Transistors | RDU Live-To-Air | Go Live 2024

Ōtautahi’s winter music festival returns bringing 15 live and local Aotearoa artists to the Christchurch Town Hall featuring The Bats, 1 Drop Nation and more!

Transistors joined us at SALTBOX Studios for a live performance.

Transistors burst on to the NZ scene in 2009 with the release of their first album. The garage-punk three piece of Olly Crawford-Ellis, Colin Roxburgh, and James Harding formed in high school and honed their high energy live show by playing “every show that was offered”.

After gaining the attention of impresario and music historian John Baker, who became the band’s manager, they toured with the Mint Chicks, The Datsuns, The Dirtbombs and Pierced Arrows. Their debut album Shortwave was produced by Auckland veteran Bob Frisbee. Clocking in at just 20 minutes, the album marked a furious statement of intent and received rave reviews.

They released the Flux Pentaphile EP the following year and continued to tour heavily. In 2012 the band embarked on an extensive 27 date US tour supporting Japanese legends Guitar Wolf. They also received acclaim for their performances at Big Sound in Australia. The trio released their long-awaited second album Is This Anything? On Arch Hill in 2013. Again produced by Frisbee, the album boasted a more polished sound. They followed it up with the release of another EP Cuppa Jarra Brossa in 2015. Recorded straight to four track by Joe Sampson (Salad Boys, T54, Best Bets), it marked a back to basics approach.

The band announced that a performance at Canterbury Museum in 2016 would be their last. Following this hiatus Crawford-Ellis and Harding formed power pop band Best Bets and released their first EP in 2018, followed by debut album On An Unhistoric Night in 2022.

Transistors have since reemerged to play occasional shows and have announced the upcoming release of their third album Everything Will Never Happen Again. Considered a ‘lost’ album, it was recorded in 2016 shortly before the trio disbanded, the album will finally see the light of day in late 2024 via local label Melted Ice Cream.

SET LIST
▸Soft Drink
▸Man I Was Hungry

CREDITS
Audio Engineer, Mixing and Mastering – Jamie Stratton
Camera and Editor – Amy Hollands and Mita Paul

RDU LINKS
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ABOUT
RDU 98.5FM Live-To-Airs are proudly supported by NZ On Air and SALTBOX Studios. Each month, we welcome local musicians from around Aotearoa to perform live to the airwaves on Ōtautahi’s RDU 98.5FM, part of the national Student Radio Network.

You can watch past live to airs here: https://bit.ly/2ZmFXAZ