New Zealand Music Month 2011 is in its last week, but there are still lots of great gigs going on. Capital Times highlights some top picks.
A WISE man once said, “The more talented someone is, the nicer they are”, and it’s often true - we all know someone with a wildly out of skew ego-to-talent ratio.
For The Black Seeds’ guitarist Mike Fabulous, aka Mike August, this is a good thing.  The delightful musician’s solo album Melodies was released late last year, under yet another moniker - Lord Echo.
If the album’s been out for that long, why is this the first we’re hearing of him?
“I’m very relaxed about promoting myself. That has its own value too. People discover [the album] on their own accord, so it retains a bit of mystery,” he says.
Lord Echo’s songs are about to get their first grand unveiling, and although August has played Black Seeds gigs all over the world, this is scarier.
“It’s a completely different kettle of fish, when you have to take the rap if something is shit or not, and if people will think you’re a dick.”
Helping to ensure no one thinks he’s a dick, is a line-up of Wellington’s best, including genius saxophonist Lucien Johnson on keys; an additional super-secret keyboard player in disguise, and an extra special guest on drums – “Danny Pash”, who’s August’s brother, and who usually works in construction.
“We’ve only shared the stage once before, in the late 90s in Palmerston North,” says August. The band’s name was, wait for it, ‘The Wet Pussys’, and his brother was 12.
“I was really just trying to shock my Mum. We had songs called, oh it’s terrible, ‘Ejaculation in D minor’ and ‘Do the fanny pash’. That was probably one of the best bands I’ve ever been in. That gig was legendary.”
Also playing that night is Mara TK, releasing his own solo undertaking, so with any luck, this will be as good as that “legendary” Wet Pussys gig all those years ago.  
Lord Echo & Mara TK, San Francisco Bathhouse, May 28.
Joe Blossom is the moniker of another Wellington musician who’s been gigging for a decade – Sean O’Brien. O’Brien played guitar with bands The Livids and The Sentimental Plastic, but now he’s doing something a bit different.
“Alter egos give you latitude to break out… I put down the guitar to learn the piano,” he says.
His new album Nocturnes was recorded between a bach in Te Horo and a garage in Marjoribanks Street.
“Place matters. The Te Horo session was where we went with the quieter tracks, we ate and drank well… even had whitebait, and a few months later we reconvened for an afternoon in [band member] Jack Frost’s garage and had a crack at the louder ones,” he says. Described as “sonic piano pop”, this gig is bound to be an original one.
Joe Blossom, San Francisco Bathhouse, May 26.
Travelling Storytellers is back for chapter three – and Nikita, the Spooky, is joined by a Circus of Men, Madame Fancy and Miss Claire Terry for a celebration of narrative through song.
Travelling Storytellers, Happy, May 26.
Melbourne-based Kiwis BONJAH are taking the world by storm – they’ve opened for The Who, Counting Crows, and The Original Wailers, been rated highly by Rolling Stone (who compared singer Glenn Mossop’s vocals to Jeff Buckley’s) and sold 20,000 copies of their first album Until Dawn. They’re in New Zealand to launch a new single for Music Month.
BONJAH, Bodega, May 26.
The Checks and Paperscissors play high-energy blues/rock at Bodega on May 28.
And Kids of 88, Computers want me dead and MayaVanya play a synthy, electro triple-bill for the MAWSA Music Month wrap party. Hollywood bloggger Perez Hilton is Kids of 88’s new biggest fan – calling them, “The breakout act of this year’s SXSW [South by Southwest music festival]”.
Music Month wrap party, San Francisco Bathhouse, May 27