The Phoenix Foundation

The Phoenix Foundation rose from the ashes of Wellington's late 1990s high school music circuit, to become one of Aotearoa's most acclaimed bands. Like MacGyver (the TV show the band name references) the group have brought an eclectic DIY approach to seven albums of accomplished, genre-crossing pop. Some of the band have also composed soundtracks (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, TV's The Gulf). The NZ Herald rated 2007 's Happy Ending "one of the best examples of pop music to come out of New Zealand". After 2013 double album Fandango, the group hit the Kiwi top five again with Give Up Your Dreams (2015) and Friend Ship (2020).