The Fourmyula’s first Auckland show in 40 years has changed venue to Monte Christo room – if you already hold a ticket to the Juice Bar show, it’s still valid for the new venue. If you haven’t got a ticket yet then don’t delay – it’s your chance to see Nature performed in Auckland for the very first time! Special note – this is an early show – doors 7.30 / Fourmyula on stage at 8.45pm

A last minute announcement has been made that one of the four parts that make up the revolutionary dance act Spektrum – Isaac Tucker will be Djing alongside the already awesome line up of Randomplay, Boomio Sound, A.D.A.M. and MTron Bomb this Saturday at Cassette.

Scroll on down to our Photo department to check out our two latest photo-sets; firstly from Friday night at the Mum Club Night @ C9 where Mothers of Darkness and Drab Doo Riffs played – plus some party-photos – thanks to Winchey Cheng; and secondly the final ever Benka Borodovski Bordello Band gig ever at Monte Christo Room on Saturday 6th – thanks to Dan Trotter.

After and overwhelming response Bruce Mason Centre have advised that they are able to re-configure the venue to allow for a greater capacity at the Vampire Weekend show on Thursday 29 April and as such a fresh batch of tickets has just been released to the previously sold-out show. You can get tickets now from Tickemaster.co.nz or 09 9709700

We’re sad to report that Mark Linkous shot himself in the heart outside a friends home in Knoxville Tennessee on Saturday.
The multi-instrumentalist was basically a one-man band as Sparklehorse, releasing four albums between 1995 and 2006, frequently in collaboration with Scott Minor.
Most recently he teamed with Danger Mouse and filmmaker David Lynch on Dark Night of the Soul, which they announced last week will finally be released this summer after a long legal battle with label EMI.

Croatian sisters, Auckland based Maya & Vanya have beat out over 3500 international DJs in an online mix competition that was hed by Pioneer DJ, Beatport and DJ Mag using the website LetsMix.com – over 350,000 votes were cast by over 190,000 listeners – who narrowed down the competition for the official NGDJ jury including the head of music download site Beatport, editor of DJ Mag, Marketing manager of Pioneer DJ, superstar DJ Deadmau5’s manager and DJ Sebastien Ingrosso – who named the pair the ultimate winners!
“Maya and Vanya show a definite understanding for the crossover sound of urban and dance music that will dominate clubs and airwaves in the years to come,” says David Waxman, of Ultra Records; while Dean Wilson, Deadmau$’s manager said “Maya Vanya swept the NGDJ competition in both style and substance. They have all the right components for becoming a worldwide brand”.
As winners of the competition they have been awarded a contract with William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, one of the world’s top entertainment agencies. Their coming out party takes place at this year’s Winter Music Conference in Miami, where they’ll play the DJ Mag party to an audience of some of the dance-music industry’s heaviest hitters.
Cheese on Toast HI-FIVE’s Maya & Vanya, who host George FM’s newest show Chaga Time on Tuesdays 8-10pm (just after our Quay Street Social Club Radio Show 6-8pm)
LISTEN TO THE WINNING MIX HERE

Whammy Bar have announced a new fortnightly ‘new bands night’ which they’re calling “Indy-Kindy” – each fortnight 3 fresh new bands get their chance to strut their stuff on the mighty Whammy stage in an effort to win fans, support slots and impress the critics, and survive the judges and earn votes from the drinking public…. It sounds like there’s a bar tab to be won. Interested new acts should contact Rohan for bookings at thewinecellarstkevins@myspace.com (don’t get confused – even though that eMail address is Wine Cellar – the event is DEFINITELY at Whammy. It’s all starting on March 24th.

Founder and editor of this very website, Cheese on Toast, was asked to come into Charlotte Ryan’s Morning Glory show on 95bFM this morning to share some favorite and influential tunes and talk about them and stuff. If you missed it bFM have it podcasted here

Legends, The Verlaines are heading on the road – playing four NZ dates – kicking off at Otago Uni’s Common Room on Saturday Mar 13 (Denedin); heading up to Auckland to play Monte Christo ROom on Friday 19th March; Wellington’s Bar Bodego on Friday 26th and then Christchurch’s Bedford on Sat 27th.

Major Lazer’s tour DJ, Jillionaire from Trinidad & Tobago has been announced to be playing at Auckland’s Cassette Bar on March 20th.
Jillionairestole the show at Notting Hill Carnival in London in 2009 with an enticing blend of soca, dancehall, and onstage antics. He went on to MC several Major Lazer shows across the UK, France and Netherlands, hypnotizing thousands along the way. In 2010, plans for global domination include Caribbean assaults on New Zealand and Australia, before returning to the US for a spate of tropical madness that will cover Los Angeles, New York, and Miami’s Winter Music Conference.
He’s playing with supports from Nick D + The Yewala Soundsystem, Maya and Vanya + MTronBomb.
Check out his latest mix over here on the Mad Decent Website

Pavement kicked off their re-union world tour last night at Auckland’s Town Hall – their first public show together in over ten years, having been in rehearsals for the past two weeks in Portland. And it captured perfectly what a ‘reunion’ show should be – packing in hit after hit into their 25 song set list. Pavement opened with “In the Mouth a Desert,” from their 1992 debut Slanted and Enchanted; to me feeling nervous as they grew accustomed to the stage. But it wasn’t long before the band were clearly back in full swing and having fun up there – nearly as much fun as the assembled crowd. Ever song was, of course, a highlight – but, Summer Babe, Grounded, Cut Your Hair, Gold Soundz, and Range Life. were stand-outs.
Malkmus et al clearly were having a good time and the stage banter was fun. They obviously thanked The 3Ds for ably opening for them; Dave Mitchell was seen to return to the stage to give Pavement drummer Steve West a back massage at one point. Malkmus alluded on stage that The 3Ds will also be supporting the band for their concerts in London.
He also made a dig at Whitney Houston’s recent performances in Australia – making reference to he himself having a cold to excuse a minor flaw – quipping “at least it’s not some Whitney Houston bullshit” before added something along the lines that he likes “a different kind of crack”.
Upon exiting the 1600 capacity venue it was difficult not to see a smiling face among the fans milling outside, hugging and sharing their favorite moments. Even the most cynical of concert goers had a smile on his face. Rest of the world: you have a special treat in store!
See the full set list here

Sola Rosa are primed to set New Zealand stages alight once again this summer, taking their live show across the country to deliver their renowned diverse elements of dub, hip hop, lounge and jazz to the masses. The first tour dates to be announced cover Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington, with further dates to be confirmed in the coming weeks.
Fri 12th @ Sammys in Dunedin; Sat 13th @ Al’s Bar Christchurch; and Sat 27 March @ San Francisco Bath House in Wellington.

Photos from the Killaqueenz gig at Be Club on Commerce Street are online now, thanks to our photo-contributor Winchy Zheng – scroll on down to the PHOTOs section to check em out.

Broken Bells, in case you hadn’t heard, are Brian Burton (aka Dangermouse) and James Mercer (from The Shins)
Cheese on Toast spoke with Brian (Mr Mouse) on the phone recently – we talked about how the collaboration came about and how it worked, given his previous self-confession ‘control-freak’ nature, we also chatted about being Dangermouse VS Brian Burton and what’s like to have a legacy of The Grey Album and Gnarls Barkley behind you embarking on something new.
Scroll on down to our BLOG to listen to the full interview.

We have our photos from last weeks Pains of Being Pure At Heart gig at Bacco Room online right now – scroll on down to our PHOTOs section to check ‘em out, yo!

We recently had a bit of a chat with Nash from San Francisco’s psychedelic quartet Wooden Shjips, we chatted about the beginning of their new tour (which is commencing in Australian and New Zealand, before heading to Europe and being invited to play the PAVEMENT curated ALL TOMORROWS PARTIES!); the formation of the band some 8 years ago; their tendency to release short runs of records and their latest compilation album; and the burning question – why the heck is there a “J” in their name?
Scroll on down to our BLOG section to check it out.

Live, The Mountain Goats are John Darnielle, Peter Hughes, and Jon Wurster; and they are playing two NZ dates – Thursday 8 April at Auckland’s Kings Arms with supports from Chris Knox and the Nothing and Dylan Storey and FRiday 9 April and SFBH in Wellington with Luke Buda.

The bill replacing last years controversial proposed s92a amendment to the Copyright Act which called for the permanent internet disconnection for those accused to breaching copyright by downloading material from the internet has been introduced to Parliament this week. The new proposed law calls for a three-strikes policy where internet users will receive three warnings is accused of copyright infringement, before they may face fines of up to $15,000 and internet disconnection for three months, upon a court order.
While the new bill does seem more reasonable that the earlier s92a proposed amendments (which were scraped after many internet users protested the unfairness of the law change) we (at CoT HQ) are still unsure how it works viz being accused of something and having to prove your innocence (which basically flies in the face of one’s basic right of being treated as innocent until proven guilty).
You can read the bill yourself here, and we strongly recommend you check out the folks at CreativeFreedomNZ – who seem to have a pretty switched-on and balance view point about all this shizzzzzz

Cheese on Toast is VERY excited to announce that we are curating all the Mum Clubnights during the month of March (That’s Friday nights at Cassette Nine, on Vulcan Lane)
So we got to hand-select some of our very favorite bands to play – some old favorites mixed up with some new!
Kicking it off NEXT Friday (5th) with the crazy-fun-times that are The Drab Doo Riffs and Auckland’s latest cult, Mothers of Darkness / 12th Street Chant (warming up before they support Dead Weather on their Australasian Tour) with South Island scallywags The Transistors / on March 19th we bring you two new acts to the Cassette stage – the rip-rollicking Death Valley with hot new two piece, the irreverent Gay Time / and then winding the month off nicely on March 26th the fuzz-tone/fuck-tones of Hairdos meet the dirty blues rock of Hamilton’s Milk Train!
And of course each night Cheese on Toast’s Andrew Tidball will be joined behind the DJ booth with a very fine selection of DJs who’ll make you shake tail feathers all night long!
Whoop!

The Dead Weather, who are playing Auckland on Wednesday 17 March – have changed the venue from Logan Campbell to Powerstation. Existing tickets remain valid and you can still buy tickets for the show at Powerstation from Ticketek.
And remember, Street Chant are playing support, not only for this Auckland date – but on the entire Dead Weather Australasian Tour – selected by Jack White himself!

OMFG – HLAH (that’s Head Like a Hole, y’know…) are playing two Auckland shows next week and then one Wellington show the week after!
On Friday 12th and Saturday 13th Head Like a Hole are playing on K Rd’s Bacio (not to be confused with Nelson Street’s Bacco – they are not only different bars, spelled differently, and on different roads – but one is upstairs from street level and the other is downstairs from street level – you might have to come up with some sort of handy rhyme of your own to help you remember which is which in the future?)
And then HLAH are playing at SFBH (we’re all about the initials this morning; this show is brought to you by the letter A – that’s A for Radio Active.)
Note Auckland shows limited to just 200 tickets per night. Tix from UnderTheRadar (Wellington tix from UTR and Moshtix too)

So yeah, The Cribs played the MySpace Secret Show last night at Roundhead Studios in Newton. There was (literally) a queue around the block to get in and people were sadly turned away if they were too far back in the queue. But those of us lucky to get in were certainly in for a treat.
MySpace, in a move designed to let more fans in, cut back on the number of photographers allowed in – so Cheese on Toast’s own photographers were declined access – but MySpace did very kindly let us have the photos their photographer, Joanna Alpe, took. So scroll on down to the Photo Department to check em out!

Vampire Weekend’s only NZ show on Thursday 29 April at Bruce Mason Centre has sold out.

Cheese on Toast editor Andrew Tidball met Kip Berman and Peggy Wang from Pains of Being Pure at Heart this evening just hours after they arrived in New Zeland to play Wednesday night at Bacco & Thursday at SFBH. Peggy revealed that a NZ Customs Official asked her is she was a member of The Prodigy who are also playing in Auckland later this week (Thursday).
Cheese on Toast has exclusive photographic evidence that Ms Wang is indeed a Firestarter.

Cheese on Toast photographer Winchey Cheng went to Splore on the weekend with his trusty camera for us!
Scroll on down to our Photos Department to check out the pictures!

Look, we’ve heard some rumors around the traps that The Cribs have canceled their NZ shows. And we’ve spoken with the NZ promoter who has assured us that this is simply not the case.
It is true, however, that their show at The Bedford in Christchurch, originally scheduled for Thursday this week has been canceled. But they are still definitely playing at Bodega in Wellington on Friday and Juice Bar @ Windsor Castle in Auckland’s Parnell on Saturday. Actually – they are even playing a super-secret gig for MySpace tonight somewhere in Auckland – so they are in the country already! With their newest full-time member JOHNNY MARR! Whoop!

The Fall have signed to Domino Records and are set to release their label debut album in April – called Your Future Our Clutter; it’s nine tracks long and was recorded in various studios across the North of England over the past year.
Track listing is : /O.F.Y.C. Showcase / Bury Pts. 1 + 3 / Mexico Wax Solvent / Cowboy George / Hot Cake / Y.F.O.C./Slippy Floor / Chino / Funnel Of Love / Weather Report 2

Scroll on down to our Photos department to check out the photos from the secret Mint Chicks show on a rooftop in Newton on Monday night – teh show was to celebrate the launch of MusicHype.com – thanks to our pal Henrietta Harris for the pics!

Addendum: not only two bass gutairs but two drum kits for Mint Chicks

Mint Chicks on a rooftop in Newton to celebrate the launch of MusicHype and Bad Buzz – this is awesome!

On the day of the release of Connan Mockasin’s much anticipated debut album (today, that is) he has announced that he will be doing a four date NZ tour in March – kicking proceedings off in Wellington’s SFBH on Saturday March 13th; the following week on Friday 19th at Al’s Bar in Christchurch followed by Saturday 20th at Chicks Hotel in Dunedin; before winding up the week later on Saturday 27th at Monte Christo Room in Auckland. Tickets on sale from eventfinder.co.nz

Check out our photos department for a photo-set from HEALTH at Transmission Room on Friday with support from Bandicoot. Thanks and big ups to our photographer Manisha Kumar.

White Girls drop dubstep mix of Crazy Yes Dumb No at Sick Disco. Fuck yes!!!

The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band have announced, after an epic 27 date tour of New Zealand over summer that they will play one more show, on March 6th at Monte Christo Room before calling it quits. They first emerged from an alleyway behind Auckland’s Wine Cellar sometime in May of 2006, and released their debut ep in early 2008 and followed it up with their album, Polkapocalypse in May 2009. During this time they produced videos for ‘The Dance of Death’, ‘Polkapocalypse’ and their cover of the Dead Kennedys’ ‘Too Drunk to F**k’, all of which have become online cult favourites. The ep has now sold out and limited copies of the album remain. You get the chance to dance like a crazy just one more time if you go along to see them play on March 6th!

Auckland based independent label Arch Hill Records is turning ten years next week! Over that time they have released some 42 albums – that’s 4.2 per annum.
Anyhoo-dooseys… they are, in great Kiwi tradition, having a BBQ to celebrate and you’re invited (if you buy a ticket for $15 or $20 on the door, that is) next Sunday – 28th at Kings Arms with Ghost Club, Surf City, Family Cactus and Black Swan / White Swan playing live – plus a promise of a surprise secret band starting with S and ending with E with an ‘uper’ in there somewhere….

Auckland’s newest weekly club night CLUB TO DEATH launches tonight at Whammy. It’s a weekly club night with a difference – in that every week is different to the last – with a ‘family’ of promoters taking turns to run the night – some nights are regular fixtures and others might be one-off specials – it’s always free to get in and it’s always got the Club To Death seal (excuse the pun) of approval. Tonight is a mish-mash of things to come – with Tina Turntables kicking out the jams early with some Rock and Soul sweetness, followed by Vistory busting out some dirty Disco-Punk and closing with Tidball mixing up some indie/electro and pop-drops!
Thanks also to MR VODKA for some choice-as drink speaks and also to Red Bull for helping out with gearz and shiz.
Come along and dance your heads off.

The Broken Heartbreakers have been confirmed to be the opening live band for a series of four Movies in the Parks events which are happening for free in Auckland – kicking off next Wednesday at the Tahaki Reserve in Mt Eden , screening ‘Rain of the Children’, and on Thur 25th at Glover Park, St Heliers screening ‘River Queen’ – with the Heartbreakers on stage from 7.30pm; and then a few weeks late March 17th at Grey Lynn Park screening ‘Show of Hands and then on Thur 18th at Owairaka Park, Owairaka screening ‘Separation City’ – and on those last 2 dates the Heartbreakers play from 7pm. Nice.

Woah – super-coolness! Cheese on Toast, with many thanks to MySpace – have a LIVE stream of what is being billed as “The Ultimate Fan Event” for teh upcoming Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland movie. You can watch the LIVE event here on Saturday at 2pm NZ Time – it will feature musical acts from the upcoming album “Almost Alice” and a visit from director Tim Burton to introduce select members of the cast and a sneak peek at film footage.

In the summer of 2007 The White Stripes embarked on a cross-country Canadian tour to accomplish their goal of performing in every province and territory across the country. On March 15th the duo will be releasing their first ever live-album recorded at various concerts on this tour. It will be released on both vinyl and CD – and both packages will come accompanied with a DVD of the film Under Great White Northern Lights which documents the band playing to crowds in towns of all sizes across the Great White North – from traditional venues to matinee gigs at unusual locations such as a bowling alley, a boat and even on a city bus – culminating in a momentous 10th Anniversary show at the historic Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. More about this in the BLOG soon…

The Cribs who are set to play in Auckland on Saturday 27th Feb – have changed the venue to Windsor Castle’s Juice Bar in Parnell – all existing tickets are still valid – but wow – we get to see one of the hugest bands in the UK (indeed, last year Q Magazine actually named them “biggest band in the UK”) play a cozy intimate show in Auckland! That’s pretty freakin’ choice, actually.

Those scallywags the Checks are this weeks “hosts” at MUM @ Cassette9. They’ll be Djing between the bands and generally running around – with live entertainment from Rackets, Cool Rainbows and The Nevernudes. Matthew Crawly, Vistory and Freddie Willis will also be DJing.

Minuit are seriously on fire right now- like, dial 111 or at least get some aloe vera for them… having played just after Peaches at BDO, then closing the recent Rippon festival with 5000 people singing the lines from ‘Aotearoa’ in unison – “You and me we are a New Zealand” – they have landed themselves a sweet time slot of Splore this weekend – right smack between Lupe Fiasco and Basement Jaxx; and they are headlining the electronic stage at this year’s Homegrown festival in Wellington.
And not only that – US television show Grey’s Anatomy recently chose Minuit’s song I’m Still Dancing (from their latest album Find Me before I Die a Lonely Death.com) to feature in the new season. With live shows in Vietnam, Los Angeles, Russia and London super-club Fabric; Minuit are certainly flying the New Zealand flag high to a worldwide audience.
But, it appears they’re not letting all this shiz go to their heads – cos they’ve just announced a cosy lil NZ tour :
Friday Feb 26th- Colosseum, Tauranga; Saturday Feb 27th -Cabana, Napier; Friday Mar 5th – Flow Bar, Hamilton; Wednesday Mar 17th – No.8 Wired Bar, Timaru; Friday Mar 19th- ReFuel, Dunedin; Saturday Mar 20th – Al’s Bar, Christchurch; Friday Mar 26th – SFBH, Wellington; and finally Saturday Mar 27th – Juice Bar, Auckland.

Cheese on Toast just caught wind that this Friday’s HEALTH show at Transmission Room has just been made an ALL AGES event. Yay!

Dem crazy-good folks over at UnderTheRadar, with their fancy-schmancy website, are giving you the chance to purchase your Hawnay Troof tickets for Auckland (March 5th) for half-price – all y’gotta do is answer a piss-easy question “Who was Hawnay Troof last in NZ supporting?” are if you get it right you get a special code thing that’ll let you buy dem tickets for half the prize! Sqeazey!

Scroll on down to our BLOG to find out why we are urging you to go see Balibo, teh true story of the Balibo Five, who were executed in East Timor in 1975 for attempting to report on the Indonesian invasion of East Timor.

The Cribs are playing here at the end of February – and recently we spoke with Ryan on the phone from Vancouver. Scroll on down to our Blog Section to listen to the full interview.
Also – MySpace have just announced their next FREE SECRET SHOW will be The Cribs at a secret location in Auckland on Tuesday February 23rd, Auckland, and it’s All Ages! Fans can find out specific location details for the Secret Show by adding www.myspace.com/secretshowsnz as a ‘friend’ and registering their mobile number on the profile from Monday February 15th. Once the secret location details of the show are revealed, they will be sent directly to the phones of registered MySpace users. Entry works on a first-come-first-served basis.

Scroll on down to our “Blog” section to watch an interview with OIiver from The XX that Cheese on Toast shot in a garden in Mt Eden the day after they played Auckland’s Laneway Festival.

Cheese on Toast recently spoke with John of HEALTH who are headong this way to play two NZ shows next week. Scroll on down to then LISTEN department to check it out.

Sony have, today, officially announced the release date of MGMT’s sophomore album – entitled Congratulations – on April 12th 2010.
The album contain nine songs – “It’s Working,” “Song for Dan Treacy,” “Someone’s Missing,” “Flash Delirium,” “I Found a Whistle,” “Siberian Breaks,” “Brian Eno,” “Lady Dada’s Nightmare,” and “Congratulations” and is produced by MGMT with Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3, E.A.R., Spectrum) and recorded throughout 2009 in upstate New York, Malibu, and Brooklyn. The album features Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, MGMT’s core duo, performing with Matt Asti (bass, backing vocals), Will Berman (drums, backing vocals), and James Richardson (guitar, backing vocals); the band’s live line-up. Murmurs have been already that the album is, at least in part, a reaction and response to the commercial success of 2008’s Oracular Spectacular. The record company describe it as “a new musical world whirling in its own space/time grid infused with hints of music from the past five decades.”

Kiwi pop pioneers and legends The Fourmyula, who, in the sixties earned the title of ‘New Zealand’s Beatles’ for being the first local band to insist on recording their own material, resulting in a spectacular run of hits. Radio played them constantly: ‘Come With Me’, ‘Alice Is There’, ‘I Know Why’, ‘Home’, ‘Otaki’ and, of course, ‘Nature’ – the song that won its author Wayne Mason the coveted APRA Silver Scroll Award, became a hit all over again in the 90s for The Mutton Birds, was voted Best New Zealand Song of the past 75 years and became the title song of the Nature’s Best series – have announced two reunion shows – with all original members, this March.
These shows celebrate the release of The Complete Fourmyula: a definitive four-CD set comprised of all the group’s recordings: their singles, three studio albums and live set, plus the legendary ‘lost’ LP Turn Your Back On The Wind, recorded in Britain shortly before the group disbanded in 1971. This collection, produced by Grant Gillanders, will be released on February 22nd, 2010 through EMI.
Playing two dates : Auckland’s Windsor Castle, Juice Bar in Parnell on Thursday 18th March and Upper Hutt’sExpressions Arts & Entertainment Centre Saturday 20th March. Tickets to both shows go on sale at UnderTheRadar on Monday 15th.

Woah – awesome! Hawnay Troof are playing three dates in March – kicking off in Wellington for VUWSA Orientation – at Mighty Mighty on 3rd March, then Christchurch’s Goodbye Blue Monday on Thursday 4th – for free – and then in Auckland at the Kings Arms on Friday 5th.

Cheese on Toast spoke with Grant “Daddy G” Marshall a wee while ago about their history, the trials and tribulations of the band and, of course, the new album Heligoland.
Scroll on down to the Cheese on Toast Listen department to have a listen to the interview.

As you all probably know by now, Cheese on Toast in association with Cassette Nine threw together a benefit gig last Thursday and were lucky enough to have the time and talents of Die! Die! Die!, The Hairdos and Piece War donated to the cause. Cassette are still tallying up exact numbers but it’s pretty close to $3000 to be donated to Red Cross to assist with relief for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti recently. Scroll on down the page to our Photo Department for photographs from the night thanks to our contributor Dan Trotter.

“What the heck-balls?! There was a secret N.A.S.A. party?!” I can hear y’all crying out now… and the answer is “Yes. It was a secret” – last Tuesday 2 Feb at Coherent – hosted by those very clever folks Serato. Of course Cheese on Toast was invited and our photo-contributor Venus Tong took her camera along – scroll on down the page to our Photo department and check em out, yo. “Give it up, Auckland!”

White Stripes label Third Man Records have issued a statement that they believe that the White Stripes song Fell In Love With A Girl was re-recorded and used without permission for an advertisement recruiting troops to join the US Air Force Reserve that as screened during the Superbowl.
The White Stripes say in their statement that they take ’strong insult and objection to the Air Force Reserves presenting this advertisement with the implication that we licensed one of our songs to encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support.”
Check out the statement over at Third Man Records which contains a clip of the original song and a link to watch the advertisement in question so you can hear the similarities.
Cheese on Toast agrees that it does appear to be a direct rip off.

Our pals Strange News in association with Under The Radar are very excited about announcing that Wooden Shjips, from San Francisco, are playing Auckland’s Whammy Bar on Saturday 13 March and Wellington’s Bodega on Sunday 14th. Tickets on sale now-ow-ow-ow!

Scroll on down to our Photos section to view our photo-set from St Jerome’s Laneway Festival last Monday @ Britomart in Auckland.
A huge, huge thank you to our photo contributor Venus Tong for all her hard work in taking, editing, and labeling them – there’s like a million photos. (Ok not really a million…. but lots!)

Bluegrass, pyschobilly duo Truckstop Honeymoon from Lawrence Kansas are due to be returning to New Zealand this month, to charm discerning audiences with their tough, funny, hi-octane songs about interstates, pinball arcades and true love. Katie Euliss pounds a doghouse bass while Mike West punishes a banjo mercilessly. If you’re down with locals like Death Valley, Drab Blues or Vietnam War then you should totally check them out – Myspace and Official Site.
Playing Auckland’s Thirsty Dog on Sunday 21st (early 5pm-9pm show!); Wellington’s Ruby Lounge of Tuesday 23rd and Saturday 27th at the Hokanui Moonshine Festival in Gore (there’s a Moonshine Festival in Gore!?! – fuck yeah – let’s all go! It’ll be fucking choice!)

Cheese on Toast and Cassette wanna thank everyone who came along to the Live Relief gig last night (Thursday 4th). And of course we wanna thank the bands and soundies and other volunteers for giving up their time, efforts and talents for the cause. We raised over $2000 from the door sales, plus when we add the donation from Cassette, basedon a percentage of drinks sold – we’ll be close to $3000 – all of which will be donated to Red Cross to aid relief in Haiti.

Vampire Weekend have just been announced to be playing one New Zealand show at Auckland’s Bruce Mason Theatre on the North Shore on Thursday 29 April… and it’s ALL AGES!
Presales to Frontier Members start Thur 18th @ Noon AEDT / General public slae from 22nd 9am local time – ticketmaster

Those of you who have already watched our interview with Ruban from the Mint Chicks in CheeseOnToast/Watch will probably be wondering when those cool competitions he was talking about start – ie Remix or Cover Crazy Yes Dumb No, Make a Music Video for Bad Buzz or Design a T Shirt – well the competitions are all live now over at teh new website – MusicHype

OMGEEEEE Deerhoof are set to return to NZ – playing Auckland’s Kings Arms on Thursday 11th March with very special guests Diana Rozz and Bandicoot! If you are one of many who missed out on Pixies @ the Powerstation gig then this is a very nice surprise to take your mind off it.

Scroll on down the page to our LISTEN section to check out the interview with Ira from Yeasayer – we chatted about the recording of their sophomore album Odd Blood, in Woodstock, upstate New York – and his mice killing abilities.

Scroll down Cheese on Toast to our photo section to check out the photo-set of Jens Lekman supported by The Gladeyes at Montechristo Room.

Cheese on Toast in association with Cassette Nine are very excited about pulling together a benefit concert with Die! Die! Die! headlining with The Hairdos and Piece War supporting on Thursday (4 Feb) at Cassette. 100% of door proceeds and 10% of bar take will be donated to Red Cross to provide relief to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
Entry is a minimum $10 donation. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who is giving up their time and donating their talent to this cause.

Scroll on down the page to our photo section to checkout shots from Saturday’s gig at Bacco Room!

We’ve bowed to peer-pressure and have opened teh proverbial flood gates to public opinion – and launched Cheese on Toast Forums! Go check them out – register and have your say! Play nice folks!

Laneway : overall verdict = flipping choice!!!

Laneway : NASA teling us “give it up Auckland”. No you give it up. Seriously x

Laneway : am I just jaded but two guys with lizard heads jumping while 2 guys act like they might be doing something isn’t that awesome?

Laneway : to be honest I expected more from Flo & the Machine. It’s good but not great

Laneway : The 3Ds outta space! Yus!!

Laneway : Bring on the Dancing Horses = sublime

Laneway : Echo & the Bunnymen open with Rescue and fucking nail it !

Laneway : Chris Knox is amazing!

Laneway : just announced slight rearrangement of line up to avoid any further sound clashes

Laneway : Black Lips bat beers into the audience with their guitars

Laneway : The Black Lips just understand the concept of rock n roll perfectly

Laneway : is it just me but, as awesome as Daniel Johnston is, it seems lost in a festival environment

Laneway: that XX bass is killing me gloriously

Laneway: The XX are fucking gorgeous; sensual; liquid. Sex on stage

Ok. Irony = laneway is at britomart “the public transport hub” and the trains from west aren’t actually running today

On my way to laneway!

Pauly Fuemana – best known as OMC and his 1995 international number one “How Bizarre” passed away just after 7am this morning in North Shore Hospital surrounded by family. He was aged forty and had been ill in hospital for some weeks, although details of teh cause of his death have not yet been made public. Rest in Peace Pauly. Much love.

The Dodos = freaking amazing @ Bacco ; that vibraphone so wonderfully filling the room. If you aren’t here – go see them in Liegh

The Ruby Suns supporting The Dodos – actually the best I have seen them
In forever – very excited about new album and tour

Sydney based KillaQueenz are heading back to NZ and playing at Wellington’s Good Luck club on Saturday Feb 27th. Their MySpace also indicated they are playing Orientation at Otago Uni – but we’re still awaiting news of a possible Auckland show. Fingers crossed, cos they were fucking AWESOME last time they played here!

In an interview with Cheese on Toast (check it out in our WATCH section) Ruban Neilson announced a new EP coming out called Bad Buzz – which’ll be released via a new website being launched called Musichype.com, on USB Stick – alongside three different competitions – one to remix Crazy Yes, Dumb No; one to make a music video for a new song off the EP; and a third to design an official Mint Chicks T-shirt.

Just got a phone call from Laneway Festival organizers – it has now officially sold out

Phew! We’re all home and enjoying the hot showers whenever we like them and comfortable beds – but happy that we tripped to Bulls for Camp a Low Hum – check out our photos from teh festival in the Photos Section lower down on the page…

Jens Lekman : “my intention is to make tonight spracial like your first kiss” / my companion quips “you mean, disappointing”? She will b …

Cheese on Toast hung out with Josh and Tom from The Horrors in their hotel room in central Auckland the other week when they were here for Big Day Out – you can watch the interview over at CheeseOnToast/Watch.

Earlier this year Cheese on Toast caught up with Jess (Coco Solid) and Sam (Neverends) to chat about their latest collaboration project – Bed Energy and the resulting album Tropic of Scorpio. Watch the interview over at CheeseOnToast/Watch

On Sunday March 7th at Albert Park Auckland Uni presents the 95bFM Summer Series – marking the twentieth anniversary of the iconic summer music event.
Playing will be The Mint Chicks, The Naked and Famous, Bang Bang Eche, An Emerald City, Rackets, Bandicoot, and O’Lovely.

News just in from the promoter directly that tonight’s show at Montechristo Room will run early – doors from 8pm with the lovely Gladeyes as support at 9pm sharp followed by Jens Lekman at 9.50pm. The promoter emphasized that the show has to run early for logistical reasons and urges people to not dilly nor dally and miss any of this splendid line-up.
There are still pre-sales for $28+BF available from our pals over at Under The Radar, or grap a door sale for $35.
Anyone who saw Jens at Camp A Low Hum will assure you it’s gonna be amazing.

Cheese on Toast has notified the six lucky winners from our competition for single passes to Laneway Festival on Monday. Congratulations to Leah, Robert, Mike, Liz, Kate, and Melissa! Your tickets have been delivered as arranged!

Remember not to attempt to drive to Laneway – it’s right on top of Britomart – so seriously, people – what are you even thinking.
The entrance to Laneway is on Galway, just off Commerce Street – you will be given a wristband on presentation of your ticket and if you have ID a wristband for being able to by alcohol. No professional cameras are allowed or BYO booze or anything illegal is allowed – and they will have a security check and confiscated items will not be returned – so just don’t be a dick, really.
Also – remember to be sun-safe on the day!

Alexander Ridha aka Boyz Noize will be playing Auckland’s Studio nightclub on K Rd on Friday 3 March.

The Pixies have announced an intimate sideshow after their Vector Arena show has sold out. Celebrating the 2oth anniversary of Doolittle, the band have announced that they will play an intimate gig at Powerstation on March 11th, the night before the Vector Arena show. Only 1100 tickets to the show will go on sale on Feb 4th.

Henry Rollins is set to return to New Zealand for spoken word shows in Wellington and Auckland in April – at Wellington’s Paramount Theatre on Sunday April 25th and Auckland’s Bruce Mason Theatre on Monday the 26th. Tickets go on sale from 2 Feb (Under The Rader and Real Groovy for Wellington and Ticketmaster for Auckland)

Indie-folk legends The Mountain Goats – John Darnielle, Peter Hughes, and Jon Wurster – are returning to NZ to play two dates in early April – Thursday 8th April at Kings Arms and Friday 9th at SFBH.