Show, gig celebrate local music

Logan Nathan is a passionate advocate for local music.

A driving passion for local music has fuelled Hamilton's Free FM radio host Logan Nathan to stage a concert featuring six Hamilton-based bands at Altitude this month.

Nathan, a maths teacher at Raglan Area School by day, spends many hours at night securing and promoting local music to play on his show.

Following a year with a slot on Raglan's Tractor FM, Nathan switched to Free FM just over three years ago and surprised its station manager with news that he wanted to play local music.

"They were surprised and asked 'do we have that many bands in the Waikato?'," said Logan. "I told them to give me a few weeks and I will come back with plenty of local songs."

After emailing various bands in Hamilton, Nathan ended up with 50 original songs.

"I said, 'hHere you are, now let's rock and roll!"

Within 12 months, his show Waikato Rocks -- on Mondays from 9-10pm -- received requests from bands in Auckland, Palmerston North, Tauranga and Wellington to play their music.

"The requests and songs (currently 800) began pouring in."

Nathan's priority is originality.

"All the bands have to send me original material, if it is not original, I will not promote it. This is a community radio show and I want to showcase our communities' original talent."

Combined with radio play, Nathan's fierce drive to showcase New Zealand talent has also stretched to include video content, thanks to his Auckland friend, Guru.

"Guru is a great friend and he came down to my studio and filmed bands performing. We uploaded the films to Waikato Rocks' Facebook page and it proved very popular."

As filming became more popular, Nathan contacted TV Central managing director Paul Fawcett.

"Paul loved my concept and appreciated my passion and TV Central has now played more than 16 weekly episodes."

TV Rotorua also airs Nathan's films and last week Sky TV's FACE TV (Sky channel 83) began showing the live band footage.

With the popularity of television viewing, Waikato Rocks has now tweaked its name to ZEE ROCK -- New Zealand Rock!

"But we are keeping our Waikato Rocks Facebook Page," said Nathan.

From radio and television, Nathan is now showcasing six Hamilton-based bands to perform at Altitude, with thanks to funding from Creative Waikato.

"I applied for a grant from Creative Waikato and I was delighted when they agreed to sponsor the concert."

The bands performing are Leave The Dead, Checaine, Sound the Ocean, Dead Beat Boys, Deathnir and The Shift.

The Shift drummer Mich Walker says the band is looking forward to playing at Altitude.

"We have played heaps of gigs for ZEAL, a youth organisation which helps with the arts and we have played at Mystery Creek. However, our gig at Altitude will be our biggest to date."

The Altitude gig is an R18 show because it is showcased in a bar.

Nathan says he wants to make Hamilton the rock capital of New Zealand. "That is my aim, that is my passion."

The Altitude gig is on Saturday, April 18 from 8pm. Tickets are $10 and door sales $15.