Bonjah: any excuse to come home (+ video)

A band with its roots in Tauranga is receiving recognition from the likes of Rolling Stone magazine. Bonjah has been hailed as 2011's "Artist to Watch", alongside the Naked and Famous by Rolling Stone.

Tauranga natives Glenn Mossop (vocals/acoustic guitar), Regan Lethbridge (electric guitar/vocals) and David Morgan (bass) are three of the five-piece.

It's not a bad effort for a band that was started in an Avenues garage by a few 14-year-old Tauranga Boys' College schoolboys.

Lethbridge said they met drummer Dan Chisholm at university in Dunedin and moved to Australia in 2006 "to give living off music a shot".

"We put some money down on rent, bought a van pretty much hit the road and started playing as many shows as we could around Australia," he said.

There they found Australian James Majernik who plays percussion.

"We never came home as things started going really well for us over there."

So well in fact, the band has played support for bands like The Who, Counting Crows, The Original Wailers and G Love & Special Sauce.

Bonjah also featured in Rotorua's reggae festival Raggamuffin.

"The Who was definitely a highlight. The Original Wailers were amazing. Pretty much all the bands on the Raggamuffin tour were off the chart too," Lethbridge said.

"You are always watching and learning and growing as a musician."

Along with Rolling Stone, Beat magazine and The Music Network magazine have singled Bonjah out,

Hype aside, Lethbridge said Bonjah was looking forward to coming home.

"Tauranga has changed so much but still feels like home," he said.

"We always get back for Christmas to see our families . . . We are really passionate about building our fan base in New Zealand. We are really proud of where we come from and want to play here as much as possible. Glenn's and my families are still here (Tauranga)."

Bonjah arrives back in the country to promote their new single The White Line from their upcoming album Go Go Chaos, which has already gained airtime on The Rock and bnet radio stations.

"We are stoked. It's great exposure for us. It's also a really good excuse to come home, see our families and enjoy the laid back life style again. It's a bit slower than Melbourne town and we love any excuse to come home."