Hamilton Underground Press
Hamilton Underground Press (HUP) was conceived and launched in March 2015 by Rob Shirlow, with the primary aim of promoting and enabling musical and artistic happenings in Hamilton. The webpage and Facebook page provide news on events, podcasts, interviews and reviews.
Since their formation they have organised a number of shows, featuring Hamilton bands, those from elsewhere in New Zealand, and several from overseas. Bands from overseas have included Former Friends of Young Americans (USA); Ted Danson With Wolves (Australia); The Wedding Present (UK), Spiral Stairs (USA) and Shonen Knife (Japan). Shirlow was responsible for the organisation of all of the gigs.
The main HUP website contributors for many years were Shirlow and Ian Duggan, with Max Johns contributing greatly since 2022. Other contributors have included Dean Ballinger, Gareth Schott, photographer Ngamihi Pawa, amongst many others.
In January 2016, HUP released the first issue of their own zine, HUPzine, which lasted for seven issues. On 20 August 2016, HUP ran an event called Bandfandango, where four new bands were created by pulling the names of volunteer musicians out of the hat. In December 2016, they released a compilation album featuring bands, both from Hamilton and elsewhere, who had played at their shows, called Life Beneath a Gravel Streak.
HUP organised the Future City Festival between 2017 and 2019. Each was run over two days in March. Headliners included The Datsuns in 2018, and a reformation of Sora Shima and Nadia Reid in 2019.
In late 2018 until mid-2019, HUP and Phil Grey hosted a Top 10 of new New Zealand songs on radio station The HUM called Tekau Nga Waiata Pai.
HUP lost some momentum in the years during and following the peak of the COVID pandemic, starting due to there being little live music happening in Hamilton. This was combined with issues relating to their original website. In mid-2026, a new website was relaunched courtesy of Max Johns, with a return to a high publication rate of articles and reviews, and the The Htown Wiki was also relaunched as part of HUP.
Major Shows
- 1st Annual HUP Xmas Party, 18 December 2015
- 2nd Annual HUP and Hum Xmas Party, 17 December 2015
- Future City Festival 2017, 3 and 4 March 2017
- The Bats, with Ancient Tapes and The Scones, 19 May 2017
- The Wedding Present, with Ancient Tapes and Rumpus Room, 5 July 2017
- Shonen Knife, with 5 Girls, 4 October 2017
- Spiral Stairs, 2 December 2017
- Future City Festival 2018, 9 and 10 March 2018
- 3rd Annual HUP Xmas Party, 14 December 2018
- Future City Festival 2019, 8 and 9 March 2019