WELLINGTON

best venues in your town for what style and why:
they're all good for different reasons. if your not realistically going to get more than 150 people to your show try the cross, valve of happy. happy is smokefree which is kinda cool but not very rock and roll. happy also doesn't have a full p.a and the cross's is lacking also (extremely handsome soundman though!). valve sound kicks ass but you have to pay for your own posters to be put up round town when all the other venues will do it for you. and getting a free beer out of the place is like blood from a stone. indigo is better for sound and setting up a good light show but bodega riders are a leveling factor. thistle hall and the irish community hall(?) have hosted a heap of punk shows and all ages also.

best places to get a cheap feed:
angies place - good rolls for $2.50. diagonally opposite real groovy at the top of cuba st.
satay kingdom - cheap malaysian and damn good. left bank, half way down (or up?) cuba mall.
cuba kebab - best kebabs in town. also half way up (or down?) cuba mall.
the 3 for $3.50 smorgasboard under indigo - someone once said that it smells like dead babies but for $3.50 it fills the gap and who'd complain about that.
welcome takeaway - deepfry when you need it most. open very late (or is that early?). burgers, fish and chips etc. opposite valve on vivian st.

best cheap accomodation:
my house, but you can't stay there unless you're a foxy chick. blink has been known to have peeps crash on his floor. other than that there are a few backpackers in the central city.

best post gig hangout :
lie low is awesome. moving to vivian st in june. open till 6am and great cocktails plus $3.50 flame beer. and great music too.

what promo works best in your town:
getting posters and flyers out 2-3 weeks prior always works well. the package are usually sweet to do interviews and profiles plus give-aways on radio active also work good if you don't have the budget to buy ads on the station.

best point of contact person who know's how to get what you need:
blink or myself can get you what you need among lots of other people. emergency last minute bass rigs are my specialty. if you're talking other 'stuff' bar staff are usually a good place to start. there are heaps of other people who know there way around wellington music also but i'm just offering those two to start with.

hottest local bands:
wellington music kicks ass in all genres. venues will give you an honest opinion of who to play with to suit your sound.

girls to watch out for:
my ex. i'll smash ya.

best (and cheap) sound engineers:
nic mcgowan is pretty damn good. so is matt coplan. the venues can suggest who to use and give you contacts.

best kept secret: not telling.

best lighting tech: tope does some mad shit as does matt coplan. as above the venues can give you these details.

best strip club: liks on a tuesday night is pretty good. santa fe must be the best though even though i've never been there because other than the freaky girl on girl beer bottle shit i witnessed that magical tuesday both mermaids and liks are kinda crappy.

any a additions are more than welcomed.

ok I'll do some poking about re nelson
it's just a wee bit hard Nelson is not a happy place local wise, 2 years ago we had a couple of great venues, and local bands that did what they did so well that if you played with them you could rely on a hundred people to turn up, there was 3 movers and shakers who knew all the weres and why fors.
All gone.

but doom and personal gloom aside... stuff does still happen here, but I'm not going to post without proper research..................... any way 6 of natos questions can be answered by saying ME

Maybe iluvtheclean will come in and give advice about soundmen etc in Dunedin, but on the other points, here are my offerings:

Venues:
1. Arc - a nice varied programme comes through Arc, so almost anything you do can be done here, from performance poetry through DJ sets to metal. It has a bar and is generally very pleasant, and where everybody pretty much expects stuff to be happening.
2. Refuel on the university campus is probably next in terms of popularity - it can also do big capacity gigs by opeining up spaces upstairs.
3. The Crown - more of your indie rock/metal specific venue - I saw the Pubddle here last week, 8 Foot Sativa have played here, Onanon love it here, they filmed the Chills here recently for some Canadian doco - this is the last of Dunedin's legendary music venues still in active service (with a hiatus for a while)
4. Chicks Hotel in Port Chalmers sometimes does random gigs with local luminaries coming along
5. Outback - the Feelers, Zed etc play here, although I think one band with some credibility played here last year: it is very much a student pub)
6. Bath Street - very much your dance music venue

To get a curry for under $10, you can go to the Meridian foodcourt, and have a curry, naan, rice and coke for $9.50 but the quality has dropped off. There's a very nice place in South Dunedin where mains are just over the $10 mark, then in town several places with higher prices still (Indian Garden, Mr India and Indian Summer in ascending price order). The key cheap meal in Dunedin is Japanese: town is covered in Japanese cafes - the best two are Mizu, just south of the Octagon (it is licensed) and Arigato on Hanover. Potpourri (Lower Stuart Street) does a good veg curry. Flying Squid (Albany Street) has the best burgers and does foot long hot dogs (I mean the deep fried type, covered in batter) and do pretty good fish and chips. There are also a bunch of second rate asian style cafes - ex Khmer Satay Noodle by the looks of some of them: Apsara is the best, and does a great Cambodian fish curry for $9.50 (don't get it hot unless you have extremely high tolerance!). The Golden Horse across the street does a great Nasi Goreng for the same price.

Metro on Lower Stuart Street is probably the latest opening place that will do a decent coffee. Other coffee places include Percolator (opposite Metro) and Nova (in the Octagon, best cafe in NZ according to Michael Guy and had the English rugby team in on about Wednesday night).

There are plenty of backpackers: possibly the best option is On Top backpackers, one block from the Octagon with a pool hall, bar and dance lounge thingey underneath. I must check it out one day.

Christchurch: I'm guessing theres actually a fair few folks who could add good insight to this

Venues:
1. The big one is the dux, well not big on size, but big on the fact they dominate the gig market round these parts, they are known for good own-brewed beers and free gigs (although it seems that is slowly changing) It is set in the arts centre which is a fairly tourist orientated part of town. Chances are theres something going on there worth taking a look at, just get there early enough to actually have some space, and don't accidentally make your way into the sports bar part on the other side of the dining courtyard. They also have a nice vegetarian restaurant attached.

2. Creation: Big capacity venue, hidden behind the cathedral, great line up gigs have happened there, its also an emerging artists space/gallery, and band practise venue. Plus Marcus who does the bookings is very helpful to get the word out about events.

3. The Media Club: Another nice venue thats hard to find, next door to centennial pool in armagh street. It has a good large main room which can be used for big events, and a smaller side room which in all its ex-brothel neoclassical charm is a great place for a small gig. The cover charges tend to be low, and i do believe its free to hire, the only downside apart from being the worst sign-posted place in town is the weird small group of regulars that hang out at the pool tables in the main bar.

4. The Civic: super expensive to book and unless its pretty full its a lame place to be. Theres not really too much to say about it except that its only worthwhile if you're going to pull in a sell out crowd.

5. Rocky cola bar: why this place is even considered a band venue I don't know... it barely holds 100. Its a sports bar with limp bizkit posters on the wall, and its in the dodgy grumpy molesque bar end of town. Its also rumoured to have a no-same sex public display of affection policy.

6. Cloud 9: an under-rated venue in the upper common room of the university, its main problem is the lack of knowledge of where it is, and the fact its in the burbs. Some good bands play there, its just a matter of fnding out about it.

7. The wunderbar: If you're willing to make the trek to lyttleton this place is a gem. the dodgy PA aside, the venue has got it in regards to the best kitch decor in the world (personal favourite is the princess di and charles cross-stich by the bar). If you don't like stairs this place isn't much fun to get to, but its worth the climb (up or down depending on which side you arrive on)

8. The Harbourlight: pretty excellent venue, although not often advertising gigs there. Also I think being in Lyttleton is a hinderance for this to be more widely used for bands.

9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Eyespy/Home/Mansion/Heaven/Base: the places you're more likely to hear house and drum and bass music.

14. Ministry: the big dance venue in town, notorious for its evil owner and the fact that water is expensive and the taps in the bathrooms don't work properly. Also bad venilation is a problem.... no one likes to be rained on by sweat.

15. The Jet-set lounge: Just re-opened a month ago after going under structural improvements. Its still pretty much a pub with pool tables and pokies, except now they've arranged it better putting the pokies in a separate room. I suspect once they put the fans back in for ventilation, and they finish the wiring it will be a good option for a venue. their advertisted fire limit is now 400.

16. Mainstreet: folk music mostly, its a cafe so the band performing space is small but the atmosphere is nice.

17. The Strip:(oxford terrace bars) its a meat market thats all you need to know.

food for under $10:
if you are after lunch Brasilia in the student association building at Canty Uni is great, most hot food and salads are under $5.90 and they make really good sweet stuff. Sami's lebanese souvlaki in riccarton is one of the best in christchurchat about $7-9, quickly followed by the greek options at Dimitris on colombo st in town, and eriks in sumner.
If its coffee you want, c1 is the trendy choice on high street, opposite the amazing Alice in Videoland video store (for all the weird and obscure needs-beats aro st video hands down)
Then the cheapest and possibly worst for you health option is the $2 plate of fried rice from dumplings in the guthry centre (walk through from ballentynes) its probably really bad because of the fatty sauce they put on it.... but hey if you only have $2 and need food, its not a bad idea.
There is also a wide range of korean, thai, vietnamese and chinese food places on colombo st. The Honey pot cafe does pizzas and used to do a platter of naan with dips for reasonably cheap... i haven't been there in a while for food because of rumours the service isn't as good as it used to be.

As for places to stay, I know very little about the backpackers, YHA is opposite the arts centre/botanical gardens/museum, so for location, (also a block from the new art gallery and the centre for contempory art) its pretty good for location.

If you're stuck for something to do in winter on a friday night, do look at the stars in the old university observatory in the arts centre. Its free/donation if you're a nice person and you get to look through their telescope and be told interesting space facts by some astronomy student from the uni. its a lot of fun (especially for little kids) but its bloody cold up there.

Record stores to visit: Galaxy on high street for all your indie needs- they stock a lot of new vinyl, Echo about 2 doors down, its pink, you can't miss it, 1st floor is second hand and new stuff-mostly regular record store fare, but upstairs is the vinyl and sale cds which sometimes is worth the look.
If you're willing for a walk off the beaten path, crossing the overbridge on colombo st to sydenham to check out penny lane is worthwhile if you are after something.... anything on vinyl.... they currently have two pin group 7" going for $150 each if you're interested.
:)

Also in sydenham next to blockbuster is a $2 garment second hand clothing shop and a block away is savemart for a huge selection second hand clothes. If you're into op-shopping toffs in gloucester st is a pretty and established store, and they have a $2 garment shop in cranford st (theres also a save mart there too.)

the big op shop paradise, for the weird is the super shed in aranui. Basically recycling stuff from the tip. Its run by the city council and as far as crazy for the home stuff goes, its pretty cheap.

hottest local bands:reduction agents, mnt chicks, checks, cocoasolid.

girls to watch out for:the girl that does the intellectual property on c4 , camilla, has sum friends, an they r really bitchy and upthemselves, an she is 2. i think 1 of hur friends, has short dark hair an straight fringe is a proper groupy. unless you lyke snoby "think we r so kool" scensta girls with stds then stay away! there are also sum grls from north sure, an they r odd, an think they r hot shit. sum of them wur jumping on the guy that does the cheese on toast website. there are lots of hoes on the north shore.

WEEL weLL wEll princess_85! oRe shud I sAy BITCH_85! OMG lolo10111 jusT BecOz U OThA AuckLAnDERs are So FriGID, u neEd tO looSen uP. youRE jElous BecAuse wE alL caught TEH CLAP from TEH HAVE and YUO didnt!!11 NorTH ShORE 4 LYYYYYFEE am i RITE gurlz??!