“It's like a family band with a shitload of cousins.”

Eru Dangerspiel is a mesmeric group led by former TrinityRoots' drummer and master percussionist Riki Gooch. Gooch guides a stellar line-up of New Zealand's finest musicians, performing dirty, bottom-heavy funk and psychedelic rhythm and blues. Since the release of the exciting album Great News For the Modern Man, Eru Dangerspiel has performed with everything from a 36-piece choir at the Auckland Town Hall, a 29 piece band on stage at Rippon, to selected wickedly catchy sound system sets, with special guest “cousins”.

2009's sold-out, critically acclaimed, mind-warping show left punters hankering for more and elicited ecstatic responses from many who cited it as the show of the year. The band featured on the CD and 5.1 Surround Sound DVD from that show includes soul legend Whirimako Black, multi-instrumentalist/composer Jonathan Crayford, Laughton and Fran Kora, Anna Coddington, Mara TK (Electric Wire Hustle), Parks (Ladi6), Chip Matthews, Julien Dyne and Isaac Aesili (all Opensouls), Joe Lindsay, Scott Towers and Toby Laing (all Fat Freddy’s Drop), Mike Fabulous (The Black Seeds), Will Ricketts (The Phoenix Foundation), Ross Burge (The Mutton Birds), Ned Ngatae (Dimmer), Submariner (Che Fu, The Turnaround), Lewis McCallum, Olga Gryniewicz, Nathan Haines and The Dangerspiel Community Municipal City Choir.

"Bringing together a vibrant mixture of local musicians, more than just a celebration of band leader Riki Gooch’s idiosyncratic compositions - the Eru Dangerspiel concert was a celebration of New Zealand's musical community and its intimate connection with audiences across the country. Viva La Musica!" - Martyn Pepperell

Riki is amongst New Zealand music royalty. Not only a founding member of TrinityRoots, he has drummed for artists such as Bic Runga, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Recloose, Neil Finn and Crowded House. He is also an acclaimed film score writer and was awarded the Qantas Film and TV Award for best music in a documentary for The Big Picture. 

"I'm interested in the idea of music being a community. I want to create an experience which resembles a large musical engine based on arrangements, improvisation and groove... the sum of all its parts, enhanced by surreal visual and theatrical elements. But mostly I want to break down the barrier between artist and performer to give a sense of inclusion to both" - Riki Gooch.

It’s pretty flash.