Soapbox: Anthony Metcalf On 100% Good's New Club Night Next Wave ft. Jeshi (UK) + More

For our first Soapbox opinion feature, Anthony Metcalf explains the raison d'être behind 100% Good's newest endeavour, an ongoing club night named Next Wave. Rising East London rap star Jeshi headlines the first Next Wave at Tāmaki Makaurau's new Double Whammy! venue on 11th October, with very special guests to be announced soon — grab tickets HERE via UTR.

As an independent event promoter since 2015, our music industry has changed immeasurably. Aotearoa has some of the best and most talented songwriters in the world, but in the age of viral moments and TikTok hits, it’s a crowded marketplace for local artists to get cut through with global audiences and industry professionals. The scope and breadth of what’s on offer for audiences has grown considerably, in both volume and quality, marketing has moved largely into online spaces and the competition in these spaces are some of the biggest entertainment companies the world has ever seen. If you exist in these online spaces you are competing for likes, shares, plays and everything in between with Taylor, Drake and Charli, not to mention Sony, Universal and Warner.

Sounds pretty scary right? Well sure. But what about audiences closer to home? As an event promoter, you’re always chasing that draw for someone to buy a ticket. Word of mouth? Street poster? Meta ad? Heard something on TikTok? Our industry often treats punters in a binary fashion, but in my experience it’s usually a combination of factors that pulls that trigger. And the smaller / less fAmOuS the act, the more important those social factors are to selling your show. Yes, cost of living is crunching our souls, but there will always be a segment of society who can afford a good time. How do we capture their spend without the big headliners / marketing budgets at a more local level? How do you entice audiences out, without viral moments or a Fantano’s co-sign?

Next Wave has been an idea kicking around in my head ever since leaving working in regular club nights in Tāmaki. How do you create a live platform for up and coming international talent before they blow up? Can you leverage brand value outside of headliner pull? Is anyone reading this? My career began in the club and to be honest I don’t think I’ve ever really left. Even when I’m working a Town Hall or festival show it still feels like MUM night. MUM CLUB was a Friday band night at Cassette, primarily for local bands and DJs, based on the indie club night format from the UK. This kinda show was a dime a dozen in Tāmaki in those days — there were multiple low stakes, paid opportunities for up and coming bands to play. Every now and again, we dabbled in international bookings. Some of these were of them were legendary (the night Skrillex impromptu DJ’d to 50 people while their minds melted) some great (BADBADNOTGOOD, Slow Magic) and others downright miserable / financially ruinous. But the broad motivation remains the same: can you successfully combine the conditions of club night culture with international touring?

The general idea for Next Wave is to:

(a) platform local acts alongside international headliners
(b) work at club scale and
(c) be affordable enough for punters to take a risk on

I’ve been super inspired by promoters such as FILTH and Friendly Potential, Community Garden and NYMPHO, who have successfully nurtured their locals audiences as much as their booking rolodexes to the betterment of their respective scenes.

Next Wave is a challenge to come check out some great acts before they blow up. Will it work? Who knows! But I’m willing to try at least once.

Jeshi (UK)
Friday 11th October - Double Whammy, Auckland w/ special guests to be announced
Tickets on sale HERE via UTR

Anthony Metcalf is a booking agent, event promoter and opinion haver based in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Soapbox is UTR's new irregular series of opinions and ideas from Aotearoa's live music community. All views expressed are the writer's own.