CHART Gig: Amnesty Intl Toast to Freedom

Fri 1 August 2008 | Al's Bar, 8pm $5
Amnesty International and CHART present:

A Toast To Freedom at Al's Bar!

Tiger Tones
The Undercurrents
The Dialtones
Jimmy Zoom And The Beytown Grifters
Onanon (Dunedin)

Doors open 8pm - only $5

Come along and support Amnesty International as we celebrate Freedom Week 2008 with a few drinks and some great original music. A toast - to Freedom!
Tickets are $5 on the door or pre-sales $5 (+bf) at Real Groovy or Cosmic Corner.

Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand in association with CHART Christchurch Music Industry Trust are presenting ‘A Toast to Freedom ‘ at Al’s Bar in Dundas Street on Friday 1 August 2008 at 8pm featuring the music of Christchurch bands The Undercurrents, Tiger Tones, The Dialtones, Jimmy Zoom and the Beytown Grifters and from Dunedin, Onanon. Tickets are $5 on the door or pre-sales $5 (+bf) at Real Groovy or Cosmic Corner.

‘A Toast to Freedom’ has been organised to cap off Amnesty International’s Freedom Week. Freedom Week is the annual street appeal and promotion campaign for Amnesty to let New Zealanders know about its human rights campaigning on behalf of ‘prisoners of conscience’ – people around the world who have been unjustly imprisoned, harassed, tortured and killed for peacefully expressing their human rights to protest, to associate or even just to express their own opinion.

Greg Crisp, from the Amnesty International Christchurch Regional Team said that “During the gig we will stop to drink a ‘Toast To Freedom’ – a symbolic gesture to celebrate freedom and in honour of Peter Benenson, the British lawyer who started Amnesty International in 1961 when he heard of two Portuguese students who were imprisoned for raising a toast to freedom.” Information on current Amnesty International campaigns will be available on the night.

Amnesty international is delighted to have the support of an eclectic bunch of South Island bands who will ‘rock for a good cause’, or in some cases ‘country -pop- rock’ or ‘electro-punk’ for the cause... Christchurch alternative stalwarts The Undercurrents and The Dialtones are joined onstage by dealers of dance Tiger Tones, the small but perfectly informed rockabilly folk popsters Jimmy Zoom and The Beytown Grifters, and fresh out of an overcrowded car, the crunchy rock-pop sound of Dunedin circa 2008 – Onanon.

Everyone knows that dictators hate dancing. Christchurch lovers of freedom and original music are invited to join Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand for a night of apolitical pop and country punkin, in celebrating the freedoms we do enjoy in this country and to drink a toast – to Freedom.

Tiger Tones - www.myspace.com/thetigertones
The Tiger Tones have been variously described as “bargain basement dance-punk” and “shoegaze meets extreme” but they'd prefer people to dance up their own minds. This band have expressed a distaste for dictators, and when the synth kicks in and the bass drops - it's personal. Making waves throughout NZ, if you haven't seen them live then Al's Bar on Fri Aug 1st is your chance.

The Undercurrents - www.myspace.com/theundercurrentsnz
What The Undercurrents lack in technique they make up on the spot. Swaying dangerously from artrok meditations at volume to faux country with good-old-kiwi-doo-wop-harmony-pop-til-you-drop in between, they leave no hair unrazed.

Onanon - www.myspace.com/onanonnz
Four shy music geeks from Dunedin making noisy, lush and harmonic power-pop and rocky pop songs with filthy, furious guitars and spacious, sonic instrumental grooves. Transporting themselves to Al's Bar in support of Amnesty International and to supply music for like-minded people.

Jimmy Zoom & The Beytown Grifters - www.myspace.com/jimmyzoomandthebeytowngrifters
Guitar, drums, vocals, keys. Some have called them "Rockabilly Folk." Others have noted the influence of Peter Sellars and Kubrick on their sound. Listen out for lyrical references to Jeremy Coney.

The Dialtones - www.myspace.com/nzdialtones
The Dialtones recently celebrated their 10 year anniversary and are still loving it. Ten years on and still an excellent example of local alternative rock, with a country edge, The Dialtones have always worked quietly away playing out, releasing albums and always keeping it real.

Get Yer Tickets
Tickets are $5 on the door or pre-sales $5 (+bf) at Real Groovy or Cosmic Corner.

Contact:
Organiser: Greg Crisp, Amnesty International Christchurch Regional Team
Ph.029 200 5565 or 03 980 1884
Email: the crisps@clear.net.nz

www.myspace.com/thetigertones
www.myspace.com/theundercurrentsnz
www.myspace.com/nzdialtones
www.myspace.com/onanonnz (Dun)
www.myspace.com/jimmyzoomandthebeytowngrifters

www.amnesty.org.nz
www.christchurchmusic.org.nz/events