A country flyer returns

Press, 10 May 1979, Page 14

A country flyer returns

♦•Entertainmentscene ~

By NEVIN TOPP

The association between Phil Manning and Midge Marsden did not really begin with 1066 and the Magna Carta, or the Battle of Waterloo, although initially the two musicians try and convince this intrepid hack that it did as they motor through a typical Kiwi lunch in a typical Kiwi tee room.

The two are part of the Phil Manning Band, in Christchurch on a flying visi' as part of the New Zealand Universities Arts Festival.

Midge Marsden is of particular interest to New Zealanders, especially those from around Wellington, for the years he put into music, including seven years on radio (at one time running a blues programme on 2ZM that had a great following), and then establishing himself in a band called Country Flyers, which was prominent in the North Island.

Not that he is a stranger to Christchurch. He played in a group called Barry and the Breakaways which did a stint at the Safari in Tuam Street in either 1965 or 66. He is a little hazy about the year. He left Country Flyers las. year after he found he was not enjoying working with the group as much as he would like. Barry Coburn, the manager of the Phil Manning Band, talked Phil into ringing Midge from Australia to get him to join the band. was unsighted, unseen. and unheard, but we hit it off straight away,” saya Midge. Phil was looking for someone sympathetic to

the blues, and we are both the same age.” How did Midge feel about going to Australia “Apprehensive. The Australian scene is very tight. Tough finding work. Lots of bands chasing work and more bands than gigs. But I was lucky to join an established band.”

How did he feel abcfut leaving New Zealand? “He never stops talking about the place,” interjects Phil Manning, who also explains that his girlfriend is a New Zealander, his manager is a New Zealander, and he himself comes from Tasmania.

Midge replies in Oz language, firmly stabbing his square pie covered in spud and gravy. “Yer got to go OS (overseas) to get yer OE (Overseas experience).

"Realised I should have gone some years ago because some of the stuff we have been doing, which is old Country Flyers material, people in Australia liked. “New Zealand is limited. It is a logical move to Australia if you want to pursue higher aspirations,” Midge says. Phil and Midge both believe that New Zealanders do well musically in Australia, and that it is a pleasant reversal to have an Australian band cross the Tasman. They would like to see it happen, and add that they are already contemplating another New Zealand tour at a mere leisurely pace.

The emphasis for both musicians is on being Australasian, and it is from there that they will branch into the world.

Midge is serious about trying to make Polynesian music, like reggae from the West Indies. He has

collected tapes from many islands of the Pacific and has hopes of trying to incorporate the sounds into music that the band is making. He has become quite attached to the tea room and is ploughing through his second cup of hot chocolate, while Phil Manning eyes the girls coming

into the restaurant, muttering to himself, “It’s hard when you fall in love every 10 minutes.” The hack comes close to making a hurried exit when berth of them start talking about “pie floaters” — a thick green pea soup in which a pie floats, apparently a delicacy in Melbourne.