Premiere: Best Bets Unveil Debut EP 'Life Under The Big Top'

Rangiora four-piece Best Bets have shared their debut Life Under The Big Top EP, collecting together four catchy slices of the band's effervescent power pop for the first time. The energetic group have a raft of shows lined up in support of the collection, they'll be supporting Australian duo DZ Deathrays in April, local garage-punk legends The D4 in Christchurch this month, and are celebrating with a launch party at Auckland's Golden Dawn Tavern alongside Papakura "power pompers" The Situations and Will Saunders this Friday. We caught up with the rising stars for a quick Q & A about the new record, listen to Life Under The Big Top and read their words below...

How does it feel to hear the songs all together?

We're a fairly new band and this is our first release. The four songs on the EP are some of the first ones we wrote when we were starting out and they feel like a nice and cohesive snapshot of that formative period. The themes range from personal to universal - self-realisation, reminiscences on touring, the current state of the world, ennui. All that good stuff.

You’re playing with DZ Deathrays and The D4 soon right?

We are looking forward to playing in Auckland for the first time tomorrow, and playing with The D4 next week - their first album was certainly an influence for me coming up. I don't know DZ Deathrays but we’re always open to support slots. My advice to bands starting out is to play any shows you're offered - you'll get better at playing live very quickly out of necessity.

Are there any artists which are inspiring Best Bets right now?

We all found The Beths really inspiring when we opened for them a few months back. I've been wrapped up in the new Salad Boys album like a blanket. Some pomp-level live bands I've seen semi-recently that come to mind are Coyote, The Situations and Nervous Jerk. But the band that’s really percolating my java at the moment is The Fluffies, they're a terrific up-and-coming pop group from Otautahi.

Catch Best Bets at Auckland's Golden Dawn Tavern this Friday 16th February, alongside The Situations and Will Saunders.