The world is against you

Thomas Waddington has a lot on his plate balancing life as a full-time creative in Pōneke. Just 19 years old, the third-year Massey University student studies commercial music (majoring in music technology) while also fronting shoegaze-inspired band The world is against you (Twiay) and co-running local artist collective and label Glasshead. Through both his band and Glasshead, Waddington has quickly become part of a growing wave of young musicians helping shape Wellington’s independent music scene — whether that’s through performing, producing, organising shows, or creating opportunities for other local artists. We caught up with Thomas to talk about the origins of Twiay, the evolution of Glasshead, and the realities of making alternative music in 2026.

How did Twiay come together as a band?

Twiay started as a solo project for me in 2024 when I used to play in a band called Baldleaf. It was my solo project of all the offcuts that I didn't want to use and I didn't think were good enough to use in Baldleaf. Baldleaf eventually disbanded and became Half/Angel and Dillon Jo and Twiay. And when we disbanded, I was like, "Oh, I kinda wanna keep playing live music." 

So I had Twiay, and essentially I was like, "Shit, I need to get some people", and then I found my bandmates. The band is made up of David Hurnan, who I met through my uni course. He does technology and is in his third year. Stefan Jenkins, who I've known for ages. He used to be my neighbour. He lived real close to me in the area I grew up in. I ran into him on the street one time, and I knew he played in a band called Sol Fide, and I was like, "Oh, yeah, I can get Stefan into Twiay!"

Ezra Beckett I knew through doing shows with Park Flyers while I was in Baldleaf in my first year, and Rhys Hicks I knew through high school, from the band The Reserve we were in.

What genre do you guys play?

Something like indie alternative shoegaze, probably that.

Where did the name come from?

Well, I hate and love the name at the same time just because in, like, the general sense, The world is against you is genuinely such a corny name. But it came from this Eastern Theology that I was pretty into at the time, philosophy and theology of the world. It's called "Death to the World" and it's a philosophy that comes out of the Middle East, places like Iraq. 

And I also wanted quite a long name just because my favourite band is They Are Gutting a Body of Water, and they go by an abbreviation “Tagabow” and I always wanted to do an abbreviation with my band name. So that's where Twiay comes from. It's the abbreviation of The world is against you. But if you search that up on Google it will come up with, like, sigma memes. It's real bad.

What are some of the bands or artists that have shaped your sound?

As I said, probably They Are Gutting a Body of Water. But really it's been all over the place, low-key. Like, at the start of Twiay, I reckon my number one - who I got to see live playing - was Wisp. And I think one of the most slept-on artists is Photographic Memory. I've always been super inspired by all of his stuff, and regardless of what I'm listening to, he will always be in the back of my mind when I'm producing. 

At the moment I’m also listening to a lot of Julie. I used to think they were super corny when I first listened to them but now I’ve grown to like them and they’re even one of my most streamed artists. I really love them. I feel like they're just one of those bands you have to give a listen to two times to really appreciate their music. 

I also found this band Her New Knife the other day who are doing some cool stuff, and I’ve also been listening to a lot of Bill., this Florida band. They’re quite small, but they are a massive inspiration to me. I think they are insanely slept-on right now.

What's your songwriting process like?

It can kind of vary. So most of the records are written originally by me in my room, just in FL Studio. I'll just, like, brainstorm some ideas in my room and make loops and whatnot, and then make some demos. Normally I've got pretty bad ADHD, so I just can't stick on an idea for a while. I just move on to the next thing. Like, I won't even finish a full song. I'll just finish a verse.

Our next single Skyrim 3 was made like that where I did, like, half of the track in my room. I finished the chorus and the lead line and the vocals and whatnot, but then I didn’t have a verse. So I brought it to the practice room with the rest of the band, and Stefan came up with the verse. Now that we are a band, it’s getting to the point where I’m bringing a lot more to the practice room to be like, “Hey, let’s collaborate with everyone in the room on a song.”

With a lot of the newer stuff that we're doing, there's a lot more collaboration. Like, for a long time Rhys wasn't really doing any writing and now he's doing quite a bit of writing. I like the way it's all evolved with being a band. It started out with Ezra and Stefan helping me write on Gold and Pat on the back. That was the first song where it was collaborative. 

So if someone was listening to you for the first time, what song do you recommend they start with?

Honestly, right now, none of them. All the stuff that's on Spotify is quite unrepresentative of the new artistic vision.

The closest tracks on Spotify right now would be Gold and Gift of Love for the new album. The first single from our debut album is releasing on the 2nd of July. That single is called Skyrim 3, so when that comes out definitely that would be the one to listen to.

Do you remember the first proper show you played as Twiay? How did it go?

I think it took us awhile before we played at an actual venue. We had a new sound that people weren’t that familiar with. The first show we played wasn't even in Wellington. It was in Te Puke, for Blackbird Records first year birthday. The second show was at Newtown Community Centre, which was the first Glasshead show, which is a little indie label that me and Evie Thomson run, and then we played a show at eyegum at San Fran. That was the 11th of June 2025. We still weren't the best as a band. I had a look at the old setlist, like they were all very rushed, unfinished songs. I think only one of the songs off that setlist was actually released. 

There was only the one song which we were all artistically happy with. The rest of them were quite dusty, but that was the first show we did and we really enjoyed it. And then from there we just kept trying to do as many shows as possible.

What inspired you to start Glasshead?

Well, me and Evie probably had different motivations when we started, but I guess for me it was probably something I wanted to do since high school. We used to do lots of shows with Jude Savage [the lead singer of Dropper], with his old band Bleeding Star. So Jude used to have this thing in high school called Jet King Records, which I was always like "This is so sick," when I was 16. I never really was involved with Jet King in terms of like, putting on shows, but we played a lot of Jet King shows with our old band The Reserved. 

And then Baldleaf happened in first year. I didn't really do any management or behind the scenes stuff with Baldleaf, but in second year I took an industry paper. I'm not an industry major, so I did it as my elective, and me and Evie were in the same class and we got tasked with running a show. Originally with Glasshead we were like, "Oh, we want to be Glasshead Management," 'cause we wanna get into the management elements of things.

And I was, like, just starting to learn about these labels like Dead Air Records and Julia's War over in the States. And I was like, "Dude, this is so sick. All my favourite artists are on these indie record labels." And then we did our first show which was that Newtown Community Centre show under Glasshead. After awhile we got to a point where we felt like "Glasshead Records" was a better fit for our vision than "Glasshead Management" because we started to become more of a collective.

So that's kind of how we started with Glasshead. It was kind of just being in the right place at the right time for me and Evie's coursework, and for me, being inspired by some of our favourite indie labels from overseas. Flying Nun was definitely a big inspo as well. I always hear people describing artists as having “that Flying Nun sound” and I would love to get to a point in the future where you would hear teens or uni students talking about "that Glasshead sound.”

We also wanted to help our friends get opportunities, give them an opportunity to focus on their own music more, and be able to say to them “You guys focus on the art and try to get your art to be as good as possible, and we will help you out with the admin side.” Because I’ve been on both sides of it I know how much the admin work can take the joy away from the art, and the time you can spend on it.

Do you think it's becoming harder or easier for local bands to break through at the moment?

I think it's becoming so much harder - personally I am not a fan of the fact that artists have to do so much Instagram and social media posting. And I think that the market is so oversaturated with content and I think it sucks that making posts like "Hey, you should listen to our band because this," or “We took photos pretending to be a band” is so crucial for artists to break through now. I think it’s ridiculous. I hate it so much. I think it takes away completely from the art, and it's a shame because I think some social media content can be really artistic and cool, but you have to stick to what does well in terms of engagement and clicks. Some of the content that does best isn’t even associated with music. You see bands blowing up on Instagram now through content that isn't even associated with their music at all, and I personally just really can’t stand it. Musicians should not have to become these like, parasocial content creators on the internet where essentially you're like a YouTuber at that point. 

And I think it’s a good thing that we all have access to the internet, and its means that anyone can record and create music in their bedroom. But unless you have money, or someone backing you, it’s really shifted things to this point where if you're just an average Joe trying to blow up your music and get like international slots and whatnot, you have to be making content to do that unless you have like, someone who is someone who knows someone who knows someone, and all these industry connections.

Is there any local artists that you think deserve more attention at the moment?

Dillon Jo! I was talking to Kale Hamilton, who is doing a lot of work in Glasshead with me and Evie now. I feel like Dillon Jo are this perfect blend between, like, alternative music and pop music, and they’ve got Kahu’s insane production behind them. I think they would kill it at a festival. And I think what they’re doing is insanely great, and not just for them, but also our overall Glasshead community and even the Wellington community in general

And then secondly for me, it would be Park Flyers [the project of Felix Bird and Ezra Beckett]. I feel like they're super, super cool as well on the other side of the spectrum where they're like super alternative and super indie to the point where it's just something refreshing and, and new. And I hope they do well.

So yeah, definitely Dillon Jo and Park Flyers. I wanna see Georgie and Betty and Kahu and Ruadh do real well. And then I also wanna see Felix and Ezra do well.

You can read my interview with Dillon Jo from Roots Volume 04 here.

Has running Glasshead changed the way you approach your own band?

Definitely. It definitely has put Twiay onto a bunch of opportunities. And I’ve learned so much and met so many people through Glasshead. And I don't think we would have ever been able to plan our upcoming tours without the work that I've learned through Glasshead, like how to book and how to promote properly.

And especially in terms of content, we are still learning so much - we still haven't really broken through in Twiay with the whole content thing, and we're trying to learn what works because there are bands and musicians that do find a way, like Tiffany Day would probably be the best example of this, where all you can really feel the art behind the content. Because for me art is - this sounds stupid - but for me art is suffering and the process behind it. It takes me ages to write something I'm happy with, and I hope you can feel that behind the songs when you listen to it. The amount of effort and struggle it takes to write a song that you're happy with.

And for me, that's where the art comes from. So we're trying to find a way to bridge our art with something that does well in the algorithm. And trying to be artistically happy and satisfied with what we're putting out there rather than just cheaping out on like copying a piece of content that has done well and then hoping it gets to 200k views.

So you've got your next single coming out next month. Is there anything else coming up? Any shows?

Our single Skyrim 3 comes out on July 2nd. The album's gonna come out October 3rd. We are gonna do a bunch of shows on the way. And we’re playing for Massive Magazine on July 30th in Palmerston North. That’s gonna be fun as.

You can follow Thomas on Instagram @twiay__ and at @glassheadrecords