Meet the local artists set to soundtrack Napier after dark

Four Hawke’s Bay musicians, four distinctly different sounds and four stories shaped by the places and communities they call home.

Mahina Lawrence, Mon Shelford, Nick Herbison and Willsy are among the artists helping bring Nuit Blanche to life on Saturday 3 October, as Napier’s streets and laneways become a free open-air festival of art, light, music and performance.

With the Hawke’s Bay music scene thriving, this year’s festival will feature its biggest live music lineup yet, with every musician drawn from the region.

The wider entertainment programme includes more than 40 acts and performances, including around 10 local roving artists and face painters, alongside six visiting roving acts, some from the World Buskers Festival.

Changes to the festival layout have created more room for live performance and new experiences. A new Eat Street will bring food and entertainment together, while Herschell Street will be transformed with aerial performances and an interactive lighting installation.

Award-winning singer-songwriter Mahina Lawrence found the beginnings of her five-song EP, Chapters of Us, in an unlikely place.

Before establishing her home studio, Lawrence worked as a kiwifruit orchard and machinery operator, singing and developing songs while driving tractors and sprayers between the vines.

Music has become her own way of connecting with others and giving back, inspired in part by her nana, who runs a community garden helping to provide fresh produce for local whānau.

“I want to inspire, I want to learn, and I want to give opportunities to rangatahi who want to be in my position but don’t know how to get there.”

Napier singer-songwriter Mon Shelford creates deeply personal music, drawing on her own experiences to connect with listeners.

“I feel like I lay it all bare in my music,” she says. “When I play, I tap into something else. For me, it is spiritual.”

After previously living in Melbourne, Shelford says she was pleasantly surprised by the strength and support of the music community she found on returning to Hawke’s Bay. She now teaches children to sing at Napier Music Academy and will return to Nuit Blanche this year with the Mon Shelford Band, performing a set made up almost entirely of original music.

Her previous Nuit Blanche appearance came on a particularly wet evening. Rain found its way into a stage monitor and temporarily cut the sound, but her smallest fans remained undeterred.

“I had a little mosh pit of toddlers dancing at the front, while all the adults were standing under the awnings,” she laughs.

Folk-rock artist Nick Herbison is also no stranger to connecting with unexpected audiences.

A regular busker in Napier, one of his most memorable moments was a visitor from Westport who settled onto a nearby bench during Winter Art Deco, dressed in full period attire and smoking an old-fashioned pipe.

Herbison played guitar and harmonica as the man remained for six or seven songs.

“It really felt like we’d gone back in time,” he recalls.

This October will mark Herbison’s first Nuit Blanche appearance. He describes the invitation as “a massive nod of acceptance” as a musician.

Herbison hails from Haumoana, as does his friend and occasional collaborator Willsy. Although the pair sometimes perform together, their individual styles are distinctly different.

Willsy will bring his full band and a fresh, original sound designed to get “feet moving and people grooving”.
Born and raised beside the coast, his music carries a strong sense of home.

“Haumoana translates to sea breeze, so I like to think I’m taking a little bit of Haumoana out into the world,” he says.
Having attended Nuit Blanche several times, Willsy remembers arriving at his first without knowing what to expect.

“Napier was going off. I saw so many good bands I hadn’t seen before. It’s such a good showcase of Hawke’s Bay talent.”

Now in its ninth year, Nuit Blanche kicks off at 5:30pm on Saturday 3 October. These four artists offer just a taste of the sounds and stories waiting to be discovered across the city after dark.