01 Candy

In July 2011 Hannah Howes drove 6000km around Europe, performing at festivals and boutique venues in nine European countries with Ben Lemi. Two months earlier she traveled by shinkansen across Honshu and Kyushu, with a guitar on her back and a film crew in tow, playing to appreciative live houses and to Kyotos underground artists, played solo between rock acts in Kuala Lumpur and dealt some healthy tunes to Singaporeans on a diet of fizzy-pop music. 

Hannah Howes has played at most major New Zealand festivals since 2004 (Rippon Afterparty, Destinations, Soundsplash, Kaikoura Roots, Nelson Arts, Dunedin Fringe, Parihaka International Peace Festival, Riverside Music Festival, Eudaemony Solstice, Newtown Festival, Cause, Uprising and more.) She has toured her homeland a dozen times and celebrated three independently released albums, distributed through Rhythmethod Distribution in NZ. In 2009 she played a series of sold-out shows in Japan, and recorded with Tokyo based label, ‘Apple Paint Factory’ and securing distribution through Dub Store Sound Inc (Japan).

'Intelligent... pure and under-stated' – NZ Musician Magazine

Howes’ NZ airplay skyrocketed in 2004 when she performed the festival circuit as MC-sing-J ‘Sista Mischief’ with roots DJs and breaks producer, Ecophonik, and released her debut album ‘Patchwork Quilt’ in the same year, also getting play listed in Australia. Noted as a female role model in a male-dominated reggae scene she performed a number of reggae festivals and support slots wowing audiences as a soloist before headliners, including Cornerstone Roots and Wicked Draw. The combination of ‘troubadour’ lyrics, reggae rhythms, social commentary and dub effects, earned her status as ‘the inventor of a new genre of music- ‘folk-dub’ after the release of her first live album, recorded at Wellington’s Bodega Bar in 2005.

'Intelligent, ambitious and unpretentious... Howes speaks to the heart, brain and soul' –Dunedin Fringe

In April 2009, Howes produced and released her ‘Candy’ LP in New Zealand, featuring fourteen of NZ’s most sought after musicians from the alt country, hip-hop, reggae, iwi and roots arenas. Engineered by Lee Prebble (Best Engineer 2010, NZ Music Awards) at ‘The Surgery’ and mastered by Don Bartley (Australia) at Benchmark, the album received rave reviews, with Radio NZ National’s Manu Taylor stating:

‘Great voice, great interpretation… Brilliant… She’s Genius.”




'Compelling vocals, sumptuous soul… multi-layered, to the beat, back-up' – Groove Guide

'Compelling singer and storyteller' – Dominion Post

'clearly articulated philosophies and dreamy lyrics' – Critic Magazine

‘Like Cat Power… with shades of Feist’ – The Press

‘Anything but disposable, sugary pop… rather an intelligent, smooth, mellow offering... Candy is a pleasure' – NZ Musician



www.hannahhowes.com


Media contact: Hannah Howes: hannahhowes@gmail.com
