Was it TS Eliot who said “April is the coolest month”' His words were certainly prophetic in our current year of the monkey as Wellington’s finest gypsy punks The Raskolnikovs release a brand new 12” vinyl EP with shows in Wellington (1 April), Christchurch (8 April), and Dunedin (9 April).
The initial tracks for The Raskolnikovs at the hour of sunset were laid down in Whanganui in 2011 and the band – assisted by a rag-tag crew – have been chipping away at this monster ever since. Over 10 years since they released their eponymous LP and longer since EPs: Accordion Crimes and HMS Fortune. Formed after a fateful meeting in Wellington’s Botanical Gardens in 2003, this band of literary misfits have played 100s of shows across New Zealand, Australian and the UK; consistently belting out their “eighteenth century folk-horror” floor-fillers and Eastern European polka punk rock. From house parties to grand hootenannies like the final night of Mighty Mighty, The Raskolnikovs give their all in every performance. Without fail, this “impeccably dressed collection of Russian gypsy sailors” leave a bunch of converts in their wake. That is if they themselves are not the last to leave…
A band unto themselves with a sound like no other; The Raskolnikovs incorporate piano accordion, violin, drums, electric guitar and bass with the “vocal huskiness and the storytelling bent of world weary last-century sailors” . “Presenting hard-bitten tales of the sea, murder, murder-at-sea, drinking, drinking-at-sea, coal mining, and madness all wrapped up in a delightfully dark danceability” . Now featuring a brass section: Notes from the Underground, this 7-piece knows how to put on a show.
Don’t miss the circus when it’s in your town and grab yourself a copy of their new record before the limited run sells out.
The Raskolnikovs perform at MEOW on Friday, April 1 with The Radtones (from Nelson) and HEX (from Naenae + Berhampore) and the Scum of the Art World (Vogelmorn)
