Twine Heads First International Tour: "I've Never Felt So Cared For As An Artist"
Read the noise rock band's exclusive tour diary here.
Twine (Emily Wilson)
Finding a home in another part of the world is a gift. Being welcomed into a country that is not your own because of your music is surely the dream of every burgeoning band.
In the wake of the release of their debut album New Old Horse, Adelaide-based noise-rock band (with a poignant country flare) Twine ventured into the unknown last week, and were richly rewarded. Ostensibly, it seems that touring for musicians is not always easy. It can be an expensive, hectic endeavour, with little to ground you and little time to rest. But by all accounts this particular tour - Twine’s first ever headline tour and first international tour - appeared to be a major success. They seemed to find a home across the water; they seemed to be welcomed with open arms because of the music they have worked tirelessly to share with others.
Read on for an an exclusive snapshot into the band’s transformative time in New Zealand/Aotearoa, penned by the band’s masterly violinist, Thea Martin.
TWINE X AOTEAROA: TOUR DIARY
By Thea Martin
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Aotearoa feels like some kind of home for Twine. We first ventured over the ditch in February of 2024 for the festival Camp A Low Hum, a small artist-driven festival compassionately curated by Ian Jorgensen that felt like being inside of a wonderful dream to participate in. It was there that we met many of the bands that we would play with on this tour, including our tour managers/promoters Logan Mcallister and Arran Cargill-Brown from music and events management team Goose Garden. This tour was our first ever headline tour, first international tour, and our first time working with tour managers. I've never felt so cared for as an artist, or for our band to feel so cared about by a community, than from the time Twine has spent in Aotearoa.
DAY 1: TRAVEL DAY
Bags on the plane. A cancelled flight. Sitting in the airport. Then finally bound for Sydney, then bound for Otautahi/Christchurch. We touched down at 12:30am - Kia Ora! Logan, his dad Greg and Aaran had stayed up to come collect us - they handed us each an apple from the Mcallister family home. We drove hedge-lined roads to North Canterbury and arrived on the Mcallister property. I slept heavily in a fairy-light-lit camper-van.
DAY 2: REST DAY
The luxury of a rest day! We awoke to a family of sheep and pīwakawaka (fantails) darting about. The band was so well taken care of by Logan's generous parents Greg and Tracy, with breakfast provided, a huge cook up for dinner, coffee always at the ready and a beautiful wooden outdoor shower to top it all off. We spent the day doing phone interviews with local radio, chatting on the deck, playing cards, developing new tour-specific tour vocal stims (we are a very neurodivergent band) and I even convinced the crew to head to my favourite town in Aotearoa, the little coast-side town of Lyttelton, nearby to the residences of NZ music royalty Marlon Williams and Aldous Harding.
DAY 3: ŌTAUTAHI
From day 3 onwards, the pace of the tour quickened to a flight every day, a show every night - 4 in a row. Our first stop was Space Academy in Ōtautahi/Christchurch. We loaded ourselves into a shuttle and headed to the venue; a beautiful, community-centred space filled with natural light, plants, books and community activism posters. During soundcheck I read the introduction to 'Imagining Decolonisation' - from the Bridget Williams Books collection, a series of critical scholarship texts by NZ authors. Logan and Aaran promoted the shit out of this tour. When doors opened, we couldn't believe how many people had come to see us. Our wonderful bass player Alicia sadly couldn't make it to the tour last minute, so my bandmate from War Room and Any Young Mechanic, Luka Kilgariff-Johnson was filling in on bass. Logan and Arran who had seen us at Camp gave him their seal of approval as a "chill guy" and excellent bassist. We didn't have enough luggage allowance to bring a bass on tour, so Luka was also touring the basses of Aotearoa, with someone from each city kindly providing a new instrument each night. Between soundcheck and the show we went to Te Puna o Waiwhetū, the Christchurch Gallery, which had on a fantastic linocut exhibition.
Model Home opened the night - the lead singer Rachel spoke to us with immense heart about how she had been inspired to go back to law school after the unconstitutional threat posed to a foundational treaty document of New Zealand - Te Tiriti o Waitangi, by the right-wing party leader David Seymour, and how the Twine releases leading up to the album had soundtracked her first year back at university. Model Home were gorgeously emo, our drummer Hari was a particularly big fan as someone who also plays in the math rock/midwest emo band stripes. Pearly followed on next, members of whom are also in Dale Kerrigan, who we played and mutually gushed over at Camp A Low Hum. They were fucking fantastic.
Our set came as an outpouring of relief, to finally play the songs on our album to a crowd who had mostly heard them. We could feel it in the room. I think we were all pretty emotional. 1 show down, 3 to go.
DAY 4: ŌTEPOTI - WAITANGI DAY
We were all particularly looking forward to playing in Ōtepoti/Dunedin, as many of the bands we'd met at Camp were from there and we'd heard it had a small, tight-knit DIY alternative arts scene, perhaps with some crossover with Tarntanya/Adelaide. Taking tiny 40-minute regional flights on little planes was a great novelty to us all. Arriving in Dunedin, my brain ran through the places I've been, trying to compare it to something. A street corner reminded me of Wollongong, buildings seemed like parts of Sydney, the streets were quiet like Adelaide. It was Waitangi Day, a day honouring the signing of Te Tiriti in 1840, between Māori and the Crown, upholding the recognition of tino rangatiratanga (Māori Sovereignty).
Led by Madison Kelly, Liam Clune (both from the 2-piece HŌHĀ) and Julie Dunn (creator of the cassette label trace/untrace), the gig was opened with a pōwhiri, a Māori welcome ceremony involving speech, language and singing.
The Crown in Ōtepoti is a cultural landmark of the Aotearoa music scene. Run by Jones Chin, it is a special place, decorated with music memorabilia and a jukebox catalogue including the likes of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and a whole lot of local music, particularly from the iconic NZ label Flying Nun. HŌHĀ were brilliant, they are probably my favourite band to see live in the whole world. Madison's drumming is so intuitive and expressive, Liam's guitar tone builds a world I did not know a guitar could create. Dale Kerrigan absolutely brought the house down. Tom was trialling some new stage banter during our set - a Q&A for the audience. Someone yelled out "what are you reading?" - Tom replied No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, and I felt pretty great that I was able to say I was reading The Edge of The Alphabet by Janet Frame, an author born in Dunedin.
After the set Jones brought out a platter for the bands, including some delicious and unusual sandwiches. It was a sweet, sweet night.
DAY 5: Te Whanganui-a-Tara
We arrived by plane in Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington around 1pm, with ample time to peruse the excellent vintage/op shop scene of Cuba Street. We were playing at Meow, the same venue we played a sideshow at during Camp A Low Hum almost exactly a year prior. Amongst soundcheck, Ian Jorgensen, "Blink" came to interview us about Camp for a documentary he was making. It was such a pleasure to reflect on the way Camp had collectively changed our musical lives, and those of the musicians in Adelaide more broadly. Eveline Breaker/Scramble204 and Dropper opened with thrilling sets. After a brief stint at a local club night we headed back to our strange accommodation - an Airbnb that appeared to be a disused office building they'd stuck some beds in. How whimsical.
DAY 6: Tāmaki Makaurau
We'd made it to the final show. Bodies were sore and ears were collectively ringing despite mostly responsible use of hearing protection. Throughout the tour Logan and Arran did a wonderful job of making sure our spirits remained high. It's the first time I haven't completely burnt out on tour and for that I have the utmost respect and gratitude for their tireless work holding all of the moving parts of a tour together. Pulling into Whammy (not to be confused with the venue next door hosting a metal show, Double Whammy), we were feeling the sting of the Tāmaki heat (though still so much milder than the horrendous 40 degree days we'd left behind in Tarntanya/Adelaide). After a few strange hours traipsing up and down K Road, it was finally show time. We were treated to beautiful sets from Awning (complete with rainstick and tambourine) and post-rock sweethearts Ringlets. We give a lot in our live shows, both physically and emotionally - we were all quite fragile after this final show.
DAY 7: TRAVELLING HOME
After staying the night at Ringlets guitarist László's family home, it was time for the final shuttle to the airport. Goodbyes are hard! It was strange to farewell Logan and Arran who'd given so much of themselves to this tour and to us as people. To make things even more special, the tour broke even on costs on the final show, a huge accomplishment for Goose Garden's first foray into international tour management/promotion.
Aotearoa, you have my heart. It's an honour and a privilege to visit this beautiful country as guests, and to share space with wonderful bands, artists and audiences.
Until next time.
Thea, from Twine x
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
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