Menzies Nationwide Tour Starts This Weekend

After hitting #1 with both singles on the Top 10 95bFM, topping the NZ RadioScope Alt charts, and hitting #11 on the Aotearoa Hot Singles charts, Menzies Aotearoa tour of their debut album Holding My Cold Hand, Even Though Yours Is Warm, kicks off this Friday, joined by some of the country’s hottest alternative acts. Their album and live performance contain everything that makes Menzies one of the country’s most exciting emerging acts.

Wellington, New Zealand’s crooked alt-country-rock Menzies release their highly-anticipated debut album + vinyl pressing – Holding My Cold Hand, Even Though Yours Is Warm, and announce a full NZ tour in July and August. The album captures everything that makes Menzies one of the country’s most exciting emerging acts.

Part concept-album, part Aotearoa-coming-of-age, Holding My Cold Hand, Even Though Yours Is Warm plays out as a ferry crossing between two islands, peppered throughout with overhead intercom announcements. Lead singer Chris Brown’s story-led songwriting pulls from deeply New Zealand experiences: Suzy Cato, romantic feelings towards All Blacks, trays of sausage rolls, native bird-song. Menzies deliver a debut that feels deeply personal, wildly universal, and impossible to ignore.

Beyond the studio, Brown’s former life as a working magician is woven into the band’s fabric and acclaimed live performances – 10 pairs of gloves thrown to the crowd and recipients hunt for their glove-mate before the song ends, balloons that have to be kept afloat for the duration of the song or the band stops playing, the crowd all shooting at a basketball hoop mid-set, appearing magic canes. The result is a live experience that is mesmerising, communal, and completely captivating.

New Zealand hasn’t had a band like this since the Front Lawn or The Mutton Birds.

“As a magician I spent years learning how to distract people.. This album really is the complete opposite, looking directly at what feels true, beautiful, and raw.”

Menzies have brought in New Zealand production powerhouses for the album – recorded & mixed by James Goldsmith (Mermaidens, DARTZ) at The Surgery, and mastered by Tūī Award-winning Vivek Gabriel (Avantdale Bowling Club, Onono).

Tour dates:

Fri 3rd July @ The Stomach, Palmerston North
w/ Either Eyether & Watercolour

Sat 4th July @ Porridge Watson, Whanganui
w/ Sports Dreams & Limon

Fri 17th July @ Meow, Wellington
w/ Sig Wilder & Felix Bird

Fri 24th July @ Dark Room, Christchurch 
w/ Only You & Abandoned Carparks

Sat 25th July @ Pearl Diver, Dunedin
w/ U-No Juno & Dolly Possum

Fri 7th August @ Whammy, Auckland
w/ CCTV & The EE Machine

Sat 8th August @ Raglan Town Hall, Raglan
w/ Tukana & Mondogreen