The Lynch Mob is no stranger to Queenstown residents, having entertained crowds at New Year's Eve celebrations and during previous Winter Festivals in Queenstown, but vocalist Emma Pullar (nee Lynch) said their scheduled performances at The Hills would be "particularly cool".
Mrs Pullar (32) takes care of her children Oscar (2) and Ruby (3 months) and also manages to find time for her role as event organiser for History Alive and the Winter Festival.
Other band members are brother Nick Lynch (26), a keen golfer, who works at Millbrook Resort's Pro Shop and plays the keyboard, and his twin brother Ben, also a keen golfer, who works in golf operations at Jacks Point, plays guitar and sings.
The youngest member of the family, Tom (22), owns and operates TomTom Productions, an audio-visual production company which will provide the set up for The Lynch Mob gig at The Hills.
He plays bass and sings in the band.
The only member of the band who does not carry the Lynch genes is drummer Marc Hamilton (32), who recently became a father to Indy, born just two days before Mrs Pullar's daughter and is a music teacher at Queenstown Primary School.
Mrs Pullar said Mr Hamilton became involved in the band after being introduced to the family by their father, Kevin Lynch, who died in November.
Mr Hamilton's father Ivan played drums with Kevin in the 1970s, in Dunedin.
After moving to Queenstown, he was introduced to The Lynch Mob and quickly stepped into the drumming role.
It has been a meteoric rise for the family band after Kevin decided several years ago it was time to entertain the district.
"We started with Dad quite a few years ago saying `we've got the makings of a band here'. . .
He booked a date down at the New Orleans in Arrowtown and said `Righto, you guys, you're going down to play'. . . thanks Dad," Mrs Pullar said.
"We didn't even used to have a drummer.
"We've done a few bits and pieces but over the last three years we've done a lot more work and pulled ourselves together as a professional band," Mrs Pullar said.
The band has become accustomed to performing for the corporate market at conference-style groups and special events.
And just like any family, Mrs Pullar said it was always interesting when all the "kids" got together.
"It's a normal family - arguments when you get all the kids in the same family together.
"We all get on really well, though.
"People look at us and go 'you're kind of a weird family - you get on really well'.
"We have the odd spat on stage - it's usually short disagreements about what we're going to play next."
However, those disagreements were unlikely to feature at The Hills on March 14 and 15, with the band spending plenty of time over the past few weeks in rehearsals, she said.
"For us, The Hills is huge.
"It's particularly cool to have been asked for a start.
"It's going to be quite a big deal, so we've been doing a lot of practice and rehearsals.
"Playing Saturday and Sunday nights and it's going to be a bit of a variety - we don't want to be playing the same thing twice.
"It's going to be great . . . it's such a neat set-up they're putting in place again with Mainstreet - it is going to be bigger and better this year.
"They're putting on a stage, bigger than what they had [in 2007], with more of a focus on having the entertainment."
What can the crowd - which by then is expected to be well and truly ready to kick up its heels - expect?
"We're not really a quiet, sit back and relax kind of band - we do like to play loud music."
Between 5pm-6pm on Mainstreet there would be some acoustic sets on both nights, but after that "we're going with the full band".
"Our brief is that from 6pm we are to rip into it and give everyone a good time for the last hour and keep the party going.
"The Hills . . . is such a great opportunity for us - we are really looking forward to it."
