The Basement

Monday 8pm – 10pm with NICK & NABEEL

Nick FitzHerbert (while he was sleeping someone took his DJ name) has been doing “The Basement”, Monday’s 8-10pm with Nabeel Zuberi almost right from the word go. Manuel Bundy had the foresight to put them on Saturday afternoon where they happily existed between The Headspace and Mania Toa.

When feeling talkative they do film reviews, wax lyrical about current events and rave about things that have caught their ear. Occasionally they have been known to theme whole shows as well (effort!). But generally they just play stuff they like. Genres and purists be damned. Despite what some people might think Nick is not from America (although it has many nice places and people) or Canada (many good things and folks there too). And you know, it ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re at.

He has taken some of Nabeel’s classes and they are all good. He has done some of his own writing, but after a professional stint in journalism has been a little quiet. This may or may not change in the immediate future.

Nabeel Zuberi has co-hosted The Basement with Nick FitzHerbert since the early days of BASE FM in 2004. The station and the show have provided an ideal venue to develop and share in the strange highways and byways of his musical listening, without being stuck in any genre, place or time.

Nabeel was born in Karachi, was a toddler in Aden, raised and schooled in the UK Midlands and North, then schooled further in Michigan and Texas. He wrote music and arts journalism for the Michigan Daily and Detroit & Ann Arbor Metro Times from 1989-90. He hosted Roots & Routes on KVRX Austin 91.7 FM from 1994-95.

He landed in Aotearoa in January 1997, with his record collection following soon afterwards. Nabeel teaches in Media, Film and Television at the University of Auckland. His books include Sounds English: Transnational Popular Music (2001), Media Studies in Aotearoa New Zealand 1 & 2 (2004 & 2010), and Black Popular Music in Britain since 1945 (2014).