Some kids have all the luck: all it took was, well, a lot of hard work, and New Zealand pop fourpiece the Brunettes had a deal with original indie, Sub Pop Records. “It’s fantastic,” confirms frontman Jonathan.

“We had a dialogue with them for a while, because we supported the Postal Service in 2003, but it wasn’t until we got to support the Shins and get a fanbase in the States that labels started getting interested.”

Recently James, the band’s bass player, has been busy moonlighting around Australia with Okkervil River, both with the band and opening solo as Lawrence Arabia. The band met Okkervil River whilst on tour in the States with Rilo Kiley, and became firm fans, and friends.

Since then, the Brunettes have returned home to Auckland, and are now gearing up to record their fourth album. “Once we get back from Australia and do the Big Day Out over here,” Jonathan says in reference to the Auckland leg of the festival, “we’re going to basically have about six weeks to finish the album before heading back to the States where we’ll tour again.”

The band will also play a showcase at South By Southwest, and while elements of the new album has been recorded in Los Angeles and New York.

“It’s not finished, and we’ll finish it in New Zealand. I guess a lot of the songs off Mars Love Venus were recorded and developed in the studio – and when I say studio I mean the bedroom – and then presented to the band and then the band appropriated them to the point where they could be pulled off live.”

By comparison, much of the new material gestated in the live format, and is now going to be put through the studio ringer. “We’ve settled on how they’ll be executed. It’ll be different in that it will be less orchestrated and more focussed on a ‘live’ sort of sound, and what the Brunettes achieve live.”

Given the amount of touring the band have done, it’s no surprise to find that once the band’s touring schedule permitted, Jonathan emerged from the cacoon of his home with a glut of new material to plough through, and disseminate.

“I just started writing straight away, and I was inspired by a lot of new things and experiences from on the road. A lot of the album had been written in demo form before we went to the States in [early 2005], so for a lot of the songs we had a good idea of how they were going to turn out anyway.”

The Brunettes spent the vast majority of 2005 on the road, and it’s a luxury the band have never had previously – normally it’s been a case of whistle-stop tours here and there before returning home to the dreaded day job. “When we were in the States we got to play something like 60 shows in less than three months, so you’re fortunate enough to become a good working live unit.”

The Brunettes’ Mars Loves Venus is out now. Date:
January 20 - Big Day Out - Auckland