Chon New Zealand Headline Shows Announced

California math / prog masters Chon are making their way to Aotearoa in February, set to dazzle local punters with a pair of headline events at Wellington's Valhalla and Auckland's The Tuning Fork. Formed in 2008 and still featuring founding members Mario Camarena, Erick Hansel, Esiah Camarena and Nathan Camarena, the virtuosic team's intricately arranged and primarily instrumental output has delivered a sonically boundless trio of studio records so far, including this year's kaleidoscopic self-titled album. Lovers of multidimensional melodies and fractal-like rhythms are definitely in for a treat to the eardrums – here are the details...

UPDATE 26/02/20: Chon have announced the cancellation of their NZ shows...

”to our fans of new zealand... we regret to inform you that we will be forced to leave our tour earlier than expected. after the past month of some grueling travel all over the world, our own health has started to affect our live shows, and because of that we will need to take a short break from tour.

we would like to thank destroy all lines and valhalla touring for bringing us over to this side of the world. all these shows have been absolutely incredible, and we could not have been more happy with the reception from our fans. we hope you can be understanding of this cancellation, and we hope to come back soon to make it up to you." - chon

Chon - NZ Tour

Thursday 27th February - Valhalla, Wellington, FREE replacement show feat. Kokoa Nashi + Ski Resort
Friday 28th February - Tuning Fork, Auckland [cancelled]

Tickets available HERE via UTR*

Check out the animated video for Chon's 'Petal' from 2019's self titled album...

Experience the clip for 'Nayhoo' (feat. Masego & Lophiile) from Chon's 2017 album Homey...

Press release:

On their self-titled third album, CHON find themselves at the confluence of a great push and pull.

Since forming in 2008 in San Diego, the trio — guitarists Mario Camarena and Erick Hansel and drummer Nathan Camarena — have become one of the most buzzed-about acts in the new era of progressive rock, on the back of more than 40 million Spotify streams and tours with the likes of Coheed and Cambria, Animals As Leaders and Circa Survive.

Their debut full-length, 2015’s Grow, established their mathy, forward-thinking take on the genre, while 2017’s Homey furthered that sound while incorporating brand-new influences like effect-pedal-heavy elements of electronic music and trip-hop and debuted at No. 66 on the Billboard 200. Now, with CHON, set for release on June XX through Sumerian Records, the trio once again have kicked down their musical guardrails — but in a way that balances their more eccentric impulses with a steadying dose of clarity and restraint.

“We really wanted to make songs with more simplistic structures, but also the craziest parts we’ve ever had musically,” Mario Camarena explains. “I think our music is already so weird that when the structure is also crazy, it can be hard to follow. I really wanted this album to appeal to people who maybe don’t listen to this style of music.”

It’s true that CHON streamlines some of the band’s grandiose, free-flowing musicality in favor of more traditional sonic structures. But, most importantly, simplifying their sound doesn’t mean resorting to being boring. If anything, CHON is brimming with some of the most forward-thinking, intricate musings the band have ever attempted, from the deep progressive propulsion of first single “Peace” to “Spike,” which spins the band’s youthful tech and metal influences together into a flashy riff-athon.

All at once, CHON respects the trio’s current listeners while inviting a broader swath of new ones in — the rare progressive rock album adroit enough to straddle that line. For the band, it will be especially rewarding to bring this new musical mindset to crowds at festivals like Coachella, Shaky Knees and Electric Forest. There will be, of course, CHON diehards in the audience, but large-scale settings like these offer the band the opportunity to cultivate an even wider fanbase around their captivating sound.

Of course, they’re coming prepared: While writing and recording the self-produced album in San Diego, the band put a lot of thought into calibrating their new music to fit the expansive crowds they knew they’d soon be playing in front of. The result is a collection of songs that plays just as well to the front row as the very last.

“We knew we were going to play these songs at big festivals, and it was in the back of our minds,” Mario says, pointing to the tribal-inspired rhythms on “Gift.” “We were just thinking of Electric Forest when we wrote that song: It’s kind of psychedelic and hippy. It’s going to be really fun to see how big crowds react to these songs.”