Storehouse - Mystery Shopper Rent Party

The unhinged megalomaniacs of rhythm Storehouse return to Auckland’s Grey Lynn Ballroom (AKA the retro function room above the Grey Lynn RSC, 1 Francis Street) for an evening of rent party R&B indulgence on Saturday May 31.

Boasting a bulging quiver of low-lights, obscurities and scandalous unmentionables from the pulsating pantheon of blues, calypso and gospel, Storehouse are Auckland’s acclaimed source of evil boogie.

In the service of dancefloor action, Storehouse shows meander through the busted backstreets of meaning, intertwining the disjointed emotional jargon of hits such as “I Like Your Sister”, “Who is Going Down in the Grave With Me” and “Don’t Get Caught Selling Wine to a Child in Arizona”.

A hydra-headed performance-art wing of low-budget guitar primitivism, Storehouse this month features Tom Rodwell (vocals, guitar, (“Sheffield’s answer to Lightnin’ Hopkins”, NME) alongside Auckland’s hardest working man on the drum stool, Chris O’Connor, and mysterious bass governor Count Bassy.

Rodwell’s 2021 LP Wood & Waste was named one of iconic NZ music journalist Graham Reid’s top albums of the year, charted on US radio - notching up heavy rotation for 6 months statewide - and landed EU coverage from Rome to Skopje, Amsterdam and Dublin.

You don't hear that anymore. Beautiful groove, beautiful tunes! - Derek Trucks. 


Rodwell manages to eschew the cliches that beset blues music. By turns wild, angry, hypnotic and sensual, it's as uncompromising as it is funky and some of the best live music I've seen. - Blues in London. 


Soul-probing... Raw, avant-garde improvisations...Singer/guitarist Tom Rodwell’s extraordinary revision of blues and gospel always gets the joint jumping. - Metro (NZ).