It’s been a very long time since the Alpaca Brothers last played in Christchurch. We think it was at the Zetlands bar in September of 1985. The next year we put out an E.P. Legless on Flying Nun, which did quite well, and then the trio just basically disappeared for over three decades
We are still not exactly sure how but in December 2020 the band reunited and recorded a debut album in Dunedin. Both Bruce Blucher and Steve Cournane were still there on guitar and drums respectively, but bassist Nick Wilkinson was sadly unavailable so the remarkable Robert Scott stepped in to assist. What started as an attempt to only document a few songs turned into an album with the help of engineer Rikki Lind who recorded the band in his living room just as Terry Moore had done with Legless in Bruce Blucher’s flat. New guitarist Jason Horner then laboured on the material with Bruce, mixing and adding various overdubs including vocals from Bruce’s daughter Eva.
The final result is Figment, released at the beginning of 2023 on the Austrian label Zelle Records. It is a nine song amalgam of pop and weirdness that hints at conspiracy theories and a world under COVID. The influence of time and a new bass player has rendered this a very different band to the original trio but the essence still remains.
Christchurch is the home of so much important NZ underground music and has been for decades. We are really excited to be coming to Space Academy to promote this new album Figment. We are performing on Saturday 15th July with locals Minisnap. https://www.facebook.com/maximumpopNZ
We are now also extremely happy to have the superb Mick Elborado on bass playing with us.
The only time the expanded line-up has performed (with Robert Scott on bass) was headlining the Port Chalmers Zelle Festival in 2022. It was a great night and we even played a track from the old Legless album so we are expecting at least one or two older tunes at Space Academy as well.
Alpaca Brothers Line Up:
Bruce Blucher (guitar, vocals)
Jason Horner (guitar)
Eva Blucher (vocals)
Mick Elborado (bass)
Steve Cournane (drums, vocals)
