AUCKLAND band The Vietnam War is harder to Google search than bands with really tricky names like !!!, Love, and The the. They didn’t really think about that at the time.
“The name started as kind of a joke about music biographies – where a lot of bands and musicians cite The Vietnam War as an influence,” says singer and main songwriter Lubin Raines.
In naming themselves thus, the band retrospectively wrote themselves into thousands of biographies and historical accounts. They also hoped the name would tell about who they were – The Vietnam War make music informed by Country and Americana music, but not of the pro-US, hillbilly type.
Says Lubin: “I didn’t want to distance myself from the Americana sound… but I wanted to be associated more with the counter-American tradition of music, like Gram Parsons and Waylon Jennings… that element of Country.”
Their music may be have Country roots, but forget tumbleweeds in the desert – you’re better of picturing an empty whiskey bottle rolling down K Road.  The Vietnam War appeal to folk, rock and pop sensibilities too.
“When we started out we wanted to be a loud, really lively party band, there was a lot of that happening in Auckland at the time… it was really just about having fun and making people dance. Eventually we decided we wanted to get back to the songs,” he says.
So Raines put down his guitar - one of four on stage at the time, including a lap steel - to focus on singing.
“Playing guitar tends to have an effect on the way you sing, and separating them means you can do a lot more with phrasing and the nuances of melody,” he explains.
The sound has developed, but The Vietnam War hasn’t left its loud, lively origins behind.
“We still love to have a party… What’s tended to happen is that we have two sets now; a loud show and one with all the ballads. It’s good to have options,” he says.
The Vietnam will play two very different Wellington shows, to celebrate the release of their debut self titled album this week.
(Waiting on venue confirmation), July 8 and Happy, July 9