The Home of the Sproutts

12 February 2008 Okay, so there’s a new thing. You can now buy our CDs directly from us, if you’ve got a PayPal account. So if you’d like to receive your very own copy of one or both of our albums with the assurance that it or they have ben lovingly handled by one or more of the Sproutts themselves, you should begin by clicking this link.9 January 2008 Happy New Year. Half of the Sproutts have played once already this month (sounds like the start of a maths conundrum!) - two were on holiday somewhere but the rest of us weren’t going to miss out on the chance to play with Ghost Club. So the Sproutts-lite-unplugged gave a brisk performance of a few selected songs and then were cheerfully blown off the stage by the barely contained ferocity of Mitchell & co. What a treat! 27 November 2007 Oh yeah, you’ll have to take our word for it, seeing as we - ahem - forgot to mention it here (this “information superhighway” malarky is something that as yet we’ve failed to comprehensively master...): “Plutons” was Album of the Week on Kiwi FM a while back. Great, you say. Well anyway, to prove it, we’re going to have for download MP3s of the 30-second jinglettes especially composed for the occasion. Soon. Hopefully. 31 October 2007 Okay, all four of us are back in Wellington again and all set to unleash the Mk V version (count ’em) of the Sproutts onto an appreciatively drunk and forgiving audience in a week or so. We’re planning to balance the introduction of the new drummer with the introduction of some new songs, so if anything goes awry it should be that much more difficult to tell... 3 August 2007 Apologies for radio silence - we’ve been enjoying a cream bun and a lie-down after the Big Tour to the South Island. Yeah - no stamina. Anyhow, big news is that we’re secretly training a new drummer. He’s no slouch - this is his other band. Apart from that, for those that care, the Sproutts and the Vorn band are merging in a kind of Venn diagram of pop to treat some of Bob Dylan’s songs with the respect they deserve. You can be witness to this at Happy on Friday 10 August. We’ll be appearing under the name The Mighty Faggot, for reasons that may or may not be explained here. (And, just for fun, here are some pictures of someone’s granny attending a fancy-dress party as Bob Dylan. Hah. She’s fooling no-one.) 18 May 2007 Sad news for fans of Caleb Sproutt (there are three at the very least) - he's upping sticks (chortle) and moving to Christchurch with his family. Apparently the doctoring’s better there. But, not to worry, we’re currently scouring TradeMe for one of these, and all going well, we’ll have a full complement again in no time. Anyway - if you don’t live in the South Island, and you'd like to see him doing his thing once more for old time’s sake, head to Mighty Mighty tonight (for the Rye Grass Staggers) or tomorrow night (for us!). 14 May 2007 Huh, we’re almost getting sick of listening to ourselves on the radio (ahem, no we’re not really). If you missed the interview with Chris Sproutt on The Music Mix, or Nick Bollinger’s “Plutons” review on Music 101, try clicking those links to the Radio NZ site. And what’s more, we seem to be No.1 on the Kiwi FM Top 10 for a second week, which is splendid when you consider the extraordinary fact that none of us had worked out how to vote for ourselves (perish the thought!) until just now... While in this current linking frenzy, we must show you the prototype of our next album cover. 9 May 2007 Alright, we’re a bit better organised this time, and can tell you that the Sproutts are going to be featured in Music 101 on National Radio this Saturday. Having said that, the programme info claims that Nick Bollinger is going to review “Flying Out Of The Washing Machine” - maybe he’s going to do a survey of our complete catalogue over several weeks? (That would be sweeeet.)8 May 2007 Less than 24 hours late this time, we can tell you that there was an interview with Chris Sproutt (penetrating and insightful, naturally) on National Radio’s The Music Mix last night. According to their description, we’re a “powerpop” band. At last - our niche has been defined! Er, anyway, sorry you missed it. ...And, more from the “15 minutes of fame” files: Hidden Costs is #1 this week in the Kiwi FM top 10!!!4 May 2007 It may have seemed like things have gone quiet while Vorn’s been off lallygagging about in South America, but all sorts of plans have been incubating. Here they are, listed for convenience as a series of points: • A South Island Tour! • A Guided By Voices tribute night! • The construction of a spaceship! We’re visiting the South Island on or about Queen’s Birthday weekend - dates as follows: Tue 29 May - The Interislander (cool!) Wed 30 May - Golden Bay, Mussel Inn Thu 21 May - Christchurch, Al’s Bar Fri 1 June - Dunedin, Backstage Bar Sat 2 June - Lyttleton, Wunderbar Sun 3 June - Nelson, Stingray Café Mon 4 June - The Interislander again As for the Guided By Voices tribute, details are still sketchy as to who’s involved, but we’ll be delivering semi-faithful renditions of our favourite GBV songs in the company of like-minded bands and individuals at the Adelaide, Newtown, on Sat 26 May.18 March 2007 Chris Sproutt has taken time out from building the spaceship to participate in an on-line interview with (we think) some Belgians. You can read it here. (And while you’re reading, you can also stream The Best Thing In The World.) Oh, and by the way, we’re in the Radio One Top 11 again. 13 March 2007 Important Plutons-related development! Although Pluto is now no longer generally considered by killjoy astronomers to be a planet, one U.S. state has enshrined its planetary status in legislation and, not only that, has declared today to be Pluto Planet Day! The Sproutts commend and applaud this worthy act. And certainly, as it passes through the night sky above the lower North Island of NZ, for several households Pluto is still the planet we know it rightfully to be. 12 March 2007 More up-to-the-minute news: “Plutons” was Album of the Week on KIWI FM, er, last week. And if you’d tuned in on Thursday night you would have heard Chris Sproutt give a penetrating and insightful interview about the album. We’ll try and let you know about such things a little earlier next time. If (heaven forfend!) you’re reading this and you don’t yet have your own copy of Plutons, you can now get it from www.amplifier.co.nz, as well as all the other places we already told you about.

28 February 2007 Alright - we’re capitalising on the momentum generated by releasing a new album by taking a break for a couple of months... all part of our cunning plan, naturally. Ahem. Anyway, while Vorn’s off on his ‘little OE’, new songs will be written and music videos will be created. Well, that’s the idea - watch this space. And if you didn’t pick up “Plutons” at one of our recent gigs, you can get it via the Interweb from either Powertool Records or www.smokecds.com.

22 February 2007 Something we’d almost forgotten: as well as mastery of the Casiotone keyboard, acoustic bass guitar, mandolin, sweet, sweet backing vocals and a high level of proficiency with the Suzuki Omnichord, Vorn has added semi-partial control of the Lucidtone Optical Theremin to his long list of Sproutts-related accomplishments. See him work aural magic with this small blue box, using nothing but one of these, his left hand and his innate musical sensitivity, at our next gig. Or be square. (By the way: the 24 Feb gig will be our last for a couple of months. Someone picked a great time to go on an extended overseas holiday. We’re not angry. Just disappointed. And envious.)

19 February 2007 “Plutons” is out! You can get a copy over at Powertool Records or at our next gig - which happens to be the Wellington album release party at Bodega this Saturday with the fantastic MarineVille and Peneloping. So, we’re two-thirds of the way through our “Plutons” mini-tour, and we’d just like to say a huge thanks to the Wanganui and Auckland chapters of the Sproutts Supporters’ Association. It was a blast to meet you / play for you / sleep on your floors.
31 January 2007 Someone has been as busy as, er, a puppy wearing a bee costume... here’s a vast screed on the origin and history of the Sproutts. Some of this stuff is new to us, too. Awed congratulations to Dave and Barnes for their magisterial, encyclopaedic work.
29 January 2007 We were delighted to share a stage last Friday night with the very fine French band Ladybird - so much instrument-swapping! such catchy songs! and what a tiny drum-kit! They are in New Zealand for the next few months, and we definitely recommend that you catch a show of theirs if you can. Definitely. It was also our first time playing at Mighty Mighty, and all the good things we'd heard about it turned out to be true. Thanks to Rich and the staff for showing us all such a great night.
19 January 2007 We‘re almost in possession of the brand new album, “Plutons”... almost! It‘ll have to be ready by next month, cos that‘s when we‘re planning a mini-tour to the bustling, music-loving metropoli of Wanganui and Auckland with the intention of showing it off: Friday, 16 February - Wanganui Saturday, 17 February - Auckland More details as they come to hand. (By the way, the first single, Hidden Costs, is available at amplifier.co.nz, along with a sneak preview of the cover. Exciting...)
22 November 2006 The Sprout(t)s must be stopped. Turn down the sound (it’s frighteningly loud) and click on this link to play Attack of the Sproutts. Not that we advocate cruelty to vegetables - they are God’s creatures too and should be humanely killed where possible. Caleb’s had the highest score so far of any of us (640), but then he gets the most practice at hitting things.
15 November 2006 New Sproutt Sprung On Populace! Hirsute multiïnstrumentalist Vorn was unleashed on a couple of tunes during our Mëstar gig the other night. He is now set to take his place behind the Casiotone / acoustic bass / whatever when the Sproutts next ascend a stage – viz. Saturday 25 November at Katipo. See you / us there. 3 November 2006 How happy we are to be playing with Mëstar on the occasion of the launch of their new album “Shut the Squizwot Factories Down”! But the occasion will not be without a touch of sadness too, as this gig will be the last that Charlotte plays before going on sabbatical. So there are two reasons to come along, and if you need a third – for the first time ever you can expect to see five Sproutts sharing the stage... 6 October 2006 Ahem. There're are a few things to catch you up on — if you're still coming back to check this site, that is. Sorry it's been so long. The spirit has been willing, but the flesh simply would get up off its lazy b.t.m. and log on. So, since our last post we have: 1) Twiddled about with recordings of numerous songs, between 10–20 of which will appear captured in finely honed performances on album number two, “Plutons”. We'll be sure to tell you when it's done — in fact, stay right there and you'll be the first to know. 2) Played intermittently with plenty of splendid bands and individuals. We do have to single out the gig with the Bats for special mention, when Charlotte and Thomas got to add impromptu violin parts to North by North and Flowers and Trees. Their lives fulfilled, they can now both die happy. (Although in their sleep, at ripe old ages, preferably.) 3) Made personal and collective decisions of great import. One of the Sproutts is temporarily leaving Wellington to set up a robot medical base in Palmerston North, so will be operating by long-distance remote control. To ensure that a full complement of Sproutts is available to perform live at all times, a fifth Sproutt has been recruited. More information about this will be announced once Newbie Sproutt has completed the necessary paperwork and submitted to the rigours of induction. 4) Added a new downloadable track (Ogre Song) and a few compromising photographs to OurSpace. 30 April 2006 It’s been a while. There’s a second album in the pipeline — we seem to have made demos for upwards of 15 songs, so there are plenty to choose from. In other news... we’ve now got one of them MySpace pages — not that there’s much there that isn’t here. But if you've got one too, you ought to go and become our ‘friend’ before the novelty wears off. Thanks to everyone who came and saw us and Peneloping and The Credits (‘in 3D’) last night at Katipo – it must have been our biggest crowd ever. Hopefully not too many of you got squashed or danced on. We’ve got a couple more Wellington gigs coming up in May and we’d love to see you there as well — in return, we might bust out a new tune or two. 13 February 2006 ...And a big ‘hello’ to those people looking here after seeing us at ‘Bands in the Park’ in the Island Bay Festival. Welcome! Treat this place as your own, what’s ours is yours, etc. Such a splendidly pleasant way to spend an afternoon and evening. It was Baby Sproutt’s first gig, too (he enjoyed it from the vantage point of a rug in the midst of the audience). Our next outing is with our friends from Hamilton, the Shrugs. We are honoured to be playing with them at the release party for their new CD An Awkward Silence. You should now look at their website. When you’ve fully digested the information to be found there, you should proceed to their links page and click on this one. A complete and utter lack of disappointment is virtually guaranteed. 4 January 2006 What better way to begin a New Year than with an ego-boost? We’ve had a jolly nice review in the U.S.-based on-line ’zine Copacetic and are feeling particularly splendid in consequence. The festive season has also given us a chance to reflect on some possible New Year’s resolutions, and before the spirit of potentially misguided optimism wears off, let us share these with you. We hereby undertake to: i) finish and release album no.2 ii) play some more gigs outside Wellington iii) become generally better people iv) de-stinkificate this website Well, you always rashly chuck in a couple that you secretly know can never be achieved, don’t you... 9 November 2005 A long-awaited album is about to be let loose on 19 November. Dangerpin in Albumen is the title, and you’ll have worked out whose it is. We’re super-enthusiastic to have been invited to play at the release party - better see you there, eh? 12 October 2005 The trip to Auckland was a blast! Thanks to all our friends and relations who came to the show, fed us and let us sleep on their floors. We were particularly taken by the Odeon Lounge (formerly Tongue’s Funeral Parlour), the stage of which was where, in past times, grieving relatives would stand tearfully about the open casket of the dear-departed. 26 September 2005 It’s been a while since the Sproutts have been out of Wellington, but the time has come once again to venture further afield. This time it’s the Big One: we’ve collectively screwed our courage to the sticking place and planned a flying trip north over the Bombay Hills. Our friends the Lahars are coming along to lend moral and other sorts of support, and together we’ve arranged a one-night stand – a threesome, if you will – with Chris Knox at the Odeon Lounge (cnr Mt Eden Rd & Symonds St, Auckland) on Saturday 8 October. 21 September 2005 Televisual Sproutting activity is set to occur early on the morning of Monday 10 October. We’ve been invited to play a couple of songs on TV1’s Good Morning show. Set the VCR! (And from the ‘Well, fancy that!’ dept: The dress code we’ve been given includes the stipulation not to wear anything in a houndstooth pattern, as apparently it interacts in a bizarre and unpleasant fashion with your television screen. So, if you do happen to tune in to the show, and the Sproutts appear to comprise three normal people and a dancing blob, you’ll be one of the few people who realises that someone’s curiousity has gotten the better of them…) 22 August 2005 Read a review of “Flying Out of the Washing Machine”. Critical feedback at last! Well, semi-critical anyway: we feel compelled to declare that the author – the multi-talented (and foxy) Rachel of Lady Luck – is personally known to us. In fact, if memory serves, Lady Luck and the Sproutts shared the stage on the auspicious night of both bands’ first gig. 4 July 2005 Charlotte’s just departed for a month and a half of medicinal adventures in far-off Croatia, Caleb’s about to add nappy-changing and five-a.m. feeding to his daily schedule, and so Sproutting activities are somewhat curtailed for the time being. We’ll be gigging again in late August. But feel free to stop by here every so often - there are plans afoot. Making this site look snazzier is juuuust one of them... 24 June 2005 We did a live-to-air on Munt FM last night. If you heard it, there’s a FANTASTIC PRIZE awaiting you at Sprout HQ. Just e-mail us and tell us the name of the most embarrassing album owned by Chris Sproutt. But be quick! Taupo, the Sproutts’ foster-cat is looking enthusiastically at the FANTASTIC PRIZE and we may not be able to prevent him much longer from devouring it. 20 June 2005 Thanks to everyone who came out to Katipo last Friday for the album release gig - it was more fun than a sackful of kittens. We left with a whole lot fewer CDs than we arrived with, and we’re confident they must all have found taste-filled, discerning homes. Singlings out for especial gratitude from all the Sproutts go to Dangerpin (for the Loan of Stuff – as well of course for being the insuperable masters of the pop idiom that they unquestionably are), Dave and the staff at Katipo, and particularly Our Man In Dunedin, who knows who he is. 1 June 2005 A brief window of opportunity has opened while all the Sproutts are together in the same country, so we thought we’d better try and treat the album to a proper release and give some of the new songs the ’big band’ work-out. Katipo! Friday 17 June! Cheap beer! Good times! 31 May 2005 If I Were A Mothman squeaks in at the ultimate position on the Radio 1 weekly Top 11. Permit us to swagger around a little at the news of this ephemeral bit of glory. 16 May 2005 Our friends from the Netherlands, Katbite, have done us a write-up in their e-zine. We’re only sorry it’s not in Dutch, because then we’d know how to ask for “bladder wine” when we pay them a return visit. 13 May 2005 Friday the 13th! Lucky for some, as it turns out. We thought we’d take the opportunity to plug our favourite Wellington band, Dangerpin (and they may be yours too after you’ve visited their website), on the occasion of Christopher’s marriage to Kirsten. We commemorated the event with a new song – The Best Thing In The World - limited to a pressing of one-and-a-half. You’ll just have to go round to their flat if you want to hear it. 18 April 2005 The Sproutts have been invited to play at the next Kaleidoscope World Series gig in Wellington, at Valve on Saturday 7 May. A new song - Mental Health Issues In Newtown - has been slung together in readiness for inclusion on the associated “Kaleidoscope World” sampler CD (Powertool Records KWS16). This will be available at the gig. Other bands playing that night are Bored Gordon, the Shrugs, Dragstrip, Vocoder, Edward Gains, the Lahars (Caleb Sproutt’s other band), the Midwest Motorparts Corral, Stingfish and Cortina. 11 April 2005 Hello. Thanks for coming. This is the Sproutts’ new home on the web. We’re aware that currently it shouldn’t keep you for more than a few seconds. As we gradually begin to get the hang of the new-fandangled technology, things should liven up a bit... maybe. 4 April 2005 There’s an album. It’s out now. The contents: 18 jangle-pop miniatures. What more can we say? “Try it - you’ll like it,” perhaps. To this end, there are a couple of songs available to download over there on the right.