We’ve been checking in with some local artists, writers & critics to get their thoughts on what makes the Wellington Music scene unique, and to get their take on some of their favourite Wellington sounds. You can check out some older posts from critics Nick Bollinger, & Grant Smithies, Blue Smoke writer Chris Bourke, and musicians Samuel Flynn Scott & Alistair Fraser, but since it is New Zealand Music Month we thought we would check in with some more people over the course of May.

Whether offering an opinion on the uniqueness or elusive qualities that make up Wellington music, or just some of their favourite albums, the most important thing is the music itself, and we hope these posts lead you back to some favourite albums, or help you to discover something new.

Up today is Jesse Finn from the indie-pop band Towers who have been performing covers of well-known New Zealand songs around town on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays throughout Music Month. In May of 2015 Towers traveled to the Gold Coast to record their official debut EP ‘Brontide’, which was recorded, produced and and mixed by Loose Stones Studio who have worked with artists like Angus and Julia Stone, Broods, Jarryd James and Matt Corby. ‘Brontide’ will be released late 2015.

Wellington just has this great abundance of musicians, it’s quite cool that there are just so many people in the city who have the ability to pick up a guitar and play a few licks, to sing a few notes, to tinkle the ivories. Our bands always been lucky to play at great venues who want to work to get a good result for both parties and I think that’s a very Wellington thing – there’s a bit of a ‘I’ll take a chance on you guys’ sorta thing going on – I don’t know if you get that in bigger cities. Then, because the place is so damn small, you get this huge concentration of a tonne of different genres in a really small area. You get a bit of heavy punky-rock and metal at Valhalla, just round the corner you grab a bit of country and indie stuff at San Fran, then you get a helping of bluesy jazzy soulful stuff at Rogue & Vagabond and then 2 minutes walk from there you finish up with great big serving from EVERY genre at Bodega. It’s great! We’ve been trying really hard to get out and see more of the live scene that Wellington has to offer – cause that’s the key; getting out there and supporting the bands and the venues that work so hard to put it all on for everyone.
Miles Calder & The Rumours – The Crossing Over
The Wellington City Shake-‘Em-On-Downers – Shake It On Down
Ryfe – Ang’eyo Nengo

You can check out Towers performing a cover of ‘Nature’ by Wellington band The Fourmyula on Stuff here, and the rest of the songs they have performed over the course of May here.

Towers will be playing a couple of songs in the Library for Music Month on Wednesday 27th at 1pm. They will be covering the Goldenhorse song Maybe Tomorrow and playing a couple of songs from their upcoming EP.

You can buy some Towers music on Bandcamp here.