If you want to hear the music you already know or be at a music gig packed with hundreds of people, Level 13 is not the place to go.
Venue owner Deb Rowles has created the opposite. Level 13 Theme Rooms & Costume Hire is "original, it's unique, it's quirky", and it wants to showcase original content, Rowles says.
The Rotorua store started as a costume hire shop but in late 2019, Rowles expanded to include the theme rooms and bar and started hosting events such as quiz nights and performances.
But less than six months later, the Covid-19 pandemic and first lockdown hit.
Rowles acknowledges it wasn't the best time to expand the business, but they haven't let Covid slow them down, preferring to postpone instead of cancel performances.
"Through the last few years, there have been obviously bad times, but we have had some fantastic events still. We've still been able to host our private functions, birthdays, and murder mysteries.
"We've had some great bands here. So in among all the crap, we've had some really good functions, some really grateful customers and supportive customers."
Level 13 is a reflection of Rowles' desire to see original content and to reuse and recycle, she says.
"I personally want to see people try new things, I don't want to see cover bands, I want to see original stuff ... It's a sort of place I would go to, it's a sort of place I would search out because it's a bit different.
"We've got repurposed chairs from a marae that we redecorated. We've got lights that I bought off Trade Me from a big house in Auckland ... This place is made of a lot of bits and pieces of junk, and that me and my husband, Jeff, designed and made."
Rowles says she hates the throwaway culture and Level 13's unused costumes are made into bags to sell. They try to minimise waste and encourage other people not to be wasteful.
"Also, we want to connect communities together.
"It's just really exciting getting the opportunity to host all these people that are starting to hear about Level 13 and they're contacting me because they know we are a sympathetic venue that wants to listen and take a chance on them.
"We want more people to know about us and know that we're going to be showcasing some good, interesting things that they probably haven't seen before."
Previous performances have ranged from opera to jazz, and there are plans for an afro-beats performance.
"Level 13 is very original. It's very unique. It's quirky. We're not a covers-band place. We're not a cheesy comedy place, we're people that want to share music, take a risk, and play some original songs.
"We're trying to encourage people to come and listen to something new. You know what that song sounds like? You don't need to listen to it again.
"Come and support Rotorua in becoming a creative place where we're going to grow from the musicians and have a good time and have a laugh and have an intimate experience. You're going to be close up and personal with all these musicians, and comedians, it's going to be quite a different experience and it's a good experience."
Originally from the United Kingdom, Rowles came to Rotorua to look at the costume hire business.
"I felt like I moved home.
"It's friendly and the culture. I really liked the bubbling crazy landscape.
"It's a fighting town. Not fighting in a bad way, but it's always reinventing itself, trying new things and it's a very inclusive town. We've got lots of different cultures in this town. And it's all embraced."
Rowles believes there isn't anything like Level 13 in the country, let alone the region.
"We were kind of interested in kind of original music, musicians, poetry, comedians, you know, the up-and-coming ones that would play a small venue, wouldn't play a really big venue, because they're not well known enough yet," she says.
"I think we're pretty much the only ones who showcase original stuff."
The venue's themed rooms for hire include the sci-fi-themed Rocket Room, 20s glamour-themed The Ritz, prohibition-themed Speakeasy, Sherlock Holmes-themed 221B Baker St, medieval-themed The Keep, and the larger and main space The Meeting Room.
Like many businesses during the pandemic, "adapt" has been the magic word. A recently scheduled gig by the band Diablo's Caravan was cancelled because a member of the band was a close Covid-19 contact. A 40th-birthday function was postponed three times.
Despite Covid's ups and downs, Rowles says the past year has been full of highlights.
"There are so many amazing things."
She has been a Violent Femmes fan since her teenage years and says the band's bassist, Brian Ritchie, performed a "collaborative jam session" with musicians Finn Scholes, Michael Barker and Rob Thorne.
"That was sold out and we could have done another night of that really. What I would love to see is sold-out nights of original music."
Now New Zealand has moved to orange, Rowles has big plans for the coming months, starting with New Zealand Music Month in May.
They are planning a showcase of the city's music schools including Lakes Performing Arts Centre, the Rotorua Music School and Toi Ohomai, to allow younger children to perform in a real venue, not just a school hall.
"It's really important for those kids to perform and have older musos watching them. And it's also good for them to see where they can go, you know, what is the next step for them? So it's a community thing as well. It's quite joyful ... seeing how proud those parents are."
Other upcoming gigs include afro-beats, Wellington musician Sam Evans, Auckland band Where You Wig Out and Wellington jazz musician Lucien Johnson.
Youth in the
will also hold a fundraising performance. The programme, of which Rowles is a trustee, takes youth and gives them music lessons during the school holidays and includes year-long support.
She also plans to resume murder-mystery nights and quiz nights, and open on Friday evenings for drinks.
"We're also thinking about opening during the day on Fridays and Saturdays.
"We would like more people to be able to pop in and hang out."
As far as dream plans go, Rowles would love for Level 13 to one day host "quirky" British musical trio The Tiger Lillies.
"They are described as 'one of the most provocative and genre-defying bands you could come across. The world of The Tiger Lillies is dark, peculiar and varied, with moments of deep sadness, cruel black humour and immense beauty'. They would probably offend some people, but they are poignant. I know this will be the perfect venue for them."
For now, Level 13 remains tucked away in Eruera St, a haven for originality.
Best advice you've ever received?
If you don't know how to do something ask.
Favourite joke?
What do you get if you cross a dyslexic, an insomniac and an agnostic?
Someone who lays awake at night wondering if there is a dog
What is one thing you can't live without?
Wine or tea or cats, and I can't decide.
What is your biggest pet peeve?
Being late
What is something most people don't know about you?
I'm a trustee for the Youth Opera Aotearoa Charitable Trust and we deliver the Rotorua Accelerando programme
What is one thing someone would be surprised to find in your house?
A giant Maine coon cat
Favourite song of 2021/22?
Anything that Quantic - a producer that collaborates with other musicians - does.
First celebrity crush?
John Taylor from Duran Duran
Guilty pleasure?
Lollies or John Taylor from Duran Duran
Best costume at the shop?
We've got lots of Xena and Hercules costumes from the TV shows. We've got a whole armoury.
The jury's marathon deliberations ran for two weeks.