Great things to have come out of New Zealand...
1 - Lord of the Rings/Peter Jackson (we all know they are one and the same really)
2 - the All Blacks Rugby team
3 - Flight of the Conchords
4 - Ernest Rutherford - only one of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century, don't you know
5 - Richard O'Brien of Rocky Horror Show fame. Techincally born in UK but raised in NZ... can't afford to be picky about these kinds of things as the list is pretty slim pickings at the minute.
That's about it.
But not anymore!
The Checks are the latest New Zealand import to hit our conscious minds and I'm pretty damned confident in saying that we're all the better for it. Having supported Oasis, Jet, The Killers and Muse on various international tours, the band are already accustomed to playing big audiences - they are just yet to find one over here.
Formed in 2003, the five piece rock outfit debuted at a friend's birthday party and after a succession of wins on student and regional radio station band competitions, have continued to develop under an umbrella of acclaim from industry veterans Michael Stipe and Jonathan Poneman (aka the great Nirvana discoverer). Yet despite such successful progression and recognition from the big wigs, the band remain unsigned and most recently released their second album, Alice by the Moon, under their own record label, Pie Club Records. You can hardly accuse them of not being dedicated to their cause.
Citing The Rolling Stones and Jack White as two of their influences, the band present us with a combination of heady electro rock threaded with a few strands of cheeky pop. The Checks are everything that the English music scene is raving about at the minute, so it surely won't be long until their sound infiltrates our northern shores and checks into a music venue near you.
www.myspace.com/thechecks
Song to listen to: You and Me
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