five songs, maximum
around twenty-five minutes. short and deliberate, with no filler and no encore.
about
a small room, on purpose.
most live music asks you to stand a long way back. after hours is the opposite of that. one artist, a room that holds thirty at the very most, and an audience close enough to hear the guitar before it hits a microphone.
there is no stage and no barrier. phones stay away for the performance, which means no screens in shot, no crowd noise on the recording, and nobody watching the night through a lens. between songs the artist talks, properly, rather than fielding questions through a passed microphone.
the goal is that people leave with a memory, not a video clip.
every session is filmed and recorded by us, and the artist keeps the footage. each one also becomes a hand-numbered printed zine, made with the artist, with a pull-out poster in the middle. the session lasts one night. the zine doesn’t.
the format
built small on purpose.
every rule below exists to keep the room quiet and the attention on the artist.
fifteen to thirty people
everyone close enough to see the artist’s hands. no barricades, no pit, no stage.
phones away
no crowd filming, no screens in shot, and no phone noise over the music.
conversation, built in
a real talk between songs, not a q and a with a microphone passed around.
the details
- where
- auckland. the location changes every session and is chosen around the artist and the songs, from halls and warehouses to backyards and front rooms.
- who plays
- one artist per session. no support, no line-up, no headliner.
- how long
- around twenty-five minutes of music, plus a short conversation if the artist wants one.
- tickets
- free. released online a few days ahead, limited, first come first served.
- the location
- shared with ticket holders twelve hours before doors.
- filming
- the session is filmed and recorded properly. the audience is not filming; we are.