Beastwars 10th Anniversary Tour - AudioCulture Profile and Photos

We've teamed up with the fine folk at AudioCulture — "The noisy library of New Zealand music" — to help spread the word about their immensely informative, continuously updated and highly useful wealth of Aotearoa music history resources, freely available to all over on their website HERE. 

Almost certainly Aotearoa's most widely beloved metal group, Pōneke's Beastwars have a characteristically epic few months lined up ahead for 2021. The team of Matt Hyde, Nathan Hickey, James Woods and Clayton Anderson are embarking on a nationwide tour this coming May, marking the tenth anniversary of their earth-shattering 2011 self-titled debut album, which is soon to be reissued and available on vinyl LP for the first time in seven years, in freshly remastered form. Celebrating the past while charging into the future as powerful as ever, now's the time to educate yourself with the story of how Beastwars arose from the primordial sludge of Wellington's mid-'00s subterranean music community to record their Taite Music Prize nominated debut — described in loving detail by Gareth Shute in his AudioCulture profile of the band, updated by Rosie Howells. Read a short excerpt below and head along to the AudioCulture site for the full lowdown on their history, plus an extensive selection of photos and fiendishly gnarly illustrated poster images showcasing the visual side of the band.

"The core of the Beastwars sound came together quickly: Hickey laying down heavy, rudimentary beats which Anderson riffed over, while Woods provided grinding, distorted bass lines, often filling out their sound by playing full chords. When Hyde joined them, he pushed his vocals even further towards a rasping growl. In other words, he sounded like what he was: a heavy rock singer who had spent 15 years yelling like Lemmy and with the same dark outlook on life as Nick Cave.

Instantly, the others knew their band had found what they didn’t know they were missing. Hickey recalls: “Before Matt joined our music was probably more in a Queens Of The Stone Age vibe. Once he joined the music we wrote and how we played it got much heavier due to the power of his voice … We formed in 2006 and didn't play our first show as a four piece until 2009. I think we hadn't wanted to jump straight into playing shows because we wanted to be good as soon as we hit the stage. I hadn't played drums before starting Beastwars so I had to learn how to play…"

For the full Beastwars AudioCulture profile by Gareth Shute (updated by Rosie Howells) + photo / poster gallery head over HERE.

Panhead Custom Ales, Banished Music & Under The Radar presents...

BEASTWARS 10th Anniversary Tour with special guests EARTH TONGUE

Friday 7th May - Totara St. - Mount Maunganui △
Saturday 8th May - Powerstation, Auckland □
Friday 14th May - Starters, Dunedin
Saturday 15th May - Cassels Blue Smoke, Christchurch*
Friday 21st May - Wakatu Hotel, Nelson
Saturday 22nd May - Hunter Lounge, Wellington

Discounted early bird tickets on sale HERE via UTR
All Christchurch tickets for the previously announced Isaac Theatre Royal show on May 15th are automatically valid for this show, or refunds can be requested from point of purchase*
Mount Maunganui tickets available HERE △
Auckland tickets available HERE □