The Waterside

The Eastern , Music Video – 2014

from the album Hope and Wire (2012)

In the aftermath of the devastating 2011 Christchurch earthquake, Lyttleton-based alt-country band The Eastern lifted the broken city's spirits by playing at parks, barbecues and "munted" backyards, helping earn them the label "hardest working band in the country". Gaylene Preston's 2014 miniseries Hope and Wire took its title from the band's 2012 double album. The music video recreates a backyard concert and features The Eastern (including Marlon Williams and Aldous Harding on backing vocals) in a sing-along watched by the cast, mixed with moments from the miniseries.

Their history is tied inextricably to the port town [of Lyttleton], but also to Christchurch and the earthquakes that shook and reshaped the city. They are more than a band, they are a collective, a family, a union — but they can sometimes be as small as a duo.
– Writer James Dann on The Eastern, AudioCulture, 8 November 2018