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It's standing room only at the Ranfurly Veterans Home in Three Kings. It's the start of a very rock'n'roll day for the 40 or so war vets gathered in the lounge for a gig by whimsical Auckland pop outfit the Brunettes.
Since it's the band's first time playing a rest home they don't mind being the curtain raiser to an indoor bowls grudge match between the residents and "the maintenance guys" this afternoon. Apparently, says one of the nurses, it can get a little feisty.
The Ranfurly may seem like a strange venue for a band who have just released their third album, Structure & Cosmetics, but for an eager and discerning audience you can't beat this lot.
"I just like the idea of playing intimate shows and I thought this would be pretty intimate," smiles Jonathan Bree.
There's also something lovely and old-fashioned - think the Shangrilas or Burt Bacharach - about the Brunettes' boy-meets-girl pop music that harks back to a time when many of these old timers would have been in their prime.
Style-wise, Bree looks the part too in his tartan slippers - "They're my favourites and you've got to give yourself every chance of being comfortable on stage" - and singer/multi-instrumentalist Heather Mansfield is a classic beauty with her sweeping fringe like something out of the 60s.
As the pair break gently into first song Talk to Jesus, from their 2002 debut, Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks, more residents - some on walking frames, a few in electric wheelchairs, and others flying solo - are still lining up outside the door to get in.
"I love all sorts of music but we haven't had anything like this before," says 77-year-old Bill Hutchinson, who taps his feet and hands constantly during the performance. Next to him is 82-year-old John Noble, a music lover too. "I've never heard music like this before but it's very good," he smiles.
They're impressed with the musicianship of the pair. During the 20-minute show Mansfield sings, claps, and plays the piano, glockenspiel, clarinet, and harmonica; while Bree sings, plays guitar and taps his tambourine with his foot.
"This is off our new album," he deadpans and the crowd warm to Mansfield's cute sha-la-las on If You Were Alien.
They end the set with Mars Loves Venus, the title track to the Brunettes' last album from 2003, and Bree signs off with, "Next time ... we'll bring the whole band."
Following the gig, Bob Pope, who turned 90 this week, is quite taken with Mansfield and he's keen to share his war stories with the singer. "I'm a soldier, but I hate war," he tells her with gusto and it seems the Brunettes have a new groupie.
The Ranfurly puts on a morning tea after the show and over a few bridge pies, club sandwiches, and an orange juice, talk turns to the Brunettes' new album. The pair, who used to be boyfriend and girlfriend and formed the band nearly 10 years ago, are both relieved and happy to have the new album out.
"I've never been in labour before but sometimes I think ... " starts Bree before Mansfield interrupts with a laugh, "Oh no. Don't go there. No."
"Once Jonathan and I finish any of our albums it's a great relief.
"Suddenly we're in fantastic moods after having a stressful time and getting things in on deadline," she says.
They say it's funny talking about deadlines because the recording deadline for Structure & Cosmetics was actually a few years ago. But the band, which is also made up of four other players, with Bree and Mansfield as the core, kept touring overseas and scored support slots with indie pop bands like the Shins and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in the US and Britain.
In 2005 the Brunettes signed to Seattle record label Sub Pop - which gave the world Nirvana in the 90s and is now one of the most influential independent US labels with the Shins and the Postal Service on its roster - after head honcho Jonathan Poneman saw the band and fell in love with them.
"It's their unerring ability to captivate, both on stage and in the studio, that inspired me to purchase their souls. Oh, I mean inspired me to sign 'em to Sub Pop," he said at the time.
Bree and Mansfield also admit, somewhat sheepishly, that around this time Sub Pop recommended they head back home and start the new album.
"But we were like, 'No, we'll mix some of it on the road. Jonathan will have the laptop. We'll be fine'. Yeah, it took a long time in the end," smiles Mansfield. "But [touring] was just too good an opportunity to turn down. It's just the most exciting thing to do, I think - travel round, check out the world and you just want to keep going," she adds.
It paid off because the Brunettes have established a good following, in the US especially. "We had 200 payers in Chicago," says Bree.
After a few shows in New Zealand this month the band head overseas once again in support of Structure & Cosmetics, their debut album for Sub Pop.
On it are the clap-your-hands and singalong tunes you'd expect from the Brunettes, like the joy-ride jaunt of B-A-B-Y and the sweet pop of Obligatory Road Song. However, there are also darker moments than on previous releases.
"Maybe it's a little more direct or something," says Bree, in slight disagreement. Mansfield is also wary of labelling the album darker.
"I feel all our other releases have had some dark and sad elements too."
Like Don't Neglect Your Pet ("A song about dead animals and stuff," sniggers Mansfield); the break-up song Lovers Park (on which she sings "I just shot a boy through his heart"); and the menacingly titled You Beautiful Militant.
Bree: "Yeah, in the past the songs that got the most attention were things like Loopy Loopy Love or ...
" ... or Mars Loves Venus," continues Mansfield.
Elsewhere on Structure & Cosmetics there are images of shagpile carpet, V-neck sweaters, silver rocket ships and Bree reveals his penchant for argyle - "I have a real fondness for it. I wish I could afford more articles of argyle clothing."
The trademark Brunettes' motif of love and loss is also predominant.
"But that's just universal stuff that most people identify with and that we identify with too," says Bree dismissively.
Mansfield: "I think we're kind of fussy though.
"We know what we like and we get a little obsessed with it perhaps. I know I do." Bree: "And we're definitely touching on themes of consumerism on the [new] album but not in a political way - not for or against. I guess it's just that I'm getting a bit older and it'd be nice to have a house. I don't want a mortgage or a day job, but I'd like a house and some nice clothes."
It's a fantastical world the Brunettes live in.
"Yeah, I don't even know where I am right now," jokes Mansfield.
Take the song Stereo (Mono Mono) about the love between the left and right speaker of a stereo. Only the Brunettes, with the help of their eccentric mate Ed Cake, who co-wrote the song, could come up with a tune like that.
The song was recorded in Helensville at the old Grand Hotel where the Brunettes were holed up for six weeks in 2005 - "We just got to take it over and we played our own show there, and lived upstairs and recorded upstairs. It's was a good time."
One day, says Bree, Cake said he had a great idea for a song for Bree and Mansfield to sing. Put Stereo (Mono Mono) on and you'll hear Bree's bashful yet seductive voice in one speaker and Mansfield's girly coo in the other.
"There's so many love songs out there but I suppose it's just about being a bit more calculated and trying to make it more interesting by putting it in a slightly different environment. It's nice because I'm not sure if 'I love you', 'I adore you' is something we'd feel comfortable singing on stage," explains Bree.
"Maybe on the first album we would've done it," says Mansfield.
"Oh, maybe we would. I don't know," laughs Bree, "but because we're actually playing a left and right speaker, it's kind of nice if you're listening to it on an old 70s stereo - you look at your speakers and kind of almost want to dress them up," he smiles.
Preferably in argyle, of course.
Lowdown
Who: The Brunettes
New album: Structure & Cosmetics, out now
Past albums: Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks (2002); Mars Loves Venus (2004)
Playing: August 17, Kings Arms, Auckland
Thanks: To the residents and staff of the Ranfurly Veterans Home.
