Coast Arcade - NEXT TO ME
Growing up is full of challenges. Thinking back to our late teenage years, we all have memories of love, discovering yourself, and youthful mischief. NEXT TO ME, the debut EP from Tāmaki Makaurau based Coast Arcade captures this feeling of youthful exuberance and the stomping grounds that are your first foray into adulthood and independence perfectly. The EP is coated in anthemic lyrics and loud, dynamic guitars.
Coast Arcade are the indie pop-rock band of Bella Bavin, Chris and Nate Tims, and Thom Boynton, and they already have a swathe of accolades under their belt. Previous singles from the EP have received notable attention, having received support from NZ on Air and featuring on various Official NZ Charts.
Without intentionally doing so, Coast Arcade had put together an EP that perfectly captured what their vibe was – young people experiencing life.
“It was pretty random how we ended up putting together. I [Bella], had written a bunch of songs and we decided which were our favourites. There are songs about friendships, there’s songs about being really pissed off with someone, there’s songs about love. “
“The EP has this idea of just living life and taking challenges as they come – it doesn’t necessarily have a theme carrying through it, but it covers experiences that we think anyone can relate to, but particularly young people like us.”
The EP was recorded at BIG FAN with Noema Te Hau, then mixed and mastered by Jonathan Pearce (The Beths) and mastered by Oliver Devlin (Hans Pucket). When recording such a lively band, it can be difficult to capture that energy – but the recording, mixing, and mastering of NEXT TO ME has perfectly captured exactly that.
“We’ve been chasing that sound for a while now, and we are so happy with how it has turned out. We were lucky enough to have Jonathan Pearce mix the songs. There’s a certain amount trust that goes into getting someone to mix your songs – and if Jono Pearce is telling you that something sounds good, then you know it sounds good.”
Coast Arcade has already ticked off numerous achievements since their formation in 2021, such as opening for Aussie surf-rock royalty The Grogans, and playing at Rhythm and Vines (which they had to attend with their parents). However, the next target Coast Arcade have set their sites on is a Aotearoa-wide tour.
“We are dying to come down to the South Island, we had dates pencilled in but we just couldn’t get our schedules lined up. We’re going to try again either later this year or early this year.”
The band have been busy. Bella is essentially doing music full-time, brothers Thom and Nate are both seventeen and still in high school, and Chris is studying Engineering. Coast Arcade are excited for the prospect of freedom once the Thom and Nate have left school, as well as easing up on the logistical Rubik’s Cube that comes with having to tour with parents for the under-18 members of the band.
“The biggest challenge is having to bring our parents along to bars or eighteen plus venues. It’s awesome to have their support, but we are excited to not have to worry about R18 venues and school schedules. It’s going to be a huge door opener for us. Although Mum was saying yesterday that she couldn’t believe she went to Rhythm and Vines in her [AGE REDACTED].”
Maybe their parents will miss that.
Before they left, Bella and Nate bound Newzician by oath to make sure they included thanks to “All of their parents and siblings who they are very incredibly lucky for. Ollie Devlin, Jono Pearce, the team at DRM and everyone who has ever supported Coast Arcade. There are names we are forgetting but you know who you are!”
You can stream NEXT TO ME everywhere you get music and keep an eye out for a Coast Arcade show near you.
Thanks to Coast Arcade having a chat. Check them out on Instagram HERE