Guitar Wolf Touring Aotearoa New Zealand in March

Japanese gods of maximally overdriven Jet Rock 'n' Roll, Guitar Wolf are making a tsunami-like return to Aotearoa just one month away in March 2025. Fronted as always by sunglasses-wearing, leather-clad founding guitarist / singer Seiji, with recent recruits Gotz (bass) and Takuro (drums), the Tokyo trio's visionary monster riff mania has borne fruit fifteen studio albums so far — the latest being 2019's LOVE&JETT — a long-term bond with NZ's own rock standard bearers The D4, and such mind-muntering audio-visual works as their 1999 horror-comedy masterstroke Wild Zero (getting a sequel soon). When I first heard their '93 debut album Wolf Rock!, me and my friend had to check if his dad's stereo speakers were working properly (they were). Their previous visits to our shores are enshrined in legend, do not miss one of the ultimate guitar-slinging groups of our era Guitar Wolf blasting holes in reality on a stage near you — touring nationwide next month at the following dates, all brought to you by CLEAN DiRT...

UnderTheradar proudly presents...

Guitar Wolf NZ Tour 2025 - Jett Rock & Roll From Tokyo, Japan

Saturday 8th March - Threes & Sevens Records, Invercargill (all-ages)*
Sunday 9th March - Pearl Diver, Dunedin (all-ages)*
Monday 10th March - The Penguin Club, Oamaru (all-ages)*
Tuesday 11th March - Space Academy, Christchurch (R18)*
Wednesday 12th March - Meow, Wellington^
Thursday 13th March - Paisley Stage, Napier*^
Friday 14th March - Rosemarys, Taupō
Saturday 15th March - Under The Bridge, Tauranga (all-ages, free show)
Saturday 15th March - The Monkey House Theatre, Whitianga (all-ages, evening show)*
Sunday 16th March - Whammy, Auckland (all-ages)*

*Tickets on sale HERE via UTR
^Wellington, Napier dates all-ages, but the person under 18 must be with their parent or legal guardian

Watch Guitar Wolf live in action at Lees Palace...

Experience Guitar Wolf's world-shattering 'Jet Generation' from their 1999 album of the same name...

Hit play on 'High Schooler Action' from Guitar Wolf's 2007 album DEAD ROCK...

Press release:

GUITAR WOLF, JAPAN'S GREATEST 'JET ROCK'N'ROLL' BAND, RETURN TO AOTEAROA

Since forming in 1987 and releasing their first album on Memphis's legendary Goner Records in 1993 (following their first appearance at Gonerfest), the group, which is fronted by the heroic Seiji and always clothed head to toe in black leather, have taken their wild and dangerous sound to the world, working with labels like Matador and Third Man in the process. They have released 12 albums and are signed to a major label at home in Japan. They first toured New Zealand in the late '90s, when the Wolves became blood brothers with our own D4.

Inspired by the ultra-violent records of '50s guitar wielding maniac Link Wray as well as motorcycles, the Ramones, Johnny Thunders, the Cramps and Joan Jett, Seiji has called their sound 'Jet Rock'n'Roll', but that has nothing to do with Joan. As Seiji explained in an interview in 2012, I love jet plane. I love noisy music, too. So...there were records...many records...every record have no big sounds. So...easy to listen. I hate that! So! I add jet sounds. Bwaaaahng! Explosion! (When asked by the same interviewer who came up with the term Jet Rock, Seiji replied, Me. Yeah, yeah. So we are #1 Japanese Jet Rock Band.)

Guitar Wolf have their own branded motorcycle jacket, the 613 GW, made by Schott NYC of New York, who make the iconic 613 Perfecto jacket as worn by the Ramones. It's a jacket that dates back to Marlon Brandon in The Wild One, and the birth of the leather jacket as an outlaw/rebel icon. Guitar Wolf are movie stars themselves too, having starred in the low budget sci-fi horror movie Wild Zero in 1999, a sequel to which they announced last year.

Despite a number of line-up changes - they are now onto their third bass player Gotz, having suffered the death of original bassplayer Billy (Bass Wolf) by heart-attack aged 38 in 2005, and drummer Takuro has only been with them since 2022 - Guitar Wolf are founded on a singular vision and continue to push forward just as they remain the same. Picture a lone rider pushing through an unending tide of fashion-conscious conformists - that's what Guitar Wolf are like.

As they state in their Official Bio on their website, Guitar Wolf single-mindedly pursu(e) an unchanging style and radiat(e) power that transcends time and space.