“Mr Sterile Assembly are a bass and drum duo of explosive proportions from Aotearoa New Zealand. With one foot in the world of punk, and the other dancing between noise, math rock, free-form squall, they are not easy to box, and are quite happy about that. Known as much for their wordsmithing as for their impressive live performance, Sterile’s fierce delivery has been described as oppressive and delightful both at the same time”

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The New Zealand duo are in town for two rare London gigs this week… they spend most of their time on tour in China or Singapore or the Czech Republic… these two London shows seem very poorly publicised, they are happening though and we can tell you from first hand experience you need to see Mr Sterile Assembly, one of the finest live bands out there… The gigs are….     .

Friday 25th November  at The Others, 6 Manor Road, London, N16 (Facebook event page)

Saturday 26th at I K L E C T I K Old Paradise Yard’ 20 Carlisle Lane, London SE1 7LG  (Facebook event page)

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Here’s some old Organ coverage from a few years back and a review of an album called Transit

ORGAN (August 1st 2011)

Who are MR STERILE ASSEMBLY? They’re pretty unique actually, uniquely excellent… Mr Sterile Assembly are from New Zealand, they have a minefield in their playground, and their latest album, Transit, is something we rather recommend..
MR STERILE ASSEMBLY –Transit (Skirted) – They sound like a more frantic Gong – a slightly stressed day on that planet – or maybe a band on the run from the raggity zaggity crowman of planet Ring? They sound good from the off; hold the front page, we got one here.

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There’s a slight sense of claustrophobia, a threat of some sort, with song subjects based in the harsher realities. The album opens with the menacing, urgency  of Hibakusha, a song written about a real-life survivor of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they have delightfully awkward sound that continually evolves and never fails to challenge.  Gone a little Wilco Johnson messing with The Ex right now: intricate clever rhythmic weaving, that old school Pere Ubu new wave weird-punk art-fuelled feel, and all the while with details and tunes (and clever moves) all of their own…or maybe Cheesecake Truck? Dog Faced Hermans? Their combination of sometimes intricate time changes, female voice, dark-edged melody and real-world lyrics can even be reminiscent of Thinking Plague.

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They’re rather unique actually, uniquely excellent. Mr Sterile Assembly are from new Zealand, they have a minefield in their playground, (a mindfield?), they’re exploding things in your mind, they’re forever shifting, changing shape, never retaining a status quo. Gong at their most edgy, at their probingly subversive is probably the nearest thing you can pin on them in terms of a positive comparison – playing with fire, to question and to learn…. This latest album stands out far far more than previous things we’ve heard from these rather creative New Zealanders; this is great, even with all that paranoia and that electric Orwellian warning and the monitoring of your every logged-on communication check in, the watching of everything you ever say or do tagged there by the Man in cyberspace…

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Mr Sterile Assembly have a sound that somehow is oppressive and delightful both at the same time. They sound paranoid, they sound switched on, they sound aware, they also sound like thoroughly decent people, inviting people, come join our band – a Crass-like collective you’d really like to be part of and muck in with (Crass always sounded like they’d be such hard work to be part of: this gathering sounds inviting). And even when the sound is getting a little frantic and the saxophone is sounding a little like a maniacal goose, they still flow so well. Mr Sterile Assembly are never aggressive in terms of musical style, never pecking at your head. They may be throwing out questions, but it’s not just head-on arguing. They’re too artistically intriguing to be about mere confrontation as they take you on their ever flowing, ever shifting, ever thrilling musical/lyrical ride… All open mouth expectant, man swallows his own tail, all clever time changes and awkward song structures (along with a fine dress sense).

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The band are mostly drummer/vocalist Kieran Monaghan and bassist/vocalist Chrissie Butler – the two piece are augmented by a number of guests and scuttling collaborators. Transit is a cohesive, challenging album, hardboiled but somehow never difficult to listen to, an album that at times is brilliant, an album that’s always very very good (and complemented by good artwork/packaging). They may be from the other side of the world and we may not get that much of a chance to see them live, but this is an album and a band that you do need to go explore.

http://www.mrsterileassembly.com