June 30, 2015 | 0 Comments

ANTHONIE TONNON – SUCCESSOR is at Top 200 Radio NOW!!

GUESS WHAT!! My next add is by a wonderful dude from New Zealand who I’ve been describing in rough shorthand as David Bowie meets Jens Lekman. His record is being put out as a co-release between Wild Kindness (who put out my Melaena Cadiz record from last year) and Misra (you know, the label who put out early Phosophorescent and Destroyer albums). If you’ve been following Band Mom bands closely over the last few years, you’ll remember his work from when I promoted his solo US tour in 2013, and also from his record I promoted in late 2012 back when he used the band name Tono and the Finance Company. But he’s since dropped the pseudonym and is going by his given name, ANTHONIE (spelled a little funny, but pronounced like every Anthony you know) TONNON (pronounced TAWN-uhn). OMG!!!

He’ll be touring the US for his third time this fall, so stay tuned for updates on that front. Til then, ADD AND SPIN THIS RECORD!

ANTHONIE TONNON

SUCCESSOR

Misra/Wild Kindness Records

Anthonie Tonnon is a songwriter and performer originally from Dunedin, New Zealand, and currently based in his nation’s largest city, Auckland. He first came to attention in his home country with his band Tono and the Finance Company, which released two EPs—Love and Economics and Fragile Thing—and the fulllength Up Here For Dancing. With dry wit and observational lyrics that recalled Morrissey or Jarvis Cocker, Tonnon alluded to urban life in New Zealand’s cities. Antigentrification anthem “Marion Bates Realty” caught the attention of Beirut, who chose the band to support them on their 2012 New Zealand shows.

In 2013, Anthonie Tonnon began touring the USA and Australia under his own name, influenced by stage techniques from the comedy and theatre worlds as much as formative influences like Jonathan Richman and Jens Lekman. Working with coproducer and band member Jonathan Peace, Tonnon’s new recordings paid increasing focus to sonics, taking influence from David Bowie’s Berlin period, Kraftwerk, and Lou Reed’s early solo career.

In 2015, US labels Misra (Phosphorescent, Destroyer) and Wild Kindness (Melaena Cadiz, Holopaw) announced they would work together to release Tonnon’s first album under his own name, Successor, on June 30. The album would also come out through Flippin Yeah in Australia on the same date, following up a March release through Tonnon’s own Canapé King Records in New Zealand.

Successor is a collection of secondperson narratives around unnamed characters in cities—from the businessman who deals cocaine as a sideline in “A Friend From Argentina”, to the government minister engaged in a battle over irrigation rights in “Water Underground”. These are the kinds of flawed characters Randy Newman might have written about in first-person in the 1970s. Tonnon found unusual inspiration in the album from longform journalism, local politics, and Roman Polanski’s Chinatown.

Tonnon has brought his narrative lyrics and arresting live show recently to performances with Okkervil River, Paul Kelly and Yumi Zouma in New Zealand, and in the US with Sean Nelson, Shenandoah Davis and Nicholas Krgovich. He has performed on Daytrotter Sessions, and placed an album in the CMJ Top 200 Albums Chart as well as the Top 10 NZ Albums Chart. He was also recently named in Billboard‘s list of “New Zealand acts you need to know about”.

RIYL: Courtney Barnett, Jens Lekman, David Bowie, Okkervil River, Jonathan Richman, The Brunettes, Lou Reed, Laura Veirs

Start With: 5, 1, 4 FCC 7