Winston Watusi Music Plus

I find it a bit alarming that next year is only a couple of weeks away. Yes, of course Christmas is just around the corner, but two weeks until 2023 seems too soon. Let's immediately look for things on New Year's Eve...

There is – surprise! – a lot happening, but the big bash at Totara Street caught my eye because I was all set to write about its previous incarnation back in June. Then the promoter asked me not to.

It's been a year like that. I forget how many shows I've written about that have subsequently been cancelled by Covid. Or, in the case of the Auckland Blues Festival, by weather. Several times I've had to rewrite columns because shows have been cancelled even before I can get the copy to my editor. But this was different.

We were planning all sorts, including a competition, ticket giveaways; the usual promotion that helps sell a really big show. Then I had a call from the organiser. It had already sold out. We did no promotion. I didn't even get to write about it.

But now it's back: Overload 2 - Totara St New Year's Tribute Festival.

As y'all might have spotted, I don't regularly write about ‘tribute bands'. There are many reasons – aside from being an unreconstructed musical snob – but I make an exception here for two reasons. Firstly, the sheer scale of the thing, with five bands playing and five bands being ‘tributed'. Secondly, one of the bands is not a tribute band. That's the band I'm most interested in.

Details

Okay. Let's get the details done. Doors open for Overload at 6pm December 31. It's an R18 event and tickets, from the Totara St website, are $40 or $50 depending on how soon you buy them. And what can you expect by way of music?

There's New Zealand Black Sabbath tribute act, After Forever, which has been covering Ozzy-era Sabbath for more than 20 years. Expect: ‘Iron Man', ‘Paranoid', ‘War Pigs'. Then it's a set of Foo Fighters' songs from the Faith Fighters. Expect ‘All My Life', ‘Best of You', ‘Everlong', all the Foo's greatest hits as well as a few deep cuts for real Dave Grohl fanatics.

Also on the bill is Australasia's Motorhead tribute band, Th' Bast*rds. Apparently these guys are not just a covers band, but claim to 'live and breath the Motorhead personas”. Whether that includes Lemmy's legendary intake of methamphetamines remains to be seen. Expect: ‘Ace of Spades', ‘Orgasmatron', ‘Overkill'.

But wait, there's more! Faith Fighters also do a full set of classic Faith No More tracks. Expect: ‘We Care A Lot', ‘Epic', ‘The Real Thing'. And then just after midnight The Firestarters will end the night with a set of Prodigy songs including ‘Firestarter', ‘Breathe' and ‘Smack my B*tch Up'. We can only hope this goes better than Prodigy's incendiary Woodstock 99 set as seen in recent documentaries.

Kaosis

The tribute bands may be the ticket-selling draw but it's the other band that interests me. That is local outfit Kaosis, a band that has largely skipped the scene here in favour of conquering the world.

Kaosis was founded by vocalist and producer X3N in 2018. The eight-piece band has since toured New Zealand, Australia, and Japan multiple times and has played major festivals including Rhythm n Vines, Dead of Winter Festival, and Psycho Circus. Kaosis has released a debut album, ‘Hitech –Lowlife', and in November added a bonus Rarities EP to celebrate the album reaching one million plays on Spotify. They have just returned from a sold-out Australian tour, and are signed to the European label, Atypeek Music, known for their bizarre and highly creative roster of artists.

And they are certainly that. They present a show of wild extravagance. The music is heavy industrial nu-metal and the full stage show includes lasers, smoke, dancers, and cold spark pyro. It is genuinely spectacular. And they have a busy summer coming up, headlining a bunch of festivals, including Nemesis Fest, Distortion Fest, and Frenzy. So grab those tickets – if there are any left when you read this!

Photo: Supplied