Album Review: Bad Luck Party

Where do I even start?

OK let’s start at a Foo Fighters gig where the sound was shite and the atmosphere was way more sterile than the toilets.

I looked up as a scream pierced through the vastly inadequate PA and in the distance a ball of energy was wanting to be heard.

My heart raced a little.

There was a spark. They were the support. They were good. I had never heard of them.

They were Miss June.

Clocks forward and we are at The Tuning Fork one of Auckland’s best kept secret venues and I am there all weekend to see Idles who in my humble opinion are one of the most exciting bands on the planet right now.

Another scream and here we go again. It is Miss June. They are the support but this time it’s different.

I stand back and watch. In this intimate setting everything connects. There is potential me thinks but of course I was there to leap around to Idles.

London. On a Tuesday night in June (I miss June it’s a great month in the UK as a place warms for their one week of summer), I am in a pub in Shoreditch.

Miss June are supporting some other band. Tonight is different. I am here to see Miss June and they deliver the best gig I have seen by any band in a long long time.

Clocks forward. It’s September (I still miss June, it’s the best month) and Bad Luck Party has been released. It’s by a band from NZ called Miss June.

You don’t need to read the rest of this review you just NEED TO BUY IT!

Not since The Mint Chicks exploded into our faces has a band made me want to get out and scream at the world.

I am not going to dissect each piece of musical input from each band member. Miss June are a sum of the parts they play. One of those rare bands where everything is equal and equally stunning.

It is a mix done a million times over but every so often combine drums, guitars, vocals and bass in the right hands and it creates the most life affirming sound on this planet.

Like a kid on a sugar high this album jumps all over the place.

The pummelling Enemies is a standout track and I love the lyrics “your enemies’ enemies are not your friends”.

The reflective Anomaly with its dear prudence-esque intro is classic pop with a punch. Annabelle Liddell’s vocal shimmering throughout.

Two Hits gives me goosebumps.

Life in all its confusing, fucked up, beauty is captured and reflected over 30 min of the most positively negative songwriting you will hear. Like a blade that will never dull each track cuts its own path and reveals something new as hearts bleed onto well-worn sleeves.

Orchid is an earworm that will tunnel into your mind and stay forever.

Miss June are about to explode around the world.

Listen to this album and you will know why.