Straight out of Tokyo, everyone’s favourite Japanese garage/rockabilly girl group make a welcome return to NZ this April

Acclaimed for their raucous live shows, the band’s last album was a live recording at Jack White’s Third Man Records in Nashville which was released last year. Third Man also reissued their debut self titled album in 2010.

Formed in Tokyo in 1986, the band consists of  core members (and sisters) Ronnie and Sachiko, along with returning bassist Yama who was a member of the band through the  1990s.

Most famous for their memorable appearance in ‘Kill Bill’, the band have been beloved in NZ since the mid 90s thanks to several return visits and their truly wild live shows.  No mere covers band; they take a song they love and ‘deconstruct that rock ‘n’ roll into punk music by using distortion and noise and screaming’ as singer/guitarist Ronnie puts it.

Don’t miss the chance to see this legendary cult Japanese band!

American troubadour Justin Townes Earle returns to New Zealand this April, bringing with him his timeless songs, tasty picking and charismatic, high-energy performing style. The son of maverick Texas songster Steve Earle – and carrying the middle name of his father’s mentor, the late Townes Van Zandt – Justin Townes Earle may have inherited some of his father’s rebel spirit, yet in many ways the lanky, tattooed 28-year-old has forged his own path and style.

Raised mostly by his mother, the young Earle played as a teenager in both bluegrass and punk rock bands. By the time he reached his twenties he had developed his own playing and writing style, mixing influences as diverse as Texas bluesman Lightnin’ Hopkins, Bakersfield honky-tonker Buck Owens and singer-songwriter Randy Newman. He displayed all these influences and more on a series of acclaimed albums, starting with 2007’s The Good Life.

His 2010 release, Harlem River Blues has been his most successful yet, debuting at #47 on the Billboard Top 200 and earning him a Song of The Year Award for the title track at the 2011 Americana Music Awards in Nashville. In addition, he has made recent appearances on The Late Show With David Letterman and A Prairie Home Companion, and appeared alongside his father on HBO’s acclaimed Treme series. In 2010 he was named by GQ magazine as one of “The 25 Most Stylish Men In The World”.

Justin Townes Earle has toured New Zealand before, and last performed here in 2010 and also with Wilco previous. He immortalised some of his feelings for the place and its people in a song on his Harlem River Blues album entitled ‘Christchurch Woman’. He returns fresh from the release of his fourth album, Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now, which sees the restless troubadour moving in a Memphis soul direction.

TOUR DATES:

Thurs 19th April CHRISTCHRUCH Dux live 8pm Doors, Show Starts 9pm
Fri 20th April WELLINGTON Bar Bodega 8pm Doors, Show Starts 9pm
Sat 21st April AUCKLAND Kings Arms 8pm Doors, Show Starts 9pm
Sun 22nd April LEIGH Sawmill Café 8pm Show

PRESALE TICKETS ONSALE JAN 31ST FROM Much More Music
GENERAL ONSALE FROM 2ND FEB FROM Ticketmaster
Rough Peel Records – Wellington,

UNKNOWN PLEASURES and CLOSER

A Joy Division Celebration With Peter Hook

PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT PLAY

Unknown Pleasures on Wednesday 18 April 2012 @ Bodega, Wellington

Closer on Thursday 19 April 2012 @ Bodega, Wellington

Closer on Friday 20 April 2012 @ Studio, Auckland

PETER HOOK & The Light will perform Unknown Pleasures on Wednesday 18^th April and Closer on Thursday 19^th April at Bodega, Wellington. An opportunity to hear both of Joy Division’s seminal albums played in full plus other classic non-album tracks. Two of the greatest albums ever released from a band regarded as one of the most formidable and influential in musical history.

The release of CLOSER came as a bitter-sweet comfort to fans around the world and the album has come to be seen by many as Joy Divisions’ finest work.  “Closer is even more austere, more claustrophobic, more inventive, more beautiful, and more haunting than its predecessor. It’s also Joy Division’s start-to-finish masterpiece, a flawless encapsulation of everything the group sought to achieve. 10 / 10.” (Pitchfork Media)

A stunning beautiful and emotive work CLOSER is considered an across the board five star, ten out of ten album.

Spawning the landmark tracks ‘Twenty Four Hours’, ‘Isolation’, ‘Heart And Soul’ and the haunting finale‘Decades’, the album reached #6 on the UK Albums Chart in an era when such music rarely appeared on mainstream charts, and claimed the #1 slot as NME Album of the Year.

Since then, CLOSER has received numerous accolades: it was ranked #10 on Pitchfork Media‘s Top 100 Albums of the 1980s, #72 on NME‘s 100 Greatest British Albums Ever and in 2006 was ranked#8 in Q Magazine’s list of Best Albums of the ’80s.

Peter Hook is a founding member of two of the most significant bands in popular musical history – Joy Division and New Order – and a legend in his own right.  His 2010 Unknown Pleasures tour was a huge sell-out success - Hooky, The Light and the music of Joy Division was received with open arms by grateful fans who, 30 years on, still hold this phenomenal contribution to musical history close to their hearts.

As bleak as it is beautiful CLOSER is as relevant now as it was on its release.

Don’t miss your chance to witness this epic Joy Division experience, live.

TICKETS ON SALE

WELLINGTON >> THURSDAY 19TH JANUARY >> 9am >>

www.ticketmaster.co.nz > 0800 111 999

UNKNOWN PLEASURES and CLOSER

A Joy Division Celebration With Peter Hook

The Unknown Pleasures 30^th Anniversary Tour in 2010 was a sell-out success in most cities (including Auckland) but was not performed in Wellington. In a decision sure to thrill those who want to celebrate and share again in the music of Joy Division, Wellington will now get the chance to see both Unknown Pleasures and the Closer performances.Auckland is one show only, and is a Closer show.

PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT PLAY

Unknown Pleasures on Wednesday 18 April 2012 @ Bodega, Wellington

Closer on Thursday 19 April 2012 @ Bodega, Wellington

Closer on Friday 20 April 2012 @ Studio, Auckland

PETER HOOK & The Light will perform Unknown Pleasures on Wednesday 18^th April and Closer on Thursday 19^th April at Bodega, Wellington. An opportunity to hear both of Joy Division’s seminal albums played in full plus other classic non-album tracks. Two of the greatest albums ever released from a band regarded as one of the most formidable and influential in musical history.

Joy Division’s debut album Unknown Pleasures was released in 1979 in a black and white sleeve. An album and an artwork that is now about as iconic as it gets. The music was produced in collaboration with Martin Hannet, the artwork conceived alongside Peter Saville. It was released by Tony Wilson at Factory Records in Manchester. Joy Division and the people they worked with, created and shaped a defining moment in time and a whole cultural movement that still influences and resonates today.

Unknown Pleasures was a landmark release and changed everything.

New Dawn Fades, She’s Lost Control, Disorder, Insight, Shadowplay and Interzone are song titles to send chills down your spine and joy into your heart.

For further info on Unknown Pleasures here’s a link to the 2010 tour.

http://www.redanttouring.com/past_tours_and_events_unknown_pleasures.html

Don’t miss your chance to witness this epic Joy Division experience, live.

TICKETS ON SALE

WELLINGTON >> THURSDAY 19TH JANUARY >> 9am >>

www.ticketmaster.co.nz > 0800 111 999

Championed by roots music enthusiasts and alt-country fans alike, Eilen Jewell is often mentioned in the same breath as fellow travellers Gillian Welch and Jolie Holland.  Her latest album, the wonderfully titled ‘Queen of the Minor Key’, is Jewell’s strongest statement yet.  It led one critic to declare her  ‘sometimes as darkly damaged as Lucinda Williams, at others as defiant and teasing as prime Peggy Lee … she’s mighty good’.
Eilen’s smokey voice is best represented on her cover of ‘Shakin’ All Over’, which was featured on the soundtrack of True Blood.
Eilen performs in New Zealand for the first time this March in Wellington at Bodega on Friday 16th March , and in Auckland at the Powerstation on Saturday 17th March.

Queen Of The Minor Key expanded ….
It is the battered cassette jammed in the tape deck of the getaway car, the music Ida Lupino cues up on the roadhouse jukebox as she counts the till after close. This is Queen of the Minor Key by Eilen Jewell, a smart cookie with a heart of burnished gold and enough stories to keep even the rowdiest crowd hanging on her every word. Though its long shadows and dark corners make her kingdom feel intimate, her sovereign domain stretches as far as the imagination. Its denizens seek refuge in padded rooms, abandoned automobiles… and strong spirits. They defend their territory by any means necessary: weird voodoo, sawed-off shotguns, broken bottles.

But beware, savvy observer. There is more to Eilen Jewell than meets the ear. Do not confuse the singer and her songs. The drama and darkness that give Queen of the Minor Key its gritty texture are in short supply in the Boston-based songwriter’s personal life. And in a curious twist, these fourteen originals actually took shape in a sunny, idyllic location that contrasts strikingly with the album’s moody, film noir atmosphere.

In August 2010, Jewell headed to a tiny cabin in the mountains of Idaho. Although her clan hails from the Gem State, this was no comfy retreat at the family fold. Her temporary abode had no running water or electricity, and sat at the end of a winding dirt road. Wild elk would graze in the surrounding meadows while she worked. When it was time to unwind, she availed herself of a nearby hot springs. A dilapidated truck she found on the property even made its way into the album artwork.

She had no set game plan, and her sole objective for the new material was refreshingly modest (or incredibly daunting, depending on your point of view). “My goal as a songwriter is to always improve,” she demurs. “Every time I make a record, I want it to be even more real, more heartfelt, than the one before it. I want the slow songs to be slower and the fast songs to be faster.” Drawing on a connoisseur’s love of roots music and a writer’s eye for detail, Jewell fashions her musical vignettes with impressive economy. Each turn of phrase and chord change is executed with an élan that belies the measured precision behind it.

Jewell is wary of repeating previous success by following formulae. “But I also don’t want to change things just for the sake of changing them,” she adds. Never underestimate the public’s ability to recognize calculation masquerading as inspiration. “You always want to ride the creative process to new territory, without being overwhelmingly novel.”

Towards that end, she experimented with dark humor in the new material. The title tune takes inspiration from a poke someone made about her harmonic preferences. “I decided to run with that and adopt the moniker, even if it started off as a nickname that wasn’t necessarily intended to be flattering.” “Bang Bang Bang” eschews the cliché of Cupid as a rosy-cheeked cherub (“he’s more reckless and violent than that”), and replaces his petite bow-and-arrow with a gun show six-gauge, plus a laughing disregard for such trivial concerns as aim.

Queen of the Minor Key is also the first Eilen Jewell album to feature a significant number of guest players, even as she continues to work in close consort with her longtime trio of drummer Jason Beek, guitarist Jerry Miller, and upright bassist Johnny Sciascia. Zoe Muth and Big Sandy (of Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys) both contribute vocals. “I was writing the songs with them in mind—if I could work up the courage to ask them—so I was really honored that they agreed to sing with me.” Further augmenting the sound are Rich Dubois on fiddle, David Sholl on tenor and baritone saxophones, and Tom West on organ. The arrangements, Jewell insists, occurred organically as the music was fleshed out in the studio; the songs tell her where they want to go. “We don’t really think it out that much.”

Since her official 2006 debut, Boundary County, Jewell has surveyed a wide range of traditional musical styles, from the folk and jug band leanings of her early recordings, through an album-length homage to Loretta Lynn and the country gospel of her work with The Sacred Shakers, right up to 2009′s Sea of Tears, which bristled with the electricity of ’60s UK garage rock and Chicago blues. Queen of the Minor Key draws on everything from classic country (the fiddle-driven “Reckless”) to early R&B (the shuffling “Hooked”), with an emphasis on sounds from the seamier side of the tracks. With dirty sax riffs and low-slung guitars, the instrumentals that bookend the album—”Radio City” and “Kalimotxo”—evoke the bump-and-grind exotica of vintage Southern California suburban saloons. Yet on the flipside, Jewell imbues slow, jazzy numbers like “I Remember You” and “Only One” with torch and tenacity that linger long past last call.

Eilen Jewell is the Queen of the Minor Key. Sad songs are her wealth and finery. Lend her your ears, and you will quickly hear why her humble subjects admire and adore her more with each passing year.

Pre sale Tuesday Feb 14th  General on sale Thurs Feb 16th
Www.ticketmaster.co.nz

Described by Rolling Stone as ‘the shaggy outlaw’, Earle is one of life’s great hardcore troubadours and a man whose creative artistry extends into many arenas.  Singer-songwriter; actor; author; political activist; producer – indeed, there are many Steve Earle’s.

There’s the singer, whose raw brand of country rock saw him become a touchstone of roots music in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.  There’s the author whose debut novel was published last year.  There’s the songwriter who came within a whisker of writing for Elvis before the King up and died.  And of course there is the actor, whose work on The Wire and Treme has made his face as recognised as his music.

And this April the body of the man containing all of those ‘Earles’ journeys to New Zealand to play an intimate set comprising songs from throughout his acclaimed and illustrious career.  A protégé of legendary songwriters Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, Steve Earle quickly became a master storyteller in his own right, with his songs being recorded by artists including Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, Travis Tritt, The Pretenders, Joan Baez and countless others.

1986 saw the release of his debut record Guitar Town, which shot to number one on the country charts and immediately established the term “New Country”.  What followed was an extremely exciting and varied array of releases including the biting hard rock of Copperhead Road (1988); the minimalist beauty of Train A Comin’ (1995); the politically charged masterpiece Jerusalem (2002); and the three Grammy Award Winning albums The Revolution Starts…Now (2004); Washington Square Serenade (2007); and Townes (2009).

Currently touring his 14th studio album named I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive (also the title of his debut novel) Earle and his latest release has been recently honoured by the Recording Academy, receiving a Grammy Nomination in the Best Folk Album Category for next months awards.  Produced by T Bone Burnett and a follow up to the award winning Townes, Earle has this to say of the collection of songs: “They are all, as far as I can tell, about mortality in one way or the other; death as a mystery rather than a punctuation mark or at least a comma rather than a period.”

Do not miss out on seeing a career-spanning set which showcases not only his latest Grammy Nominated album but the range and artistry of Steve Earle – a true American original!

STEVE EARLE – SOLO & ACOUSTIC SHOWS

Wed 11th April – Kings Arms Tavern, Auckland
Thu 12th April – Bodega, Wellington

Wooden Shjips
Monday 2nd April, Bodega – Wellington

Tickets on sale now from Under the Radar  and if you get in early you can receive a $10 discount on your tickets  – limited availability and exclusive to online purchases via UTR.

Tickets are also available at our retailers Real Groovy in Auckland and Slow Boat in Wellington.

Here is one of their latest videos for ‘Lazy Bones’ off the new album made by Black Dice.

Wooden Shjips – Lazy Bones from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

Formidable Japanese drone/noise terrorists Boris make their NZ debut with two shows in late March.
Emerging from the Japanese hardcore scene in the mid nineties, Boris have since shed any predictable genre expectations and embraced everything from sludge metal and psychedelic rock to ambient noise and straight-up pop.  They have collaborated with The Cult’s Ian Astbury, film director Jim Jarmusch, Nine Inch Nails, Sun O))) and fellow Japanese eardrum botherer Merzbow.
With a career now 17 albums deep the band have reached the enviable position of critical acclaim alongside creative fecundity – releasing three albums last year alone.  Releases are either as boris(experimental) or BORIS (rock) but live they segue seamlessly between the two.

Drummer Atsuo Mizuno is recognised as one of the world’s greatest drummers and often ends shows by banging his gong, climbing up onto the speaker stacks and hurling himself into the audience.  Lead vocalist Takeshi trades blissed-out, fuzzed-up riffs on his double-neck guitar-bass combo with guitarist and sometime vocalist Wata.

With Special appearance by Johnny Green, Legendary Road manager for the Clash, recounting his life on the Road with England’s Greatest Punk Band.