Chicks leave the roost

By MARCUS STICKLEY

Acclaimed Auckland band the Mint Chicks have left the country to chase their rock'n'roll dream.

The group left last week to head to Los Angeles, London and New York during the next month, hoping to hook a record deal beyond the one their New Zealand label, Flying Nun, has been able to offer them.

Brothers Ruban and Kody Nielson, Michael Logie and Paul Roper make up the furious and eclectic art-rock band.

The Mint Chicks have spent the past two years playing in and around Auckland, have toured New Zealand twice and supported the White Stripes in Australia.

On arrival in LA the Mint Chicks are being taken to dinner by a representative from the Geffen label before spending a few days at the Hollywood house of the lawyer who represents the White Stripes.

"That will be nice because I guess he has a nice house," says guitarist Ruban Nielson. "After that it goes into cold ghetto overdrive."

In London, the band will play every night for a week and a half. "Most of the shows are in crappy little bars," says Nielson, but they are also supporting the Datsuns at the 1500-seat Shepherds Bush Empire Theatre.

"In New York we're playing this place called Lit. It's one of the only places left that you can smoke in New York.

"Apart from that, there's nothing going for it. Its crumby and dirty and there's noise when you plug your instruments in."

Promotional teams are working in New York and London to push the band. They have received radio and video play in Britain and a single released there sold out its 2000-copy pressing in two weeks.

In each city they are staying a few days after their gigs to be available to meet industry representatives.

The band have had to borrow from their manager and label to pay for the trip. One member dropped out of architecture school and took a data entry job. They see the cost of the trip as a small risk for chasing their dream.

"We have nothing to lose. Kody said when we were deciding whether we were going to sign that contract with Flying Nun, 'I've got holes in my shoes so I've got nothing to lose'. That is still the situation."