Big Day Out Adds the Trons and Bang Bang Eche

The Big Day Out continues to add to this year's line-up with the announcement that Christchurch's Bang Bang Eche have won a nationwide radio competition for the opening slot on the Smokefree Local Produce stage. Intriguing Hamilton robot band The Trons have also been added to the line-up and the one day festival welcomes Smokefree to its family of sponsors for the first time.

Bang Bang Eche have been touring the US and Europe while their indie dance floor anthem 4 To The Floor has been steadily climbing international radio charts and winning over the blog community.

Their sound was described on Stranded in Stereo as 'a place where jagged synthesizer noises accentuate dance beats and the lyrics swing from meaningless to oddly coherent. They don't caricaturize the genre; they just press all its boundaries and all its buttons'.

We bought that, said Big Day Out promoter Campbell Smith, and we also bought the Trons, a completely self-playing robotic junk band!

All four members of The Trons are made from salvaged mechanical bits and old discarded electronics yet they play garage rock just like a bunch of enthusiastic teenager playing real guitars, resurrected amps. The Trons play original songs with motorised limbs and trashed computer brains.

Fresh back from a quick gig at the Paris Auto Show, the Trons originate from Hamilton and have been described in the British press as the most exciting electronic band since Kraftwerk, compared to the Clean, Velvet Underground and the White Stripes, and their practice room video has had over a million hits on Youtube.

Stubbing out the last cigarette of his life on the Trons' drummer's shoulder, Smith continued, Smokefree brings a strong and worthy message to our event.