Post-punk legends Gang Of Four announce their return to New Zealand this April.  

Nearly 30 years after forming in Leeds, Gang of Four remain as fiercely relevant as ever and determined to show off 2015’s album, the ode to a dystopian future What Happens Next, an instant classic. 

Gang of Four initially existed, with various personnel changes, between 1977 and 1983. Emerging with debut album Entertainment! the band felt like a blast of ice-cold water, radical in both form and content. They were committed foes of received wisdom, subjecting traditional rock‘n’roll values – love, sex, community, spontaneity — to ruthless scrutiny while making music every bit as physically exciting as what they were challenging.

Entertainment! was voted the eighth best album of the 1970s by Pitchfork and one of the best of all-time by Rolling Stone (plus a personal favourite of Kurt Cobain). Not to mention The Gang of Four’s recordings and incendiary live performances have been hugely influential, and have left their mark on R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Minutemen; Rage Against the Machine, Nirvana and Massive Attack; Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and LCD Soundsystem.

As a result, Gang of Four was always bigger than the original line-up who recorded the first two albums. Founding guitarist and songwriter Andy Gill has constructed a new Gang of Four touring and recording together since 2013: John “Gaoler” Sterry on vocals, Thomas McNiece on bass and Jonny Finnigan on drums. 

What Happens Next, the title of Gang of Four’s thrilling and unsettling ninth album, refers both to the world outside and the band itself: an emphatic commitment to the future. The band is joined by a who’s who of modern day creative stars on What Happens Next including Alison Mosshart of the Kills and the Dead Weather, Gail Ann Dorsey, Robbie Furze of the Big Pink, and German musician and actor Herbert Grönemeyer.

Gang Of Four

Wednesday April 27th: The Powerstation, Auckland

Tickets via Ticketmaster from 12PM Friday February 19

My Live Nation & Ticketmaster pre-sales from 10am February 15 until 10am February 17