Darkroom Fundraiser Announced ft. The Wendys, Paperwaves, Sentient Mud

Not only is live music the best, but when you catch a band playing in real life you don't even have to worry about if you're listening to / being tricked by an AI bot or not. Champions of Ōtautahi's music community from the post-quake era onwards, Darkroom are putting on a fundraiser to help take the edge off ballooning operating costs, hosting everybody's favourite lifeguard surf-punks The Wendy's, "banjo-rockers" Sentient Mud and the debut performance by future stars Paperwaves on 8th August. Show your love for this crucial hub of Canterbury music and keep gig culture alive in the oft-beleaguered central city by heading along, here's the official lowdown...

"Darkroom has never been a money-maker of a venture but has plodded along making enough money to break even and keep on top of our usual operational expenses. This year has been a bit different, with income down on previous years but all of our costs (from electricity to insurance to accountant fees and everything in between) all going up - we've been falling a bit short, especially through the quieter winter months.

We don't want to keep putting our menu prices up, or only book bands that draw big drinking crowds, or start charging venue hire - so instead we are running a fundraiser gig where we can put the ticket money towards some of our big bills (things like our $3000 APRA / OneMusic license fees to host live music and play music in the background, our $3000 insurance bill, and our $800p/m winter power bill).

Darkroom was born from the earthquakes, recovered under new ownership after one of its first owners went bankrupt, made it though covid, and is now navigating new challenges as the cityscape changes around us leading to tensions with our new residential neighbours over noise. With promising PC21 changes proposed, we think Darkroom’s got some life left in her yet - if we can just get through this winter ❤

Thanks for all your love and support over the years ❤"

Darkroom Fundraiser
with Paperwaves, The Wendys, Sentient Mud
Friday 8th August - Darkroom, Christchurch (R18)
Tickets on sale HERE via UTR (waged / unwaged options available)

Smash play on 'Rudy Shirtless' from The Wendys' debut album Let's Go To The Beach...