The Wellington City Shake-em-on-Downers

“The Shake-‘Ems really are trying their best. They’re giving it a red hot Kiwi hot go, bless them. They’ve got great energy, and it looks like they’re having fun. Some of them learned to play their instruments before joining this band, and it shows. They’re basically GG Allin copulating with Mike King while playing some early American music. Sort of Dadaist New Orleans, kind of like Wynton Marsalis’ group meeting Mostly Other People Do The Killing after suffering a severe brain trauma, but with a terrible attitude. Sometimes they get shoehorned into using the word “jazz” to describe what they do. Most people know better than that though.” – Wellington City Shake-em-on-Downers Management.

A recent addition to the insanity that is the ‘Shake-ems’, Louis is in the mix on piano & vocals for the group which takes New Orleans swing and the American songbook and smashes them together with no regard for the results. See the Shake-ems at your own peril.

Michael Costeloe | trumpet

Oscar Laven | saxophone

Kaito Walley | trombone

Louis Thompson-Munn | piano & vocals

Aleister Campbell | guitar & vocals

Alexander Boulton | banjo & vocals

Phoebe Johnson | double bass & vocals

Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa | drums