IN the build up to the Rugby World Cup, old booze hags The Feelers are excited about their upcoming winter tour because they are returning to their roots: the pub.
Drummer Hamish Gee laughs, “I don’t really remember the first five years of The Feelers. We were playing at pubs for no pay and just getting as much free beer as we could drink.”
It’s no wonder the band struggles to remember why they are called The Feelers.
“Bass player Matt thinks it was about the feelers on an insect’s head, but our vocalist [James Reid] has a more sordid take on it. My own idea is that as teenagers we weren’t very good musicians, but we had the feeling.”
The tour is in support of their latest EP Right Here, Right Now, the title song of which is being used in the Rugby World Cup advertising campaign.
“To be blatantly honest, we did it for the free tickets. I’m planning to go along with a drum kit, set it up in a corporate box and just make some noise,” laughs Gee.
The band sparked controversy by using the Jesus Jones song as the Rugby World Cup anthem because it was not written by a Kiwi.
“People wanted a song specific to New Zealand, and were saying Loyal by Dave Dobbin would be [more] ideal.”
But as Right Here, Right Now will be played in promotional material in 140 countries, Gee thinks it will be better worldwide than the “unofficial New Zealand anthem” Loyal.
“The World Cup is not a local event, it’s a global event, and the song reinforces that because it has a strong meaning for everyone,” says Gee. “I was talking with a South American friend who loves the song Loyal, but he asked how Argentines would sing along to it.”
The band already had a rugby connection, having played for audiences at Eden Park and Carisbrook in the past, and Christchurch-bred Gee will be attending World Cup matches in his current home of Auckland.
 “I live far out west and that suits me, I’m a westy at heart – I like loud music and big cars.”
That doesn’t mean he’s forgotten his Southern colours, however.
His partner recently gave him a pair of blue and white socks, but Gee uses them instead for dirty chores.
“Lots of people give us shit when we go back South, but I’m [still] wearing the red and black socks.”
Rugby aside, Gee says the New Zealand music industry has lost its tall-poppy trappings since The Feelers began in the 1990s.
“There were always some really commercially viable New Zealand acts, but they had to prove their worth to the radio and industry.”
The band is currently recording their first full-length album since 2006.
The Feelers, Chicago Bar, August 12.