The Tutts “Get In The Club”

3.5/5

A few years ago as I was browsing through MySpace music, I was clicking on every band in every band’s top friends. As you do. Down the rabbit hole of countless band profiles, I somehow ended up being spat out the other end and found myself across the Tasman in the space of a lesser known New Zealand based five-piece indie set, The Tutts. I wasn’t aware New Zealand produced anything besides sheep. They sounded almost as dramatically delicious as The Killers (before the failure of Day & Age of course). I was surprised with their simple yet effective and catchy singles, K and i20. But I was still left feeling a little bit peckish.

Finally, The Tutts released their inaugural album Get in the Club towards the latter half of 2008. My hunger was satisfied. From its opening track Western Zeal all the way to its slow melodic close with Same Old Thing, it became clear that this album was meant to be listened to in one sitting. Like going to see a movie you couldn’t bear zipping out to the toilet in case you missed something. You can listen to In My Lifetime and forget any concept of time and space, or put on Devo and dance like the village idiot. With soft, easily understood lyrics it’s a pleasure to listen to, but tends to get a bit too melodramatic and repetitive fourth time round. Maybe that’s just me.

To get a scope of how underground The Tutts really are is in the album’s distribution. Being an avid music listener in this day and age, my music sources are mostly free. But to my frustration this album wasn’t even available on iTunes, I had to order the CD all the way from New Zealand. Supporting the independent music industry is important, and for bands like The Tutts, every penny counts. I see big things for The Tutts in the coming years as a lot of work has gone into this album, and hopefully many more to come. I love this album, but I’m reserving that extra star for another day.

- Andrew Green