You know that most gig pro­moters live in Auck­land, eh? And that Auck­landers don’t know we exist, right?

As a response to the Auck­lo­centri­cism (it’s a word, ok) of the tour­ing scene, a bunch of loc­al pro­moters have sprung up, ban­ded togeth­er and gen­er­ally defied the odds to bring some amaz­ing inter­na­tion­als to intim­ate Wel­ling­ton ven­ues over the last few years. Which means we don’t have to travel to see our favour­ite band, and tak­ing a punt on an unknown quant­ity is a lot easi­er and way less expens­ive than trekking up the island. Plus the like­li­hood of hav­ing a quiet beer next to the main act after a show is ramped up sev­er­al notches when it’s at SFBH or Bodega.

Which brings me to I Heart Hiroshi­ma. They came over from Aus­tralia in April to sup­port Rata­tat in Auck­land, but they could­n’t make it down here. Rata­tat, how­ever, played to a sold-out crowd at Bodega and knocked our socks off. They told IHH about it, and the band begged indie Wel­ling­ton pro­moter Palo­mino Agency to bring them down to see us. They’re play­ing at Bodega next week – Fri­day 18th – so do us all a favour and go see them! Their songs have been all over tv and radio recently, but if you haven’t heard them, and you liked Rata­tat – or you like the fab loc­al sup­ports Thought Creature or Little Pic­tures – take a punt. Tick­ets are only $20+bf right now from Slow­boat on Cuba St so why would­n’t you?