distance (NZ) and Myriad Drone (Au)
w/ Spiral & Their Eyes Were Flowers
Valhalla, Wellington
Friday 21 February 2025
Call me hipster, but I’ve been a big fan of distance since before their first release. I remember listening to an advanced copy of their debut EP, over time that Sam Butler sent me and being highly impressed how great he’d managed to make it sound, especially considering how it was essentially a lockdown bedroom album. But then again, I wasn’t surprised. Sam is well known within the music scene. His touches can be widely seen – mixing and recording music, designing posters and album art, filling in on bass and guitar. distance was a project that highlighted just how talented he was.
Since then, Sam has recruited a band of fantastic musicians, released a few albums, and played a bunch of shows. I’ve followed the band with great interest and was delighted when I saw this tour announced.
Myriad Drone have come over from Australia for the tour. They graced our shores last year, coming over as support for Russian Circles. There are a few cool connections between Myriad Drone and distance. Shane from Myriad Drone is from Nelson, as are the members of distance, although none of them live in Nelson these days. Shane used to be in a metal band called Zerstiren, who had a reunion tour late last year. Levi Sheehan – best known for drumming in Organectomy – filled in for Zerstiren for the reunion. And Levi also drums in distance. Levi and Shane got chatting about how they were both in post-rock bands, and next thing you know, they’ve planned a cool tour.
Spiral kicked the night off. They switched between mellow and intense frequently, but keeping the energy high. A lot of midwest emo and post-hardcore influences shone through, and I especially liked the spoken word sections that remind me of La Dispute.
Next up were Their Eyes Were Flowers. They introduced their music as “pretty little songs” before launching into harsh, chaotic music. The songs had structure, but they seemed messy and partially free flow. I’m not sure about the tunings, but the guitars sounded discordant with jagged riffs. It was a challenging listen. I could see that they were trying to make some kind of artistic statement, but I didn’t like it.
Myriad Drone. I’d bumped into them and had a chat with them on Cuba St shortly before the gig, and they faintly remembered me from having yarns at the Russian Circles show last year. They seemed happy to see me, and were super friendly. And their music was great. They’re about to release a new album, A World Without Us, on March 8th, and we were fortunate enough to get a taste of the new songs. They sounded fantastic.
I thought it was funny that Shane and Simon wore Russian Circles and Botch t-shirts, respectively – both bands featuring the same bassist, Brian Cook. I thought Hayley was wearing a Nine Inch Nails top at first glance, but upon inspection it turned out to be a NIN x Monty Python parody referencing the Knights who say Ni!
You know that the band should be bringing the goods when they’ve all got in ear monitors and backing tracks, so it was no surprise that Myriad Drone had a full, vibrant sound. I was surprised how transcendent some of the songs sounded, even while Hayley was going nuts on the blastbeats. I loved seeing how Shane and Jacob added their vocals to the mix to create more subtle textures in the music as well. Their set was a real treat to behold.
distance have been around for a few years now, but it feels like they’ve ascended rapidly, garnering international recognition for their quality recordings, and great slots supporting overseas touring artists and NZ festivals. Earlier this month they’d joined God Is An Astronaut on the two NZ legs of their international tour.
distance have freshly been reduced to a core trio, but the three of them collectively create such a lush, dense sound that you’d have no idea that they’re a man down. You can just tell that they know what they’re doing. Toby Leman (best known for his band Hummicide, amongst many others) came on for a guest appearance for roughly half the set, adding his sweet saxophone to the mix. He stood there statuesque, wearing sunglasses and adding a his element aspect to fantastic music. It sounded good, and was somewhat novel because I haven’t come across the use of brass instruments in post-rock music much (The Dark Third, and this Caspian video come to mind, but not much else).
The lights were fairly dim and subdued, and although distance are by no means boring, there was less of a focus on showmanship, and they let the immersive music do the talking. It was primal, captivating. Like Myriad Drone, they still had metal elements like blastbeats and tremolo riffing at times, but it never felt jarring. There’s not much that I find more thrilling than beholding exceptional musicians, masterfully commanding their instruments onstage like this.
Looking around the venue, Valhalla was reasonably full. Everyone else stood entranced. I bet they were all thankful that they’d chosen to spend their Friday night like this.
Tomorrow distance and Myriad Drone play the Paisley Stage in Napier, along with FVKVSHIMA. They’ll then head to the South Island for shows in Christchurch and Nelson next week.
distance and Myriad Drone are playing the following dates:
Friday 21 February – Valhalla, Wellington w/ Their Eyes Were Flowers + Spiral
Saturday 22 February – Paisley Stage, Napier w/ FVKVSHIMA
Friday 28 February – Wunderbar Lyttelton, Christchurch w/ Necropolis + Ragweed
Saturday 1 March – Coastal Carnage Festival
Tickets from UnderTheRadar: https://www.undertheradar.co.nz/news/21973/Distance–Myriad-Drone-AUS-Aotearoa-Tour-2025-Announced.utr
Links:
distance: https://lnk.bio/distancenz
Myriad Drone: https://myriaddrone.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/myriaddrone/
Words and photos by Joseph James