Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Friday Music: Christchurch, Legacy of Strange

Russell Brown

Thu, 26 Mar 2015 07:55:33 +1300

I must’ve missed that post completely, I think – tied up with EQC repair preparations – still always worth reminding folk and this thread was a logical place for others to find the link, even though I’m a big believer in random factors…

I can't recall exactly how I noticed…

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 26 Mar 2015 07:49:08 +1300

The gems I blogged about last year, you mean?
I must've missed that post completely, I think – tied up with EQC repair preparations – still always worth reminding folk and this thread was a logical place for others to find the link, even though I'm a big believer in…

Russell Brown

Wed, 25 Mar 2015 22:54:37 +1300

Chchch music gems unearthed

The gems I blogged about last year, you mean? :-)

The nice thing was, those recordings gave me a context to fit Olly into the talk in question. I met Olly back in the day – I didn't know him well, but I recall him being…

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 25 Mar 2015 16:53:56 +1300

Chchch music gems unearthed…
an old friend of Oliver Scott (RIP) has been uploading some of Olly’s live recordings including early Detroit Hemroids ' aka the Basket Cases (Paul Kean and Jane Waker pre-Toy Love and the first band I was a roadie-of-sorts for – fun nights at the Gresham…

Russell Brown

Wed, 25 Mar 2015 11:53:45 +1300

Shameless self promotion

Always encouraged :-)

Tony Mitchell

Wed, 25 Mar 2015 11:30:35 +1300

Shameless self promotion

I'm not trying to compete with Russell, but as it happens I'm giving a talk at Canterbury University on the Thursday before Easter on music in Christchurch, based on my book chapter and a couple f other publications. That's Thursday 2nd April at 1pm in the Music…

Rob Stowell

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 17:35:30 +1300

Toerag was/is one Stephen Tobeck
Reckon :)

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 16:39:07 +1300

Anyone looking for a good investment in Lyttelton?
One of Lyttelton's biggest commercial properties has been put up for sale after a long repair process.
The property houses the portside settlement's SuperValue supermarket and a pharmacy on the ground floor, the Wunderbar nightspot on the first floor, and a basement…

Mike O'Connell

Mon, 16 Mar 2015 08:16:24 +1300

The link works Mark. What a great find! I had to listen to it straight away.

BR (re)introduces to us to a heap of those 'NZ independent minor labels of the 1980s': Sausage, Onset/Offset, F-Star, etc. There really are some obscure gems in there – a fav is…

Hebe

Sun, 15 Mar 2015 22:06:55 +1300

It was grand to meet
It was indeed!

But maybe there was always an odd stand-offishness-cum-shyness
Oh yes.

What I reckon Russell did the other night was to persuade us that the story is worth telling by everyone, from the musicians to the audience.

MarkHarris

Sun, 15 Mar 2015 11:12:06 +1300

Hello. I haven't been in NZ long but am enjoying finding out about the NZ scene from the 80s (although not managing to hear much as everything is so darn rare). I see mention of Ronald Wade Churton in the comments here. In Bruce Russell's "Nuncast", he mentions that Mr…

Mike O'Connell

Fri, 13 Mar 2015 08:13:02 +1300

It's a great little venue that one. Two of those luminaries in the audience on Thursday were recorded at the Auricle in Dec 2013 Roy Montgomery, Bruce Russell and Guests. It was (video) recorded but hasn't had I don't think a public release yet.

Bruce's 'set' downstairs was…

Matthew Goody

Fri, 13 Mar 2015 05:39:32 +1300

I most certainly did have a moment about TKOP! I hold few records in higher regard than that one.

Two things:
#1. While Tom is originally from Ohio. Siltbreeze and his shop are based in Philadelphia, PA. If he could get some SYTA reissues together the world would be a…

Russell Brown

Thu, 12 Mar 2015 20:47:03 +1300

Plenty of strange in that theatre – if someone could get people to cough them up, you’d have a decent sackful of Chch strange stories :)

How would we get those stories? A Tardis with voice-to-text transcription?

It was a very good talk: true to the era.

Thanks, guys. I'm…

Rob Stowell

Thu, 12 Mar 2015 20:16:03 +1300

How would we get those stories?
Beer maybe :) But yeah, not simple.
It was grand to meet you and Greg and Russell. I felt strangely shy.
Or maybe it’s not strange :) (Always been a bit shy). I’d love to have taken photos, but it wasn’t the right moment.…

Hebe

Thu, 12 Mar 2015 14:17:01 +1300

Plenty of strange in that theatre – if someone could get people to cough them up, you’d have a decent sackful of Chch strange stories :)

How would we get those stories? A Tardis with voice-to-text transcription?

It was a very good talk: true to the era.

Till last night…

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 12 Mar 2015 10:18:40 +1300

Trillion airs...
Another Chchch musician still plying their trade is Jody Lloyd/Trillion
(albeit from overseas now) his new album is being previewed in Chchch this saturday:
Special outdoor event in CHCH, NZ
SAT 14th MARCH 6 – 8pm
on the grass: Gloucester //
Manchester St corner.
This is a FREE…

Rob Stowell

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 23:45:45 +1300

Good talk. Thanks Russell! And it brought people out – a room full of faces that told stories. Plenty of strange in that theatre – if someone could get people to cough them up, you’d have a decent sackful of Chch strange stories :)

Russell Brown

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 16:18:03 +1300

I personally think Siltbreeze et al should fly me to America to talk about the old days when when I had SYTA play in my back yard.

And Matt Goody had a bit of moment when I told him I lived in the house where Beard of Bees was recorded…

Mike O'Connell

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 12:23:07 +1300

strictly speaking, they’re a Timaru band
True. Tom Lax at Stillbreeze is a bit of a fan of SYTA.

Jackson's FN 42 card array made me think of local institution Galaxy Records (and their cool comic strip – should be attached.)

BTW the all-black card #30 is still relevant to…

Russell Brown

Mon, 09 Mar 2015 11:47:55 +1300

No-one’s mentioned Kevin Smith and Say Yes to Apes. I remember a crazy free-form performance in the University Ballroom ca. 1984.

I have very fond memories. But strictly speaking, they're a Timaru band.

Mike O'Connell

Mon, 09 Mar 2015 08:48:39 +1300

Impressive! I have found mine too though they remain in the cassette case. My daughter couldn't work out how to open it!

What's come out on this thread is a bit like trying to find the last prime number; discoveries keep being made and stories come out.It's been thoroughly enjoyable.…

Mike O'Connell

Mon, 09 Mar 2015 08:29:43 +1300

Ah, the Axemen
They played at the protests for homosexual law reform in 1983, with member Little Stevie McCabe being severely beaten up in theChristchurch Cathedral Square toilets.
Presumably those dingy underground ones. I was vaguely aware of this. Not that much later in history we got the…

Joe Wylie

Sun, 08 Mar 2015 10:20:07 +1300

I did find on the odd occasion that just asserting authority worked reasonably well with boot boys who were spoiling a party. They could be surprisingly biddable.

That biddability was demonstrated when Mainstreet enforced a policy of boots being required to check in their Docs as a condition of entry.…

JacksonP

Sun, 08 Mar 2015 09:49:45 +1300

One for Ian D.

Finally got the Flying Nun anniversary card set proof framed. Nicely double sided for easy viewing. I’m stoked. :-)

Hebe

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 20:50:19 +1300

yer actual psycho skinhead.

They could be surprisingly chivalrous. Had one in Welly who for an unknown-to-me reason appointed himself my protector (and I was inhabiting a completely different world). Often when trouble arrived this feared bootboy seemed to appear out of the dark, grumbling volcanically and suggesting to the…

Russell Brown

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 15:18:49 +1300

Didn’t even hurt. Without a pause we continued til we’d pushed them out the door.

I did find on the odd occasion that just asserting authority worked reasonably well with boot boys who were spoiling a party. They could be surprisingly biddable.

This, of course, probably wouldn't have worked so…

Rob Stowell

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 13:47:38 +1300

What sort of hair gel were you using for that effect?
Adrenaline and beer, I guess :)
(And a big dollop of luck, it broke over the hard top of the skull. And because the skins lost confidence when that move had no effect :) It definitely wasn't down to…

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 08:11:21 +1300

What sort of hair gel were you using for that effect?
A Simonized Barnet?

Hebe

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 23:16:18 +1300

Didn’t even hurt.

Cor! What sort of hair gel were you using for that effect?

Rob Stowell

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 11:43:26 +1300

No Tag came to the Star and Garter in 1983 ... the boots and skins in the lounge bar
I remember this one cos some of the 'Auckland Skins' came to an after party at our flat and were shamelessly stealing anything not nailed down. In the ensuing fracas on…

Mike O'Connell

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 07:36:38 +1300

Audioculture has a great interview with Eugene and Eric from Desperate Measures

Those days could be quite intimidating at times, the 'boots' and 'skins' on the streets and at the gigs. No more so than when No Tag came to the Star and Garter in 1983. There was a real…

Russell Brown

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 19:07:43 +1300

And it keeps coming!

Audioculture has a great interview with Eugene and Eric from Desperate Measures:

Eric: “I grew up with Radio With Pictures on Tuesday nights and that was the highlight of the week. Doctor Rock playing The Clash and Sex Pistols. The Scavengers and Suburban Reptiles. I’d tape…

Mike O'Connell

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 12:35:52 +1300

Of course Shand's, Shades was that dreadful arcade nearby. As mentioned, Shand's sits there still, nothing much has changed since it was up for grabs in Aug 2013

There had been "incredible interest" in the building, he said [Anthony Gough], with at least five "really good…

Mike O'Connell

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 12:20:57 +1300

Yep, of the Thin Group. We Porthole regulars sometimes refer to Jack as 'Jack Division'. He was in good form last night, does a fine version of Neil Diamond's Solitary Man. Some fine harmonies later on with new-on-the-scene singer Candice Milner.

Roy and Jack are both in the (Volunteer) Lyttelton…

Hebe

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 10:16:13 +1300

Pu-lll down the Shand's?

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 07:50:04 +1300

(Should have been called Shades, not Shand’s.)
Now likely to be the shade of Shand's Emporium...

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 07:47:02 +1300

The next Montgomery generation...
...yer actual 'Roy Division'?
;- )

Matthew Goody

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 23:50:43 +1300

Amongst all other suggestions RE reading on ChCh scene, I highly recommend Roy Montgomery's "The Scene that Never Was" article that he wrote for Popwatch in mid-90s. Sums things up very well.

Also, if we're talking strange, then surely Ritchie Venus deserves a long mention as being a truly original…

Hebe

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 23:10:05 +1300

the Shades Emporium. Which was saved, or so I’d thought. It had been moved by developer Antony Gough to the middle of the same block with the buyer expected it moved ‘in reasonable time’ to a new location ex-CBD. Well that hasn’t happened and now, since the WC cricket started,…

Russell Brown

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 19:20:11 +1300

Here’s Wade in his own words about it all on Public Address a while back…

Ah yes. Good on him for standing up for himself there. Rob tried to pull the "you weren't even there at the Gladstone" thing on me too, after I wrote the Audioculture article about the…

Mike O'Connell

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 19:05:35 +1300

One thing that struck watching this was how tidy, relatively speaking, the ruins were when this was filmed (ca. 2012?) It's got pretty scruffy around some of those same sites today, e.g. the High / Tuam / Manchester Street triangle and the long forgotten catholic basilica.
Which if I'm correct…

Russell Brown

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 16:47:06 +1300

Since Mike has mentioned it, I’ll try to upload my book chapter on Christchurch music, which was written before the earthquake.

Thanks Tony, much appreciated.

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 14:21:33 +1300

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zi4Ec2Fr2E
a reminder that The Bats
headline the Nostalgia Festival
at Ferrymead Heritage Park
this Saturday ~ 7 March
...joined by Auckland ten piece, Sal Valentine and the Babyshakes, a swing rhythm and blues act who are back for another Nostalgia Festival.
Also on the bill this year, Fabulous Arabia.…

Tony Mitchell

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 13:38:37 +1300

Since Mike has mentioned it, I'll try to upload my book chapter on Christchurch music, which was written before the earthquake. It's in a book on NZ music I co-edited in 2011 with Glenda Keam, now head of music at Canterbury uni, which didn't get much exposure because the publishers…

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 02 Mar 2015 19:20:56 +1300

Parkes and Recreation…
Blair Parkes ... Not forgetting the musical heritage he’s given us…
ahem … and is giving us still (in many genres and mediums):

Range – Beach Colours
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hPEbqbq9Pk#t=100

Saturations – Kittens
(turn up the volume and kick back the furniture)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=557iMQMBNJA

Saturations – Run Away
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3xeDqR0GOQ…

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 02 Mar 2015 15:38:40 +1300

John Greenfield
1995. R.I.P.

Saltwater Creek bridge
– driving home from working on an Auckland Big Day Out (or similar event).

Mike O'Connell

Mon, 02 Mar 2015 08:21:07 +1300

Of course, Blair Parkes and Chimneybook, his project about his experiences in post-quake New Brighton / Christchurch. Not forgetting the musical heritage he's given us including – All Fall Down, Creely and the fab L.E.D.S,

All Fall Down with Black Gratten
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoW9z2PLvmM
Creely with Grunty Falcon…

Grant McDougall

Sun, 01 Mar 2015 23:16:48 +1300

Andrew Schmidt’s ‘mysterex’ blog was the go-to for Chch 80s music scene writing, but it seems to have disappeared :(

All of Andrew's NZ music articles for Mysterex have been absorbed into the excellent audioculture.co.nz website.

Russell's friend Blair Parkes also has a blog with several very good, highly-detailed features…

Mike O'Connell

Sun, 01 Mar 2015 22:32:20 +1300

John Greenfield , gosh, yes I think he died in 1996 or 97 in a car crash in Nth Canterbury. There’s not a lot on John online but I did come across a downloadable Flat City Sounds – the 1997 version. Tony Mitchell argues
… the predominantly sedate,…

Stupid

Wed, 25 Feb 2015 16:31:24 +1300

Quite a lot of Christchurch '80s music scene history here... not just about AXEMEN...

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 25 Feb 2015 15:34:39 +1300

Strange Days…
Strangely enough, the last Chchch / NZ Music poster exhibition that the late John Greenfield organised was upstairs in Strange’s Building – now rebuilt and a jumping joint by all accounts…

Rob Stowell

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 20:47:56 +1300

Oh, man, thank you for that link!
'The Hoghton Hustle – the story of World Records' would make a marvellous movie – half 'The Harder They Come' half 'Boogie Nights'.

Russell Brown

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 18:12:27 +1300

And there’s this too: Music World Records: NZ’s Very Own K-Tel’. It’s worth a closer read.

Oh, man, thank you for that link!

Russell Brown

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 18:10:11 +1300

New Zealand reggae fans have cause to thank Music World: they released The Wailers' 'Natural Mystic' and the odd other reggae classic of uncertain copyright status. It's never clear in reggae whether the guy who sells you the rights actually owns those rights.

Russell Brown

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 18:06:42 +1300

Not sure if they recorded in there, I always thought of it as a warehouse – Tandem had a studio upstairs in Colombo Street near St Asaph St

Where Eric Johns of disco legends Heatwave was the engineer!

Here's a story: my schoolfriends' band, who I was managing (Art Decade,…

Russell Brown

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 18:03:35 +1300

unless of course they were ‘sound-alikes’ by local prog rockers!

That would be amazing.

PS: Had a really nice time today talking to Matt Goody, who I believe is coming to see you soon. Lovely man.

Ian Dalziel

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 17:19:58 +1300

Disc located memories…
: Music World Records… Sydenham…. (Chchch)
…tucked away in Hawdon Street (parallel to Buchan and Colombo)
up the Byron Street end, as it were…

The Sydenham of my yoof was rich in cultural pickings, Coca-Cola, Lane Walker Rudkin, Aulsebrooks, the railways – and all their marshalling yards,…

Mike O'Connell

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 15:23:58 +1300

In 'more stuff from Christchurch and NZ's past worth preserving' there's this The Sad Demise of the Christchurch Record Shop – a pretty extensive list, all those ones Russell listed plus many more.

I vaguely recall The Music Box in the Square, over by Chancery Lane; the name…

Mike O'Connell

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 13:05:57 +1300

I must be too young to remember the Gresham :)

I came across The Nostalgia Black Hole site which provides ‘a somewhat incomplete list of licensed premises, locations of Christchurch in the two decades between 1960 and 1980’. Taking this nostalgia a little further, there’s a four avenues…

Rob Stowell

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 16:24:50 +1300

Andrew Schmidt's 'mysterex' blog was the go-to for Chch 80s music scene writing, but it seems to have disappeared :(

st ephen

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 15:05:19 +1300

Failsafe's useful memory-jog checklist of bands is here.

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 14:14:18 +1300

Wade Churton
has probably done the definitive take on that side of the Chchch scene – a shame his books are hard to find, some of it surfaced in Mysterex and some of it surfaced (uncreditted or referenced) in other peoples’s books – I forget which book, but one of…

Hebe

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 10:19:51 +1300

I know Greg would be interested to see any of the early ones :-)

Mike O'Connell

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 10:03:32 +1300

It's all in b/w. Images not of great quality. I will follow up with local historian – and long time Flying Nun aficionado – Greg Ryan who was Wade Churton's co-supervisor.

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 09:01:59 +1300

Christchurch Library has a Chchch music timeline.

Russell Brown

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 08:32:33 +1300

I note an event (which entirely passed me by) at the Christchurch Polytech Great Hall in July 1981, the ‘Radio U Radio Arts Lobster’ benefit gig which introduced ‘six new bands’, five of which had never previously played live. They are unnamed. Russell, do you recall that one and who…

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 08:20:37 +1300

ID...will know all that there is to know
Nice of you to say such a thing, but chance would be a fine thing,
I was away from Chchch for a lot of that time, in Auck, Aust then Wgton & Auckland again – also shy, and/or drinking heavily...
Though I do…

Rob Stowell

Sun, 22 Feb 2015 23:30:50 +1300

Does that have pictures?
Not many, if any :) (There's a copy in the UC McMillan Brown collection – I went and looked it up!)
A former flatmate did an art-school photography project called 'Christchurch Boots' in 79-80. That would be good to end up at audioculture.
I like how…

Hebe

Sun, 22 Feb 2015 23:15:39 +1300

Glam, Punk and Scorched Earth Policy’

Does that have pictures?

Not much early Chch punk from 1978-1980 about that I have seen. Ian Dalziel of course will know all that there is to know.

Mike O'Connell

Sun, 22 Feb 2015 21:28:46 +1300

There’s a bit of stuff out there about 80’s Christchurch music, covered off in books like Matthew Bannister’s ‘Positively George Street’. I rediscovered ‘Glam, Punk and Scorched Earth Policy’ is a collection of three essays some of which formed the basis of a soon-to-be-written thesis by (Ronald) Wade Churton. The…

Rob Stowell

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 21:51:51 +1300

Sounds great – will definitely try to catch this. Being in Chch through these times, even with eyes and ears half-shut, was a blast.

Geoff Lealand

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 21:31:46 +1300

Hope Dolphin gets a mention. Met up with their guitarist and my pal, Kevin Stokes in Twickenham in January. His Kiwi-British band Souther still is in abeyance after three bloody good albums,

Mike O'Connell

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 16:21:20 +1300

Out in the northwestern suburbs where I grew up, Tony Peake held court in his loft at the University Bookshop.

Roy also worked there. After a while, sometime in 1982, the loft closed and the records moved downstairs. Mustn't forget Tony (Rupert) Green either. One time owner/manager of long-running Galaxy…

Mike O'Connell

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 12:10:24 +1300

And then Ronnie did this for their next single.

I have a green / orange version of this (Coat/Jim) – and it's an 'offset' which Roy tells me is even rarer..

Looking forward to your talk Russell. Later the same evening, Parquet Courts are in town @ Dux Live. They…

Robert Harvey

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 12:03:42 +1300

Russell,
Generally I have no idea what you're talking about in this music column, mainly because my musical taste was formed in 1970s London, per Charlie Gillett, Kenny Everett, et al, so I missed the whole seminal NZ scene. However I rely on both your and Gordon Campbell's efforts to…

waihekeislander

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 09:07:57 +1300

Russell, a podcast of the ChCh talk would be great if it can be arranged.

Public Address

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 09:07:57 +1300

Discussion from blog post.