This IS the Pōneke music scene!

Words by Maia Ingoe (she/her), photos by Ruby Millichamp (she/her) and Bella Maresca (they/them) 

For the 2023 Salient music issue, we wanted to highlight local musicians changing the scene in Pōneke. Wellington has a thriving music landscape, from staples like Meow, Moon, San Fran and Valhalla, to annual central city festivals like CubaDupa and Homegrown, to the student culture that finds its life with live music. But we know that the music scene in Pōneke and Aotearoa has been dominated by male artists. So for the cover, we chose to highlight the women, non-binary, and gender fluid artists who are making themselves heard locally. Enter Girl Best Friend, Milktooth, Maiden Name, and Sheboy: This IS the Pōneke music scene.

Girl Best Friend

Tessa (she/they), one-half of Girl Best Friend, describes working with Char (she/her) as “mimicking a relationship”. The duo combines Tessa on drums with Char on guitar and vocals to make an experimental, alternative R&B, and neo-soul sound. “It’s always developing,” Char says.

When they first started playing together, the name Girl Best Friend stuck out. “There’s just so much irony layered in the name. Like, the idea of a girl best friend is always just like a bit of a pisstake, because you know when you’re dating someone, and they have a girl best friend, it’s just so much more nuanced,” Char explained. The combination of feminine and mysterious energy makes the name fit for the duo.  

Inspirations from neo-soul, jazz, and R&B are a big part of their music. “Whenever we’re songwriting, we’ll just take those references from artists that we love and just flip it,” Tessa says. Those influences include English singer-songwriter Eloise (“She’s the blueprint,” says Char), Anderson.Paak, and other R&B artists to influence their vocals, drumming style, and groove.

Tessa is currently doing music technology at Massey, in their third year, while Char studies Law and Music at VUW. “I think Law is just a bit like my ‘need to bow to capitalism’ moment,” Char says.

Tessa started playing drums when they were 15. “I was getting really into rock bands, and I would just go and play drums all lunchtime.” When they moved from Gisborne to study in Wellington, it was a “wake-up call”, and the pressure of being in a specialty music school motivated them to get practising.

University enabled Char to find herself and connect with music as a creative outlet. Girl Best Friend’s first gig was her first time singing in front of people. Despite learning music since she was 15, this was the first she’d felt capable. “I thought there’d be like 15 people there. But by the time we went out the whole place was packed, [with] people right up to the back barricade. We were so happy to be there and everyone was so happy for us,” Char says.

“Everyone’s been so supportive—it was unexpected, but it was definitely surreal and exciting,” Tessa says.

Girl Best Friend is unique in their genre, Char explains, with R&B artists very new on the Pōneke scene. “I think the Wellington music scene at the moment, at least from my perception, [is] very predominantly alternative indie. [...] In terms of R&B, especially like neo-soul, there's really not that much in the scene, even from dudes.”

“We often find in our [Music Technology] classes that we were one of the only, if not the only, girls doing the classes, and sometimes we don’t find ourselves taken too seriously,” says Char.  But, Char adds, there is more support for girl bands doing something new and rare to see in the Aotearoa industry. “Sometimes you can’t help but think that you don’t know whether you deserve it or whether you’re just getting it because you’re a girl,” Tessa muses.

Despite this, Girl Best Friend has received lots of ground support from friends in the Wellington scene. After being active and performing gigs last year, the duo is prioritising their creative energy to focus on recording music. “It’s honestly been a bit of a realisation for us recently that it’s so hard to not compromise your creative integrity [while] trying to make money off of it,” said Char.  After a trip to Raglan in February to record, working with Casual Healing, they’re “definitely” going to have music coming out this year.

The future of breaking into the industry can be unknown, Tessa says, but as long as they are both making music, that’s the goal. “Whatever happens, we’ll both be doing music, and we’ll both have each other as girl best friends.”

You can catch Girl Best Friend at Eyegum later this year, and follow them on Instagram (and everything else) at @girlbestfriendmusic

Milktooth

Milktooth are a five-person band made up of Stella (she/her; vocals and keys), Eve (she/her; guitar and vocals), Estelle (she/her; keys, eventually vocals, eventually clarinet), Lian (she/her; keys, ableton and vocals), and Eli (they/them; drums and sometimes bass). A dominance of keys players (“Some may say too many,” Stella says) makes a sound that combines electronic elements with acoustic. It’s jazzy at times, ethereal, and crosses into rock and dream-pop. “It’s really fun to fuse different elements and create something interesting,” says Eve. 

They’ve got room for more, too. “We were thinking of having a groupie set where we allow groupies to come on, and they play the triangle,” said Stella.

Their musical inspirations as a band include Eartheater, Hiatus Kaiyote, Wolf Alice, and FKA twigs. “Electronic, dreamy vocals, and we like the jazzy element too,” Eve explained.

Milktooth formed three years ago, and started playing gigs last year. You might’ve seen them at Eyegum Wednesdays or 121 Festival. The band met while studying music at Massey and came together through a livestream assignment. “It was really cool to just find women and non-binary people to play with. We can all kind of relate to being that harder side of the music industry, ya’know, because it’s a male dominated field,” Eve said.

The support they’ve experienced in the band has been heartening during times when the industry has been tough. “[There’s a] feeling like you’re not a part of it all sometimes,” Eve says. “It feels very open and welcoming, and every idea of welcome [when we’re playing together]. I don’t have to be perfect on my instrument, I can just have fun.”

Their first gig was in August 2022, and the nerves haven’t gone away since. Before a gig, the band likes to huddle up and take a breath together. “I’m working on immersing myself fully in the music, but I think with each performance we all become more comfortable and able to move around on stage a little more,” Eve says. They find a lot of support from each other, the industry, and university tutors who’ve been helping them record.

Milktooths’ debut single will be out on 6 July—catch them at their release gig at San Fran, alongside Sheboy and Maiden Name. They want to record and release more, making use of the studios at university while they are doing one course. And later this year, they’ll be hitting the road with their North Island tour. 

Follow Milktooth on Instragram at @milktooth___music

Maiden Name

Sibel Atalay (she/they) is the drummer of Maidenname, a five-peice, alt-rock, trip pop band that’s fresh on the scene. They are shy, with the outward personality of a teddy bear, but their smiles come out through the photoshoot. 

The band chose the name Maiden Name because “it fit our aesthetic of like sapphic rage, sort of reclaiming femininity,” Sibel says with a laugh. “It’s a sign of the times. We’re all queer, like she/theys. So we’re trying to reclaim a space in the music world.”

Sibel is a self-taught drummer, having started playing in Year 10 with their first drum kit. School jazz band and a little bit of music study later, they’ve finally found a band with Maiden Name. Their drum style came from jazz, hip hop drummers, inspired by the likes of BADBADNOTGOOD, Toro y Moi, and Yussef Dayes. They say they’ve merged their style into a new form. “It’s interesting, because I honestly hadn’t really listened to much trip pop. Trip pop is like, I guess you could call it shoegaze-ey, mixed with almost, like, reggae and hip hop beats. So that style was perfect for the drums.”

The band met through connections in the Wellington music scene and mutual friends. “We have a lot of support from other female and non-binary artists, and the Wellington scene, because it’s a small group of us,” Sibel says.

When asked what is next for Maiden Name, being so fresh on the scene, Sibel says, “Well, we’re gonna start playing gigs.” You can find them opening for Milktooth in on 6 July at San Fran. They’re also working on recording some demos, and are hopefully on track to release some music in the next few months.

And considering this was a boygenius inspired shoot, I asked Sibel what their favourite boygenius song is. “I find ‘$20’ stuck in my head the most.”

Follow Maiden Name on Instagram at @dontchangeyourmaindenname

Sheboy

Sheboy is the stage name of Izzy (they/them), a Wellington-based DJ. They started playing to crowds through the music program at Massey University, after practising for a few years and playing to friends. They’d always been a music lover, and didn’t always intend to be performing—behind the scenes was originally their gig.

They describe their sound style as “fun”. “When it comes to dubstep, you could say [it] sounds that make you feel. I like to go for stuff that’s minimal and dark, but always love to pull out some silly tunes as well.”

Their sound inspirations include Sicaria Sound, an electronic duo from the UK (“They are so amazing, just two boss babes.”), and local acts such as Half Queen, Lady Shaka, and BBYFACEKILLA. “They’re all so swaggy and so good at what they do,” Sheboy says.  

They chose the stagename ‘Sheboy’ because it didn’t feel right to use their first or last name, like a lot of DJs do. “I wanted to put some representation in there about who I am and my identity,” they say. “I was also going through the journey of understanding my own identity, and coming out of feeling like I need to be a woman. […] I was coming into acceptance of being gender fluid.” Sheboy became a way to have some fun with it. “I’m not a woman, I’m not a man, I’m neither.”

Sheboy grew up in Tāmaki Makaurau, before moving down to Pōneke and feeling the identity change many students experience. “Just growing up [in Tāmaki Makaurau], I felt very boxed in. […] Whereas down here, the queer community is huge and accepting.”

Having found support in the Wellington scene after picking up DJing, they encourage anyone who has an interest to give it a go. “If you wanna DJ, you should really just pick it up, and reach out to the people around you and learn. I think anyone can DJ and it’s so much fun.”

Sheboy will be playing at Valhalla on 26 June, and appearing at some more gigs yet to be announced through the rest of the year. You can find some of their music on SoundCloud.

Finally – while they hadn’t heard of boygenius before this shoot, they do know Nirvana (who doesn’t?). Their favourite track is ‘Something In The Way’.

Follow Sheboy on Instagram at @__sheboy  

Photographers:

Ruby Millichamp is a Wellington-based student photographer, specialising in still life and portraiture. Ruby took the cover photo and indoor-based photos. You can follow her on Instagram at @retinarinse

Bella Maresca is Salient’s own designer, with talent across illustration and photography. They took the outdoor portion of the photoshoot. Follow them on Instagram at @cupids.kiss