Live act: Phoney Dog's Jacob Wright

Invercargill garage rockers Phoney Dog bring their first EP tour to Queenstown this weekend. 

The unsigned four-piece outfit play Dux de Lux tomorrow, supported by sonic solo artist Sound Enterprise and Queenstown band Two Buck Titties. 

Phoney Dog singer/guitarist Jacob Wright, 22, says: “I call our music wacked out garage-rock – it’s alternative stuff. 

“Big influences are Nick Cave, The Black Seeds, Grinderman, and the Jack White Black Keys stuff, Queens of the Stone Age – so we’re a mixed bag based around blues but it diverges in different areas, different aspects,” Wright says. 

“We like to think we put on a good live show, we’re pretty comfortable on the stage and get the audience into it with lots of energy.” 

Wright is joined by guitarist/singer Benjamin Guild, 23, bassist and organist Tom Corrigan, 23, and drummer Rhys Johns, 27. 

“We took all the gigs we could at first while working on new material,” Wright says. “But at the start of this year, we decided to take it more seriously, pick our gigs more wisely, release an EP, do a tour to open up to a bigger market and get a name for ourselves.” 

The eponymous EP is a collaborative effort. 

“It’s stuff we’ve worked on together, a collection of all our ideas moving together with new elements brought in, such as an organ. 

“There’s not really one formula. Sometimes we’ll be practicing and get distracted because somebody’s noodling on the guitar and we’ll just end up following off from their idea.” 

This is the band’s first time together on the road, with gigs also planned in Dunedin, Wanaka, Milford Sound, Riverton and Christchurch. 

“Invercargill is getting better all the time. It’s definitely flourishing down here at the moment with the likes of Left Or Right,” Wright says. 

“They’ve moved to Dunedin to reach a bigger audience – that’s kind of what you have to do, Invercargill’s a bit small but you get people who are really into it and they support you which is good.”

Catch Phoney Dog at Dux de Lux tomorrow night from 8pm. Free admission