Split Enz In A Frenzy

Rip It Up, Issue 20, 1 March 1979, Page 6

Split Enz In A Frenzy

John Dix

There aren't many NZ performers who hold their press conferences sipping brandy & coke in the sterile splendour of the Big Ts executive suite. No sir, and even Tim Finn realises the precariousness of his particular situation as he sits opposite me with the same sun that four days before roasted 50,000 freaks in the Nambassa dust reflecting off his bright yellow trousers. "Nambassa was our first gig in four months, he s saying. "We only did two gigs last year. Ridiculous." The local heroes who made good, Split Enz are back from the UK for a four month Australasian tour. Their return can be viewed in terms of, yes, a precarious success. Although they've built up a cult following, graced the pages of England's major rock rags, had Second Thoughts and Dizrythmia reviewed in Rolling Stone and toured the States (a costly fifty grand mistake) they've yet to crack the big time. Album sales of 20,000 would feed anyone's ego but it doesn't quite get you into the charts and the higher income that entails. Still, things haven't been that bad for the Enzers. Most of last year was spent in writing,

rehearsing, recording and post-production of their forthcoming album Frenzy. Tim brightens at the subject. "We're very happy with it. I think it sounds better than our previous albums. Also it's got twelve tracks, which is good because our others only had nine. It's got a good crosssection of material. Dizrythmia was a transitory period, Frenzy is more in focus." One song that isn't on the album is "I See Red", the band's latest single. It isn't on the radio either. "I think the radio stations expect it

to be on the album," Tim surmises, "so maybe they're waiting for Frenzy before plugging it. I think "I See Red" is really commercial they should be pushing the hell out of it." With Split Enz's reputation seeming to lie mainly on their stage act I ask Tim whether there'll come a time when the band will concentrate solely on the music. Tim's a little chagrined at the question: "Look, we don't concentrate on anything but the music. The costumes are just cream on the coffee. Obviously some people who see us focus on the visuals because they're so strong. But they come naturally to us. Noel goes off and does the costumes and we always like them. I don't think there'll come a time when we'll say we're not gonna have an image anymore, we re just gonna record and stand on stage. If that happens it just wouldn't be Split Enz." A few hours later Tim flew out to Australia to join the rest of the band. First priority was to replace the equipment incinerated at the Waihi hall on the eve of Nambassa. Then, after touring Oz, Split Enz return in late March for a nine gig tour. The band should find themselves back in the harsher reality of the rock & roll life in London sometime in May. During the course of the interview I'd asked Tim how it felt to be regarded as NZ's premier rock ambassadors. He pondered that one for a while then said, "Hmm, yeah that's a nice sort of feeling. We came up through the ranks and went overseas, now there's quite a few bands taking off, but we were probably the first in that batch since the Sixties. But really, we're just another band trying to make it."