Hard News by Russell Brown

Dunedin in the 80s:
music at the Cook, eep fried moro bars, hot ribena in the Stuednet Uniin building, cold student flats, great gigs and RIU - God, RB what a nostalgia trip you've started....

Confession - I once faked being a RIU freelancer to get behind the scenes at the Apollo Bay music festival......in all fairness, I was in hot pursuit of a smoking hot mandolin playeress....

You are cleared on that basis only, and because a mandolin was involved.

Hi Russell,
God i wish I could've been there, but geography got in the way. Although I was never on the the RIU pay list as such, I think flatting with Murray for four years (1980-83) plus countless inches of ink made me feel like part of the family. Murray used to come home from those deadlines in the Bedford a physical wreck and disappear into the bathroom for tweny four hours, sleeping in the bath! Then he announced he was going to do another magazine (Xtra) and then another (Shake)!

And it was all done for the passion he had for the music. Sadly, as time goes on, I think many in NZ have forgotten the massive, and unequaled contribution Mo made to the nation's music...both it's industry and it's taste. I was once asked by a journalist in Melbourne why NZ was so much more adventurous musically than Australia, and I replied "Murray Cammick"...and I think it's appalling how quickly that industry has let that thought go (then again we no longer have the likes of Jerry Wise or Tim Murdoch to remind some).

I had to laugh at the LOVE story...I had the same experience in the College Hill flat..I agreed not to play it at home, if he'd leave his Bob Seger records at the office....

When I was a school-boy in provincial NZ (Gisborne, to be exact) in the early-mid '80s, Rip It Up was something of a life-line to the musical happenings and excitement of the big smokes.

That, Russell, is RIU's chief legacy of that era: yes, the features and reviews in themselves were exciting. But in that long ago and faraway pre-internet age, the access to information about exciting, cutting edge music that RIU and RWP provided is what I and a lot of other provincial kids my age are most thankful for.

I got my first ever copy (Penknife Glides cover) from Vibes sometime in '81 and never missed a single issue for the next 10 years.

Apart from many of the writers mentioned, George Kay was also one of the best.
George, who was / is a teacher at OBHS, once told me how he'd always organise a school trip away somewhere, where, ever so coincidentally, there'd be an overseas band playing.
Thus it was, he was able to interview Magazine in Auckland or The Fall in Chch...

After coming down to Dunedin in the late '80s I was also fortunate enough to do the ocassional article / review for the mag. It was, at the time, an incredibly exciting thing to do. As a schoolboy I'd read the Dunedin Rumours column - and now I was writing it!

I haven't read RIU for a long time - but I' m really glad I read it when I did.

I got my first ever copy (Penknife Glides cover) from Vibes sometime in '81 and never missed a single issue for the next 10 years

who was that guy who ran Vibes? I think he went on to Soul MIne in Wellington.....a lovely guy but, shall we say, very very enthusiastic...he sent me a telegram about a Screaming Meemees single (Stars in My Eyes) which I turned into a RIU ad, it was so, umm, enthusiastic

Tony Murdoch!! To this day, I'm still grateful to Tony for getting me into music.

It was Tony's rampant enthusiasm for all things Propeller that led to some of my earliest purchases.

He did indeed go on to own the Soul Mine, which I understand is still flourishing.

Tony was also the percussionist in Marching Orders, whose singer was one Jackie Clarke. They did a 12" single on F.Nun, despite sounding very Un-FN, played '84 Sweetwaters, then split.

After the split, he came back to Gisborne, where he was severely beaten to near death by the Mongrel Mob following a mis-understanding. He then left Gissy for Wellington.

I still hear about him on the grapevine and he's still one of life's great characters by all accounts.

Yes...Tony...I should've known that but the braincells are not what they were.

Soulmine was, for years, one of the best shops in the country too. and his enthusiasm was the key to that...I always enjoyed talking music to him. I can see him now extolling the virtues of some obscure 12" to me in a way that meant you needed that record (and he just happened to have a copy in stock).

We'd actually planned to do a Marching Orders single on Propeller as a one off as I recall, but events intervened

For a goth stranded in Upper Hutt (in the late 80s) RIU helped me waste countless dollars bidding for obscure 12s via the Silvio's auctions.

I guess now it'd be dealt with summarily via Trade Me, much more effective, but only a fraction of the excitement.

RIU indeed made a huge contribution to not just the music industry but the numbers of aspiring writers like myself at the time. Even though as I recall most of the time enthusiastic and obscure reviews were often turned down. It did however offer a very wide ranging platform for music of all kinds and was required reading.

Despite huge writing workloads for my enrolled courses I always spent more time on writing pieces for RIU than I did fro them. Many were never submitted but the positive influence on aspiring writers at the time was great.

Finding it hard to reconcile the image of the "goth" with the picture in Computerworld. :-)
RIU, at least its hayday was before my time in NZ. In Ireland it was Hot Press and I have a Dictators album to prove it. Avid Hotpress readers from 1977 to 1985 will understand the reference.

Tony, for it must be you, more than one Christie posting on this site. Fortunately for Damian I don't think we are related and I was never cool or young enough to be "goth" anyway. I did pogo quite nicely though.

Oops - apologies to both christie's - It was a long day at the office as I was off to Womad (which was great) the next day

he was severely beaten to near death by the Mongrel Mob following a mis-understanding

Ah yes, it's always a 'mis-understanding' isn't it? Beatings are normally only administered to those that deserve them, and being the professionals that they are the gangs are always remorseful when a 'mis-understanding' occurrs and the wrong person gets his beans.

BTW - this soiree was a bit elitist wasn't it? What about the 90s crew?? Someone should have invited Andy Pickering (now RE:Mix) so we could reminisce about his short pants. Ditto for John Russell (who by definition wore short pants). And Jonathon King (now a Director I'm told); and that chick who drummed; and .... who else?