Smorgasboarder_11_May-2012

As we made our way to the Founders Heritage
Park in the picturesque city of Nelson for
Marchfest, we knew it was going to a big day,
and night... “New Zealand’s beer flavoured
festival - a celebration of music, food, fun
and of course.. proper beer,” as it suggests, is
centred around the amazing boutique brewing
culture in New Zealand. Thanks to some more
friendly Kiwis - Emma McCashin of McCashin’s
Brewery and Mic Dover, organiser of the
festival - we were welcomed with open arms
to experience it all in person.
Every year, a select number of breweries get
together to showcase new brews, specially
created for the festival. Ambling around
the festival with souvenir glass in hand, we
cheerfully soaked up the carnival atmosphere,
took in some talks on brewing, ate far too
many Maori doughnuts and tried our level
best to work our way through the entire menu
of beers and ciders on offer. After all, we’re
travelling international beer conoisseurs...
With names like “Envy of the Empire Ale,”
“Greasing Mongrels Lager” and “Muscle
Stout” the list was most certainly an imposing
one. “Asylum Ale” at 6.1% was just a flat
out scary prospect, but we’re adventurers,
dammit...
As the evening wore on, every expectation
was met and exceeded, and soon we were
having conversations about the quality of hops,
the smoothness of the drop and other details
we had no clue about honestly, but were
enjoying some fine beers, nonetheless.
We were pumped for the night. The
fantastically named Ukes of Hazard kicked off
the musical festivities in the hall while the
main stage was being set up outdoors. The
little bit of drizzle had not dampened anyone’s
spirits at all, so as the sun went down, the
stage lights came on and the dancing began.
Hang on, is that Murray from Flight of the
Conchords on stage with the B52s? Hell
no, it’s the Drab Doo-Riffs - possible one of
the coolest, most fun bands we’ve had the
pleasure of seeing in a long time. Dripping
with surf guitar and a dual vocal sound that is
just out of this world, the Auckland five-piece
had the crowd laughing, dancing and having
the best time for a good 40 minutes or so.
We spoke to frontman Karl Steven - who we
realised later was a former member of NZ
funkers Supergroove - about it all.
“We play sort of surf-punky-rock’n-rolly stuff,”
he says. “It’s upbeat, fun music.”
“Mikey, our drummer surfs... I can barely
swim,” Karl admits with a laugh. “But, I do
love that tradition of music - instrumental
guitar breaks and the whole surf culture.”
Having been together for around four years,
the Drab Doo-Riffs have already visited
Australian shores, mostly around the
Melbourne area and “one fateful night in
Geelong,” as Karl explains:
“We were a bit new and different... There was
one guy that really loved it...” (laughs)
And that one guy was spot on - the Doo-Riffs
are anything but drab and were a highlight of
the night. Check them out at Facebook.
More bands, more beers and the headlining
set by Alabama 3 later, Marchfest was
wrapped up. We should have gone to bed.
We didn’t. Fast forward to the next morning....
TOP: “Yes, my good man - that hops was
obviously fully matured...” “Quite, old chap.”
ABOVE: Founders Heritage Park is a quirky
location for this off-beat festival
BOTTOM LEFT: The Drab Doo Riffs on and
off stage at Marchfest
BELOW: Vocalist Karl Steven takes a welldeserved
breather after a great set. You’ve
got to know to understand.
84 may/jun 2012
Fine beers, music,
food and more
made Marchfest
in Nelson a worthy
deviation in our
search for surf.