Legendary underground band Trans Am to play NZ

1/4 Mile Productions Presents
Legendary underground band Trans Am to play
one Wellington show:
Friday June 16, SF Bathhouse, Wellington

Trans Am, known for their sublime, kinetic live shows, will play hits from their 13 years of recorded innovation, plus new material off their upcoming album.

Although their albums rock, live is where Trans Am's genius bowls down an audience. Their music builds and builds, leaving fans gawking, euphoric and stomping for more, at the end of the set. At Spain's A/V Festival, held in a medieval castle on the Mediterranean, the organisers rushed to Trans Am at the conclusion of their performance, elated and certain that their festival had achieved the emotion they had hoped for. They called them the best international band to rock their stage in years.

Trans Am will arrive in New Zealand after headlining the Come Together Festival in Sydney, one of only two revered international bands invited to play the two-day rock fest.

Their previous Auckland and Wellington shows were heavily attended and very well received.

Tickets on sale Monday 5th June from Real Groovy. Queen's Birthday Day!

Who they are:

Formed in 1993, Trans Am remains the trio of Nathan Means (bass, keyboards, vocals), Phil Manley (guitar, keyboards, bass, vocals) and Sebastian Thompson (drums, vocals, bass, guitar, programming).

What they did:

Everything. Starting in 1994, Trans Am invented post-rock and then became bored with electroclash's limitations before Fischer Spooner choreographed step one. Simultaneously Trans Am boldly brought their love of rock to the stage when The Strokes couldn't get a gig outside of Brooklyn and Meg and Jack were still dating.

NME's review of 1997's Surrender to the Night: "it's like DiVinci freestyling."

Trans Am covered more territory on a single album -2000's Red Line - than most "free form" radio stations get through in a week, from ghostly acoustic guitar to crushing hypnotic drones to synth dance burners to fascist drum machine anthems to cryptic, isolated echos.

The New York Times review of the album said it opens "a previously unimaginable door to the future."

Trans Am have consistently received huge support from artists, rednecks, women, athletes, the hard left, bartenders and the skateboarding community.

Trans Am has been selling 30,000-50,000 records per release, marking them a force in underground music.

They have been - and always are - funny, scary, loud, ironic, passionate, political and incredibly stupid.

They are transformative and spellbinding live.

What is next:

Trans Am went into programmed isolation in April 2005. Since then, contact has been electronic and limited with the exception of several live shows. The band members live in Auckland, San Francisco, New York and London - depending on the seasons.

Trans Am recently emerged in international media - including several American newspapers, pitchforkmedia.com and the Sydney Morning Herald for refusing US$200,000 for a track to be used in a Hummer commercial.

Trans Am are recording a new album in New Zealand and Australia this June.

Don't miss:
Trans Am - Friday 16 June, Wellington, SF Bathhouse
Presales available from Real Groovy - $20 + bf
Supported by Kahu (Tristan Dingemans – HDU)
and Over The Atlantic

ENDS

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