Pluto

Pluto began life near the end of the 20th century as a duo in London, England, and over the next few years morphed into a fully fledged band whilst recording their first album in Auckland, New Zealand. They signed to indie label Antenna and released Red Light Syndrome to critical acclaim in 2001.

Pluto’s first appearance with the full lineup was opening for Neil Finn in 2001. It was a gig that brought them out of the shadows and one they initially turned down due to being double booked. Tim recalls, “I got a call from Neil’s tour manager asking if we wanted to open for him at the Hastings Opera House. I turned them down as we had a tiny little gig in Auckland booked already. I called Milan to tell him the bad news and he gently asked me “wtf did you do that for?” I called back and we took the gig. Mike Hall had just joined a few days prior. The band was complete. We were on our way.”

After signing to major label EMI, Pluto released their second album, Pipeline Under the Ocean (2005), achieving double platinum on the RIANZ albums chart and with lead single Long White Cross won the 2006 Tui award for Best Song. Single Dance Stamina took out the B-net award for best song.

The band toured extensively throughout New Zealand, Australia and the UK and were twice invited to play at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas.

In 2007 Pluto re-entered the studio, this time recording their 3rd album Sunken Water at Neil Finn’s newly constructed Roundhead studios, where they were the first band to do so. It would be their final album for EMI.

Work began on their fourth album to be released on their own record label. The first single Snake Charmer was released in 2009. Plans were made. Just to keep things interesting the band broke up before the album was completed, the hard drive crashed and the sessions were all thought to be lost.

Fast forward a decade: Sparked by the discovery of a back-up session of the lost album, it was agreed by all that the record should be finished. The resulting album IV was released through their own company 5 Moon Entertainment Ltd. in November 2019, with the first single Oh My Lonely receiving significant radio play.