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Tauranga continues to surprise me with the amount and variety of music on offer.
I’ve said this before and though I hate repeating myself, I know I’m doing exactly that. Perhaps I’m still living in the past, back in the dark old days when Tauranga was a place where notoriously little happened apart from a dust up on the Mount beach each New Year’s Eve.
A place touring bands avoided due to a lack of venues and audiences.
No longer. Let’s look at just two days next week, with five shows taking place: new bands, old bands, music from cutting edge to classical.
Two different bands
Next Friday, June 27, there are two very different touring bands on offer. The Jam Factory plays host to Taranaki’s This Little Badge, a five-piece who have been making music for about a decade.
They have a bunch of releases, the latest being EP ‘The Album Of The Year’. I place it under the influence of 1980s/90s alternative rock with a dose of classic guitars and keys. Singer-songwriter Dave Pope’s songs are slightly left-leaning politically and very good.
That same night over at The Mount’s Totara Street there’s another indie-rock band but completely absolutely different from This Little Badge.
This Little Badge. Photo / Supplied
Daily J look like they could be a quintessential New Zealand success story. The band originated in Blenheim, comprising brothers Jayden, Jonny, and Jesse Paul, along with long-time friend Rick Everard. They’ve spent the past few years releasing singles – many remember their song ‘Black Lagoon’ from 2019 – and building a fanbase around New Zealand.
Daily J. Photo / Supplied
This meant relocating to Auckland with their dreamy reggae-tinged indie-rock grooves and poppy electronica, and with the success of recent album ‘Scatterbrains’, which has had attention from BBC Radio 1, ‘Rolling Stone Magazine’, and NME, they’re playing a final tour here before basing themselves in Australia.
For this tour they’re inviting fans to help choose the setlists by submitting song requests, making each show a unique celebration of the band so far. There’s also a Spotify playlist of tour songs. Support for the night is impressive Mount five-piece The Darlings.
Need no introduction
Okay. Next night. Saturday, June 28, Devilskin is playing at Baypark. With tickets at nearly $100-$142 for VIP tickets, they clearly need no introduction. They’re promising all the hits plus some new tunes and will feature support from Villainy and Midwave Breaks.
That same afternoon you can get a shot of the classics at St Peters in the City on Spring St, when the Tauranga Civic Choir perform Puccini’s ‘Messa Di Gloria’ and Benjamin Britten’s ‘Rejoice In The Lamb’.
And one I’ll definitely be at: 6.30pm in town at The Barrel Room, Mike Garner plays old-timey blues along with multi-instrumentalist Robbie Lavën and Grant Willis on bass and tuba.
Mike Garner Trio. Photo / Supplied
I genuinely believe sessions such as this are one of the true attractions of Tauranga – being able to see an ensemble so good, which could proudly feature at any international blues festival, playing here on a Saturday evening, for no charge.
Hear Winston’s latest Playlist: