Farewell (for now) Gig

Hello everyone.  Thank you to everybody who showed up to our previous gig at Kings Arms with Hunt the Witch and Deathbeam.  It was our first gig for 2016 and a great one despite the heat sweat!

Many of you may know that Vitesh will be heading overseas on an OE for potentially 2 years.  While the timing makes sense given given how far the band has come and the need for a break and reflection, this unfortunately means Shepherds will be going on a long hiatus while we rejuvenate after 4 huge years of hard work and amazing gigs and events, not to mention two full length albums.  To celebrate these 4 years, we will be having a one final show:

Friday 4th March 2016
Backbeat, 100 K Rd, Auckland
Entry via tickets ($10 + booking fee); available via undertheradar
Limited doors sales ($15) subject to availability on the evening

… with support from Ginzu and the Steak Knives

Doors 8pm | first act on approx 8.15pm | Shepherds on approx 9pm | R18

Given the small size of Backbeat, and the fact that our album release party last year there brought the bar to capacity quickly, we will be controlling entry via tickets.  There will be a limited number being sold – we recommend buying tickets sooner rather than later!

Thanks for reading and we hope to see you soon \m/

Kings Arms | extended hiatus

Hello everyone.  We have a gig this coming weekend, our first one for 2016:

Saturday 6th February 2016

The Kings Arms Tavern, 59 France Street South, Eden Terrace, Auckland
… with Hunt the Witch & Deathbeam
Facebook event here.
$10 cover charge | doors 8pm | first act approx 9pm | Shepherds on last @ 11pm

Also, Vitesh will be heading off on his OE this March, therefore Shepherds will be going on an extended hiatus for potentially two or more years.  This will bring a fantastic four years to a close while we have a break and prepare for our next chapter.  We will be having a farewell gig in early March – more details about that soon.

Thanks for reading and hope to see you soon \m/

Mothra 7″ Single Release Show

Hello everyone.  Kosmogoniafest last Saturday was an awesome night of heavy sludge, doom, drone, psych and prog; thank you to all the bands and everybody who showed up!  It was great to bring music from the same underground corner of the Auckland (and Kaiwaka!) music scene into the same event.  Definitely looking forward to organizing another night like this again.

For our next gig, we will be supporting our post-metal friends Mothra as they release their 7″ single, a prelude to their long awaited upcoming new album.  Joining us on the bill will be Mice on Stilts and Proton Beast.  Here are the details:

Friday 20th November 2015
The Kings Arms Tavern
59 France Street South, Eden Terrace, Auckland
Facebook event here.
$15 on the door or $10 with a 7 ” purchase | doors 8pm | set times TBA

Lineup…

Mothra
Mice on Stilts
Proton Beast
Shepherds of Cassini

Thanks for reading and we hope to see you soon \m/

Kosmogoniafest

Hello everyone.  Thank you to everybody who showed up to our previous gig at Kings Arms with His Master’s Voice and Blackleaf Gardens.  It was a fantastic night of heavy prog and blues.

Our next gig will be Kosmogoniafest.  We’ve managed to pull together eight local bands from the alt rock/metal psychedelic stoner/doom scene and will be presenting them across two stages at The Wine Cellar and Whammy Bar on K Road, Auckland.  Here are the details:

Saturday 24th October 2015
The Wine Cellar & Whammy Bar, St Kevin’s Arcade, 183 K Rd, Auckland
Facebook event here.
$10 cover charge | doors 8pm | first act approx 8:30pm | set times TBA

Lineup…

Son of Sun
Hide and Tallow
Skinny Hobos
Deathbeam
Quinn the Human
Greenfog
Reaving
Shepherds of Cassini

Thanks for reading and we hope to see you soon \m/

September Gigs

Hello everyone.  We hope you have been enjoying Helios Forsaken!  It has been a pleasure to send off physical copies of the album to people on the other side of the globe.  A big thank you to everybody who has purchased the album so far 🙂

This September we will be getting back into playing gigs, and we’ll be starting off with a show at Thirsty Dog with Wellington post rock band Hiboux, along with friends Undiscovered Moons Of Saturn and new Auckland act TBTFIS who we have yet to know anything about.  The following weekend we will be returning to Kings Arms along with His Master’s Voice and Blackleaf Gardens.  Details for these shows are as follows:

Saturday 5th September 2015
Thirsty Dog, 469 Karangahape Road, Auckland
… with Hiboux, Undiscovered Moons Of Saturn, TBTFIS
Facebook event here.
$10 cover charge | doors 9pm | set times TBA

Friday 11th September 2015
Kings Arms, 59 France Street, Eden Terrace, Auckland
… with His Master’s Voice, Blackleaf Gardens
Facebook event here.
$10 cover charge | doors 8pm | first act approx 9pm | Shepherds on @ approx 11pm

Thanks for reading and we hope to see you soon \m/

Helios Forsaken is unleashed!

Hello everyone.  We are finally happy to announce that our new album Helios Forsaken is released!  You can stream, download or order a CD from our Bandcamp page.  You can also buy a CD from Real Groovy Auckland, or stream the album in all these places:

Soundcloud
Spotify
iTunes
Amazon
Google Play
Youtube

On the night before the album release show, we played a short set in Real Groovy to promote our album.  It was nice to play an intimate set in front of a small audience as a warm up for the following night, when we celebrated the official release of the album at Backbeat.  Backbeat follow a strict capacity limit which we reached very quickly, unfortunately resulting in several people being turned away at the door (we are sorry if this was you!).  The night kicked off with a spellbinding performance from Saturnian Noise Collective followed by the familiar labyrinth of compelling drumming, synth and spoken word work from Hide and Tallow (check out a video here).  The Shepherds’ 2 hour set-list featured the following …

The Almagest
Asomatous
Raijin
Mauerfall
Pleiades’ Plea
Eyelid
Helios Forsaken
Nefarious (encore)

Rey from Hide and Tallow joined us for some electronic percussion on Mauerfall and Helios Forsaken, and when you listen to those tracks on the album, you’ll hear him there also.  We were also lucky enough to have a specially themed Shepherds Of Cassini chocolate cake baked by Fern King; a slice was handed out to anybody who purchased the album.  Here are some pictures of the beautiful album artwork put together by our friend Chris Lewis, and also some snaps from Fern King from our performance in Real Groovy and album release party…

If you missed our album release show for whatever reason, we hope to see you in the near future for our next gig – once this is confirmed it will be announced.  In the mean time, please enjoy our new music!

Thanks for reading and we hope to see you soon \m/

Lucha Lounge this weekend and more gigs

As the days grow colder, the riffs keep flowing.  We’ve been slowly working on some new material casually, taking our time, letting the music grow in an organic fashion.  Hopefully some of these sounds will make their way outside of the jam room one day.  We’re also preparing for our next gig this Saturday 26th of July in Auckland at Lucha Lounge.  Bloodnut who were originally on the line-up are now unable to play – the new line-up will consist of Remote, Trash City Victims, Kaizen and of course, Shepherds.  We’ll be on first at 9pm, doors open at 8pm, with a $10 cover charge.  For more details, head over to the Facebook event page here.

We also have a killer show coming up on the 8th of August at The Kings Arms with His Master’s Voice and Heathen Eyes, and more shows in September and October with some great bands yet to be announced.  For more details, visit our upcoming shows page here.

Poster by Doug McHardlane

Here’s a cool picture taken by Marie Pfister at our show earlier this year at The Winchester.  We were lucky enough to have a projection show:

Photo by Marie Pfister

Hopefully we’ll see some of you at our upcoming shows – thanks for reading \m/