Moving between Pōneke and Chengdu, Kristen is a producer, promoter, and community-builder whose work thrives on connection, organised chaos, and deep dancefloor energy. Performing as Kaishandao and running the DIY touring label Kiwese, she’s spent years linking underground scenes across borders — and she’s bringing that global, bass-heavy energy back to Twisted once again. We caught up with Kristen to talk touring madness, cross-cultural community, and what’s coming to the dancefloor this year.

Tell us a bit about yourself and what you get up to:

Kia ora, my name is Kristen. I'm a producer, promoter, organiser, music fan from Pōneke, Aotearoa, currently based in Chengdu, China. I play and perform live electronic music as Kaishandao (开山刀) and run the DIY touring label Kiwese. I also co-facilitate Chengdu Community Radio, a not-for-profit radio and space. I have two cats Nunu and Bubu.

Kiwese is such an awesome project! What drove you to want to do this?

Thank you! Kiwese began as a blog (a mashup of the words 'Kiwi' and 'Chinese') when I was living in Beijing in 2013. It was the era of John Key, so the "100% Pure" rhetoric was being hammed up big time internationally. I was interning for a New Zealand History university course, which often felt like a thinly veiled promotion for NZ tourism and education. One class was a prospectus for an Auckland uni looking to recruit international students, while another was a marketing exercise to gauge public response to the botulism scare, run by Fonterra executives. The milk was tainted.

At the same time, I was really excited by the music scenes in Wellington and Beijing and was slowly connecting the dots. I was super inspired by Tāmaki bands God Bows to Math and Carb on Carb, who toured a bunch of small town dive bars and were playing to like 10 people most nights, as well as Disasteradio and Die! Die! Die! who were making inroads to the Mainland too. After that, I started the blog as a way to document these stories and foster some kind of more meaningful connection between NZ and China; rather than ties based merely on the potential for bettering the economy (for the top 1%.)

Kiwese then evolved into a DIY touring label with a focus on presenting New Zealand artists in China. So far, Kiwese has toured artists including Orchestra of Spheres, All Seeing Hand, Lady Lazer Light, ENT, Alphabethead, mr sterile Assembly, Womb, Strange Stains, BIRDPARTY, Vera Ellen, Dale Kerrigan, Flesh Bug and my own project Kaishandao. The goal is cross-cultural connection and magical musical momentum. The vibe is organised chaos. The journey is ongoing.

I can imagine it feeling quite grounding. What are some moments that made you really grateful for what you’ve created?

Yeah, I love getting to be Tour Mum. Any time we're out on tour makes me tino grateful. Seeing the crowds respond to the bands, and the bands respond to the crowds, and just enjoying the collective energy born of that. Putting it all together takes a lot of laptop-ing and admin-ing, so when everyone finally comes together in one place to do their thing, that's the magic.

This year having Dale Kerrigan come over was really special - they absolutely smashed it. Some fans travelled from out of town to see them, or followed us from city to city. There were loads of girls at the shows who were just in awe of Shlee as the frontwoman, which was really empowering and beautiful to see. There was a super fan in Nanning who bought every piece of merch and got it all signed. We got to play a DIY show in a carpark under a bridge, a festival in a brand new multi-storey venue, and just eat yum food and travel the country.

I get a lot of inspiration from seeing how the artists evolve on tour, both personally and artistically, and seeing what revelations emerge out of that. When people come up to me and say they felt inspired by an artist or really enjoyed a gig, that gives me a lot of encouragement. I'm super grateful for all the amazing creative friends and whanau that contribute to the circus. I love connecting people and making cool shit happen together. It takes a village.

Going between the communities of Chengdu and Pōneke, what feels similar and different about these two bases?

Yeah, Chengdu and Pōneke are the anchors of my world!

I was born and raised in Wellington and have such deep love for the place, the people and the scene. Walking down Cuba Street, tuning in to RadioActive 88.6FM, going to the beach and gigs, bumping into friends in Newtown... things like that give me a huge sense of grounding whenever I come home. Familiar faces and places. Even getting blown around by the wind feels good for the soul, haha.

Chengdu has been my home for over 10 years now. I've spent most of my adult life in China, so I kind of "grew up" there in a way, navigating the culture, language and society and my place in it as 'huaqiao' (overseas Chinese). Although it's a city of like 20 million people, the vibe is really relaxed compared to bigger cities like Beijing or Shanghai. People really value leisure and connection, and are always out dancing, eating and playing mahjong lol.

While they're hugely different geographically (Chengdu landlocked by mountains, Pōneke coastal), I think they both have a really strong sense of identity and pride, as well as creative and queer communities. I went to the Dowse last week and saw The Wheel of Avalon by Lower Hutt-based artist Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, which was a giant replica of a gameshow wheel with human values instead of prizes. I spun the word BELONGING, which has been resonating with me a lot since being back.

You have a range of sounds out there, what's been inspiring your latest sound? What could people expect at Twisted this year?

I've recently swapped from a Machinedrum to a Digitakt, which allows for a lot more sample mangling and elaborate drum sequencing. I loved James K latest album and also been listening to heaps of dub and weird electronic tapes from Japan. I'm always just inspired by the sounds my friends play out in the club. Earlier this year, Chengdu's main techno club and our spiritual home TAG closed after 11 years, which means my club diet has thinned out somewhat (new venue coming soon). Inspiration since being back in Welly has been abundant - through noise gigs, a bunker rave, bush walks and the ocean.

Super excited to return to Twisted again this year. Plotting my set, think dubby, minimally, percs-y, sassy...

What is your favourite memory from Twisted last year?

Wow, too many!! The whole festival was such a trip, and I frothed about it on my blog afterwards to try remember everything (an impossible task). Feel like I got abs from laughing so hard at the Comedy Show. Another moment was Beastwars at the Beat Bach. My mate tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned around to see the entire crowd sitting on the ground rowing back and forth like a canoe. That was so buzzy. I'm still not sure if it was real.

Kristen returns to Twisted with deep grooves, sassy percs, and the kind of energy that pulls everyone a little closer together. Expect sweat, bass, and late-night magic — don’t miss this one on the dancefloor.