The Eastern "The Territory" 2014

...Following the release of the album, and the inevitable tour, the band decided to slow down. They could see that the wheels were going to fall off if they didn’t – almost 10 years of hard work and long drives in a shitty van will do that. As Jess saw it, “we pushed ourselves really fucking hard, we drove ourselves really hard, we worked and worked and toured and toured, we had pushed ourselves, the wheels were starting to come off. It was a really hard decision to make.”..
...The band celebrated a decade of being together with a massive gig in the carpark at the Tannery at the end of 2016. A thousand people, special guests, broken hearts, hoarse voices.
The Eastern haven’t broken up, they just aren’t playing as much as they used to. Even when they are holding back, they still play more shows a year that most bands. McGrath continues to tour solo, with a recent Arts on Tour jaunt taking in both islands, then followed up by a trip across the ditch.
Shanks has been running Blue Smoke, the music venue at the Tannery, for a couple of years now. It provides her with some of the security and stability that a band never could – and also means she’s less able to put it all to one side and head out on the road.
The Eastern might be New Zealand’s most progressive band. They don’t have to wear shirts that say “Listen To Women” – they just ask you to listen to the women. As Shanks puts it, “It wasn’t a gender thing at all – we were just the best men for the job”.
They’ve played for good causes, for unions and for striking workers, for charities and for fundraisers. They’ve gone out and played for people in their communities, their gardens, their schools, their houses. There is an immense honesty in The Eastern, not just in the style of music that they play, but in the way that they treat the band as a vocation, not a vacation. They take it very seriously, and they work hard at it, and reap the rewards of what they put in. - James Dann and AudioCulture
trax:
01 The Territory 02 The Road To Erewhon 03 The Stepping Razor 04 Celtic Jack & Temuka Tom 05 Rain 06 Murder Ballad 07 People Like Us 08 Rosy 09 Talking Americana Cowby Yeehaa Blues 10 Broken Line (Blue & The Old Fella Sing) 11 The Ballad Of A Little While 12 Come Dance With Me 13 The Angle 14 What It Is 15 The Prayer
…served by zigzagwanderer + Gaius…