The Powder Chutes Story
Powder Chutes are an emerging rock band from Wanaka, on New Zealand’s South Island, producing original music taking classic rock, punk and 90’s grunge reference points as they chart their own route into melodic riff-laden sonic nirvana.
The band is made up of Archie Orbell (drums), Clarke West (guitar), Henry McConnell (vocals), and Otis Murphy (bass), all still currently school age, with only Archie having left to pursue an apprenticeship as a diesel mechanic.
Powder Chutes self-assurance, professionalism and musicality puts them firmly in the same company as more established bands and artists, and whilst their youth is a point of interest in a generally older musical landscape, they refuse to be defined by their age, letting their music, and live performances, speak for themselves.
The band began as Better Than Nothing, and have been together as the final line-up with Otis on bass since 2019. They changed their name to Powder Chutes prior to releasing their debut EP across all major streaming platforms in January 2022, which in the 12 months following its release has achieved over 120,000 streams, and much critical acclaim.
Powder Chutes have fast gathered a fiercely loyal following and have acted as support to international acts such as ZZ Top, Pat Benatar, Stone Temple Pilots and The Angels in front of 16,000 people, as well as homegrown legends The Feelers, Stellar, and up and coming noise merchants Pull Down The Sun.
The boys possess an impressive work ethic and a professionalism beyond their years, and have a new single ‘Moths To The Flames’ out on 5th May, with a video shot by Joe Murdie of the Bunker Street Film Co. on location in Wanaka.
Tom Harvard from Studio Sublime describes the new material as “a riff-laden sonic assault”, and goes further to state that Moths To The Flame should be called ‘Behemoths To The Flame’ due to its massive sound and solid presence.
For NZ Music Month Powder Chutes have gigs lined up with East York, currently the support for Devilskin on their national tour, Mads Harrop and Saurian, as well as a live to air performance on Dunedin’s Radio One 91FM. They will also be attending the YAMI Sounz Summit in Wanaka, which brings together a smorgasbord of music industry professionals to run workshops for youth and adults in the music industry. The ‘Moths To The Flame’ video will receive it’s public premiere at this event.
Carwyn Henigan of KAOS FM NZ describes new single ‘Moths To The Flame’, as " a totally explosive, dynamic & true expression of what pure kiwi hard rock is all about. An incredibly catchy sonic bomb you NEED to hear!", a sentiment echoed by Lisa Jones of Muzic.nz who says “…this is a stunning release”.
Powder Chutes achievements to date are all the more impressive once you understand that they’ve self-funded all their studio recordings and video by consistent gigging, no mean feat for what is essentially still a school band.
It’s hard to beat this summary from 1964 Magazine (2022) who enthusiastically state that Powder Chutes are “loud, catchy, and just the sort of thing we need right now”.
Sweet noise pollution... groove-fueled grunge... Powder Chutes are electrifying, ambitious, and hungry… ignore them at your peril.
