The Plastic Knife
post-modern Indie-Rock | Psych, Acid & dub
The Plastic Knife slices through uncertainty with raw, DIY indie-rock—honest, unpolished, and unapologetically introspective.
The Plastic Knife creates indie rock infused with a deep sense of nostalgia and raw intimacy. Living off the grid in a tiny house surrounded by pine trees, they craft songs that echo with warmth, imperfection, and unfiltered emotion. Influenced by the understated beauty of artists like Mk.gee and Fontaines DC, their music transports listeners to late-night city streets, quiet forests, and the spaces between words. It’s not just a sound—it’s a feeling, a memory, a fleeting moment that lingers long after the last note fades.
The Plastic Knife – the latest project from Te Paerata ‘Teeps’ Tichbon (Bad Hagrid, Model Motel, Te Pari O Auahatanga).
A series of singles built from turning inwards, The Plastic Knife speaks to their newly found sense of self reflection and strength. Structurally pop, sonically post modern indie rock, the EP draws from artists like Kurt Vile, Fontaines DC, Mkgee with an added healthy dose of dub-infused production.
The Plastic Knife makes music that feels like a memory — something nostalgic yet just out of reach. Rooted in indie and alternative rock, their sound is raw, unpolished, and deeply personal, inviting listeners into moments of quiet intimacy and reflection. There’s warmth in the grain, a crackle in the tape—an intentional imperfection that makes each track feel like a lost recording rediscovered at just the right time. The Plastic Knife exists in the space between indie and something deeply human. Their music is for those who seek connection in the quiet, in the in-between, in the fleeting details often overlooked. It’s not just a sound—it’s a memory, a feeling you can’t quite place but always come back to. Confessional in nature, The Plastic Knife’s writing is at the epicenter, delivering the message that “it’s okay not to know”.
A contemplative project, The Plastic Knife blends post-modern indie rock with pop structures and dub-infused production, but transcendent in genre and sound, leaving interpretation up to the listener. Guitar-driven, suspended synths, moments of space, dub basslines. A self-reflective and poetic journey, the project embraces honesty, discomfort, and creative urgency.
Occasionally stepping into the city’s neon glow, The Plastic Knife takes inspiration from the blurred lights, late-night solitude, and the hum of unseen lives moving past. But always, they return to the stillness of the forest, where the music takes form.
More than a musical project, The Plastic Knife is an experiment in creative resilience. It’s a reflection of a restless mind, an exploration of self, and an acceptance of not always having the answers. Whether performed live or recorded in transient spaces, the music exists because it has to—because it is the only way Te Paerata knows how to communicate.
“For the first time, the foundation is strong enough to release this project to the public. This is an opportunity to walk the talk, to push through personal unease, and to establish a tangible legacy of creative expression.”
Bouncing around for the last eight years underneath different names and sounds, The Plastic Knife truly kicked off in April 2024. Written, recorded, and produced across the lower North Island, New Zealand - The EP started its recording life in the abandoned Lacuna venue, before being shifted into their tiny home and van, with the final touches added in their homemade studio in Taupō-nui-a-Tia. A mostly solitary exercise, but The Plastic Knife features Michael Petersen on drums, a hidden gem amongst the saturated industry. This project was self-produced under the aid of Toby Lloyd of Tiny Triumph Recordings, who mixed the final sound where it was then mastered by the legendary Chris Chetland of KOG Studio.
In their spare time, The Plastic Knife lives off the grid in a tiny house tucked deep in a pine forest, with his wife and dog. Life out there, disconnected from the rush of modernity, breathes into the music—a slow pace, a focus on what matters, and the quiet hum of nature seeping into each note. You can hear it in the way The Plastic Knife captures moments that feel intimate, like you’re there in the room or on that long drive to nowhere. It’s music that values the unspoken, the in-between, and the small details that often go unnoticed.
Holding up a mirrored mask, The Plastic Knifes allows us to step into the internal world of Te Paerata. For those searching for something real—something imperfect, nostalgic, and deeply human—The Plastic Knife offers a place to land.
