September 6, 2010 16:47

Bang Bang Eche get caught up in New Zealand earthquake

Band speak about their lucky escape after 7.1 Christchurch rumble

Bang Bang Eche have spoken out after getting caught up in the the New Zealand earthquake at the weekend.

Over 100,000 homes were damaged in the 7.0-magnitude quake that hit north island city Christchurch on Saturday (September 4). Nobody was killed, and surprisingly only two people suffered serious injuries.

Singer Zach Doney and drummer James Sullivan, who both live in the city, claim they have been unable to maintain regular contact with the outside world as a result. They said they were both asleep when the quake struck the region.

"They built Christchurch like it was an English city with bricks and chimneys and now those chimneys are lying about in the street and everyone is going to get new brick pathways for their gardens," Doney explained.

He added: "A builder told my flatmates not to sleep in their room because the chimney next door looks like a Jenga puzzle, and it's going to come down through their window."

Bassist T'Nealle Worsly and guitarist Charlie Ryder were overseas at the time, having remained in Europe after Bang Bang Eche's recent three-month-long tour playing music festivals across the continent.

"Most of the buildings that have come down are businesses," Doney added. "If you drive down the street in any direction pretty soon you start seeing yellow Xs and NO sprayed onto the doors of at-risk buildings, and then you turn the corner and the two storeys of the TV place and a restaurant are now one story and it's all spilled out onto the road."

Bang Bang Eche recently appeared at Club NME's night at KOKO in London. The band are planning to work on their debut album in the coming months.