There’s a post on Reddit called “A True Legend”:  a clip of Fox 5 News reporter Ophelia Young interviewing a lottery player, with a live patch back to the studio. 

“Can I ask you, sir …” She approaches the man choosing his numbers. “Do you know your chances of winning?”

“Slim to none,” he says.

“Slim to none! You’re right! Let me tell you, it’s one out of 292 million!”

“I knew it,” he says.

And then she asks the crux question: “If you won all the money, what would you do with it?”

“A bunch of hookers and cocaine,” he says.

The clip has 77,500 upvotes. Legendary indeed.

It’s relevant because the last two lines of the audio, along with Young’s desperate recovery attempt, are used in the opening audio of the last song on Hoodaki’s new EP, Close Your Eyes It's Right In Front Of Your Ears. It’s on Bug Eyed and Remixed, a remix of their second ever single Bug Eyed and Satisfied from 2021. In the context of this new EP, the song is an outlier in the spirit of Madchester and late 1980’s UK guitar pop, and is a distinctly alternative version to their original (a faster and simpler guitar-led Britpop thing). Ok, so the original borrows a lot from the Bluetones (Soloman Bites the Worm) and the remix sounds like Black Grape or Jesus Jones. But this pre-Britpop influence on Hoodaki makes sense given the band’s heritage and interests: two Englishmen now based in Southland, plus one Kiwi, with a prior limb of their music career a pub covers band and now (since 2019), a band recording and touring with originals. It's rip-roaring stuff and an entirely new piece as a remix – and work that Hoodaki are obviously having a lot of fun with.

(Which – by the way – is why I mentioned the context of the opening soundbite, Fox 5’s lotto report:  Apparently the gentleman being interviewed later said his comments were entirely a joke (and, as you’ll hear, are delivered with maximum dryness) – so he took to the internet to explain the joke (albeit not to apologize – though he was married with children at the time). It’s almost a shame this ode to internet history comes as a footnote to Close Your Eyes and not as the opening manifesto statement. Nevertheless, the message seems clear – that the mission of Hoodaki on Close Your Eyes is to have some laughs and not to take much of it too seriously.) 

The set opens with Road Trip, a jolly guitar pop piece on driving to who-knows-where in the sunshine, not a care in the world, feeling alive. Magictricity follows, another tightly woven guitar pop piece. Hoodaki sound here like mellowed practitioners of post-punk from days gone by, and the song is perhaps an ode to mushrooms or some other means to let go and lose one’s mind. “We’ll wake you up when we get there …. If we ever do.”

Under A Simpsons Sky is another call to put seriousness to one side. “Too much news / Get loose on your screws / Some people refuse to be amused / Spring’s the Friday night of the year / Everything’s better after a beer.” It’s an unapologetic call to avoid growing up and make the most of the day. It’s all unoffensive, upbeat guitar blokes’ pop apparently designed to be accompanied by chops on the BBQ and a couple of cans. Cheers mate! 

The penultimate John The Dog is the only overt diversion into politics Hoodaki takes, but it still doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s a juxtaposition of family dog intellect and behaviour against a man who can only be the Right Honourable Sir John Key:  “He's never down / He doesn’t know what’s up / He’s got you back / He can smell a rat / He’s priceless / No one better in a crisis … A dog called John / Makes no bones  / Takes no stick / And has a ball …” You can sing along while chewing on chops and sausages in the sun with a cold one, if you can still afford chops and beer in the post-Key era. 

As the band state on their Facebook page, it’s “Dad rock with a cherry on top,” and as in their Spotify bio, “they just want to have fun playing music.”  That much seems obvious from this, their second EP. Cleaner and cheaper fun than cocaine and hookers, this much seems certain, and record that's good value on its own terms too.

• 1
  Outside In
• 2
  Horror Story
• 3
  Head Like A Hole
• 4
  Fraser Ross
• 5
  Fur Patrol
• 6
  Michelle Rounds
• 7
  L.A.B.
• 8
  The Boondocks
• 9
  Us As Robots
• 10
  Late to Chelsea

• 
  Greta O'Leary @ Meow, Wellington - 10/10/2024
• 
  Fables @ Meow, Wellington - 10/10/2024
• 
  Tami Neilson @ The Opera House, Wellington - 11/10/2024
• 
  Geoff Ong @ Cassette Nine, Auckland - 05/10/2024

• 1
  DIE WITH A SMILE
  Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
• 2
  BIRDS OF A FEATHER
  Billie Eilish
• 3
  TASTE
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 4
  A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
  Shaboozey
• 5
  ESPRESSO
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 6
  LOSE CONTROL
  Teddy Swims
• 7
  I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
  Gracie Abrams
• 8
  GOOD LUCK, BABE!
  Chappell Roan
• 9
  SAILOR SONG
  Gigi Perez
• 10
  TOO SWEET
  Hozier

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