Bang! Bang! Eche! - Featured Artist Oct 2007

Post Punk New Wave
www.myspace.com/bangbangeche
Contact: Charlie

Previous SmokeFreeRockquest finalists Bang! Bang! Eche! are 2 girls, 4 guys, lots of colour, playing a mix of house, post punk new wave & J-pop. Think of Flying Lizards meets the B52’s and you are close...

As winners of the 2007 RDU98.5FM RoundUp band competition at the famous Dux de Lux in late September these young post punk ravers play an exciting brand of electro-pop, and appeared on the all-ages scene in 2007 with their home-recorded MySpace single 'Nikee' following up with numerous live shows, including a wildcard entry in the SmokeFreeRockquest Canterbury regional finals. Thanks to the RounDUp win, the band plan to record and release a small EP of 500 pressings, which is due out before Christmas. Furthermore, the band will be playing with loves The Veils, and many other "big-time acts" at Jade Stadium for Southern Amp II on November 10.

Where did Bang! Bang! Eche! suddenly appear from?
For the first four months of the bands life, they practiced everyday in singer Ema's shelter/flat opposite the city mission, in a desperate struggle to get a decent set together for the gigs they kept booking. In those early stages of existence, the band played a staggering thirty shows. Since then, the band has toned things down in order to retain their sanity, and thankfully moved into a safer practice space.

In the 6 months BANG! BANG! ECHE! has existed, the band has enjoyed 5 weeks in the RDU top ten, with two weeks at the number one spot. The band has to date played with sweet Kiwi bands such as The Mint Chicks, The Sneaks, So So Modern, The Shocking Pinks, Cut Off Your Hands, The Whipping Cats, Disasteradio, Charlie ASH and many others, in venues throughout Dunedin, Auckland and Christchurch. Much to their surprise and delight, the band has also made their way through every round of judging in the NZ Rockquest competition, and will soon be flown up to Auckland for the National Final shown on TV EVERYWHERE. After the chaos has died down, BANG! BANG! ECHE! will then concentrate on getting an EP recorded before they start doing some touring next year.

Their sound is an exciting mix of electronics, twin vocals, guitar and pulsating rhythm, Bang! Bang! Eche! are Charlie (guitar), Perry (Keyboards), James (Synth-Drums), T'Nealle (Bass) and the twin vocals of Emma and Zach.

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BANG! BANG! ECHE!
The RDU Interview?

1. What does Bang! Bang! Eche! mean? & who came up with it?
Bang-Bang Eche was in fact bassist T'Nealle's native aboriginal name before she was adopted by her white Australian parents (who let her make up her current name when she was two.) The Aboriginal meaning of her name is somewhat lost in translation due to the complexities of the native language compared to simple English, but it is believed to convey the idea of "crazy - flying - always - hungry - bush - baby". But the band chose this to be their name, because of the interesting coincidence that ECHE, relates to another hobby of theirs outside of music – economics.

The European Conference on the History of Economics, or the ECHE, is an annual conference held in Ema's hometown of Brussels, in order to discuss how the history of economics can be used to prevent future economics related disasters, and other everyday problems in the 21st century. You see, here at BANG! BANG! ECHE!, we believe that economic models make the world go round. Songs are created using the structure of Lorenz Curves, and shows are planned using the Law of Diminishing Returns. The ECHE has taught us many great things, such as, when we arrive late for a show, we are not in fact late, but just SUBNORMALLY EARLY. And also, that noise pollution is not actually a problem - whenever we are in trouble with the neighbourhood watch etc, we just tell them that we "were just trying to do our bit to INCREASE NEW ZEALAND'S GDP".

2. How did the band come together?
Christchurch is pretty small so we all knew each other from gigs and previous bands, and parts of us went to school together. When James and Perry first opened their "Baker Boyz" franchise, they decided that being in a band would be a great way to promote their quality produce, so they raked in their old mates T'Nealle, and Charlie, Zach and Emma who went to school together, to be their backing band. Soon enough the band started to play many gigs that far exceeded the original expectations of James and Perry, and the baking was thrust aside in order to pursue the musical BIG TIME.

3. Influences?
Mainly Auckland band Moron Says WHAT?!?!, and although different in musical output, we share kindred spirits with fellow ChCh band Bohr. When we first started out we wanted to be a successful New Zealand band like Evermore and Atlas. Then we quit the dodgy BZP that Andy from the Tiger Tones was giving us.

4. Tell me something about Bang! Bang! Eche! that nobody knows...
In fact, in an early incarnation of the band, we were a fully fledged Evermore covers band, playing hits such as "Light Surrounding You" at weddings and funerals all over Christchurch.

5. What do you love and hate about RDU?
We love RDU because they gave us no. 1 on the top 10 for two weeks running.. and for all the sweet RounDUp shows! We hate RDU because, with their astonishingly innovative mix of good NZ music and good foreign music, (WHAT TEH LOLZ?!?!? - Helen) they render Kiwi FM useless. And we love Kiwi FM.

6. Assign each band member a nickname related to their personality.
James - The Abstainer
Zach - Pretentious Moaning Literary Loser Boy
Ema - Giant Eater
Pez - Ye Olde Wise One
Chaz - Fatso
T'Nealle - "THE HURRICANE"

7. Anything else?
Thank you RDU for putting on the wonderful round up competition! We didn't think we would win, but we are oh so glad we did!!! :-)

For more on Bang! Bang! Eche! go to www.myspace.com/bangbangeche