Sogg Shines at World Premiere of 'Life in One Chord'

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The gala event last Saturday night was a sold-out affair, attracting a large crowd of music fans and friends of the local alt-rock icon.

A highlight of the evening was a series of musical performances that preceded the film. Our very own Sogg took the stage and delivered a stellar performance that captivated the audience. They shared the stage with other talented musicians, including Sivle Talk, Keira Wallace, and Youbeepastablaster.

The documentary itself, directed by Margaret Gordon, is a poignant look at Carter's journey from a young punk rocker to a New Zealand music legend. The premiere was a fitting tribute to a city that helped shape a unique indie music movement, and Sogg’s performance was an excellent addition to the celebration.

A Firsthand Account from Reuben Tulloch:

Here are some thoughts from our Year 11 student, Reuben Tulloch of Sogg about the night:

"It was a really exciting and different experience to play such a large event, especially since I'm so used to the D.I.Y. all-ages music scene in Dunedin. The whole planning process leading up to the night took months—very different from my usual last-minute band practices the day before a gig in Port Chalmers! Back in March, Natasha Griffiths, Shayne Carter's sister and manager, reached out to Sogg's Instagram asking us about the premiere and if we would be interested in performing a tribute to Shayne Carter. Of course, we said yes with no hesitation. We were told to select two songs from Shayne Carter's catalogue and to 'soggify' them. So we did exactly that. We proceeded to spend the next four to five months learning 'Bridesmaid' by Bored Games and 'Crystalator' by Dimmer and adapted them to our style—loud, fast, soggy? We were also sworn to secrecy and weren't allowed to advertise or promote ourselves playing the event until 24 hours beforehand. This was incredibly different from our usual approach of posting non-stop for weeks leading up to a gig. The 'Life In One Chord' premiere was a huge change of pace. The week before the event, we had dress rehearsals, venue walk-throughs, and physical advertisements that we had to put all over town. Everything was full-on and happening fast.

The night of the premiere did not go as smoothly as I would have liked, though I was told everything was amazing and sounded great—shhh. I had just spent the week prior suffering from the flu and had barely recovered when the night came. My body was aching, my nose was dripping, my throat was scratchy, and my head was pounding. Did this stop me? No, of course not; it just made me want to play even harder and louder. All the artists performing arrived behind the Regent Theatre at about 5 pm, loaded our gear in, and waited quietly for people to leave the auditorium, as a movie was just finishing.

Once everyone had left, the doors to the orchestra pit swung open, and we had five minutes to set everything up. This was fine for everyone else, as they are guitarists and just had to plug the thing into the thing or something like that. However, I had to set up my whole drum kit and make sure everything was tightened and at the perfect angle for me to play. (Evil foreshadowing.)

The pit was then elevated while we were on it, and before we knew it, we were in the auditorium. We had a quick line check, and then people began flooding into the theatre. Youbeepastablaster began her ambient noise set as the audience piled in. We were up next. Youbeepastablaster finished her set, and the words 'Sogg' appeared behind us. Ollie approached the mic, introduced us, and then Noelle's driving bassline began. Thirty seconds into the song, boom! My crash cymbal collapsed. This wasn't great because I use the crash a lot. I couldn't just stop in the middle of the song to fix it, so I had to endure. I kept thrashing my ride cymbal over and over and over... BOOM! My ride collapsed, too! I had to switch the whole drum beat over to the hi-hats. I was panicking, but thankfully, the song came to a close quicker than it felt, and I rushed over to my cymbals to fix the stands.

Sivle Talk (Tane Cotton's, Natasha Griffiths' son’s, solo project) joined us for our next song. This song was 'Crystalator' by Dimmer. It went great! The song ripped through the theatre. Tane’s lead guitar screeched and roared as Ollie, Noelle, and I had our booming rhythm pounding into 1300 people's eardrums. If you didn't have earplugs, you were screwed. We brought insane amounts of volume and energy, and I was just in my zone. My eyes were shut, and I got to feel my drum kit and drown out the fact that 1300 people were analysing my every move. My earplugs fell out during the bridge, which just happened to be the loudest part. My ride cymbal pierced my eardrums, and my bass drum pounded into my head like a concrete block.

The song wrapped up with a loud finish, and Keira Wallace introduced their song and began to perform their beautiful acoustic rendition of 'Life In One Chord' by the Straitjacket Fits. Their song finished up, and we all went to our seats as the tech crew covered all our gear with black blankets to prevent glare during the film. The film began, and it was amazing—truly one of the best things I have watched this year. Playing at this premiere was an amazing experience, and it gave me some insight into the more professional side of performing."