I only went into Happy the one time during that one year Wellington was my home.  There was about a week and a half left of July, I had a crush on Cat Venom and all I wanted was to hold their new record in my hands and breathe in that sweet cardboard and plastic scent.

As well as the sultry Cat Venom, I remember the atmospheric melancholy and sweaters of Mammal Airlines.  I think they had a chick drummer too…  My memory of the event is hazy now, two years on.  I do recall bumping into the drummer from my lesbian ex-girlfriend’s old band Impish, now in the Postures, who were also playing that night.

So there I was.  My first introduction to the Indie scene.  A semi-reformed pseudo-Goth on the outskirts of a Hipster mosh-pit.  Everything about the place told me I didn’t belong, but the high-energy and controlled chaos of God bows to Math blew apart my conception of what live music should be…

And then suddenly, the music stopped.  I looked at my iPod and the battery wasn’t flat. 

I’d been listening to Racket’s Could Do Better on my break at work, for some reason remembering that one show at Happy, and after only seven minutes, the album was over.  Oh yeah.  That one guy from Racket's was from God bows to Math. That explains the memory...

Stealing the words of the Bloodhoundgang, Could Do Better is “short and hard, like a body-building elf.”  The product of feeding three ADHD kids with a level of musical proficiency a 1.5lt Demon Energy Drink each and then locking them in a recording studio.  It’s the kind of music that your dad would call a “bloody racket” while demanding you turn it down, or that your mum subtly “loses” while cleaning the lounge after you leave the CD in the family stereo.

Could Do Better is good advertising for Rackets’ live shows, and simultaneously something to listen to when the band aren’t touring.  I can see how the controlled chaos of the recorded medium can quickly get out of hand if these stoned mongrels are let loose on stage to perform these songs.  There are whisperings around the net of nudity during performances, and from a band who writes their name mainly with genitals on this new EP, I’m not surprised.

You can grab Could Do Better online at http://racketsonline.bandcamp.com/ or look out for one of their live shows at a show near you.

• 1
  Anxiety Club
• 2
  Take Hold
• 3
  Coridian
• 4
  Devilskin
• 5
  Skinny Hobos
• 6
  L.A.B.
• 7
  Head Like A Hole
• 8
  Shihad
• 9
  Katchafire
• 10
  Written By Wolves

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  Macho Macho @ Otisfest, San Fran, Wellington - 14/04/2024

• 1
  TOO SWEET
  Hozier
• 2
  BEAUTIFUL THINGS
  Benson Boone
• 3
  LOSE CONTROL
  Teddy Swims
• 4
  LIKE THAT
  Future And Metro Boomin feat. Kendrick Lamar
• 5
  END OF BEGINNING
  Djo
• 6
  I LIKE THE WAY YOU KISS ME
  Artemas
• 7
  WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS (WAIT FOR YOUR LOVE)
  Ariana Grande
• 8
  STICK SEASON
  Noah Kahan
• 9
  TEXAS HOLD 'EM
  Beyonce
• 10
  LEAVEMEALONE
  Fred Again.. And Baby Keem

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