11 October 2023 - 0 Comments

US legend Greg Franco is a devoted New Zealand music fan, and is making his eighth trip to Aotearoa later this month with a tour in November, and a double CD celebrating 20 years of his band Rough Church.

Franco lives in LA, but hecould quite credibly be called an honorary New Zealander, considering the amount of time he has spent in Aotearoa, and performing/recording with his friends from New Zealand bands around the world.

Franco's connection to Aotearoa goes back a long way. "In Sept 2001, I was in a band called Ferdinand. We received a call from Liz Garo, who was booking The Knitting Factory in Hollywood, to open for this band I had never heard of from New Zealand called The Clean. We were the first band of the night to play, and fortunately Hamish Kilgour, David Kilgour and Robert Scott saw it, and liked our set."

A long-standing collaborative friendship was born; you can read more about it in Franco's interview with music writer Harvey Kubernik here.

Franco says of Rough Church, "We sing about rare steamy rain, rolling tumbleweeds and lost poems raging against dying lights of empathy. We put out indie pop jams that get us compared to everything from Minutemen to Pixies."

This tour and album are not only the story of Franco, but of the Rough Church band itself, which started in 2005 with Jon Franco and Jef Hogan. The band's current line-up, alongside Greg Franco, is Dante Pascuzzo on bass, guitars and songwriting, Alfredo Ortiz on drums, vocals and songwriting, Carey Fosse on lead guitar, and Kaitlin Wolfberg on violin, keyboard, songwriting and vocals.

Franco's first show in New Zealand this time around is a solo show on Wednesday 25 October at Auckland's Clare Inn, where he'll be joined by his tour buddies The Fuzzies.

On Wednesday 1st November Greg Franco's Rough Church Trio commence their anniversary tour of Aotearoa in earnest, starting in Lyttelton. They then venture to Barrytown, Christchurch, Waitati, Dunedin, Auckland, Hamilton, Lower Hutt, concluding in Featherston on Sunday 12th November. They'll be joined on all dates by The Fuzzies, with special guests joining them along the way.

Friday 13 October - UFO, Auckland w/ Your Face & Partners In Crime

Saturday 14 October - The Jam Factory, Tauranga w/ Creatures Of Comfort

Wednesday 25 October - The Clare Inn, Auckland w/ Greg Franco (US)

Thursday 26 October - UFO Indie Club, Auckland w/ Greg Franco (solo), The Rustics & Julien Terris

Friday 27 October - 95bFM Fancy New Band

Tickets to all shows from Under The Radar

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Greg Franco's Rough Church Trio with The Fuzzies

Wednesday 1 November - Lyttelton - Wunderbar

Thursday 2 November - Barrytown - Barrytown Hall

Friday 3 November - Christchurch - Space Academy w/ Simon McLaren's Psychic Maps

Saturday 4 November - Waitati - Mandy's w/ AJ Sharma

Sunday 5 November - Dunedin - Dive w/ Seafog

Wednesday 8 - Auckland - UFO

Thursday 9 November - Hamilton - Nirvara Lounge w/ Matthew Bannister's The Changing Same

Friday 10 November - Lower Hutt - Cutlers w/ Spillkit

Saturday 11 November - Wellington - Lovelands TBC

Sunday 12 November - Featherston HZ Winterwood - w/ The Holy Loner

Visit Powertool Records on Facebook for more info

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