Dunedin Sound Music Heritage

The Dunedin Sound describes a cluster of bands that emerged around Flying Nun Records from 1981 - The Clean, The Chills, The Bats, Look Blue Go Purple, Straitjacket Fits, The Verlaines and others - characterised by ringing guitars, buried vocals, cheap recording and an indifference to polish that was partly aesthetic and partly a matter of what a four-track in a flat could do. The conditions were specific: a university city of students in cheap old houses, a long cold winter, no music industry to please, and a label run out of a record shop. The influence travelled a long way, particularly in American college rock through the late eighties and nineties, and bands still cite it. There is no museum of it as such - Toitu covers the city's social history and touches on it, and the record shops and venues on and around George Street and the Octagon are the living version. Term time is when the city has music on.

What you'll find

• The venues - small rooms around the Octagon and George Street.
• The record shops - where the label and the scene were run from.
• The student city - the cheap flats and cold winters that produced it.
• Toitu - the settlers museum, which touches on the scene.

When to go

Term time, roughly March to October, when the student population is present and gigs are on. The city empties over the summer break.

Practical notes

There is no dedicated museum or heritage trail for the scene - it is venues, shops and context rather than an attraction. Live music depends on the week. Dunedin winters are cold and dark.

Nearby

The Octagon and George Street are the centre; Toitu and the railway station are close.