The Waterside

In the aftermath of the devastating 2011 Christchurch earthquake, Lyttleton-based alt-country band The Eastern lifted the broken city's spirits by playing at parks, barbecues and "munted" backyards, helping earn them the label "hardest working band in the country". Gaylene Preston's 2014 miniseries Hope and Wire took its title from the band's 2012 double album. The music video recreates a backyard concert and features The Eastern (including Marlon Williams and Aldous Harding on backing vocals) in a sing-along watched by the cast, mixed with moments from the miniseries. 

The reason we do it, the reason we started it, was to escape the constrictions of the every day and to have adventures, so it was this little train that you could get on or get off, and people have got on, and then they’ve got off, and then they get on again, so we’ve had heaps of people through the band, but that’s cool, it’s always been that way.

– The Eastern co-founder Adam McGrath on the inspiration behind the band, AudioCulture, 8 November 2019

Key Cast & Crew

Miriama McDowell

As: Donna

Chelsie Florence

As: Monee

Jarod Rawiri

As: Ryan

Rachel House

As: Joycie Waru

Bernard Hill

As: Len Russell

Gaylene Preston

Director