STRANGERS are a 5-piece group from Wellington, New Zealand. Late last year they released their debut album, 'Weight', which gathered much critical praise and saw STRANGERS continuing a relentless schedule of touring and writing. Where some critics saw some amount of beauty in the sonic textures of the 'Weight' album; the brand new 7", 'Night Minutes', seems far more centered on a distinct ugliness – its artwork stark and minimal, its lyrics sarcastic and snide, and its music abrasive and relentless. From the jarring opening stop-start of ‘Voyeur’, STRANGERS provide thirteen minutes of pounding punk-influenced rock. Whilst there are nods to the metallic crunch of Entombed or Neurosis, one can hear a sly 80’s hardcore influence creeping in alongside the musical cynicism of bands like Big Black, Swans and The Jesus Lizard. While 'Knots' shows the band at their most frantic – speeding through a minute and a half of discordant hardcore; tracks like 'Suck & Burn' provide new scope for experimentation with post-punk rhythms.

Joining Strangers on this NZ tour is Australia’s THE THAW, who provide a truly innovative mixture of sounds – their jagged soundscapes end up sounding somewhere between Sonic Youth, Mogwai and Orchid. This is sure to be an interesting and successful meeting of sounds and attitudes, and these shows promise to be genuinely memorable. At each date, the various local bands provide an exposition of NZ’s finest underground music.