Building on the success of their award-winning show ‘The Explorers Club: Antarctica,’ Auckland alt-folksters Bond Street Bridge are proud to announce the release this October of an album of songs recording the incredible stories of Captain Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton and the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration. The album is out October 11 on Banished From The Universe records, and the band is celebrating with a national tour starting with the Nelson Arts Festival, taking in special performances at some of New Zealand's premier museums and galleries, and including appearances with folk heavyweights THE EASTERN, Barry Saunders and Great North.
Songwriter Sam Prebble has turned a fascination with Antarctic heritage into a multi-faceted and collaborative work of art. After several months lost in books and dusty library shelves, poring over old photographs and maps and devouring first-hand accounts of adventure and mishap on the ice, Prebble emerged with a collection of songs recalling the hardships and celebrating the extraordinary pluck of the explorers who first set foot on the frozen wastes. The songs combine material from the original journals of the explorers themselves, lines from the poets and writers who inspired their exploits, and a treasure trove of recent Antarctic scholarship, weaving tales of courage, endurance and humanity in the face of defeat and humility before extraordinary endeavour. The stories of Captain Oates walking to his death, Scott freezing in his tent, writing to the last, and Shackleton sailing hundreds of miles in an open boat to save his men are retold through heartbreaking ballads and foot-stomping sea shanties.
The material on this album has already drawn accolades. Over the Summer, Bond Street Bridge presented the show to packed houses at Fringe Festivals around the country, securing them the award for ‘Best Music’ at the 2012 NZ Fringe Festival Awards and invitations to appear at Arts Festivals, museums and galleries around the country. The show played to sold-out sessions at the Queenstown Winter Festival, the Taranaki International Arts Festival, and the inaugural NZ IceFest in Christchurch, and was described by the Dominion Post as ‘a perfect evening of music.’
The songs are complemented by beautiful original illustrations from artist Emily Cater, who studied the photographs and drawings the explorers brought back from the ice and produced a series of evocative illustrations surrounding the music. These are projected around the band for the live show, and feature on the album artwork, online, and in a range of cards and posters.
To mark the October 11 release of the Explorers Club: Antarctica album, the band is taking the show on the road again, with two appearances at the Nelson Arts Festival followed by shows at the NZ Maritime Museum in Auckland, The Museum of Wellington City and Sea, Chambers 241 gallery in Christchurch, the newly-refurbished Napier Museum, the Oamaru Opera House, and several other appearances at galleries, museums and theatres around the country through October and November.
The Explorers Club: Antarctica Album Launch Tour
Thurs Oct 17: NELSON: Nelson Arts Festival - The Playhouse Cafe and Theatre Restaurant Mapua Show at 8 pm
Tickets from www.nelsonartsfestival.co.nz
Fri Oct 18: TAKAKA: Nelson Arts Festival - The Mussell Inn, with Bat Country, show at 8:30 pm
Tickets from Mussel Inn, 03 525 9241 or haveabeer@musselinn.co.nz
Sat Oct 19: HOKITIKA: Hokitika Museum, 7pm
Tickets from Hokitika Museum 03 755 6898
Sun Oct 20: OKARITO -Donovans Store, with Bat Country, 7:30pm
Tickets at the door
Mon Oct 21: WANAKA: Cinema Paradiso with Bat Country, 8:30pm
Tickets 03 443 1505, abccinema@xtra.co.nz
Tues Oct 22: MILFORD SOUND Throwdown in the Sound at Blue Duck Cafe And Bar, with Bat Country
Free if you're in Milford Sound
Thurs Oct 24: OAMARU: The Oamaru Opera Housewith THE EASTERN and Barry Saunders
Tickets www.ticketdirect.co.nz
Fri Oct 25: DUNEDIN, Platos with The Eastern and Barry Saunders
tickets from www.undertheradar.co.nz
Sat Oct 26: CHRISTCHURCH: 241Chambers Gallery, 7pm, with Jed & Hera - Tickets at the door
Thurs Oct 31: AUCKLAND: Voyager New Zealand Maritime Museum with Great North, 7pm
Tickets 09 373 0800 info@maritimemuseum.co.nz
Fri Nov 8: WELLINGTON: Museum of Wellington City & Sea with Veronika Meduna, 7pm
Tickets 04 4728 904 museumtours@wmt.org.nz
Sat Nov 9: WHANGANUI Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare O Rehua Whanganui
Tickets 06 349 0506
Fri Nov 15: OAMARU: Oamaru Victorian Heritage Celebrations at Oamaru Opera House Festival Explorers Club
Fri Nov 22: NAPIER: MTG Hawke's Bay, 7pm
Sat Nov 23: ROTORUA: The Rogue Stage
See you on the road!
