MNZ Interview: Cross Section S03 / E03 – Matthew Mottram

Aiming to dissect the cross section between the creative process and the industry side, Cross Section is an exciting interview series hosted by Shannon Coulomb.

From curating playlists in the rain to reaching over 100,000 listeners a week, Matthew Mottram has become a passionate and powerful advocate for Aotearoa’s independent rock scene. Known for launching The Mockers Rock Kiwi Hour on Wild Dogs Radio and helping countless bands gain global ears, Matt’s journey began with a simple t-shirt challenge and grew into a full-blown mission to share Kiwi music with the world. In this chat, we dive into how he discovers new talent, what fuels his love for the scene, and why he believes New Zealand rock deserves to be heard far and wide.

First off, congratulations on the incredible success of The Mockers Rock Kiwi Hour! Reaching an average of 100,000+ listeners weekly is a huge achievement. Your journey from curating the Curlys Jewels 100+ Kiwi Bands playlist to launching an international radio program has been an inspiring one for independent NZ artists. What does your process look like when curating content for The Mockers Rock Kiwi Hour?

As many new releases as possible. I like to pre-save tracks as A, it helps the band’s stats, and B, I have a terrible memory so it is automatically there on release day. Facebook is very fickle and sometimes you won’t see a band’s new release post until later in the day! My first point for getting a track is via Bandcamp—it’s great quality and gives the band a little something. I was also recently introduced to Qobuz by Dave Rhodes, it’s a little more expensive but the sound quality is superb. You won’t see me dealing in MP3 again!! But I’m getting quite confident in just asking straight if I can’t find it in those two places. I also get sent music, sometimes weeks before it’s released, which is very cool, and I guess I’ve earned the trust of people to know I won’t share it until the appropriate time.

Can you share the story behind the Curlys Jewels 100+ Kiwi Bands playlist? How did it start, and what impact do you feel it has had on independent NZ artists?

It was early one Saturday morning Curlys Jewels asked for suggestions for a Kiwi rock playlist and quite quickly there were 70-odd bands to check out. So they threw the gauntlet down—if someone created the playlist, they’d chuck in a t-shirt! It was raining, I had no plans so hey presto—a 70-band playlist was created! And said t-shirt was received gratefully! I’m an Apple weirdo so Aaron created the Spotify version. Bryce Patten already had a metal playlist too, so everything was covered! So I decided to keep adding. It’s currently at 275 different artists and 18 hours long! I try and update it to the latest track a band has released. I hope people can find some new music there.

Do you take a similar approach to selecting music for The Mockers Rock Kiwi Hour, or has the shift to radio brought new challenges and considerations?

Apart from new releases, I like a good story or theme. For example, Dead Empire were recently in the US and at the last minute I had a great idea to include them in the show—which is mainly US listeners. I messaged Matt having no idea of the time difference (his green light was on, haha) and 10 minutes later the band had done an awesome soundbite for the show promoting their gigs! I also like to group bands together who are gigging together for a bit of promotion.

How do you go about discovering new Kiwi artists to feature on your show?

Pretty much just Facebook—I don’t use any other social media. I did sign up to Bluesky but we won’t go there! I probably need to head to Insta at some point. Subscribing to bands on YouTube is also a good tool.

What qualities do you appreciate the most in emerging Kiwi artists?

Most people are really great to deal with. Since I started sharing Kiwi rock, we’ve had so many great experiences and made some truly amazing friends. I love seeing bands who I’ve seen grow reaching out and supporting the next wave of bands, adding them to tours, sharing their experiences—good and bad. There is so much knowledge out there—it’s amazing.

If you could highlight one Kiwi act that you feel deserves more international attention, who would it be?

That’s easy and very difficult at the same time! There are some top-quality bands that don’t get the international recognition they deserve, and I’d like to think with my sharing the audience has grown slightly at least for them all.

Coridian. Stunning musicians, amazing humans—and I’m sorry to everyone else!

How do you balance focusing on each weekly show while keeping an eye on long-term goals for the program’s growth?

After my first show, my long-term goal was to get invited to do show 2!! I hope my content is varied and interesting enough that it starts conversations and makes connections. Just last week, one band I played took the time to comment on another band’s comment on the show: “new fan here”—that made me walk on water. I’ve also had a Kiwi musician say to me “you’ve introduced me to so many bands I didn’t know existed” and that’s what drives me. Great music should be heard.

What strategies have worked best for engaging both Aotearoa-based listeners and international audiences?

I’m kinda lucky the Wild Dogs Radio schedule works well with NZ time. 7pm Eastern is pretty much prime time there and works out at 11am Sunday here, so people have time to listen! I’m a great believer in tagging and having playlists for people to refer to. Our little ragamuffin station of 8 or 9 DJs gets around 170k listeners per day at the weekend. That’s pretty scary! And my show is re-run Thursday dinner time here to intentionally get more listeners. I’ve learnt so much in a very short time and had some great advice from people that I only know online.

Have you had any breakthrough moments where you realized the impact of your work in connecting NZ artists with a global audience?

Jeepers, that’s a question!!

Sounds pretty big when you use the word global—the world is so small as, to quote Tina from Turners, the internet’s everywhere!! I’ve been sharing NZ music for about 5 years now and have found like-minded people who love to listen. And some of them have radio shows on different internet stations and started to play the music! It was amazing! In particular, my childhood friend Welsh Gene, who re-hooked me on music about 10 years ago, ended up on Scotland Rocks Radio and asked me for years to join him! Which I’ve just done! So I have 2 hours a week playing nothing but Kiwi rock. I don’t know how it happened. It all fell into place all at once! Also a special shout out to DJ Clouseau on Hard Rock Hell Radio (UK) as he famously does “road trips” and asked me some years ago for some bands to check out. He’s “been” here several times now and is surely due a physical visit! He did a full show with Shaun of This Silent Divide—it was most excellent! I’d connected them and a show was born. That is my why!

For those interested in getting into radio, particularly in championing NZ music, what advice would you give?

Dance as if no one’s watching! Have a go. There are plenty of apps you can use to be a home DJ. Make the modern-day mixtape for your secret crush… I joined a few music pages, got to know people with the shared love of rock, and the stars aligned. I never expected to be doing this—any of it. And I wouldn’t be able to do it without the support of my awesome wife who puts up with an awful lot from me! Kiwi rock is some of the best in the world and I’m so pleased to be a cog in that wheel. Thanks for the questions, I hope I’ve answered them!

Mockers! Out 🎤🎤🎤🎤

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Shannon Coulomb is the co-songwriter, guitarist and producer for Auckland Based band Impostor Syndrome. He currently the Head of Music at Birkenhead College, Auckland, as well as curriculum specialist for Music Education at AUT University.

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