Where Pterodactyls Roam

Rip It Up, Issue 122, 1 September 1987, Page 2

Where Pterodactyls Roam

The first song the Pterodactyls ever recorded received the thumbs up from the NME. Their latest EP is like something Arfur Daley would sell from his lockup.

’Every Time it Rains,' appeared on the BFM Outnumbered By Sheep compilation, and the English journal described it as a “prospective indie hit.” The Pterodactyls played the occasional gig last year, .finishing up with an Orientation tour around the varsities at the beginning of 1987. A fivetrack EP recorded in February, We’ve Done It Now has just been released on Meltdown Records.

So why would Arfur Daley be interested in buying it as a job-lot? It’s a rather, er, one-sided record. All five tracks are on one side of the 12"—the pristine shiny flip can be used as a shaving mirror, say,

or a beer mat. “EPs are always annoying because you’ve got to get up and turn it over," explain’s Meltdown’s Peter Shepherd. . Just as Murphy’s Law ran the Pterodactyls Orientation tour, so too with their recording session at Harlequin on Waitangi Day. Dance Exponent Brian Jones produced, but no sooner had the band plugged their amps in than the whole of the upper North Island suffered a powercut.'Of course, that gave them more time to get in tune ... Then there's the liner notes. They may be the funniest ever seen on a local record, but the songs aren't in the order claimed: just a ploy to

discover how alert the public are, “nothing to do with Jeff making a mistake with the artwork."

The Pterodactyls, in abeyance at the moment due to the dis- ; persal of their members, are/ were Martin Keen, who wrote 'Hidden Bay' for his old band the ? Chills, guitarist Jeff Batts, not from ; the Bats but the Stones, drummer David Ford and Ken Stewart, who “hasn’t been in any famous bands but gave up a promising civil ser-1 vice career and boughtj lots of paisley shirts to be in this one.” Stewart’s BFM kiwi music show is sorely missed since.his. exile to Dunedin. Next up from Meltdown are albums from Three Leaning Men and Fane Flaws: his I Am Joe’s Music LP, plus Sam Hunt’s poetry -; set to music.

Chris Bourke