Live Wires

It’s shaping up to be an exciting year for Christchurch three-piece The Transistors. On Monday they will take the stage to play one of the noisiest sets of the day at Auckland’s Laneway Festival – then in March they’re heading to the USA to tour with Japanese punk band Guitar Wolf.

(EMJ) Are you all still living in Christchurch?
(James Harding) Yep, we’re sticking it out down here, haha.

What’s the state of the music scene down in Christchurch, given that the earthquakes destroyed venues like Goodbye Blue Monday and The Dux and caused loads of people to leave town?
It’s definitely a bit thin at the moment. Things are picking up, but it’s slow. The Darkroom is having gigs every week and the New Dux is underway, which is great. I don’t think that many bands have bailed – things are slowly picking up, I think.

Are there many opportunities for bands in Christchurch or do you think it’s better to head north?
We’re still here, so I guess I can’t really say. For us personally it would be helpful to be in Auckland, as it’s where we record and play a lot of shows, but we also have lives down here. I get the feeling that certain bands move to Auckland because they think it’ll instantly get them more exposure or something, but I’m not sure if it makes a difference.

You’ve released an album and an EP. Tell me about your growth as a band – how have you evolved?
We’re writing better songs these days. People have been saying that the new songs are pretty catchy, which is nice to hear.

How close are you all outside of the band? Are you all best friends or do you more come together to make music?
We formed the band a few years after we became friends, so in a way we’re friends first and a band second, but since we practice twice a week, play shows and record together that’s when we do most of our hanging out.

Do you feel like there’s much of a sense of community in New Zealand for punk music such as yours? Or do you feel like you’re going about it largely by yourselves?
I think there’s definitely a sense of community in New Zealand music, I’m not so sure about punk music specifically.

Your style sounds very much rooted in the original street punk sound. What motivates you to make this kind of music/write these kind of songs?
We listen to punk music but we listen to heaps and heaps of other stuff and I think the other stuff has just as big an influence on us. Olly loves Minor Threat but one of his favourite artists is Bruce Springsteen, so I’d say we’re influenced by good bands and good songs more than any one genre. We’re just trying to make fun, energetic music and write awesome songs. That’s our motivation.

“We’ve actually just been asked to do a tour in the states with Guitar Wolf”

You’re releasing your new album Is This Anything? shortly. What can fans expect from the new record and how is it different from Shortwave and Flux Pentaphile?
I suppose it’s a pretty natural progression from what we’ve done in the past. I think the songs are better and possibly a bit faster.

How much does the music you make as a band reflect the music you listen to in your everyday lives?
I guess it doesn’t, really. We mostly listen to musicals – Hair, Oklahoma, stuff like that.

Live, you’ve played some pretty exciting shows. Tell me about touring with JEFF the Brotherhood and what you learnt from them in regards to DIY touring?
That was a really fun tour, one of our favourites. Jake and Jamin are awesome, really down-to-earth guys and their shows were fucking insane. To be honest, in terms of approach it wasn’t that different to any of the other tours we’ve been on. The only time we’re ever put up in hotels is when we play ‘industry’ shows; otherwise we stay with friends and generally keep it pretty bare bones.

Do you have any ambitious plans for 2012? Will you be heading abroad or staying in New Zealand?
We’ve actually just been asked to do a tour in the states with Guitar Wolf, which is going to be insane, we’re really excited about it. That’s at the end of March. Beyond that, who knows.

You’re playing the Laneway Festival next week and you’re possibly the noisiest band on the line-up. What are you looking forward to most about Laneway and who are you most excited to see play?
It’ll be cool to play to people who won’t have heard of us. I’m looking forward to seeing Opossom and Sherpa. I’ll check out Girls and Yuck and The Horrors, I don’t really know much about a lot of the bands but I listened to Washed Out and thought they had the most apt band name ever.

The Transistors play Laneway this Monday at 1.45pm on the Park Lane Stage

Posted by Nick Fulton under Christchurch, New Zealand
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Ballad of a Southern Man

Delaney Davidson is a name we’ve been hearing around for a while now but have only been properly acquainted with tonight. With a charming, low voice, stylish instrumentation and intriguing lyrics, Delaney Davidson’s alt folk/country songwriting credentials are well and truly realised. His oddly meandering crooning style is upfront and with the bare bones of a song behind him in ‘Time Has Gone’, the essence is distilled down to its finest simplicity, which makes it all the more powerful. With blaring horns, searing violins and flairs of piano accordion, what’s there melodically is succinct and striking. Though it may seem well orchestrated for a song of its nature, the dynamics between the parts make it eerily sparse and slightly disjointed, which results in a memorable take on an old sound.

Delaney is a proper storyteller, with a trusted sage style about him and a well-worn voice. With an equally intricate video to match that includes his bizarre journey to find a suitcase submerged in the sea, ‘Time Has Flown’ is spellbinding and beautiful. Read more about the amazing, self-sufficient multidisciplinary artist behind the music on his website.

Delaney Davidson on Facebook

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Christchurch, New Zealand
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Shout It Out

Last week Lil’ Chief Records announced the release of Pikachunes’ stunning debut album by streaming the entire thing on their Bandcamp page and giving away the single ‘Nervous’ for free. Miles McDougall’s recent relocation to Auckland (from Christchurch) has seen him hook up with the indie label, run by The Brunettes’ Jonathan Bree. Pikachunes’ album is the first of two future electronic based releases from the label, the other being Princess Chelsea’s debut, due for release in early 2011.

It’s hard to fault Miles’ work, both live and on record. He’s been able to connect with audiences across the country, playing clubs, dance parties and punk shows. His set supporting Casiotone For The Painfully Alone in November 2009 was one of my favourite performances of the year; playing to an audience previously unexposed to his electro-pop, he managed to capture the crowd as well as any established touring artist. His self-titled debut album captures that same live energy, given a slick polishing by Jonathan Bree. It’s a brilliant dance record, combining house beats, electro synths and McDougall’s sexy baritone, which connects with an audience able to relate to similar experiences of romantic grandeur. ‘Just A Boy’ and ‘Nervous’ both plot the relationship between a shy boy waiting to hear from a slightly detached lover, with choruses that flow into social commentary. ‘New Friend’ highlights Miles’ ability as a beat maker, using pulsing electro beats to create a party tune that’s both groovy and awash with heavy club thuggery. The entire album is a flawless piece of work, track-listed perfectly.

Pikachunes’ debut album is out November 22 on Lil’ Chief Records.

Stream the entire album

Pikachunes- Nervous: MP3

Pikachunes- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Auckland, Christchurch, New Zealand
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Dream Theatre

Sleepy Age’s Josh Burgess emailed me his band’s new single a few weeks ago along with a message saying “don’t think it will be your kind of thing but you never know.” He was perhaps a little quick to dismiss his own music because Sleepy Age’s debut EP, released today, is a wonderful slice of indie-pop music. Full of clean, fluid pop movements, the guitars swirl and jangle, feasting on Burgess’ mildly aggressive lyrics about back-stabbing friends and restless relationships. The Christchurch three-piece formed last year after Burgess left Bang! Bang! Eche! following a friction-filled tour of the UK. The band originally formed as a four-piece with Will Edmonds (Insurgents) playing guitar and Hayden Williams on drums, but is now three with Burgess on guitar/vocals/synth, Josh Black on bass and Mathias Dowle playing drums.

Sleepy Age’s debut self-titled EP can be downloaded for free from their bandcamp page. It will also be available on 7″ vinyl during the band’s upcoming New Zealand tour in October.  Tour dates can be found on their myspace page.

To win a copy of Sleepy Age’s debut EP on 7″ vinyl, along with a single door pass to one of their NZ shows, email your name, with ‘Sleepy Age Giveaway’ in the subject line to music@einsteinmusicjournal.co.nz

Sleepy Age- Fuck Yr Friends: MP3

Sleepy Age- Paul Simon: MP3

Sleepy Age- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Christchurch, New Zealand
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Earthquake Relief

From one of the best young punk bands in New Zealand, here’s a new music video for their song ‘Caving In’. The video was directed by Kody Neilson of The Mint Chicks. The song appeared on The Transistors’ debut album Shortwave, released in September 2009.

A word from The Transistors – “Two years ago we got funding for a video. We made the video and it sucked. Then a year later after a lot of fucking around we redid the video with Kody and it was way better. Now a year after that and after EVEN MORE fucking around… here is the CAVING IN video. Seems fitting that it comes out a week after the quake….”

On Tuesday the band also released a new EP, titled Flux Pentaphile. It’s currently available as a digital download from Bandcamp, but the band has promised fans that it will be released on vinyl and CD soon. The four songs on Flux Pentaphile show the band has matured since touring north after releasing their debut. They’re less aggressive and more cohesive than the eleven rocket-fire tracks on Shortwave, but they haven’t lost the punk spite, channelling their youthful disobedient attitude towards the same unsuspecting victims. The third and forth tracks on Flux Pentaphile have a garage-y sound coming through; moving out of the basement and into the tool shed, if they’ve still got one left after last week’s devastating earthquake in Christchurch.

Here’s another amusing statement from the band, regarding the new EP – “On the 29th of August we sat on a bench for a few hours, carried a drum kit around town on foot, ran the length of Queen St several times with our gear, recorded this e.p. between 6:59 and 7:21pm, caught a couple of trains, played a show, played at a party with some scary girls and flagged down a stranger to fix Bevan’s car.”

Unfortunately for the band, due to the Christchurch earthquake they’ve had to postpone their EP release show at Goodbye Blue Monday this weekend. If you want to donate to help get Christchurch cleaned up, the Christchurch City Mission is taking donations – sign up here.

 Download The Transistors’ new EP Flux Pentaphile

 The Transistors- Reception To Porter: MP3

The Transistors- Caving In: MP3

 The Transistors- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Christchurch, New Zealand
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Ch-ch-ch-ch-chatter

 

About two months ago our friend Shea (at Rose Quartz) introduced us to Christchurch band Wet Wings. Hearing their dreamy simplistic pop tunes immediately made me shiver; Darian Woods (guitar/vocals) and Lucy Botting (vocals/keys) are an instantly likeable duo and their music clearly benefits from their close personal relationship. Pretty is perhaps a word not used often enough, but it perfectly describes Wet Wings; guitars are lightly poised, layered atop a delicate wavy keyboard drone and their vocals float even higher, making each song a beautifully well worked composition.  Yesterday the pair released two songs on bandcamp, ‘Running Like A Man’ and ‘Whisper Always’; the first is already one of my favourite songs of 2010. ‘Running Like A Man’ is a six minute long poetic pop jam, described above, while ‘Whisper Always’ adopts a more organic approach, beginning with the sound of flowing water before building through a layer of choral vocal harmonies towards a noisy climax.

Both songs can be downloaded below, but better quality versions can be downloaded from Wet Wings’ bandcamp page.

 Wet Wings- Whisper Always: MP3

Wet Wings- Running Like A Man: MP3

 Wet Wings- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Christchurch, New Zealand
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 Children Of The Damned

If the Transistors were in London in 1978 I’m sure they would have been one the biggest bands of the British punk movement. Unfortunately they weren’t, instead they popped their head up in 2009 to steam roll the New Zealand punk scene. They’ve already impressed one old-time NZ punk and with his help have released their debut album Shortwave; an 11 song, 21 minute assault of raucous punk riffs and clattering percussion. The Christchurch three-piece are clearly fans of the old punk way, their music is heavily influenced by British punk bands like The Damned, The Buzzcocks and The Clash, but their true roots lie at home, with The Scavengers, Proud Scum and The Enemy. It’s unusual to describe a band that’s channelling the past as refreshing, but with a lot of punk bands heading towards pop music, bringing vocal melodies and big break-down chorus’ into their music it’s nice to hear a band keeping it rough and fast.

Transistors were the one band that really stood out on the recent Tally Ho! Magazine compilation Radikool Emotionz. You can get a free CD copy of the compilation from Real Groovy Records, just pop up to the counter and ask them for one.  The CD also features new songs by Secret Knives, O’Lovely and Psychic Powers, plus songs by Die! Die! Die!, God Bows To Math, Bang! Bang! Eche!, Nevernudes and several others.

You can purchase Shortwave by emailing the band at thetransistorsnz@gmail.com.

Transistors- Brand New Suit: MP3

Transistors- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Christchurch, New Zealand
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 All My Friends

Few people north of Christchurch will have heard O’Lovely’s new EP, that’s because Laura Lee Watson hasn’t got around to distributing it yet. Working all day in a camera shop, the band’s front-woman and founding member has had little time to promote the band’s new release, which has been sitting in her room since May.

Lost Luck is O’Lovely’s second EP, but one can draw few comparisons between it and the band’s first self-titled EP, released in 2008. Shortly after releasing their first EP the band relocated to the UK, hoping to expand on their already blossoming musical output and to gain valuable life experience living abroad. Unfortunately things fell apart rather quickly, Laura’s original song writing partner Brooke Singer ran out of money and had to return home, leaving Laura to find other musicians to help her continue playing live. The band’s other founding member Matthew Scobie ended up going on tour but chose to have little input in to the band’s affairs.

“I went over with Brooke and Matt who were playing with me here. We did it together, we wrote the songs together and stuff. We got over there and then I got a couple of other people to play with me and Matt ended up just coming on the tour. Brooke ran out of money so she had to come home. It was all good but it ended up me doing pretty much everything there, which wasn’t the plan but it turned out pretty well.”

“Then when I got back it was pretty much like, Brooke was real busy with Ragamuffin Children and she was going to Wellington and stuff. I just decided I was going to do it by myself because it was easier and it was a mutual thing, so it was all good.”

Laura had written new songs while in the UK but they were never performed live or jammed out with a band. On her return to Christchurch she quickly found a few able musicians and together they decided to become a proper band. “It was my project but now it’s a band,” she says. She admits that the Lost Luck EP would have sounded very different if she hadn’t had the help of Perry Mahoney (guitar), Tim Woods (drums) and Chris Andrews (bass).

“He said “I can’t figure out the reverb on this, it just sounds cold,” and we were just real drunk listening to the Wilberforces’ album”

The EP was recorded with Dale Cotton in his Dunedin studio in December 2008; Laura and Perry spent a week recording and arranging the songs and Chris and Tim recorded all the bass and drum parts in one day. They both describe Dale Cotton as a very patient man and as someone who is dedicated to giving each individual project his full attention. They have particularly fond memories of one late night drinking session, when at 2am Dale spontaneously decided to work on Wilberforces’ album Haunted.

“We got really drunk one night and he took us down at like two in the morning to the mixing studio and he opened up the Wilberforces’ album that he was doing and opened up a track, I think it was ‘My Mind Is In My Paws’. He said “I can’t figure out the reverb on this, it just sounds cold,” and we were just real drunk listening to the Wilberforces’ album. It was real awesome,” laughs Perry.

Laura also describes herself as a perfectionist, and after a week of recording with Dale Cotton she still found some minor niggles with a few of the songs. They ended up re-recording some parts with their friend Joe Veale, who Perry says “is probably the best sound guy” in Christchurch. The re-recorded parts were then sent to Dale to use in the final mix, which still came under intense scrutiny from Laura.

“I couldn’t rush recording because I’d be disappointed with myself. That’s what I thought was good about working with him (Dale) as well was that he did listen to what we wanted and didn’t just finish and go here it is. He re-jigged stuff for us quite a lot, like bringing up guitar tracks because I was quite picky about quite a bit of it.”

The finished EP has five tracks, all written while Laura was living in the UK. ‘A Different Day’ has already received airplay on Christchurch’s student radio station RDU and it was also featured as this month’s music alliance track which is shared across blogs from thirty four different countries. The song refers to a lonely time during Laura’s UK stay when she was missing her friends back home and feeling uncertain about her future.

“‘A Different Day’ was when I was staying with my friend Dan and he would go to work, this was about a month before I came home or something, so I’d been there five months. I was just really jaded because it didn’t turn out, like Brooke didn’t come on tour and I was thinking a lot about how I was doing stuff on my own, not in a bad way but I just realised that that was what I was going to do when I get back. There was this one guy that I always used to walk past, this homeless guy and he’s kind of in the song a little bit. Just the stuff I was kind of thinking about and that’s what inspired it. There was everything I suppose because I’d never been to Europe or anything. I saw a lot of stuff and thought differently about things I think.”

“It’s cool to watch a video and see your friends in it, you know, have your friends in it just as much as you”

The band also had a music video made for ‘A Different Day’, in which they can be seen running through the forest and hanging out with a whole lot of their friends. The video was shot and edited by Damien Shatford from Christchurch band Von Klap. People involved in the Christchurch indie music scene might recognise a few familiar faces in the video, Laura and Perry say that they are good friends with members of Insurgents, Tiger Tones and Von Klap. “We’re all just one big group of friends” says Perry.

“I said I really want my friends in it and he did it really well I think, it worked out to be really cool,” Laura says about the video. “It was pretty much done for free, it turned out really well for everyone. It’s cool to watch a video and see your friends in it, you know, have your friends in it just as much as you.”

O’Lovey’s are heading out on tour with some of their friends in November, starting this weekend at Chicks Hotel in Dunedin and at Christchurch’s Goodbye Blue Monday. They’re then heading north with Tiger Tones and Pikachunes  to play shows in both Wellington and Auckland. You should be able to pick up a copy of the band’s new EP at one of the shows, it’s well worth it.

O’Lovely, Tiger Tones and Pikachunes Tour

 Friday, November 6- Chicks Hotel, Dunedin
Saturday, November 7- Goodbye Blue Monday, Christchurch
Thursday, November 12- San Francisco Bathhouse, Wellington
Saturday, November 14- Racket Bar, Auckland

O’Lovely- A Different Day: MP3

O’Lovely- Myspace

 

Posted by Nick Fulton under Christchurch, New Zealand
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(You + Me) As Thick As Thieves

As promised last week, here’s the new Bang! Bang! Eche! video for the song ‘(You + Me) As Thick As Thieves’. It’s wonderfully directed by Simon Ward and is similarly themed to Shayna Quinns’ EP cover, which she designed for the band’s debut EP.

The song is taken from Bang! Bang! Eche!’s debut self-titled EP, released in 2008. The band’s second EP titled Sonic Death Cuntttt will be released on November 3, below you can download the new single ‘Fist Full Of Dollars’.

 Bang! Bang! Eche!- Fist Full Of Dollars: MP3

Bang! Bang! Eche!- (You + Me) As Thick As Thieves: MP3

 Bang! Bang! Eche!- Myspace

 

Posted by Nick Fulton under Christchurch, New Zealand
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Spam Filter

Merging their love of Death From Above 1979 and Bang! Bang! Eche! with a grimey UK punk sensibility the likes of (the recently defunct) We Smoke Fags or Sigmund Droid, Christchurch’s Blast! Blast! Noise! are raucous synth metal/electro punk duo James and Patrick. They do sweet photo shoots in bathtubs and kitchens with their enviable synths. Their music’s simple formula works really well, the hilarious nature of their lyrics reminds me of American cult super-synth-hero Super Fun Yeah Yeah Rocketship. Their shouting in stiff English accents over grungey, fast basslines and drums results in super fun, energetic music. My favourites are ‘Raw House Party’ (T’Nealle from B!B!E!’s influence on the bassline is uncanny, and the lyrics! – “listening to Hot Chip/ I just vomited in that girl’s mouth”), ‘Politikz’ (“John Key doesn’t understand me/ George Bush doesn’t understand me/ Helen Clark doesn’t understand me/ Only we understand me”) and ‘Basslines’ (“Speaking authoritatively over basslines/ I tried singing but it wasn’t worth my time/ Hating Joy Division should be a crime… Most likely punishable by death”). Their cheeky chav-style singing sets them apart, while their experimental song writing makes them sound quite possibly the closest thing we have to The Horrors – see ‘Basslines’ and ‘The Global Economic Crisis’ (1995 doesn’t count). It’s so refreshing to see a band having so much fun with their music while at the same time being really creative and putting many more ‘serious’ contenders to shame. ‘LRN2SPL’ is an asset to New Zealand and should be taught in schools. “Learn to spell!/ LOL LMAO LOLZORZ!” What’s more, last week they just released their first video, for ‘Radikool’! Watch it below, it is amazing and easily one of my favourite music videos ever.

 Blast! Blast! Noise!- LRN2SPL: MP3

Blast! Blast! Noise!- Post Everything: MP3

Blast! Blast! Noise!- Myspace

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Christchurch, New Zealand
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