Well these past few days have been rather summery on the weather front during the day, but sure enough came that chilly freezing chill at nights!..........Expect abit of cloud at midday, showers during the arvo and sunshine at 6am! I'll be a weather reader yet!!
Anyway... enough of the 'more-acurate-than-metservice' reports... There was a most excellent gig last friday night that i was lucky enough to experience to the full extent! Won't go into too many details as they are rather embarrasing, but it was at Kings Arms Tavern and Cobra Khan opened the show. It was their first gig and they sounded damn awesome! Really loving that song "Wrapped In Plastic"! New Way Home played next, didn't see much though, always sounds good! City Newton Bombers were nothing short of Awesome!!! Front man is wicked at keeping your eyes on the band and the whole band are just really fun to watch! Kitsch played last, with new bassist Todd from Losing Face. Sounded really good and the show was their album release so keep an eye out for that baby!
Also the Stop Drop and Rock Festival 2005, has been confirmed for Waihi this year. The dates are still a little hazy but somewhere around the start of December!!! Once the line up of around 22 bands is all confirmed, then they will no doubt be advertising this hardout and everyone will come!!
Stuff that is coming up in the not to distant future....Foamy Ed, Roof Dog and The Rock n Roll Machine are playing on the 26th August at the Kings Arms Tavern, it is Foamy Eds release of their new song "Failing to See", should be a wicked show.
Agent 8, All Night Chemist and Not Ok are playing at the Dogs Bollix on Thursday 1st September, this is Agent 8s first gig, so be sure to come along and watch the wonder!
And last but not least, on monday i was watching these guys play a relay game between the lights going green down Queen street, by that big Witcoulles store. It was really entertaining. That is all.
Hope everyone's having a great weekend! and hope you checked out the 2 Auckland Shai Hulud shows! Because they are mean!
Thanks for Reading
-- Lanae
Stingfish is a four-piece rock outfit from Wellington. Shaun Jones (guitar, vocals) was kind enough to answer some of our questions:
Which NZ artist/band do you think will be a huge international success one day?
hmmm...tough one. Shihad deserve it. However luck and being in the right place at the right time seems to play a big part.
Who would you most like to tour with?
If we're talking NZ bands then Shihad or Degrees K.
What is your most embarrassing concert moment?
Losing my voice when trying to sing at a gig while sick. No fun.
What are you planning on doing during 2005?
Attempt to get the Stingfish name out there a bit more, and promote our new EP, more gigs and hopefully get some radio play.
How did you come up with the name Stingfish?
It came to Matt (Guitarist) in a vision...
What is in your CD collection at home?
For me, mostly guitar music. A few bands I'm listening to quite a lot lately are: QOTSA, Shihad, Letterbox Lambs, Weezer, The Bleeders, Stereophonics, Snow Patrol. Each of us are into different bands, so bring something different to the songwriting process.
What advice would you give other budding musicians/bands?
Get out there and organise and play plenty of gigs. Also go and watch as many gigs as you can and talk to other bands for advice on gigging, touring, recording etc.
For more information on Stingfish, you can check them out on muzic.net.nz.
Agent are perhaps one of the most well known New Plymouth bands. Watch for this 3-piece hardcore group in this years' Battle of the Bands!
Which NZ artist/band do you think will be a huge international success one day?
I'd have to say Chuganaut. They've definitely got what it takes. However NZ in general is really crap at nurturing/supporting it's wicked musical talent so it could go either way! It seems only mainstream or "safe" music gets any funding. I know so many fantastic musos/bands that give up because it gets too hard to give it 100% when no one gives a shit. This is a very sad state of affairs. Pardon the negative comments but home support is all part and parcel of becoming an international success.
What was the best Agent gig?
It is definitely a tie for the best. One was at Scotty's in Gisborne. The crowd just turned up and turned it on for us, and with a bit of free piss, a nice motel and great company it was a killer night! Next was a show we played at the Basement Bar in New Plymouth. Gigs had been pretty slow in town so we buggered off and did a north island tour and the last show of the tour was at the Basement Bar and we packed the place out. There was a huge crowd with a really positive vibe! That was when we realised we might be doing something worthwhile in some shape or form.
What is your most embarrassing concert moment?
Being really sick with a stomach bug from Christmas through to New Years last year and trying not to shit my pants or faint whilst playing on stage at a New Years Eve gig. Those high notes were really scary!
What are you planning on doing during 2005?
Well with what is left of 2005 we are releasing a video for our new single Hiatus, doing a bit of Battle of the Bands, play every weekend in a different town, going to the South Island to play some gigs (Dunedin and Christchurch), keep writing new material - basically more of the same but bigger and better.
How did you come up with the name Agent?
We wanted a one word name that described us quite well yet wasn't too obvious. The name Agent is used in the chemical sense, as an agent to create a reaction - which is what we wanted to do with our music.
What is in your CD collection at home?
I have a wide and varied collection. In my stereo at the moment I have Mudvayne, System of a down, Tool, and Slipknot. The rest of my collection comprises of old school stuff like metallica, anthrax, acdc, through to bands like Muse, radiohead, supergrass, prodigy, Incubus, Korn through to international like some bazook players, Khaled (Egyptian artist), global underground (compilation of international artists) I also like my NZ stuff I've got some outshine, chuganaut, viscera, horror story, 8 foot Sativa and then I've got the CD's that I won't admit to owning or don't know where they came from such as Oasis (huh?), The Titanic sound track (fuck knows), Black Eyed peas (What the?...)....So it goes on and on...I have a lot of music, and I love all sorts, people are really missing out when they exclusively listen to one genre.
For more information on Agent, check them out on muzic.net.nz!
New Artists
Seems that we're as busy as ever, adding over 15 bands and musicians this week, bringing our current total to well over 1,700. Check out the newest additions:
Kat McDowell | Built To Burn | This Found Favour |
Diefenbacker | Dioxin | Woodview |
Came A Mighty Banjo | The Natives | Commander Keen |
Occasional Saint | Vibrasics | The Evils |
Heathan | Eet Sum Morr | Kill Surf City |