When indie-pop quartet Hans Pucket play Oamaru's Settler Theatre on July 14, it'll be the first gig held at the historic venue in more than two years.

For the hotly-tipped Wellington band – think Prefab Sprout playing Orange Juice and you're in the right ballpark – it'll be part of a nationwide tour that capitalises on momentum built up over the last few months.

Last year's No Drama album (described by Rolling Stone as capturing “all the anxiety and elation of being twenty-something and trying to make it in the big, bad world”) was nominated for the Taite Music Prize, and the band has recently returned from performing at SXSW in Austin, Texas, the international music industry's most important convention.        

“The time has finally come for us to take No Drama out on the road!” The band said.

“It’s become a yearly tradition to tour New Zealand during the dead of winter. Everybody’s been saying we’re fools, that most people would rather stay home and watch prestige television.

“But we know our fans aren’t ‘most people’. That’s why, this July, we’re touring further than we ever have, to celebrate the greatest record we’ve ever made by putting on the rock show of our dreams!

"We’ve been dreaming of an extended tour of Aotearoa for years. Not just flying to the big cities but actually getting in a van and driving up and down the country. Thirteen shows is a lot, but we’re also playing on the Interislander twice so I think that counts as 15!"

The show is organised by local promoters Frances McMillan and Matt Plunkett, and Plunkett will be bringing his own band, Cuticles, to the party.

“It’s good to be getting out playing shows again,” Plunkett said. 

“The band has been reconstituted, and with an upcoming LP and 7-inch, we have to see if we can make it work in a live setting, so we can play some shows later in support of those physical releases.

“It should be a set of typically bittersweet derangements from us,” he added, accurately describing the band's frazzled DIY punk sound, which has attracted the attention of at least one cult American underground label.

Hans Pucket and Cuticles play the Settler Theatre on Severn Street on July 14, at 7pm. Tickets for the all-ages show are $20, and available from Under The Radar.