After the Party

Rip It Up, Issue 72, 1 July 1983, Page 4

After the Party

The recent Birthday Party tour through this country left behind more than fond memories. , When Cave and co flew out to Australia there were about SIO,OOO worth of unpaid bills from the tour. Among the creditors were private individuals like soundman Doug Hood who hired out PA gear worth $2600 and then had his reimbursement cheque bounce on him. But he is confident of getting the money back shortly and it seems . the promoters, Edward Zimblis of Melbourne, are honouring their debts. Exactly what went wrong on the tour is unclear but the major cause of the financial difficulties was simply poor door takings. From there it was a matter of where those door takings went. First paid were a Christchurch man who lent money to make the tour possible and the support bands who accompanied the tour. "All the liquor and drugs consumed by the Birthday Party and the support bands and anyone else who came along for the ride were paid for from the door takings," said a member of one of

the supports. "And when it came to the big things like hotel bills and rental cars, cheques were written." Many of these cheques bounced. There had been a "communication breakdown" between Zimblis' NZ organiser, Helen Giovannidis (no longer with Zimblis), and her local agents said one of the agents, Paul Rose of Propeller Records. "For the amount of time she had to organise it there were too facets left too late," he said. He cited the arranging of rental cars, a PA system and the "sudden" inclusion of the Marching Girls as a support act for the tour a month before it started after local supports had already been arranged. "Taking two bands was an unnecessary expense." With Zimblis keeping faith with its creditors it seems the door for alternative acts is still open. The next good rumour is John Cale. Hopefully this time a few more people will splash out on concert tickets.