Pedestrians traversing Wellington’s central Cuba Street are likely to have stumbled upon a group of young musicians capturing the attention of a transfixed crowd. While this is a rotation of interconnected musicians and their projects, the most compelling is The Side Characters – a student band from Wellington College consisting of Max Horn on guitar and vocals, Oliver Livingstone on bass, Loki Sparksman on saxophone, Leo Cattell on keys and Reuben Fraser on drums, alongside an ever-expanding roster of collaborators. Playing a wide array of crowd-pleasing covers and originals fusing pop, rock and jazz among other genres, they bring an electric and upbeat energy to our capital city which firmly challenges the notion that Wellington’s dying.
The Side Characters have a talent for amassing large audiences who may not have expected, but always seem more than thrilled, to encounter live music that is both free and entirely accessible. It is among these crowds, with everyone from pre-schoolers to grandparents to our unhoused population dancing side by side, that I have experienced something distinctly rare in a music scene frequently separated by factors such as venue, genre, age demographic and economic accessibility – a dissolution of social segregation where I truly believe that music has the power to bring people together and facilitate the vision of a more unified community.
In an industry dominated by drinking culture and cigarettes out on the balcony, the all-ages music scene provides a refreshing change of rhythm. There’s limited venues and a lack of resources available for rangatahi musicians, so it thrives on the streets – a place where financial barriers don’t exist. Alcohol is also removed from the equation, so the focus is re-centred on the music. The Side Characters are able to work this magic due to their own passion, dedication and the seemingly inexhaustible support of their parents, who are constantly ferrying the boys to-and-fro and painstakingly counting coins and coiling cords, a contribution to the boys’ mahi that mustn’t go unacknowledged. The ambitions of such pioneering musicians goes far beyond the Cuba Street crossroads, but the infrastructure doesn’t come ready-made – it needs to be created, and I do wonder what these young people could achieve with a proper rangatahi-centric support system in place.
While Wellington Council provides some admirable opportunities for the all-ages community such as Gardens Magic, CubaDupa and Newtown Festival, these are often limited to the summer months and book only a small percentage of youth acts – there remains a lack of resources channelled towards the platforming and development of those most excluded from the 18+ venues forming a majority of the scene.
But these kids won’t be stopped by any number of logistical burdens or the drought of arts funding that barely caters to established musicians, let alone high-schoolers who have to body-slam the door when they can’t get a foot in it. All this to say, the scene seems to scream Do It Yourself! at the demographic with the least support to do so – and they do.
So when these young musicians aren’t busking on our streets they’re making their own spaces – by themselves, for themselves – in the DIY gig scene. The available venues are a little less than equipped for this purpose, namely community halls of varying quality that charge high booking fees with limited equipment and no technicians or staff to assist with the gig-hosting process. This leaves everything from gear hire, set-up and sound-teching to be organised, financed and executed by the high schoolers pulling off the feat with no financial support or professional infrastructure – and that’s on top of curating, promoting and performing.
The Side Characters have hosted several of their own events at various community halls, including a hugely successful release show for their debut single ‘Lost’ last June at the Newtown Community Centre and more recently at Vogelmorn Bowling Club and Thistle Hall. Speaking with their vocalist Max, who’s particularly active behind-the-scenes, he notes how much appetite there is among the high school demographic for these shows, largely due to the lack of gigs accessible to under-18s. He also observes how alcohol isn’t a factor the way it is for older audiences – “people just want to dance and have fun”. And yet it’s this very factor keeping our rangatahi barred from most venues and separated from the rest of the community.
Another collaborator of The Side Characters, Anthony Steele, is a 17-year-old commercial music student and aspiring manager at Massey. He’d like to see under-18s less segregated from the wider music scene, pitching several ideas for how to create a more inclusive community. These include obtaining special licenses for bars to host all-ages events, or establishing a venue for this specific purpose where we can cultivate a scene that is truly all ages, rather than high schoolers, university students and older audiences all creating their communities independently of each other. One of Ant’s main points was the need to stop stigmatising kids – “treat us like adults”, he says, “because we almost are”.
Max’s mum Anna, no stranger to the complicated logistics of parenting a musician, says that “well-managed all-ages gigs give young people a safe, creative space to express themselves and build real confidence – it’s community at its best. The DIY scene teaches skills you don’t learn in a classroom: collaboration, resilience, project management, and taking ownership of their creativity... they’re one of the few places where teens can experiment, make mistakes, and still feel supported.” She suggests that “more accessible venues, better transport options, and small grants for youth-led events would help the scene thrive”.
Anna also remarks on how refreshing these events can be in comparison to those catered to an adult demographic, particularly festivals, being so centred around drugs and alcohol that “the music can become an afterthought”. She observes that it’s “uplifting to see a crowd come alive for reasons that are pure – connection, expression, and belonging”. I’ve noticed that myself – there’s a sense of presence and inclusivity when everyone (from younger siblings to parents to peers to grandparents) is truly there for the music, rather than the kind of substance-induced escapades that can so often lead to people feeling unsafe.
It seems to me that many prominent members of the music scene, particularly university students and alumni, disregard the all-ages scene due to its sobriety and demographic difference. But what would happen if we decentred alcohol from our social infrastructure, and properly encouraged and aspired towards intergenerational unity? Could it be an opportunity to strengthen and expand our community, in a way where everyone is safe, included, and Do It Yourself is less common a phrase than Do It Together? I would love to see how society might be transformed when we start investing in a scene like that, with young people and their pioneering spirit at the forefront of our vision for the future.
