To my knowledge Nights Gaunts are the first band of their kind to grace the HTML pages of Happy. Hailing from Auckland, they pump a genre that’s close to my heart – the undeniably firey blend of reggae/ska/hip-hop and punk. The successful merging of four such musical genres, each awesome enough to stand alone, requires a lot of talent. And these guys have got it.
Their Bandcamp page plays host to one full-length album, Full Body Tourettes [Pt II] (2011) and one six track EP, Love Life & The Devil (2012). The former is heavier than the latter, with more rattling punk influences and drawn out guitar solos. Stand out track is Lo Fi, One Mic, and fans of Mad Conductor or No Cash will no doubt eat this one up. The infusion of cool groove (thanks reggae) with hard riffs and unapologetic vocals is just delicious. Mosquitos, the opening track to Love Life & The Devil, is an classic ska anthem, backed with horns and the kind of percussion that makes you wanna smash stuff. Do yourself a favour and hit play below.
If you’re a NZ local, you can catch Night Gaunts playing on the 31st of Jan at Off the Radar Festival, and then on Feb 21st at the Kings Arms Tavern in Auckland (I can picture that pub all too clearly). For all the non-NZ residents, Night Gaunts have just made all their sweet tunes available for 100% free download on their Bandcamp, so you can pump them on your mp3 player of choice. What legends.
FIND OUT MORE ON
▲ FACEBOOK ▲ BANDCAMP ▲ RIOT SKA RECORDS
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