Daniel Armstrong & The Monsoons launched their new album ‘Everything Is As It Shouldn’t Be’ at Auckland’s Thirsty Dog on K’ Rd mid-June. Taylor Tutawa headed along to review it for NZM.

Cramped into the small K’ Rd corner venue was an enthusiastic crowd of around 70, more than happy to enjoy the mix of sounds on the night. Opening act Wrong Things are a genre-hopping trio that needed no vocals to draw in and hammer across the point that they have collectively mastered the art of infusing multiple styles into their set. Grunge, punk and nu-metal were just some of the fun showcased in their performance.

The evening’s main act Daniel Armstrong & The Monsoons were given a warm welcoming. Shout out here to violinist Jacinda Kumar and David Hampton on drums whose standout musical skill and interactions with frontman Daniel Armstrong during their performance was like an in-joke anyone would desperately want to be a part of.

Accompanied by Alex Rau on the keyboard and James Brooks on bass, the performance was an exhibition of songs off the new album. A standout was Good Old-Fashioned Love for Violence, blending the band’s instrumentals brilliantly to craft a musical illusion that Daniel paints with his song.

After gracefully bowing out to a simmering of applause, Daniel returned to mention an encore, but initially politely declined as to the slow reaction of the audience. Prompted however, this changed instantly as the entire bar collectively screamed “Encore!!” to which he and the band responded in kind after meticulously regaining the audience’s interest with even heightened attention.

It was an excellent performance by a band that’s worked hard to produce this passion project – evident with each song heard – and through the literal sweat dripping off the band members towards the end of their encore. Daniel Armstrong and The Monsoons are flooding onto the music scene, and if you can’t see them live soon the I would highly recommend their new album.