VOLUME 1

As a new development of the programme we recorded ten of the bands that participated in the project in the first half of 2012. This album is a testament to their hard work and awesome talent. Thank you to the Bendigo Valley Sports & Charity Foundation for their generous grant in support of this recording project.

AMPED, formerly the Chicks Project, is a project of the Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust in partnership with the Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand (ALAC) and the Dunedin City Council’s Creative Communities Scheme. AMPED would also like to acknowledge the huge support we have received from the Dunedin music community who have freely given their time to support these up and coming musicians.

AMPED is now in it’s third year of running and has worked with over 100 young Dunedin musicians.

AMPED holds regular free all-ages, alcohol-free gigs for high school bands and solo acts to perform to their peers. As part of the project students learn how to organise gigs, manage their band, use of sound equipment, song-writing, DIY recording, performance and about the music industry. Each act is also matched with a mentor to provide feedback and support.

The gigs and workshops aim to remedy the lack of regular, supervised, alcohol-free events for young people to attend in Dunedin. They are also a platform for the positive promotion of responsible drinking and awareness around alcohol harm and safety. AMPED provides opportunities for young musicians to achieve their goals by GETTING INTO IT, NOT OUT OF IT! The gigs are a space to have fun with the focus being on the music rather than on drinking alcohol.

THANK YOU:Special thanks to Joe and Matt of Blue Line Music Studio, Annie and Garth from Dunedin Muso’s Club, Roger from RokPx, AR Media, Sophie Adams Photography, Paul Smith and Steph Dyer from Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust, The Attic, The MalCam Trust, Re:Fuel, Youth Collective Radio Show, Radio1 and Dunedinmusic.com. And of course everyone who came along to the gigs and supported the project.

Thank you to project mentors Penelope Esplin, Damian Smith, Lucy Hunter, Glen Kellett, Andy Straight, Oli Wilson, Julian Temple, Daniel Potter, Maddy Parkins-Craig, Lee Nicolson, Sam McKean, Chris Miller, and Richard Ley-Hamilton.

Thank you to workshop facilitators Dan Cox, Sam McKean, Olivia Canny, Lee Nicolson, Maddy Parkins-Craig, Scott Muir, Oli Wilson, and Jason Schroeder.

AMPED Coordinator 2012: Jess Young

1 Puzzle Puppets Everyone Runs In The Night

2 John George McLeod’s Melon Platoon Don’t Let Da Fear Kill Da Funk

3 The Good Chaps The Broken Man

4 Bronwyn Halley Jump Ship

5 Young With Ghosts Sunrise (The Tale of Nothing Special)

6 Thoughtful and The Mighty Heart Lovely People

7 This Way Up Nameless

8 Toy Destruction Checkers

9 H.C. Battle Of The Ages

10 Crisis Too Much Is Not Enough

All tracks mastered by Daniel Potter. Tracks 1, 3-9 recorded at Blue Line Music Studio and mixed by the bands. Track 10 recorded in Ryan’s basement and mixed by Daniel Potter. Track 2 recorded at Kavanagh College and mixed by Daniel Potter.

PUzzle PUPPeTsHey lovely people!!!! Thank you from Puzzle Puppets for getting your hands on this compilation album. We are a newly formed two piece band consisting of Connor Blackie and Nick Alexander. We both attend Otago Boys High School where we endure musical adventures together.... We enjoy an alternative, indie, pop genre that we try to portray in our songs. Our main influences include; Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks, Kings of Leon and of course Two Cartoons. Our song you will hear in this compilation is titled “Everyone runs in the night” and we hope you enjoy it.

https://www.facebook.com/puzzlepuppets

JOHN GeOrGe MAcleOd’s MelON PlATOONForged in a strange cavern in the middle of Dunedin, The Melon Platoon is a superpowered force dedicated to stopping the spread of beige and pretension, and kicking auto-tune in the face. With the power of four almost competent musicians the Melon Platoon will most likely turn your brain into shit and grant you a musical experience equal to at least 7 and a half orgasms.

The Melon Platoon consist of: the pretentious douchebag Jack “Bass” Brosnahan on the big guitar with less plucky things. The gimpy mank Tom “Bender” Monaghan on the girly little normal guitar for his dainty hands. The bogan metalhead Liam “Listens to Megadeth and is therefore lame” Seque on hitty things (but also thinks he can do other things). And the comparatively normal Callum “Callum” MacLeod on voicey stuff.

When asked about being involved in AMPED, the collective entity of the Melon Platoon guffawed into their knobbly elbows and replied in gangsta form, “Word homes, AMPED has been totally super special awesome yo.” Then they less lamely (but still pretty lamely) carried on, “It’s an awesome experience for meeting heaps of people and bands, and develops your skills far more than your arrogant young self believes possible. Perhaps someday we’ll even be good! Jess Young who ran it is especially cool as!” Then they disappeared in a cloud of funky smoke, but they left their wallet behind.

https://www.facebook.com/TheMelonPlatoon

BrONwYN HAlleYBronwyn is an 18 year old from Dunedin just dipping her toes into the singing/songwriting world. She found her passion for music 7 years ago and hasn’t stopped singing since. 

She enjoys a range of music including pop, country and musical theatre and is extremely grateful to the AMPED Project for all their support and opportunities.

https://www.facebook.com/BronwynHalleyMusic

THe GOOd cHAPsSam and Jeremy met through the AMPED Project, which put them through a series of gigs and workshops related to the music industry. They began as a three piece with Wanaka drummer Tyler, but due to location making band practices difficult, the band quickly became a two piece.

Shedding the heavier electric guitar-, bass- and drums-based sound, the band became much more vocally focused. Taking to acoustic guitars and a smattering of harmonies, the Good Chaps have developed their own sound quickly. Between March and June of 2012, The Good Chaps played their first gigs, and have since recorded original songs and – under a different moniker with added members – competed successfully at the Otago Regional RockQuest finals for 2012. Sam won the “Best Female Musician” award, coming with a big prize of cash money. Recently having recorded their first professional level single, “The Broken Man”, the duo is well on their way into recording and songwriting. 

Thanks to everyone who has supported us and AMPED, it’s been fantastic so far!

https://www.facebook.com/TheGoodChaps

YOUNG wiTH GHOsTsWe are a two piece band. We want to play all sorts of music that involve all of our influences, we don’t however like our music to sound perfect even if it does sound pop. After going through the AMPED music project we now have a strong knowledge of what we need to do to achieve our goals. 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Young-with-Ghosts/310278359062288

THOUGHTfUl ANd THe MiGHTY HeArTThree guys who got together to play music, all of them oblivious to the fact that one day they would cause a series of events to be put in motion that would result in them reuniting a Persian man with his long lost Czechoslovakian fiancé, who was lost during world war three. On a dragon. In Tamriel. Yeahhhhhh.

AMPED has been a great experience for all of us. We have had the chance to be involved in interesting and informative workshops and we have met many other like-minded musicians along the way. It’s been awesome!

https://www.facebook.com/ThoughtfulAndTheMightyHeart

http://thoughtfulandthemightyheart.bandcamp.com/

THis wAY UPThis Way Up started as three friends at Logan Park Park High school. We soon realised that we all played the right instruments to form our own band. We started without a name just having random practices whenever we felt. Our first gig was at an outdoor concert at our school. We started playing more seriously after joining the AMPED project which got us some proper gigs at some local venues. Being in the AMPED project has given us enthusiasm towards practicing and playing in our band and we had a really great time learning and playing alongside them. Thanks heaps guys.

https://www.facebook.com/ThisWayUpNZ

TOY desTrUcTiONInfused from the bubblegum beneath your feet, Toy Destruction came alive. From these twisted beginnings we are out to seek revenge! But after learning the effort it would take, our revenge was futile... So we just sit in our rooms building space ships out of lego blocks and searching for that illusive note between B and C.

From these humble beginnings, and consisting of Daniel Potter (Vocals, Bass Guitar, Loops, Kazoo, Mojo) and Ryan Finnie

(Beats), Toy Destruction set out to bring our musically haphazard deliciousness to your hungry ears!

Toy Destruction was a side-project that has its origins from Crisis’s involvement with the AMPED project. When Crisis had the opportunity to play at Dunedin music.com gig through AMPED, we were short a guitarist last minute. Then Toy Destruction came to life all thanks to AMPED.

http://www.facebook.com/ToyDestruction

H.c.H.C is a 4 piece (with the occasional bag pipe) hard rock/metal band. We formed at the start of 2010. We are all at South Otago High School and have done a few gigs and Rockquest. We are just looking to play as much as possible. The members are Reuben Gray (vox, guitar, year 13), William Wright (bass, back up vox, year 13), Hayden Whitmore (lead guitar, year 12), Liam Whitmore (drums, year 10).

AMPED’s been a really good experience and helped us get some gigs and exposure. We really enjoyed it and it’s been good to meet new artists.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/HC/162341110501030

crisisCrisis was formed in 2009 by Chris Glover and Ryan Finnie. We started off playing endless Green Day covers... then finally moved on to write originals. In 2012, we recruited bass extraordinaire Daniel Potter, and became the band we are today. Through the AMPED project we have been given lots of opportunities to perform, and meet many fabulous Dunedin musicians. Check us out on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/Crisisnz and download some of our songs for free.

Photos of Crisis, H.C., Puzzle Puppets, This Way Up, Thoughtful and the Mighty Heart, Toy Destruction, Young With Ghosts, and the crowd at the Muso’s club - by RokPx.com

Photos of JGMMP, and The Good Chaps - by armedia.co.nz

Album artwork: Miriam Buhler Album layout: Lucinda McConnon