Music News - US legend Greg Franco to tour NZ with The Fuzzies
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
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