Evasive Action on hold

Press, 25 August 1983, Page 18

Evasive Action on hold

By

DAVID SWIFT

Evasive Action, Christchurch’s only punk-and-proud-of-it band, will have to wait a little longer to take over the West Coast. This time, The Topp Twins beat them to it.

“Apparently they’re a bit more popular than us over there,” said the singer, Eugene Butcher, reflecting on the cancellation of a series of Coast dates due to the double-booking. They will try again soon.

Butcher and Erik van Den Hoven (bass) formed Evasive Action after the demise of their last band, Desperate Measures. Harry Hepworth has taken up the guitar after singing in Unauthorised, where Mark Gibson (drums) also began.

How is it that Evasive Action are about the only “punk” band in Christchuch when there are so many punks and boot-boys around?

“They’re not into playing in bands, or even into dancing. They’d rather stand around,” said Butcher, who is disappointed that a lot of

their audience would rather stand in the pub looking “heavy” than enjoy the music.

This week, Evasive Action finished recording five songs at the Nightshift Studios, with the help of Dance Exponents’ Brian Jones. They promise a better sound than the Desperate Measures single if the songs go to disc. “We’re progressing, rather than just playing that three-chord thrash stuff,” said Butcher. Hepworth has only been playing guitar for four months, so the band are improving patiently. They played at the recent “Golden Showers” punk festival in Wellington, and “we went down the best of the lot,” so they hope to work on that support with a northern trek later this year.

“We’ve got about 15 originals, and we all write,” said Butcher.

Evasive Action will appear at the Hillsborough Tavern this evening, with Art and Duty, and The Militants.