The Gordons, S.E.I.S.M.I.C, Pickle Darling, The Pin Group, Pumpkinhead, Phoebe Vic, Shocking Pinks, Velveteen and Reb Fountain to name a few.
“And those are just some of the artists I can remember off the top of my head. Oh, there was the year Crustaceanz did a punk cover of ‘Not Many’ by Scribe and that was amazing.”
Feather is a passionate advocate for the wealth of talent in Christchurch.
“We have such a vibrant and talented music community here. The musicians we get to work with daily as part of running Darkroom are so inspiring and have so much appreciation and admiration for their creative peers. We have many regulars at Darkroom, but they’re sometimes a bit compartmentalised. We have our dedicated experimental noise night regulars, our goth night regulars, our punk regulars, and our cabaret regulars, and each of those groups might not necessarily be in the space at the same time. So, events like Darkroom Holiday Special and Echo Chamber are really special because we have so many different genres and pockets of the music industry represented side by side in a line up.”
Darkroom hosted 200 events last year and more than 130 of those were original live music gigs.
“Hundreds and hundreds of local musicians have shared their stories and songs on this little stage every year for more than fifteen years now,” says Feather. “The bands who play at Echo Chamber and the songs they choose to play represent just the tiniest little snippet of the hige wealth of talent in our city.”
Don’t miss this event – and help support local musicians and local venues. Echo Chamber is at Darkroom, Saturday 30 May. Click here for tickets!