Kia ora folks,

At the end of this month I’m moving to Naarm/Melbourne. For a while now I’ve been in one of those life stages of wanting change. Leaving Ōtepoti and Aotearoa is emotional, and I’m holding an enormous sense of gratefulness for everything this place has given me in my 40 years – especially our people. 

Since 2020, Woof! - a bar in Ōtepoti/Dunedin - has been my primary project. It’s given me a great sense of satisfaction to work alongside Josh Thomas and our team, who I love. To me, Woof! is defined by our day-to-day patrons & friends, the queer club nights, the activism, and pivoting through the pandemic. I’m so proud of us all for making Woof! what it is, and how it will continue to grow. 

In Naarm, I’ll be spending the next year being an artist again. I’ll be putting the finishing touches on my next record, which will be out next year, with a tour. Where Zealandia was a brain album, this is a heart one.

In the meantime, I’ve been packing up life, and found all sorts of treasures from my work over the years. Bespoke garments that I wore in various performances and rare, long out-of-print editions of my EPs and albums. It’s best that these all find new homes, so I’m launching an Archive Sale today. I’ve also reduced all the remaining album stock I have: last chance to buy these before the physical editions run out. End of an era!

Thank you as always for supporting me and my music over the years, even when I’ve stepped away for a while. Take care of each other, and always keep in touch. 

Aroha,

Dudley

If you ever feel like you're wasting time, rotting away, not achieving stuff: same! Here's the first ever official Dudley Benson tee, to celebrate how it takes ages to do anything. 

Designed by Ōtepoti artist Veronica Grace Brett, the tee is a limited edition of 50.  Printed by The Print Room on black AS Colour Classic heavyweight 100% cotton. Sizes S-2XL.  

Head to the Shop to buy yours, $34 + $6 postage (NZ). Sales help me finish my next record, within the next 8 years.  Thanks!   

Dudley

To accompany the music video for It's Ōtepoti's Fault (watch below), six artists have remixed the song, for this final remix collection from the Zealandia album. There are a couple of club bangers from Totems & Jerry Watts, some bouncy pop from ALCS & Kolya, and thoughtful, downtempo approaches from Mike Majkowski and Death & The Maiden. Love to all the remixers, and to Ayesha Green for her cover painting.

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Tonight at 8pm (NZT), I'm chuffed to share with you the premiere of my new music video: It's Ōtepoti's Fault. I'm grateful that NZ on Screen and AudioCulture are presenting this with me. Watch the premiere here or below.



This is the last of the six videos I made for the Zealandia album. Though it wasn't one of the more challenging to make on a technical level, it was by far the most difficult emotionally. The video is built around Super 8 footage of my family - specifically my Mum Adrianne, who suicided when I was 15. It was so hard to edit together the footage of Mum in her 20s and 30s, with all the promise and dreams she had. Pets were a strange marker in time too, and in some scenes, I realised everyone in them has passed. 

To me, this video is a story of part of my Mum's life, but also a reflection of how memory can have such a powerful grip over our lives - especially when they take the form of photographs and moving images.

I did love our filming and editing process, and I'd like to acknowledge the team that helped me make this with such care and sensitivity: DOP Miranda Bellamy, editor Phoebe Lysbeth Kay, and the Regent Theatre Dunedin projectionists Nelson Miles & Russell Campbell. And a special thanks to my siblings, who were so supportive and understanding in my sharing these images of our mother, Adrianne.

I hope you enjoy the video.

Dudley

My mother Adrianne Mora on her wedding day at Sign of the Takahe, 1980, with her father Maurice Mora.

I'm beyond proud to share this very special remix of It's Ōtepoti's Fault by Aotearoa producer Totems (AKA Reuben Samuel Winter, Milk). Reuben was one of the most energetic, loved, prolific and charismatic musicians I knew, and I'd wanted to work on something together for quite a while. I'm grateful he took on a remix of It's Ōtepoti's Fault - and brought out the light, the sun, and the sky in it. Despite the sadness many of us feel having lost Reuben, his work still brings so much joy to me.

Thank you to Reuben, and to his Mum Iona Winter, who supported me in sharing Totems' remix. 

Check out UnderTheRadar's premiere, listen to the remix below, or on Spotify / Apple Music.

Artwork by Ayesha Green

Reuben Samuel Winter, AKA Totems. Photographer unknown.