The Veils are back and coming in hot.
Having just released their first album since 2016, … And Out of the Void came Love, the Kiwi-English rock band returns to Sherwood on Saturday for a journey through time.
The past seven years have been a bit of a whirlwind for frontman Finn Andrews, who welcomed his daughter less than a year ago and is now going full-steam ahead as a touring muso.
After breaking his wrist while playing piano on a solo tour in 2019, Andrews started what became an unexpectedly-long break from performing, thanks to Covid.
He used that time to start writing the new record, which was given to the world at the beginning of this month.
Andrews says songwriting is a kind of “gentle, everyday thing for me … which means after a few years I end up with too many songs and I have to spend another year just going through everything – working out what’s good and what should go in the bin”.
The sheer amount of music written results in quite a hefty double album, which he says should be listened to with a little break in between the two – long enough to make a cuppa, but not enough to mow the lawns.
“It felt right, and it’s a little bit of a journey.”
The feedback so far, the Auckland-based muso adds, balances the amount of build-up there was and relieves the band.
“You spend so long with these songs, it really is a proud moment when you feel like you can let them go and the sort of float out into the ether.”
The Veils finished their latest album just two days before his daughter was born, moving from one intense environment into another.
Now, though, Andrews reckons he’s switched back into his touring brain and is excited to be taking all those songs on the road.
The band’s 20-year-odd history is set to be reflected on tour in a “cross-section” of everything they’ve done, according to the frontman.
“We’ve got so many to choose from … there’ll be a little bit of everything – from the very start up until right now.”
He hopes it’ll be a journey through the last couple of decades, with a lot of different styles – both a “fairly raucous affair” and quit intimate at some points.
The Veils are hyped to get back to the Whakatipu, where Sherwood is a band favourite, and make the most of the freedom.
Following their first national tour since 2021, they jet off for European tour dates in May, followed by the United Kingdom and, after that, have their sights set on the United States.
As Andrews points out, “there’s no time to waste”.
The Veils … And out of the Void Came Love Tour, Sherwood, tomorrow, 8pm. Tickets $50 via The Ticket Fairy
