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NZMM: Favourite Wellington Music Moment – Charlotte Yates

For NZ Music Month the last couple of years, we asked bands/artists for a favourite memory of making music in Wellington.

It could involve a favourite gig, a funny story from the recording studio, a moment that led to the inspiration for a song, the fond recollection of a defunct venue, or the piece of music or lyric that they were most proud of creating.

We really enjoyed the stories people told us, so we are doing it again this year.

Next up is Charlotte Yates.

I’m playing a show at the Third Eye in Arthur St on the 19th. Now a brewery ( downstairs) /venue ( upstairs) but way back, it was the studio and rehearsal space for Wellington alt-jazzsters the Six Volts, three of whom who ultimately morphed into the film composing phenomenon Plan 9. Downstairs was a picture framing business, Exhibit A owned by the tolerant and music loving Dave Strauss. There was one green telephone in the building ( downstairs). The Volts’ rehearsal space was used by many local musos and dustily full of eclectic instruments and band gear. The wooden stairs was grooved by eons of feet clambering up. When the phone rang for anyone but the picture framer, he would gamely trudge up the stairs, open the rehearsal room door and wordlessly thrust a large cardboard sign with the relevant musician’s name on it to take the call. How it all worked relatively painlessly for so long its hard to fathom, but pre cell phones and digital workstations, downloads and instagram, it was a convivial place to learn the trade of ‘band’.


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