Local Tourist

Finding inspiration in tender psychedelia, existential poetry & literature, and the woollier, more expansive realm of the punk rock canon, Local Tourist have fashioned a sound out of defiant vulnerability.

In 2018, US born songwriter - and group leader - Erin Umstead found herself in Christchurch, New Zealand. Curious about the music scene, she started frequenting local venue Darkroom where she met bassist/guitarist Joe Sampson (Salad Boys, T54) and drummer Rory Dalley (Ben Woods Group). They would regularly bump into each other at gigs and quickly became friends. Erin knew just who could help bring her songs to life, so by April 2019 Local Tourist had arrived.

The three fell quickly into step, fleshing out Umstead’s sparse, intimate songs before taking to the road with Sampson’s Salad Boys. However, visa complications halted any chance of extensive touring and Erin was forced to leave her adopted home with little warning, but not before the group put their work to tape. Tracking an entire album's worth of material was done over Erin’s last few days in New Zealand. Together they created Other Ways of Living, a quiet, melancholic album of gorgeous minimalism.