The Gunslingers Ball

The Auckland Fringe Presents The Gunslingers' Ball

....featuring The Broadsides, Heart Attack Alley, Bernie Griffen and the Grifters

Lurking behind the sparkly world of Auckland's pop music scene stands its dishevelled country cousin, Americana. Make no mistake though, it is very much alive and kicking. Come and discover a world where the fiddle, the banjo, the harmonica, the double bass and above all the human spirit rule the roost.

The Dog’s Bollix, 5 March 2011, 9pm, $10

The Broadsides are a band from Auckland that performs a unique brew of finely distilled outlaw country, bluegrass, swamp blues, rockabilly, gospel and rock n’ roll. They move with ease between old time banjo and fiddle tunes and blistering electric numbers. Their original songs are full of love, loss, redemption, the influence of hostile landscapes and dark religious imagery.

Maintaining the country music tradition of storytelling and developing a strong connection with the audience, their music demands that you get up and get down: it makes people dance, it makes them holler. The band consists of Alan Meharry (Lead Vocals, Guitar), Dave Khan (Fiddle, Electric Guitar), Etienne Harris (Double Bass), Dave Ward (Banjo, Electric Guitar) and Ben Michelsen (Drums). Their debut E.P, ‘Many Fouls and Mishaps’ will be released early 2011 and their recent single Billy Bible and the Beast Boy was included on a compilation of dark roots music released by Devil’s Ruin Records in the U.S.A.

Heart Attack Alley was born on the front steps of a house in Grey Lynn, Auckland. Karl Steven and Kristal G’s first musical meetings involved no talking, just communication over hours of trading riffs from obscure blues classics. Caoimhe Macfehin joined, and what started as a traditional Delta blues 3 piece, evolved into a wilder, electrified version - like nothing you’ve heard before, without losing sight of a solid blues tradition.

Harmonica, spring reverbs, pulsating tremolo and Caoimhe’s unrestrained and beautifully immediate vocals, means Heart Attack Alley have gained a reputation for their intense live shows, and sophisticated and well-crafted original songs.

They have supported Wanda Jackson, Doug Jerebine; played at The Auckland Museum, Waiheke Blues Festival, and are booked for a 3-date tour supporting Kitty, Daisy and Lewis. Their first release is set to come out early 2011 - a vinyl 7” entitled ‘The Way to a Man’s Heart is Through His Chest’ - is currently being pressed through Nashville’s United Record Pressing.

Bernie Griffen and the Grifters will break your heart and sew it back together again, piece by piece. Offering original songs, that can only come from a life lived, they will lay them bare at your feet. They are a five piece, comprising Bernie Griffen (Vocals, Acoustic guitar), Kerry Fraser (Drums), Tony Dee (Upright Bass), Steve Roach (Guitar) and Dave Khan (Fiddle, Banjo, Accordion, Mandolin). Concentrating on the beauty and dynamics of their sound, they have played in Auckland regularly during 2010, building a solid fan base and working on an EP release in 2011.