Welcome back to another issue of Mammoth in the ‘flesh’ after taking a fortnight off printing one to launch an online version and our swanky new website, www.mammothguide.co.nz. The website has all the articles, interviews and comprehensive event listings you can read about in here, plus a few extra goodies including podcasts, exclusive articles and a handy interactive map showing you where to find the best spots in H-town.

As we get into NZ Music Month for what must be the umpteenth time, it seems to have become an increasingly farcical self-congratulatory exercise, with NZ on Air patting itself on the back for platinum album sales and double digit kiwi music air-play, (only to see it drop down like a brick in June) which is presumably achieved by dishing out recording grants to create carbon-copies of American acts and pretending we have a ‘music industry’.

But we’re more than happy to gatecrash the party, with plenty of ace shows happening this month – The Mint Chicks, Charlie Ash, Tahuna Breaks as well as local band The Shrugs, who are releasing an album, and the legendary Hamilton ‘Circle Jerk’ wrapping up the end of the month.

There’s plenty of music happenings the other 11 months of the year too and we don’t need a friggin’ dartboard to remind us.