The Bonk have announced details of an upcoming Irish tour.
Almost certainly the country’s finest genre-warping proposition, the Philip Christie-fronted project will embark on the aptly-named Tour In The Month of May, an 11-date traipse across the island, playing various venues alongside the Maija Sofia, Elaine Howley and – at Dubln’s Sugar Club on 27th May – a “mystery legend” to be revealed. Check out the full dates and info below.
The tour coincides with the release of The Bonk’s highly-anticipated second album, Greater Than Or Equal To The Bonk. Set for release via boutique label thirty-three45 on 12th May, the nine-track album will arrive six years after the project’s debut LP, The Bonk Seems To Be A Verb.
Predominantly focusing on vocals and keyboards, as well as theremin, guitar and percussion Christie teamed up with a new slew of fellow musicians on the release, namely Niamh Dalton on fiddle, Andrew Grant on clarinet, organist Ultran Lavery, Brendan Fennessy on percussion and guitarist Alan Comerford. Alongside Christie as bandleader, they perform on the release alongside regular The Bonk members Jim Christie, Patrick Freeman, Philip O’Gorman, Dan Walsh, and Robert Grant.
The lengthy roll call speaks to a bigger point: while highlights like ‘Needless To Say’ and ‘The Stars Look Great’ filter the subtle imprint of heavyweights such as Sun City Girls, This Heat, Cluster, The Monks, Duke Ellington, and Bruce Haack, a jam-centric, collaborative spirit among peers reigns supreme.
“Exploring different formats and combining them has been an interest in this project,” says Christie. “But the time spent getting the songs together in the room with these heads was the highlight of the process and part central to the purpose of the whole endeavour. We sometimes teased out structures from long jams, sometimes adding a vocal to full instrumental takes and sometimes just performing tunes that were written out in advance.”
Pre-order Greater Than Or Equal To The Bonk here and check out recent single ‘Trying On Oblivion’ below.
