Harper Bizearre

Rip It Up, Issue 104, 1 March 1986, Page 4

Harper Bizearre

Roy Harper: Poet, Guitarist, Eccentric

There was a small but loyal band of Roy Harper enthusiasts in this country 10 years ago. EMI had released two albums, the 1973 : Lifemask and the 1974 Valentine — for the rest we had to rely on hard-to-get imports. February 1986 found him at Christchurch where it was, in his own words, pissing with rain”, waiting for the opening concert of his New Zealand tour.

It's ironic that Bob Dylan should just have done a whirlwind tour of the main centres (Harper, by contrast, is even playing Takaka's Globe in the month he will be here). The English singer has always been dogged by the label of one who followed in the footsteps of Robert Zimmerman: e

- “I'fought against it all my life. It's been one of the most unfortunate things that ever happened to me. Dylan’s stream-of-consciousness was never my cup of tea. On the other hand | have always had a soft spot for Phil Ochs and | always thought he was a lot better than Dylan at stressing a specific”. Like Ochs, Harper likes to write lengthy songs, from the 18-minute ‘McGoohan’s Blues' on his 1969 Folkjokeopus album to ‘Me and My Woman, which occupies almost a complete side of the 1971 Stormcock which EMI have re-released.

“The long songs are an extension of what | always wanted to do in life which was to be a poet. | could not see any other mode of existence. | couldn’t see myself as a builder or a doctor, a bus driver or a road sweeper. One of the big influences in-my life was English classes at school. We came across poems like ‘Childe Harold' by Byron and | thought, ‘l can do better than that’ and then ‘Endymion’ by Keats which made me think, ‘That’s wonderful ... | wonder whether | can ever do anything like that’ ” Harper’s latest album, the 1985 Jugula gives us a glimpse of the

singer as poet in the second track, ‘Bad Speech, which is presented as an atmospheric recitation. Although Harper and Jimmy Page had over a dozen songs available to complete the album, nothing quite fitted the bill:

“That particular slot on the record was peculiar in that we needed something to match the ferocity of the opening song ‘l9B4ish’ with the slightly more optimistic ‘Hope’ which followed it. We could have left the gap and had only three songs on that side of the record but | didn't think that was good value for ‘money. | went through my poems and discovered that this was the perfect thing. It would have just ended up thrown away.” Jugula is an invigorating album, the songs showing a degree of concentration that few contemporary writers could equal. ‘Hangman'’ features some stunning guitar from Jimmy Page and more than a few nods to Harper’s folk-roots; ‘l9B4ish'’ is a riposte to Orwell’s vision of the future (with 1984 now behind us Harper comments wryly that “the trailer was better than the movie"). The final track, ‘Advertisment (Another Intentional Irrelevant Suicide) is a boisterous piece of toilet humour reminding one that Harper onc threatened to pee over an audience in LA:;

the works. There may even be a new Tall Dwarfs record before the end of the year, if Alec returns in time. Chris also helped with several recordings on Outnumbered By Sheep and did the back cover and the colour for the front cover. Watta guy. - CHILDREN'S HOUR The song ‘Creeping Flesh’ was recorded in 1984 at Progressive as the start of what was to be an album, but the band disintegrated with only the one track completed. Previous recordings were the EP Flesh and the neat single ‘Washed Away'/'Stuck Pig. Members have since gone on to other things, with Chris Matthews and Johnny Pierce working with TKP and the Headless Chickens and Bevan Sweeney drumming with Not Really Anything and playing an imposing 10-foot shaman in the PIPs stilt theatre group Stalker. Guitarist Grant Fell happened to be over from Australia for the BFM album launch party and the four got up to play some good ole rock n’ roll, awright. THE KIWI ANIMAL The Kiwi Animal don't act like a

“band’, they aren't one. They don't always even play music — events they organise might include film, video, alecture on “tape terrorism’, an invitation to the audience to bring along their own tape players for a massed sonic experience. And their track here, ‘Dragons In Eden, is pinned around the sound of running water. TKA began as Brent Hayward ~ and Julie Cooper, and they co-opted Patrick Waller, initially on cello, for live performances and then recording. Records so far have been the EP Wartime and albums Music Media and Mercy. They can be written to at PO Box 6972, Auckland. | THE FOLD The Fold eschew a number of ideas about what a band should do and how it should sound. Since early 1983 they have maintained the same three-man bass/drums/vocal lineup, refining it into a Sound of sometimes harrowing intensity. All recordings, including last year’s fivetrack EP and a mid-year EP as yet unreleased have been at Lab Studios, but their LP track ‘Need Of Want' (recorded in October) seems to be their most successful yet. Lab’s flexibility has allowed them to

record literally live and that’s what seems to work for them. ABLE TASMANS : ‘Carolines’ came from recording following the completion of the Able Tasmans’ debut EP The Tired Sun at Progressive, and features the same lineup. Just as the first studio outing showed a new side to the band, this displays further progression along the road of thick, weird pop. The Tasmans have been away from the stage for some time working in new drummer Stuart Greenway but they will re-emerge soon. Next single venture will probably be ‘Buffalos’ b/w a song recorded by Peter Kean's old band Raucous Laughter, ‘Michael's. And look out for the Able Ogdens! NICK SMITH ; Nick Smith sprung himself upon the Auckland publicfirstin the streets, bawling out no-holds-barred versions of songs like ‘Reefer Madness. He then became involved with the Auckland Acoustics crowd and appears on the album of the same name on the Real Groovy Records label. Since then he has played at various venues,.mainly solo with acoustic guitar and voice, but sometimes with a band. His track ‘Testament' is a good indication of his vocal and guitar styles, and his unabashed personal political tack (he doesn't beat around the bush). He has an EP recorded and awaiting release. GOBLIN MiX _

Goblin Mix were spawned out of sheer boredom on Auckland's North Shore, playing first in late 1984. The lineup then was Phil Moore (guitar, vocals), Alf Danielson (bass) and Andrew Moon (drums). David Mitchell joined on guitar and vocals after the break-up of the Exploding Budgies (with whom they shared a notorious practise room) and the band, with two writers, went from good to better to just about best. The track here, ‘Travelling Grave’ was recorded late last year at the Lab and it's a kind of macabre Gaelic faerie tale, complete with happy ending. An EP recorded at Progressive about eight months ago is due to finally emerge soon, after quite a few remixes. Next recording will probably be a

single, ‘Fruit of the Womb' b/w ‘Eli’s On Smack’ (Alf's only vocal contribution to date). David did the great Outnumbered By Sheep front cover and his unique fine drawing has also been seen on the Budgies' EP cover and numerous gig'posters. FETUS PRODUCTIONS Fetus Productions’ history is fully detailed in the recent RIU interview, so suffice to say that ‘Sparks Fly’ was recorded in ‘The Womb), their own city studio-home last year. It's a different, more boisterous version than the one which appears on their new Luminous Trails album. Look out for live gigs soonish. MARTIN PHILLIPPS : Chills mainman Martin Phillipps once said he reckoned he could make a living writing jingles and on the strength of this one he seems to have been dead right. One of a couple of jingles he recorded with Terry Moore and Doug Hood at the controls, ‘There's Only One Station’ is a little piece of magic that often outshines the songs it separates on the airwaves. The recording resulted from Debbi Gibbs' bright idea that local musicians should be invited to come up with their own BFM identification jingles. The same thing’s on again this year, with new contributions from Chris Knox, the Headless Chickens and Warn-_ ers (a piss-take of ‘Pull Down the Shades') already telling ya who yer listening to. As if you needed telling ‘HARPER’ FROM PAGE 4 When all of a sudden | remember What | was going to say to you Standing there watching my member ‘ Hanging there squirting the 100 The song ‘Elizabeth’ is a much more sober and grew from two sources. “One was a love relationship which has now gone the way of the world but which | kept on trying to rescue for years and years. It was in many ways synonymous with my own personal struggle in defining the whole disarmament question. The line “When winter is over” pertains to both. There's also the nuclear question. Back home | see a lot of people putting themselves on the street to be counted, saying

that we don't need to pay for these daft machines and there must be a better way we can live” : One of the reasons that Harper came to New Zealand was because of our country’s strong anti-nuclear stand:

“That’s very good for New Zealand in the world but | don't know whether it's going to be very good for New Zealand. It's going to bring all sorts of people knocking on the door ...” of .

Harper has always had an extraordinary gift for writing sensitive songs about women. Not for Harper the sardonic sexism of Dylan’s ‘Lay Lady Lay’ or Just Like a Woman’ — rather one remembers the viciously satiric ‘Male Chauvinist Blues’ and the fine ‘Magic Woman (Liberation Reshuffle) from the Valentine album. Another is the song ‘Woman’ from the justreleased Work of Heart. Was he aware of his special talents here? “l just love women ... | always have. | could sum it up by saying that it’s very hard to imagine a woman even dying. Women don't die. | have this myth going on in my head. I'd like to write a song called ‘Ladies Don't Di€! It's a very strange sentiment to admit to.” Harper's more immediate projects are intriguing; “I'd like to dedicate awhole record to my body. I've got a strange body in any case and it's a venture that would end up quite avant-gardish. | could imagine areas akin to Fantastic Voyage. Mine's a strange body allright, one which doesn’'t behave in quite the normal manner and one that | have to look after” The New Zealand trip will be used in his other projected album: “It's an album about the Earth or the way that | see it. The record starts off with a song called ‘Burn the Earth’ which might be quite appropriate in a few years if we continue to chop down our rain forests.” William Dart Best of Rumours :

Circus Block Four have called ita day but have left us with a new album The Coloured Gate ... first offshoot of the band are Lets

Planet. The Mockers are doing demos for a new album, which is scheduled for recording in April/May. New bar at the Royal International’s Cascade Room in Victoria St, will feature all kinds of music, including lotsa NZ stuff. Live bands are a possibility in future, but at present the volume levels would create a problem with the hotel's accomodation facilities. It's open Thurs-Sat from March 13, and available for private functions on other nights of the week ... and that other disc club, The Brat, recently suffered a rather suspicious burglary. All the club’s sound gear and all the records were taken, but no alcohol or anything else. . The Chills’ singles album Kaleidoscope World debuted in the English indie charts at N 0.7 ... and the Bird Nest Roys EP got the seemingly obligatory say-very-little review in a recent NME singles column . Shayne Carter and John Collie have a new band underway with new bassist although they're on the lookout for a fourth member ... Verlaines bassist Jane Dodd now resides in Auckland, which seems likely to limit the band’s live performances ... meanwhile Graeme Downes submitted the Verlaines’ LP Hallelujah as his composition for his third year music degree and was rewarded with an ‘A The Rip, heading for a split, showed a new lease of life at arecent varsity gig — their firstin five months ... David Kilgour has a new three-piece with Tim McCoy (bass) and Bodge Armstrong (drums) ... ‘LIVE’ FROM PAGE 24 guys played — a few dancing and some even smiling. The songs were quite long and that suited them. Apart from Nicky Strong’s inventive bass lines and his plaintive (if quiet) vocals on two songs, Spatback’s music was too familiar. There was a touch of the guitar hero in the singer/guitarist’s 70sstyle approach that | couldn't quite swallow and the drumming was stiff. Perhaps the latter was new to his trade. - :

Two dollars worth was definitely had by me this evening. In fact, I'm sure they could have charged a whole dollar a band (support your local etc) and got away with it.

J. Clarkson