18 August 2011 - 0 Comments

Having spent 2010 filling the ranks of more famous bands on booze-fuelled jaunts around the world, Auckland’s Panther and the Zoo have finally made their first album, and it’s “quite good”. While Graham Panther groped his way around unfamiliar buttons, knobs and pads as a touring member of the Ruby Suns, main zoo collaborator Hayden Eastmond-Mein developed multiple tambourine inflicted injuries in Lawrence Arabia’s band.

Periodically throughout the year, dreadfully hungover and jet-lagged, Panther and Eastmond-Mein made the long journey back home across the pacific to chip away at Panther and the Zoo’s long awaited debut album; left safely in a New Lynn warehouse under the watchful ears of Bob Frisbee (Street Chant, Shaft, Surf City). Along the way, friends like Goldenhorse’s Geoff Maddock, The Brunettes’ John Parker, Ruby Suns’ Alistair Deverick and The Finance Company’s Tono would drop by with a bag of chips and ginger beer before adding their own musical touches.

Flash forward to August 2011, back home for good and freed from the shackles of debauched luxury, Panther and the Zoo are finally ready to “achieve moderate success” themselves with what the band hope will be “a really good album” - ‘More Fun’ - released 29th August. The album is more of a full band affair than earlier Zoo recordings, capturing for the first time the full energy of their live show and expanded line-up. 

In celebration of such a long labour, Panther and the Zoo are heading off on a nationwide tour in September (don’t mention the rugby), taking in Dunedin’s ReFuel, The Brewery in Christchurch, Wellington’s Mighty Mighty and Auckland’s King’s Arms.

'More Fun' will be released in three formats: digital, CD, and a Henrietta-Harris-designed t-shirt with download code - all available at http://www.pantherandthezoo.com/ and at the shows, with the CD in stores 29th August.

Ticket presales for Dunedin and Auckland are available from http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/, and come with a free download of the album.

Panther and the Zoo’s 2009 debut EP ‘Think About It Not Exploding' received a number of four-star reviews, quickly selling out its short run and topping the bNet charts.

PANTHER AND THE ZOO
‘MORE FUN’ ALBUM RELEASE TOUR
September 2011 (with support from Tono and the Finance Company)

Thursday 1st September - ReFuel, Dunedin. $10 with local support from Males

Friday 2nd September - The Brewery, Christchurch. Free.

Friday 9th September - Kings Arms, Auckland. $10 with local support from She’s So Rad

Saturday 10th September - Mighty Mighty, Wellington. $5.

Presales for Dunedin and Auckland, with free album download, from http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/

Thanks to www.pantherandthezoo.com for this story.

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