New Zealand rock band The Checks formed in 2002, releasing two albums Hunting Whales and 2009’s Alice by the Moon. After playing at the Big Day Out in New Zealand and opening shows for The Killers, The Hives, Oasis, Muse and the mighty AC/DC during the New Zealand leg of their Black Ice World Tour, The Checks are visiting Australia for a headline tour of the East Coast.

FasterLouder caught up with the band to find out about touring with AC/DC, getting nominated for for the Inaugural Taite Music Prize and find out which bands from across the Tasman we should be keeping an eye on.

You have recently released your second album Alice by the Moon, how does it feel to finally have that out in the world?
Feels brilliant, something that we are all very proud of, and think its our best work to date, and I’m glad that people get the chance to hear a different side of the band. Its a lot different to Hunting Whales but its still definitely us.

Given the positive reaction to Hunting Whales, how much pressure did you feel to produce an even stronger follow up?
The pressure that we felt came more from ourselves then the outside because we are quite critical. The pressure is always to come up with something that we feel is up to it and if we really love it then other people will definitely more inclined to.

In terms of your sound, what do you think is the biggest difference between the two albums?
Since we produced it ourselves, we were allowed to experiment more and were learning as we recorded. Much of it came out spontaneously and we went with takes we liked. We also released the record independently so the other people making decisions on Alice by The Moon was us. We didn’t have any people stopping by the studio to check in on us, we just did whatever we liked and the freedom was refreshing. It gave us room to be spontaneous and put down whatever ideas popped into our heads.

You guys recently supported AC/DC in New Zealand, that must have been amazing?
Yes it was amazing, never ever played to that many people before. It kind of gives you a license play the most stadium status shit you have if you’re opening up for AC/DC because they will always go balls to the wall. It was great to watch the music that I had cranked in high school to, Angus and Malcolm were brilliant guitarists.

Did you get to meet Malcolm and Angus?
No, they were in their own world, and we were in the tree hut so to speak. But they walked past us in the corridor which was the closest we got and they were a lot smaller than I imagined. I was thinking the massivest riffs in history came out of these dudes.

Alice By The Moon was nominated for the Inaugural Taite Music Prize – how did it feel to be recognized on this level?
It was a bit an honor really. Dylan Taite was great so it was minting to be nominated for an award that was based totally on the music instead of popularity or anything like that. All the artists that got nominated were really cool to. I’d worked with David Dallas before, recording guitar on his album when he was in Frontline.

Lawrence Arabia AKA James Milne ended up winning for his album Chant Darling what do you think of that record?
I haven’t actually listened to it properly, but sounded really nice from bits I heard on radio. I think that James is a top notch song writer though. Its cool to be nominated with someone that was going to the same Christmas parties as us. We also used to play heaps of gigs together when we were starting out so that brilliant that we are both getting better.

Which other NZ bands do you think are doing amazing things at the moment?
Space Creeps, An Emerald City and the Psyches are doing some really cool stuff. I mainly listen to demos that we make as well as our friends so I have a pretty narrow scope on things but I think all the demos are amazing and I can’t wait for all this stuff that popping around to be unleashed on the world.

You told an interviewer recently that a gig you played at The Annandale in Sydney was one of your best ever – is this still true?
Yes still holds true, I really liked the vibe the Annandale as soon as we walked in there. We also had a mean jam at soundcheck playing some Elvis songs if I remember right. yeah, one of the best ever. Planning on topping it tonight though.

What is next for The Checks?
We have written a bunch of new songs which we are planning on dropping in summer on an E.P probably. Then further ahead making record number three and some touring in new Zealand and with any luck heading back here as soon as.

The Checks tour:
Wednesday 1st September – Spectrum , Sydney
Thursday 2nd September – Jive, Adelaide
Friday 3rd September – Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne
Thursday 9th September – Artisan Gallery Carpark, Brisbane
Thursday 9th September – Troubador, Brisbane
Friday 10th September – X&Y, Brisbane