For the first time since the ‘Ideal Home Noise’ tour, Vera Ellen reunites with her full band on Friday September 22nd for Fake Milk Fest, a fundraiser show to help get the band to Australia for a multiple-date tour later this year.  

Fake Milk Fest will feature Aotearoa’s ‘Best Alternative Artist’ of 2022 Vera Ellen play a highly anticipated full band set, with support from wistful crooner Hemi Hemingway and psychedelic fuzz-pop juggernauts Mirror Ritual.  

To top it off, Fake Milk Fest will feature an Alleycats after party with DJ sets from Ludus and Current Bias, projections by Lady Lazer Light, delicious home-cooked Polish food prepared by Vera’s mum, very limited edition merch, a temporary tattoo artist, antics, debauchery, and more.  

Fake Milk Fest – Friday 22nd September at Meow 

$25 presales available from Moshtix  

Featuring performances from: 

Vera Ellen (full band) 

Mirror Ritual  

Hemi Hemingway (solo) 

Alleycats afterparty with: 

Ludus 

Current Bias 

Named ‘Best Alternative Artist’ at the 2022 Aotearoa Music Awards, Wellington-based Vera Ellen is a rising star in Aotearoa’s indie-rockscape, releasing her second album with Flying Nun Records, ‘Ideal Home Noise’, in March 2023 to wide critical acclaim. 

‘Ideal Home Noise’ is a record unearthed from much introspection and an attempt to find some comedy and lightness in an otherwise dark period for Vera Ellen. With two “voices” battling throughout the album, the instrumentation is sometimes light – featuring synths and electronic drums – and sometimes heavy – with ballad-like piano and raw vocals. 

Vera Ellen is an expert when it comes to concise songwriting; every note and beat is exactly the required dose. Her albums are full of hooked-to-the-brim melodies, and guided by Vera’s clear, confident, and relaxed vocal presence. 

“…there haven’t been many more singularly exciting singer-songwriters to emerge from these shores in several years.” – Rolling Stone Magazine NZ/AUS 

“Totally in keeping with her label Flying Nun’s famous output” – Loud & Quiet Magazine 

Pōneke dream-fuzzers Mirror Ritual are an ever-evolving blend of warped pop sensibilities filtered through noisy, shoegaze-tinged psychedelia.  

Following a year of hibernation after the release of ‘Contextualise’ and its supporting Extending Vision tour, Mirror Ritual left behind their previous moniker of ‘Transistor’ in favour of something a little more reflective of where they’re currently at. Debuting as Lochie Noble (vocals, guitar), Mia Kelly (synthesiser, guitar, flute), Eli Polaczuk (bass) and Riley Dick (drums) at Flying Nun’s ‘What Was That Thing’ live event in early 2022, the group soon unveiled ‘Fear In All’ - a glistening slice of psych-pop packed with propulsive bass grooves, lucid guitars, pounding drums and layers of shimmering orchestration. 

“If you are lucky enough to go and see this performed live I guarantee when it is over you will stand there gobsmacked, completely floored and smiling.” - Muzic.net.nz 

“This exploratory approach is fascinating to watch live: Mirror Ritual’s songs unfurl hypnotically up close, possessing an almost meditative quality” - Rolling Stone Magazine 

With the rock’n’roll panache of a dive bar matador and the emotional force of a knife in the guts, Hemi Hemingway makes music that thrills, spills, and breaks hearts. The effortlessly slick New Zealand star has a connoisseur’s ear for the finest parts of musical history, sweeping 60’s rock, 50’s sheen, and 80’s romanticism into the present day, refurbishing and refashioning them into something new and fresh.  

At home in the spotlight, he’s a showman in the best troubadour traditions, but one with real depth, showcasing swagger and vulnerability in equal measure. Having played around in other bands in the darker waters of the music scene for a number of years, Shaun Blackwell eventually took the plunge, and, with the help of a four track recorder, launched a solo project. To do that, he stepped into the shoes of Hemi Hemingway, stage persona and Blackwell’s alter ego, the character that breathes life into the songs.  

Hemi introduced himself to the world with 2021’s ‘The Lonely Hunter’ EP, six songs of lush, 60’s inspired classical pop. That EP was picked up by KEXP and led to a couple of sold-out London shows at the Moth Club and Shacklewell Arms, and support slots for Kurt Vile and Night Beats. Now, with the release of his debut album ‘Strangers Again’, he’s revealing whole new acres of what he can do.