History Lesson Part II

God Bows To Math is just one of many small New Zealand acts that are slaying it in terms of tenacity, ferocity and ingenuity in a sonic landscape that for some time appeared to be in stasis. For better or worse, the country's music scene has long been under the long white cloud of the 'Dunedin sound' of the '80s after the burgeoning success of Flying Nun Records. The blistering fierceness of their self-titled debut shook the foundations and the trio have backed that up with consistently wild performances, tipping their figurative hats at the likes of (obviously) Minutemen, McLusky, Shellac and June Of 44.

“Yeah, there was a time where there wasn't any music around that really represented what we were interested in at all,” Martin Phillips (guitars/vocals) admits. “Now there seems to be so much. We are at the point where we don't have to play so much, but even a year ago we were in a position to play every week if we wanted, which wasn't always the case. It is the cyclical nature of venues to close down and some good ones have gone, but there tends to be more available across the country, not just in Auckland.”

The power on God Bows To Math came as much from forced brevity and barbed humour as it did abrasive noise, something that the trio adhere to religiously. That said, the writing and recording process this time around has been protracted, and Phillips intimates that this tour will help to shape what is to come for the band. “We haven't done all that much recording. We recorded some songs early December and that's pretty much it. We are planning to record with Donnie (Miller, No Anchor/Roku Music) when we get to Brisbane though and that should be a fair chunk of it right there. We have been busy though – we have been focusing a lot on touring, and we're also trying to put a split out with Pairs who are from Shanghai, which involves liaising with four different labels in four different countries. A lot of emailing – I'm pretty bad at keeping up with email etiquette, and keeping in touch with people, but we're getting there.”

The effort is paying off, with the trio visiting Australian shores only a year on from their first tour here. “Last year we had been focusing on the trip for a while, and when we finished recording the album we were going to come over in November 2011 but couldn't afford it. We postponed it until April last year but it was still a bit of a fuck up because it had been planned as a joint tour with (now on hiatus) To The North, then changed to be with Make More, but neither things happened. We came over anyway and had an amazing time, with Simon (Reynolds) putting in a lot of leg work which was great. Brisbane was especially amazing because we had various people offering us places to stay; we got help putting on a show, getting a backline, drinking whiskey and beers afterwards. Up until then we pretty much only knew people in Melbourne, because that's where a lot of our friends moved to. This time around we have that network of amazing people to work with, and I feel that this tour will be better because it's really short and we have a far better understanding of what we want to do. We just want to play Black Wire in Sydney, we just want to play The Waiting Room in Brisbane, and we know what we want to do and who we want to play with. It's as much about celebrating five years playing together alongside Lenin Lennon, Yes I'm Leaving, Tiny Spiders, than it is about playing. It's a nice way to holiday.”

God Bows To Math will be playing the following dates:

Wednesday 24 April - Croation Club, Newcastle NSW
Thursday 25 April - Black Wire Records, Sydney NSW
Friday 26 April - Old Bar, Melbourne VIC
Saturday 27 April - The Waiting Room, Brisbane QLD