Gig Review: High Dependency Unit @ Meow Nui, Wellington – 26/11/2025

BBC DJ and presenter John Peel once described HDU (or High Dependency Unit) as “one of the 10 best bands in the world you’ve never heard of.” While most in the New Zealand music community have heard of them, the band has been fairly inactive since 2010 – that is until this year when the band joined the Others Way festival lineup and began a six-date tour across the country thanks to Banished Music.

The band began in 1994 and was quickly signed to Flying Nun Records, releasing their debut EP Abstinence: Acrimony. The band continued releasing experimental, noisy psychedelic rock throughout the 90’s and 2000’s, concluding with 2008’s Metamathics. The band are known for their avant-garde approach to creating textures utilising delay, feedback and elements borrowed from EDM to enhance a full, immersive and, at times, aggressive sound. They can also create hypnotic moments found in other genres of music such as trance while delivering chilling, abrasive tones in contrast to the samples they use for ambience.

I was looking forward to hearing the Dunedin trio of Tristan Dingemans (guitar, vocals), Neil Phillips (bass, guitar), and Constantine Karlis (drums and samples) for the first time in the wonderful acoustics of Meow Nui – particularly as the band was co-headlining with the Zamrock pioneers W.I.T.C.H. (We Intend To Cause Havoc) which seemed like an odd pairing…

The night began with W.I.T.C.H., which formed in the 1970’s during Zambia’s post-independence ‘Golden Days’ of economic stability. Led by vocalist Emanuel ‘Jagari’ Chanda, they disbanded during the 80’s only to reform in the early 2010’s as their albums received recognition. Other founding member Patrick Mwondela provided some amazing keys to the full sound, playing above the tight rhythm section. The lead guitarist played fiery guitar solos that reminded me why the band had been described as Black Sabbath jamming with James Brown.

W.I.T.C.H. turned the venue into a shimmering dance haven. From the first downbeat, the audience throbbed in time. They opened with a groove so insistent that the crowd couldn’t help but start dancing. W.I.T.C.H. excelled at weaving vintage psychedelic textures with bright, contemporary afro-pop shimmer.

One of the standout moments came midway through the set, when the band slipped into a slow, hypnotic groove. The lighting dropped to warm reds, the crowd swayed in a gentle collective tide, and Chanda’s slightly weathered voice cut through the mix between occasional synth, guitar and drum solos. The band played tight, alternating between high-energy, joyful, afro-pop vibrancy mode and psychedelic hard rock. Their bombast left the audience in a great mood, especially as they encouraged crowd participation with percussion (some people at the front were really good at cow bell!).

The changeover seemed to take quite a while, at least half an hour, before the equipment for HDU was fully operational. Guitar techs were spending a long time checking things before a low drone note began to herald the new set. However, this note remained playing for what seemed like five minutes or longer, but it all added to the anticipation for the headliners. Finally, they arrived, Phillips playing guitar also, to begin a feedback saturated composition. The intimate venue proved to be the perfect place to encourage High Dependency Unit’s dense brand of noise-rock. From the moment they began, it was clear the band hadn’t come to offer a traditional set so much as an immersive experience. Their opening slow-burner quaked through the floorboards and altered the room’s atmosphere. The guitars didn’t just fill the space – they bent it, sending notes bouncing off the rafters.

HDU’s strength has always been their ability to balance chaos with structure, and live, that tension felt cinematic. Tracks dissolved into layers of feedback only to snap back into precision with unexpected clarity when pedals were either switched off or on. Karlis held everything together with rhythms that sounded a little improvisational at times, but with a nice swing to them. As with their records, the remarkable aspect of the band is their control of dynamics. The quieter passages were almost reverent. You could hear the hum from the SOVTEK headed amps and the crowd seemed to be holding their breath at times. Then, without warning, the band would unleash a surge of noise. The audience responded in kind: swaying, nodding, collectively stamping. Even those unfamiliar with HDU’s catalogue would have been caught up in the slightly impromptu compositions. At the concert’s finale, the audience had achieved a type of sonic catharsis.

Overall, it was a great gig I was pleased to have attended. The number of acts allowed the sets to be long and allow jamming, although each band approached this very differently. I’m really glad HDU are back to touring and I can’t help but hope if there is some recording on the way too that might resonate with the ferocious soundscape they conjured live.

Photo Credit: Tim Gruar for Muzic.NZ
View the full HDU photo gallery here