Alabama Shakes Tickets

Auckland's Powerstation will be bouncing on 15 January to the sensational sound of Alabama Shakes, a band that has kicked soul music back into this year with an electrifying live reputation. The Athens, Alabama quartet are fronted by Brittany Howard, barely 22 years old and already anointed the Next Big Thing for her throaty blues howl that according to critics is "no exaggeration, smack between Janis Joplin's and Jack White's..."

An overnight sensation on their appearance at CMJ last year, the young band were immediately feted in the New York Times, described as "a thunderbolt dressed in bluejeans," with music that's "aching when it's slow and growling and whooping when it's fast."
As word of mouth spread, more offers to tour came in and in 2012 the band members were finally able to quit their day jobs. Until this point, writing, recording, and touring had to be done around such responsibilities as Howard's work delivering mail and drummer Steve Johnson's hours toiling as a night watchman at a nuclear power plant. ..Their debut album Boys & Girls has been called one of the albums of 2012 by critics everywhere. From the heart-rending title song to such stomps as 'Rise to the Sun', the album demonstrates the sense of groove and space the band learned from their idols, along with a blistering force and emotion that simply can't be learned.

Overwhelmed by the response they've already received, there is one perception of the band that they want to challenge. "A lot of people think we're a soul revival act," says bassist Zac Cockrell. "That's an honour to me, classic R&B is my favourite kind of music, but everybody has their own influences. Brittany is way more into rock and roll-she likes things pretty amped up most of the time." .."Retro soul is not what we're going for, though it's understandable why people say it," says Brittany Howard. "We take inspiration from that, but we all understand Black Sabbath, too. On the record, we left a lot of room for whatever we want to do in the future." ..The release of Boys & Girls marked the arrival of a major new rock and roll band. To the members themselves, though, what's been most exciting has been the reaction they have felt on stage, whether tiny local dates or under the glare of the media. .."It seems like everyone can tell how into it we are," says Cockrell. "Every show, people say they can feel how much we love what we're doing."

Auckland gets its first chance to taste that feeling in January2012. Don't make the mistake of missing out.