Eugene Chadbourne touring New Zealand

Described as a direct threat to the American way of life by the White House spokesman for president Reagan, Eugene Chadbourne now threatens our shores with his electric rake, and a mixture of improvised and folk banjo playing.

Un/Equal parts polymath, autodidact, inventor, scene-mongrelizing underground cult anti-hero and true Maverick of modern North American music, Eugene Chadbourne strikes Christchurch [and the rest of the COUNTRY!] with his eclectically singular and incendiary brand of electrified be-bop hillbilly improv.

While sharing a not-too-dissimilar profile to that of now-popular compatriot Daniel Johnston, Chadbourne has infiltrated contemporary rock music more as a true polemicist than a mere eccentric, a familiar icon of momentous experimentation, particularly in the New York 'loft scene' of the 1970s and beyond, where he has appeared alongside luminaries such as John Zorn, Bob Ostertag, Marc Ribot, Fred Frith, Steve Beresford, Henry Kaiser and Cellist Tom Corra.

With well-known producer and grunge guru Mark Kramer, Chadbourne later founded Shockabilly, who, after releases on Rough Trade and New York's Knitting Factory, were deemed the East Coast reply to The Residents.

Chadbourne has also appeared alongside Elliot Sharp, Violent Femmes and Sun City Girls on a CD called Jesse Helms Busted for Pornography, which shows where his humorous political targets lie. A top official in Ronald Reagan's administration once referred to Chadbourne as 'the biggest threat to the American way of life' and his G.O.I.N. (Get Out of Iraq Now) Band has eloquently and satirically told the more recent administration where to go.

Chadbourne comes to Auckland with his own magick invention: The Electric Rake, a gardening utensil mined with electrical pickups that makes the sound of a punk horticulturalist tending to equally belligerent blades of wild and coruscating metal grass.

Mixed up with his raconteur wizardry, it will be a persuasive combustion. As Pumice put it recently, Chadbourne issues forth scrambled LSD & whiskey country & western, free range plink plonk Ayler tunes on the banjo that went on uncomfortably long, fierce rake racket. He's totally fearless, reckless, and squirmy. I'll be there.

Other National Dates!!!

JANUARY 22 - 30, 2009

Jan 22 - Wellington - Happy, with Sign of the Hag, Manimanima and Basketcase

Jan 23 - Wellington - Happy, with the Bad Blues Band and others

Jan 25 - Dunedin, Chicks Hotel Port Chalmers, with Greg Malcolm

Jan 29 - Auckland - the Whammy Bar

Jan 30 - Auckland - Cross Street Studios

Eugene Chadbourne to play Auckland next week as part of his national tour.

EUGENE CHADBOURNE (!)
January 29, 2009
whammy bar
$10
with the axemen, Nigel Gavin, Chris O'Connor, John Bell, and Joe Pineapple.

EUGENE CHADBOURNE (!)
January 30, 2009
Cross Street Studios
$10
with Phil Dadson, John Radford, and others

ENDS

Tv3 Nightline link

http://www.3news.co.nz/TVShows/Nightline/Eugene-Chadbourne-arrives-down-under/tabid/728/articleID/88206/cat/85/Default.aspx

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