This Friday we are excited to be hosting the debut NAH ZONE Showcase. The killer local line up includes The Katayanagi Twins, Baccyard, Church & AP, N eo & Jinzo, Humbleboy & J$E, and Sugoi. So who exactly is NAH ZONE and what are they about? We caught up with their founder Jonique to ask about who they are and what’s in store for Saturday night.
In your own words, what is NAH ZONE?
It’s hard to pin-point what Nah Zone exactly is because it's so fluid but I would say right now it’s a youth-lead community platform where we aim to give young local creatives the support and representation they need as well as keeping them in the know with what’s going on in our local creative scene.
What prompted you to launch NAH ZONE? When did NAH ZONE begin?
Nah Zone launched last year in October but the idea had always been around, I was just both lazy and scared to put it out there. I used to rent a space upstairs at Olly in Mount Eden and that place itself was a creative hub. All types of talented creatives were running in and out of there and a lot of them never really had a platform to get their work out to a wider audience mainly because they didn’t have the support to or they didn’t fit into a specific category. I wanted to change that. I wanted them to embrace the fact that they were put in the ‘Nah Zone’.
What does NAH ZONE offer compared to other local music & promotions collectives?
Nah Zone’s kaupapa is all about putting community values at the forefront in everything we do which means we aren’t exclusive, we’re open to collaborations and we’re always trying to find new ways to push the scene forward. We have a fortnightly segment, Keep It Real, that gives people the chance to send through their life experiences and how they feel about all sorts of things with no filter whatsoever. You won’t really find that on any other music/promotion platform.
Above: Joni the founder of NAH ZONE
The upcoming showcase is your first solo run gig, congrats! What do you think are the most important elements of a successful show?
Thank you! I really think it’s about communication, knowing your demographic and how you can appeal to them through promotions without necessarily saying straight up ‘buy tickets to our show!’ cause that gets boring after a while. Also, everybody loves a good meme.
You have an incredible line up, can you introduce the line up and explain why you chose them for your debut showcase?
Our line-up includes producers Baccyard (Omni Potent) and Sugoi (Climate Change/Bassment), rising rap duo Church & AP as well as former duo N eo x Jinzo who will be doing separate sets so that’s exciting! We also have Humbleboy & J$E who are frontliners for upcoming music collective, KOME, that are based in between Auckland and Christchurch. Lastly, the infamous Katayanagi Twins - the turntablist duo who bring that feminine modern twist to our local nightlife. The line-up was chosen through an online poll - we asked our audience who they wanted to see for our first show and the response back was insane. From that, we handpicked each act we felt represented what Nah Zone is all about in their own unique ways. I think
Locally, who else are you excited about at the moment?
Music wise I’d have to say Meraki Soul, Azryd, Spyde, Dharmarat, T1R, Hurt Gurl, Shallow$ and everything GARETHXMF is doing with Peach Sessions. If we’re talking fashion, the boys from Friends + Enemies and the Kolose sisters from Hunting Ground Store are paving new lanes, it’s cool to see. 10Daniel16 is a freak of nature with the visuals as well as Serval Fandango with his eye candy flair. I’m really excited about the 312 Hub though, everything they’re doing/aiming to do is so dope. I could go on forever with this list.
After the showcase, what can we expect from NAH ZONE in 2018?
We have one more gig in July and then after that we’re going to step back a bit from events to fully immerse ourselves into the community things like workshops and open panel discussions as well improve on what we’re already doing. There’s a few collaborations with local collectives in the works right now but othe than that we’re going with whatever feels right so keep up to date with us on instagram, facebook and twitter.
