Voom are thrilled to announce a special one-off headline show at Aucklands Hollywood Avondale Cinema on April 16th to celebrate the vinyl re-issue of their seminal album ‘Hello, Are You There. Dunedins Soaked Oats and Aucklands LAIIKA (ft. Buzzs daughter Grace) will be on support duties, and tickets will be available from Undertheradar.co.nz from Friday, 12th of March.
Vooms inception began in the early 90s. Buzz Moller and the late Andrew “Mac” MacCaskill quietly worked away in their basement for many years before the public heard anything from Voom. Danny Manetto had joined the band on bass, and they played many shows around New Zealand before revealing the highly acclaimed debut album Now I Am Me in the year 1998.
Vooms current line-up includes songwriter Buzz Moller, long-time Voomers Nick Buckton, Murray Fisher plus Josh Sorenson on drums.
The bands 2006 sophomore album, Hello, Are You There was critically received and landed a top spot in the hearts of many New Zealand music lovers and critics. In 2002, one of the songs that would later be included on this release, King Kong, had been nominated for an APRA Silver Scroll. Hello, Are You There went on to be listed in good company, amongst the 100 Essential New Zealand Albums in a book of the same name, written by prominent music critic, Nick Bollinger.
This 15th anniversary reissue of Hello, Are You There contains 17 short, sharp slices of life; the 16 remastered album tracks, plus bonus track Jimmys Boner, that fans of the band will recognise from live performances. The album swings from infectious fuzz-pop to janglers and even dips to teary-eyed ballads, but, whatever the mood, the songs celebrate the pure pleasure of a catchy chorus and honest emotion that is refreshingly irony-free. Hello, Are You There is simply a lovely, unpretentious pop record. Its not only cohesive; its wholly compelling and should be staple in everyones record collection.
