Veteran Blues & Roots Crew BONJAH Are Breaking Up After One Final Show

Stalwart Melbourne (via NZ) blues & roots/alt-rock outfit BONJAH have announced that they will part ways following a special farewell show at home next month.

Taking to Facebook to break the news on Sunday evening, BONJAH explained that, "almost 10 years to the day" after arriving in Australia with wide eyes and big dreams, "we are officially hanging up the boots & calling time on the band".

"We want to say a heartfelt and sincere thank you to everyone that has bought an album, come to a show or supported us in any way," the band wrote in their message. "From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

"It truly has been an amazing ride & something we will always look back on with incredible memories. We devoted our lives wholeheartedly to our music and made so many lifelong friendships along the way."

The band took the time to acknowledge the patience and support of their families and partners, ultimately lamenting, "Keeping the band together is simply not possible due to a beautiful thing called life happening".

"We are all still brothers & the closest of friends — we never wanted to be a band playing RSLs thinking of the glory days," they wrote.

To that end, the band are planning to end things "on [their] terms", returning to their "spiritual home" of The Corner, in Melbourne, for a last hurrah on Friday 24 June.

BONJAH came together in 2006 in Tauranga, New Zealand, moving base to Melbourne and consequently going on to reach global heights as they toured around Australia and through far reaches of the world including the UK and Germany as well as closer international destinations such as Japan and their original home across the ditch.

BONJAH have also been a regular fixture of the festival circuit over their time together, having hit the stage at events such as Big Day Out, Woodford Folk Festival, Pyramid Rock Festival, Festival Of The Sun, One Movement Festival and Moomba Festival, among others.

The band's career yielded three full-length studio albums — Until Dawn (2009), Go Go Chaos (2011) and Beautiful Wild (2014) — as well as one live album, 2012's Live At The Corner. They earned three nominations at the 2010 APRA Awards — two for Best Blues & Roots Single, for Fly and Bring Back The Fire, and one for Best Blues & Roots Album, for Until Dawn. That album also picked up the same category nomination at the 2009 AIR Awards, as did Go Go Chaos at the 2011 event.

Along with their two nominated singles, BONJAH also commercially released their tracks Something We Should Know, in 2010, and The White Line, in 2011.

Tickets for their final show are available now.