Punches

About the Artist

Punches are Kelly Steven (vocals/guitar) and James Duncan (guitar/vocals/bass). They released their debut EP in March 2006 on Arch Hill Recordings.

Kelly and James met while spinning around blind-folded playing pin the tail on the donkey at a mutual friends party. Kelly could tell by the way James got the tail on the donkeys face and not the backside that his real talents lay with music - and so they started recording a few songs at his home studio in Mt Roskill.

Punches music is a mix of melancholia, electronica, pop, guitars and folk. In the live setting James plays guitar with his array of effects and Kelly is on vocals and bass. The music is supported by a simple drum machine beat and the odd atmospheric interlude - giving the songs space for Kelly's beautiful and unique voice to move.

Kelly and James are also both involved with other musical projects; James is currently a member of SJD and Dimmer, as well as having just released a solo EP "Mirror Minor" on Round Trip Mars. Kelly played the bass in Voom. They were also both previously in The Pencils, together with Greta Anderson (formerly of Superette). The Pencils had two tracks on the Arch Hill ‘The Hill is Alive' compilation.

Punches have had their first two singles, "Day by Day" and "Four Feet" both spend 8 weeks on the 95bfm top 10 (with both reaching number one) and also a spell on the NZ alt music chart and on the Radio Active chart. The song "Four Feet" features Gary Sullivan (Dimmer, JPS Experience and Solid Gold Hell) on drums. Other guests on the EP include Sean Donnelly and Tom Atkinson from SJD.

Punches have recently been out playing some live shows with Okkerville River, SJD, David Kilgour, Voom, The Ruby Suns, Pine and dozens of other choice band