Bang! Bang! Aids! – Tales
Reissue of the 2006 debut album from cult noise-rock duo out January 31st
“We don't usually do reissues of records we've had no involvement in previously ...and it's not something that is going
to particularly catch on in our neck of the woods. But in the case of Bang! Bang! Aids! and the undeniable influence
they've had on not only some of the bands that frequented MUZAI Records but our lives as a whole, we're making an
exception.
Tales came out in 2006, and I saw the band for the first time playing a bar on Karangahape Road as part of Powertool Records'
Indie Club nights. I previously interviewed Rhys for the zine Powertool put out and so we knew of each other. Cue me
playing Glassjaw during a DJ set, and we've been pals ever since.
They've been called controversial and probably a host of other things that play up their notoriety - from playing gigs
in a tree in Bendigo as a "fuck you" to a venue, to other tales that, for some reason, has led them to have a cult like
appeal in New Zealand. Who else could manage to delight and offend so many people in a short space of time (two weeks if
memory serves me correctly), and without completing alienating everyone in the process? Probably a couple of bands now
some of you may say, for the sake of being contrary. But back then? Probably not many.
Rhys is currently part of Chinese duo Pairs, who toured out here early 2012 to, again, a cult-like status (to this day
he is still asked about Bang! Bang! Aids!, even by those who didn't see the band live) while Marcus became Smokin' Hot
Bitch before morphing into his current band, East Brunswick All Girls Choir, who themselves have achieved a fair amount
of audience fanfare in New Zealand. But for many of us, their whirlwind tours of the country have become part of the
fabric of the "underground" scene (to sound like a douche historian for a moment), and Tales has become something of an urban legend regarding it's importance in the scene.
If ever you needed any further evidence, talk to the original god bows to math line-up. Then ask about jenkum.
They've no idea why you still care - but you do. So here you go; Tales, reissued by MUZAI Records in January 2014.”
- Benjii Jackson. Director. MUZAI Records.
“Tales”, with bonus items, will be available for “pay what you want” from January 31st at muzai.bandcamp.com
Stream the album now - https://soundcloud.com/muzairecords/sets/bang-bang-aids-tales
ENDS