After a few years of overseas adventure, the former Auckland-based folk-pop duo of Rachel Bailey and John Guy Howell has ''come home to roost''.
''I was born in Ireland in a small town near Dublin called Laytown,'' vocalist Bailey tells me.
''We wanted to get over to that part of the world so that John could meet my people and we could tour our music around Europe.
We tried just winging it, seeing what happened. Our mantra was `follow any yes that comes along'. On reflection, a plan probably would have been smarter.''
The pair has been playing together as the Broken Heartbreakers for a number of years, crafting what ODT reviewer Jeff Harford called ''perfectly formed country and folk-pop songs''.
At tonight's show, Howell and Bailey will predominantly perform as a duo, but main songwriter Howell says they will be ''looking to form the 'Dunedin branch' of the BHBs to record and tour as the year unfolds''.
''We'll play the majority of the show as a two-piece then invite some friends up and finish the night as a four-piece. Full band with electricity is the direction we are headed. The band started acoustically in 2002 as a reaction to all the noise out there at that time. Nowadays, I'm kind of missing the racket!''
With beautiful harmonies and songs of melancholy with a political tinge, the band claim broken hearts are their bread and butter. Find out for yourself tonight in the relaxed seclusion of Taste Merchants.
• Back in the city after a great performance last year at Queens, Christchurch band Permanence performs the music of seminal Manchester band Joy Division at Re:Fuel tonight.
Taking their name from the song Twenty Four Hours, Permanence has been performing the music of Joy Division for the past five years, and plays the breadth of the small but classic catalogue, from the early post-punk years to the later synth-driven anthems.
• With the carnage of O-Week over and the university year officially under way, OUSA offers one last hurrah for students and the general public alike, as three English electronic artists visit Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Headlining the show is rapper and grime artist Tinie Tempah. After winning Best Breakthrough Act and Best Single at the 2011 Brit Awards, Tempah has had a run of successful solo chart singles as well as collaborations, including the huge Hitz, a feature for DJ duo Chase & Status, who will also perform at the show.
Comprising Saul Milton (Chase) and Will Kennard (Status), Chase & Status are a bass music production duo who have been an active force for over 10 years now. The pair's breakthrough album, No More Idols, released in 2011 broke into the mainstream with its genre bending production veering from straight D'n'B to almost modern alt-rock and multiple guest features. After headlining The Other Stage at the Glastonbury Festival in June, Chase & Status released their latest album Brand New Machine in October 2013.
Opening the evening is drum n' bass producer Sub Focus.
See them
• Broken Heartbreakers with support from Mavis Gary (Adrian Ng of Trick Mammoth), 8pm tonight at Taste Merchants (Lower Stuart St). $10 pre-sale tickets available from Under the Radar. Door sales available.
• Permanence play the music of Joy Division, tonight at Re:Fuel. $5 door sales from 9pm.
• OUSA Orientation 2014 Official Afterparty, Tinie Tempah, Chase & Status (DJ Set with MC Rage) and Sub Focus (DJ Set with MC ID), 8pm Thursday, March 6, at Forsyth Barr Stadium. Student tickets $65, public $75. Tickets are available from the OUSA main office, www.otagoori.co.nz or ticketdirect.co.nz
