What does a good night on Karangahape Road involve? The variations are endless. Last year our friend Jordan Hurdle (aka LUCA of Omni Potent) decided to put together one of his own variations and launch A Good Night on K' Rd - a club night with his friends and some of the best local young artists. This Saturday we have Jordan and his crew back for their third installment of A Good Night on K' Rd to date. We caught up with him this week to chat about his love for K' Rd.
Above: Jordan himself, photo by Max Burgess
What was your first memory of Karangahape Road?
My first memory of K would have to be going to Brazil Cafe with my dad around 6 years old. For those who knew of it or remember, it was such a funky cafe. Real intimate with cool games for the kids. I seem to remember lots of music magazines, posters and art everywhere.
How do you feel K' Road has shaped the local music scene the past few years?
K’ Road has shaped the local scene to the next degree! I feel without it, so many music collectives including ourselves, wouldn’t of had the stepping stones you need to enter the NZ music scene (and I'm just talking about the Hip-Hop/Trap Groups I know of). Without spots like The Grow Room & Lowtide I wouldn’t have met the likes of Badcrop, LSJ & Shiraz and many more creatives, not just musicians!
The first time I heard of Neck Of The Woods was through a Home Brew or Average Rap Band gig. Unfortunately, I was too young to go, but knowing that the people I looked up to played there, I knew that's where Omni would soon perform. I feel the local music scene has NOTW and many other venues to thank for giving all sorts a chance to showcase their talents. From hosting vast community nights like Plug FM, also for individual acts and of course again, ourselves!
I know so many people who’s first gig was on K. It's CRAZY! Thank the Gods & Goddess’s for you and everybody on it, K’road.
Above: Franko (OMNI) performing.
This is the third Good Night on K' Road gig, when and how did the idea come about?
Well, it all happened when Hudge (Neck of the Woods music/event manager) txt me saying someone had pulled out a week before their set date. He was due to go overseas and was really needing someone to fill the gap. I believe it was a Hip-Hop/Trap night planned so I guess due to our previous gig at NOTW, he knew we had some sort of pull on the Hip-Hop scene around the C.A. Ambitiously, I told Hudge I'd do it, knowing I still needed to talk to the rest of the crew.
So I holla’d at T (Nauti) asking what he thought about it - unsurprisingly he wasn’t keen at all, since our last show had months in advance to plan. So I turned to my other flatmate Max (Uncle Hyan) asking him if he thought I could do it and if so would he help me. Hyan only sees the best in any situation so, of course it was YES. We chucked some names about and ‘A GOOD NIGHT ON K’RD’ stood out. We collectively hand-picked some DJs (Chef B, Ethan James, Ngaroma & Zoe B aka Kick Girl) we had ties with and that was it.
One week to organise and promo the night and it turned out great! We had roughly 250 people show up. Since it was a major success (in my eyes) I knew it had potential to be an annual/mid-year event. We had to plan another.
The second show, we had to make it a sell out ting (Baccyard, Omni Potent, Illbaz, Chef B, HYAN, Yancey and CHOP’D UP).
What is a good night on K Road for you?
A good night for me definitely includes some Lord of the Fries, maybe Sals and of course bouncing between Neck and Verona. But no doubt it mainly relies on whats going down on the night, has to be Good MUSIC involved! But I love checking out new events/ artists which appeal to me, so I always find myself strolling to find out what else is happening on K’Rd. Never find myself at the karaoke tho haha.
Above: LUCA & HYAN (Jordan and Max)
If you were to add any three spots Onto K' Road what would they be?
This is a good question, I'd love to see more Youth Organisations/Creative spaces for artists.
The likes of Grow Room and Lowtide leaving K really brought up emotions in me, they need to be back there and definitely deserve a space on the strip. A gaming arcade spot would be sick!
What are you working on at the moment, other than organising this weekend's Good Night?
We have just secured a studio down in New Market, so we are re-recording and working on new music to release, not to mention a few music videos (finally) !
Gig wise, I haven’t started planning anything yet! But definitely putting some ideas down on the drawing board... won’t give too much away. We are also due for some new Omni merchandise as well.
