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?