Nightshift at work

Press, 27 March 1980, Page 18

Nightshift at work

By

NEVIN TOPP

Don’t you just hate those introductions to newspaper stories which run, “Hands up all those who remember. . . ’’ Anyway I thought I had forgotten until Arnold van Bussel, the lead guitarist for the Christchurch rock group, Nightshift, contacted me about the band playing at the Hillsborough Tavern this evening.

He informed me that he used to play in a group called Flood, which rather got washed away in 1975. The memories had me sobbing in the old hankerchief, particularly as I recalled watching Flood demolish the 44 minute Cream song, “White Room,” in less than three minutes at a show in a hall about 1972. Also participating were members of a motor-cycle club, who decided that the floor of the hall was excellent for speedway. Personally, I had my doubts as it was carpeted with broken glass. Two other members of Nightshift, Arnold’s brother, Paul, and Ronald van Lindt, also played in Flood.

An attempt was made to revive Flood; “but after a year of getting nowhere

we decided to give up,” said Arnold. It was decided to call the new band Nightshift, for it gave a classier image and the material the group played was different from what Flood had been doing, he said. Nightshift have been rehearsing for four months on what the band terms “progressive rock,” including about one-third of its own material, along the lines of people like the Kevin Borich Express and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The group intends to concentrate on the local scene for a while, and there are hopes of obtaining a residency. If the band is commercial enough, it may consider augmenting the line-up with an additional guitarist. At present it is somewhat limited in scope because it is three-piece backing a vocalist.