Tom Scott shares Avantdale Bowling Club details, announces exhibition to coincide with release

Master storyteller Tom Scott (Home Brew, @Peace, Young, Gifted and Broke) documents a period of personal transformation in his new project Avantdale Bowling Club, with the full album of the same name dropping in just two weeks time.

An exhibition, in partnership with Red Bull Music, will open on the same day, showcasing photos of the suburb that inspired the album by young photographersLuca Macioce andTak Soropa, and original artworks interpreting each track by Jacob Yikes. The exhibition will also feature limited edition Avantdale Bowling Club merchandise for sale, host DJ sets. The exhibition will open from midday daily on 17, 18 and 19 August at CorpStudio, 86 Pitt Street.

Avantdale Bowling Club has been three years in the making, primarily at Auckland’s Red Bull Studios, not far from Tom’s new family home back where it all started, Avondale. “This record is about… growing up. I think.” He writes in an open letter.

“It’s about dealing with your own shit for once. Accepting responsibility. Maybe. It’s a self-help book addressed to myself. And just like every other piece of art ever made in the history of the hominid, I was going through some shit when I was making it.”

The genre isn’t easy to pin down – in Tom’s typically irreverent own words, the Spotify profile for the project says “Irrelevant jazz from an island nation off the coast of antarctica.” It is jazz infused, it is hip hop, and it features an enviable cast of musicians, many known to Tom from years gone by.

The first single, the seven minute autobiographical epic ‘Years Gone By’ made an immediate impact on release last week. Avantdale Bowling Club is available for pre-order on digital platforms ahead of its release on Friday 17 August, and with an LP edition featuring three extra tracks out in October at your favourite record store.