Too Many Chiefs

Too Many Chiefs – so many tracks.

Four of New Zealand’s busiest songwriters offer an entertaining evening of wordplay, musical and otherwise, as they join forces to perform their favourite original songs on Sunday 23rd June at Lily’s Ranch house in Levin.

Andrew London, Wayne Mason, Laura Collins and Rob Joass are all well-seasoned musicians who tour their own respective bands nationally. Coming together in Too Many Chiefs to celebrate song-writing and share stories from the many roads they've travelled, they bring a heady musical blend of influences and styles, ranging from blues and jazz to country and folk, all infused with an element of social commentary, personal reflection and occasional gentle satire. Also quite a lot of between-song mickey-taking.

Best known for his Hot Club Sandwich trio and now touring and recording under his own name, Andrew London’s reputation stands mostly on his satirical and comedic songs, which lampoon many of New Zealand society’s obsessions, foibles and taboos. Songs like Let’s Talk About Me, Country’s Buggered and Speed up at the overtaking lane have elicited chuckles of recognition from local and international audiences at festival performances from Norfolk Island to Saudi Arabia, and have contributed to a Correspondence School English Syllabus, National Radio's 'Greatest Song Ever Written’, several feature films, and over a dozen recorded albums, two of which have received 4-star reviews from Downbeat USA, the World’s longest standing and most widely read jazz magazine.

Rob Joass is well known to many music fans throughout New Zealand through his work with Hobnail, The Shot Band, The Hard Core Troubadours and Too Many Chiefs. He writes compulsively, tours incessantly, teaches guitar, produces albums, and can be found behind a mixing desk live and in the studio when time allows. His songs have been covered by artists both in NZ and abroad, and he is a 3 time finalist at the NZ Music Awards. Hobnail are currently working on their 7th album, and Rob has just released his latest solo album. No rest in sight then, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Wayne Mason, a long time traveler in the NZ music scene, known and loved from his time with Rocking Horse, the Fourmyula, the Warratahs to name but a few, he currently works with five different touring line ups. Honored for having written the song of the millennium ‘Nature’, he is a prolific writer with 16 albums to his name with bands along the way, 4 of which are from his own band. He is currently working on a ‘best of’ which will pull together his favourite tunes from the last 50 years and adds a couple that are ‘new love’s. Wayne’s tunes embody the landscape of NZ and are rich with images from his journeys on road, cycle and rail - steam train that is!

Laura Collins, tours with her band the Back Porch Blues Band, she's all about entertainment at the heart of it. She likes to move between ballsy blues and beautiful ballads and hand out the banter in between. She’s got four albums to her name, the latest ‘Live at VK’s’ captures the live grit and joyous energy of her blues band out with an audience. She brings the oestrogen to this line-up, and that could mean ‘sorting the blokes out' or 'adding a little sugar', depending on the given moment.

On Sunday 23rd June, Too Many Chiefs will be bringing tunes from their recent release So many tracks amongst others, expect a celebration of song writing, more wit than you can poke a stick at and a great night out.

Afternoon show from 2.00 – 4.00pm.