I Heart Hiroshima in New Zealand!

Brisbane pop-rockers I Heart Hiroshima are hitting our shores this week for a Wellington show! We caught up with 'em for a quick trans-tasman chat...

I Heart Hiroshima w Little Pictures + Thought Creature
Friday 18th July at Bar Bodega, Wellington

So you guys don’t have a bassist. Why did you decide to be bass-less? How do you reckon it affects your sound? Are you mega sick of being asked about your bass-less-ness…

It was never a conscious decision to not have a bass player as such, it just sort of happened. We started playing around with two guitars and drums and decided that we were making music that we liked and didn’t need anything extra added to that lineup. I guess lots of people are interested to know about the “basslessness” but I feel like it’s not that unusual these days, right?

Wikipedia has you guys down as being influenced by Sleater Kinney, TV on the Radio, The Raveonettes and The Jesus and Mary Chain amongst others – these seem reasonably accurate. Did you write your wikipedia page yourselves? Out of ten how would you rate the accuracy of your wikipedia page? How do you rate wikipedia generally as an online tool for facts and information? Any references closer to home – maybe bands that you’ve played with etc?

No we didn’t it, I wonder who did? A solid 7.5 outta 10, seems reasonable. I can’t say that I have ever seen our page on Wikipedia which totally invalidates my last answer. So clearly I don’t really use Wikipedia as an information-gaining resource. I can’t believe we are inter-discussing Wikipedia and it’s pros and cons. We have played with lots of rad Brisbane bands: Sekiden, Scul Hazzards, Night Crash, Violent Soho amongst others. Brisbane goodness.

Brisbane’s kinda considered a black hole in terms of culture – tell us about the ever changing face of the city. Have you guys managed to carve a little niche community out over there?

First of all, WHAT?! A black hole? C’mon! the city’s face is always being blessed with wonderful things, such as big giant colourful useless buildings. Now, the other thing that I would like to point out is the city cat. It’s a CAT that likes WATER! It doubles as transport AND an attraction. Beautiful. Not such an infinite vacuum now is it?

Female and male vocalists; who writes the lyrics and how does this double vocal get down?

E’rrbody writes they own lyrics. The double vocal, in my opinion, gets down like superstar singer “James Brown”.

Your sound’s pretty minimalist. I guess this is a natural result of the bassless/three piece aesthetic…but have you guys actively sought this sound? I interviewed My Disco recently and they had really interesting opinions on the possibilities of high intensity, minimalist music…your thoughts?

Well, I don’t think there has been a time (especially in the EPs) where we put too much thought into it at all. The idea was to keep playing until it sounds good and then go no further, so if you want to call that ‘minimalist’ then I say “sweeeeeeeeet dude”.

The artwork on your EP’s is really rad and also really consistent stylistically. Who does it? You guys are obviously happy with the way they portray your sound artistically…

Yep, pretty happy at this stage. Maybe Cameron will try some collages in the future. Oh yeah he’s in the band too.

The video clip for ‘Punks’ is in a really awesome location, where was it and what was the filming of that like. Who shot it for you guys?

It was shot under an old cinema, by a boy called Adam. The long haired man is named Bo. Bo Stahlman. He’s a Swede.

..Actually I’ve just checked out the other video on your Myspace and that’s really rad too…tell me about that!

Two out of three of us were hung over and two out of three of us were drunk during the filming. Try and guess which ones!

Are you guys amped to play New Zealand? Have you played here before? What did you think/what have you heard about New Zealand crowds? NZ v. Aussie crowds? Wellington v. Auckland crowds?

Yes we have played in “The land of the long white cloud” before (see? Not nice having yo’ home picked on eh?!), we played with Ratatat maybe two months ago in Auckland and it was totally sweet-wick-rad-awes-party-fun-times. The crowd was delightful and sugar coated. Aussie crowds generally get too wasted, so it’s nice to see that you dudes have a lid on your alcohol consumption. Haven’t played in Wellington yet, we are looking forward to it though.

Steve Abel + The Chrysalids FINAL NZ SHOW

For those of you in Wellington tomorrow night, Wednesday 16th July, Steve Abel and his semi-NZ-supergroup band The Chrysalids are playing at Mighty Mighty. Having just released a superb album, Flax Happy, they're playing their last show in the country for ages before they go touring across Europe. With Samuel Flynn Scott in support, this will be a dreamy, mid-week sojourn through some of the best musicianship NZ has to offer.

SO HO MO YO!

SOHOMO – Wellington Special
20th of June - San Francisco Bath House

With residents… A.D.A.M, Oscar Nutt, and Babes!Babes!Babes!

And Local Support from…
Bands: 'Heat Like Me' and 'Little Pictures.'
Plus 'Mega Pash Action Dancers.'

About Sohomo

Sohomo's a ground breaking phenomenon that has fast becoming
Auckland's kewlest and fastest growing gig. Combining a queer friendly
crowd with indie-electro music the gig has been redefining social
binaries. And after a series of sold out band nights the event comes
to pay homage to wellington.

Oliver Hall, Sunday Star times (About town)…
"Sohomo feels like a particularly cool grey lynn house party that
you've been lucky enough to gate crash."

Information on the headlining acts

A.D.A.M (AKL)

Adam's a kingpin in the Auckland music scene. In the past three
months, he's packed out Sohomo crowds, and played along side DJs Greg
Churchill, Antix (fiord), Andrew Tidball, Angela Fisken, and Cyril
Orson. He's also
played supporting sets for bands… 'The Shocking Pinks,' 'Collapsing
Cities,' 'Charlie ash,' 'Bang!Bang!Eche' and 'Chk Chk Chk (!!!).'

Little Pictures (WGTN)

This will be there final New Zealand show before their Australian tour…
"Little Pictures are Johanna Freeman and Mark Turner. They live in
Wellington together where they play electronic pop music and hang out
on the internet. Some people call them cute, but they're actually bad
to the bone! Having been recently signed to Lil' Chief Records, the
next few months will see Little Pictures release their debut album
"Owl + Owl", which they will be touring throughout New Zealand and
Australia."

Heat like Me (WGTN)

"At just one year old, Heat Like Me have received an overwhelmingly
positive response from the local and international music community. In
April 2008, the group opened sales of their debut EP, titled "You Want
It." The EP captures the warmth and spontaneity of the band's live
performance, combining electronic drums and analogue synthesisers with
pop vocals."

The Black Keys are in town NEXT WEEK!

The Black Keys have been a favourite band for a long time, their albums Thickfreakness and Rubber Factory are dreamy, two-piece blues rock 'n roll at it's best, and their new album, Attack and Release only continues the legacy. AND, they're coming to NEW ZEALAND playing shows all over the place. Below's a review of the latest album, live they are not.to.be.missed!

Attack and Release:

There are those bands that have a great first album, second even, and then the third hits, and well, it’s a sucker. The Black Keys were one of those bands, albeit their fourth album that made the black list. They had ‘The Big Come Up’, then ‘Thickfreakness’, with an epic cover of Have Love Will Travel and great original ‘Set You Free’, and then ‘Rubber Factory’ with obligatory road trip – and even though it’s about drug addiction – feel good track ‘10a.m Automatic’. They then said goodbye to Fat Possum, the indie label responsible for their first three releases, and released ‘Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough’, an album covering the songs of a late labelmate, to which the two, Dan Auerbach and Pat Carney lent all their lilting blues sincerity creating a noteworthy tribute. And then the speed bumps began. Big speed bumps. The pair released The Magic Potion, a flat, cumbersome rollick through the bad points of highly derivative music, with none of the warmth, grace or forward thinking playing Auerbach had become synonymous with. Thankfully Attack & Release, named perhaps to reflect the critical reception and subsequent pressure lumped on them after The Magic Potion, redeems them 101 fold. Track two ‘I Got Mine’ is the album’s obvious quiet achiever, all achy blues and biting emotions that saw ‘Set Her Free’ become such a hit. Tracks four, eight and nine (particularly nine – it’s a dreamboat) display Auerbach at his crooning best, while track three, ‘Strange Times’ and ‘Remember When’ (which has a side A and side B version) stand easily up against another, more colourful blues-inspired duo’s better work. Quite simply, The Black Keys are back, with a vengeance.

Mark Kozelek is coming to NZ

Mark Kozelek (from the glorious acoustic Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters) is coming to NZ for 2 dates - Wellington (SFBH) July 31st and Auck (Kings Arms - possibly the best bar in the world) August 1st.

This show is going to be the sex, so check him out and go along.

http://www.sunkilmoon.com

x

The Bravery play New Zealand

New York pop rocker's The Bravery are playing Auckland tonight 13.6.08 and Wellington at SFBH tomorrow 14.06.08. A friend of mine's just come back from London and she assures me that they're live show is pretty insane - enjoy.

Brian Jonestown Massacre to terrorise NZ

If you've ever seen DIG!, the doco detailing The Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Massacre's friendship turned rivalry, you'll know that the latter is notorious for extreme live shows that involve everything from punch ups (between members) to broken gear, to brawls between band and fan. More importantly though, they've been creating some of the best '60's throwback rock 'n roll since that decade, and have created some of the most ardent fan-ship and cult following as a result. Not to be missed!