Who’s Behind ‘Twominds’?

Twominds 2024 is based at 100 Heyders Road. Source: Twominds.  

The iconic name Twominds is often sprinkled throughout UC’s musical line ups, performing at gigs such as Full Moon, Mono, and Cuba Jib. But their presence is not confined to the walls of UC; they’ve performed at numerous well-known festivals whilst also creating their own Twominds Festival. But who the hell are Twominds? 

The iconic Twominds Takeovers combat UC’s predominantly DnB-heavy music scene, with their light, fluffy, and groovy house music vibes. Not only are they incorporating different genres to the music scene, they’re also highly inclusive of musicians in our Ōtautahi community that aren’t straight and Pākehā. 

I managed to get ahold of a very busy Melbourne man named Corban Tupou, one of the Twominds OGs and co-director of the upcoming Twominds Festival. 

The now 26-year-old provided the inside scoop on the brain function of Twominds, as their love for flat parties blossomed into a venture that’s becoming more successful by the day. 

For someone planning an upcoming festival in Ōtautahi, Melbourne seemed a little far away to be bringing this diverse project to life. Tupou states, “[t]he metaphor I keep using is that it’s difficult to read a book when you're holding it only a centimetre away from your face.” 

Rather than beat around the bush, Tupou travels back down memory lane to where his Twominds journey began. 

He throws it back all the way to the year we don’t like to speak of – 2020. Tupou was situated on Creyke Road in a well-known and now-demolished flat nicknamed ‘The Local.’ The earthquake-damaged house posed as a perfect party flat in his eyes, as it was located directly across from EngCore – close to the university and accessible to mates. In 2019, his seven flatmates became the face of a venture Tupou had started called ‘Sounds of The Local,’ as he morphed their house parties into Boiler Room-like sets which he streamed from different parts of The Local. 

Twominds existed alongside ‘Sounds of The Local,’ but the two different entities were quickly combined in 2020 due to the similar ideologies and goals shared by the two groups of mates. Tupou explained, “Dan was kind of like, ‘hey, let's sort of bring everyone together and do something collective and start doing proper events’.” 

Corban Tupou, co-director of Twominds Festival. 

In an interview conducted in 2020, Twominds co-founder Dan Stewart said the name originated from “the idea of bringing the band scene and the house scene together into one gig - bringing two different environments together. That was an element of it. And the first person I brought it up with was my mate Liam Cullen, and then we started developing the idea together.” 

After combining the two powerful groups, Twominds worked harmoniously as their house parties became events with a strong foundation. 

Tupou explained how the origin of Twominds was heavily inspired by UC’s club culture. “There wasn't much for young people to do in the city post-earthquake because of all the damage, obviously. So for students to have fun, that meant that it was kind of on their shoulders to organise something, and that's where the club scene really thrived in Christchurch and became quite a unique aspect of studying.” 

As Twominds began their new venture into the student scene, they held a hectic launch party. It sounded like one of those events you’ve heard of, and wish you’d been there to experience. 

“It's just one of those classic stories of, you know, you throw a party and you're worried ‘are people going to show up?’ And sure enough, far too many people showed up,” Tupou laughed. 

Some uninvited guests known as the riot police attended the party, to attend to the four hundred people infiltrating the student flat. With meat stolen from the freezer and laptops disappearing, the lads had a rude awakening of how events should and should not be run, but Stewart believed it ran the gamut, “from beautiful to hectic - and everything in between.” 

This drive and addiction to hosting events only grew for Twominds, and they simply could not get enough of it – even three years down the track. Whilst racking up DJ and organization experience, strong connections, and a deeper love for music, Twominds decided to “take a bigger bite” and launch their very first festival.  

Source: Twominds

The Twominds Festival. 

Inspired by smaller boutique Aotearoa festivals as opposed to big commercial ones, the Twominds Festival leans into creating a memorable experience and atmosphere rather than large stages with huge acts. 

The first Twominds Festival took place last year at Ōtautahi’s finest Spencer Beach Holiday Park, and after a raging success, they’re onto round two. 

Stewart and Tupou co-direct the festival for the second time, but with a little more experience under their belts. Previously, the two directors sat in a flat garage, day in and out, pouring their heart and soul into this festival. Second time around, the team has had a large expansion of help and a lighter workload, as Tupou works on the festival from Melbourne. 

Creating a festival from the ground up is no mean feat and can be a logistical nightmare. “When you show up to a festival, you think, ‘oh man, how hard is that, you just set up a stage and some speakers and you're good to go’.” But as Tupou further explains, when you’re responsible for the safety of potentially a few thousand people, the rules are strict and compliance is compulsory. 

Whilst adhering to the strict festival guidelines, Twominds somewhat defies social norms, with a lineup that focuses on involving artists from under-represented groups. 

Last year, the top two tiers of the lineup were over 50% non-male and more than 40% queer, with 22% of performers being people of colour. Truly epic and rare. “I think the best kind of festivals are the ones where you get a diverse experience, Tupou explains. “When it comes to art and things like music, anyone in the crowd should be able to look up to a person on the stage and relate to that person on that stage and think, ‘oh, I can do that too’.” 

This year, the Twominds Festival expands to five stages of completely different musical genres and styles which represent different cultures and backgrounds. 

Leaning into a natural aesthetic, Tupou explains that festivalgoers can expect to “go on a bit of an adventure through these different sounds and atmospheres,” exploring new things they might not have heard of, or not usually thought would be your go-to. 

Located only a half-hour out of central Christchurch and a five-minute walk to the beach, Twominds Festival is situated in a primo location with the promise of good vibes from March 15th to 17th. 

Twominds is a perfect example of how UC’s student culture has the foundation to bloom something ‘beautiful and hectic’ as Stewart said, which is a gift we’ve all been blessed with. 

As the world of Twominds expands, the future looks bright, with hopes to also shine their light on current students who may have the drive to create similar projects, to further enhance and morph the student culture into something that everyone can be proud of.