New Zealand's Metal Scene

Rip It Up, Issue 154, 1 May 1990, Page 14

New Zealand's Metal Scene

There has always been a metal • audience in New Zealand. Mind numbing guitar, overblown emotion and lurid lyrics strike a deep chord with a mass of New Zealanders. Heavy metal in New Zealand traditionally goes with posters of tigers leaping through flames on the . living room wall, horoscopes and • joints on the back porch and women in long muslin skirts who go out with men who refer to them as their 'lady', consider a dog their best friend and a cartheirsalvation. In other words, the authentic sound ofWest Auckland. The boys in black jerseys and girls in camisole tops go to the Powerstation to hear bands - like Confessor and Saigon Rose (who play their guitars like machineguns). Butenjoying popularity at the other end of the metal scale is a bunch of North Shore rock bands who also play at the Powerstation and attract a more glamorous crowd. Bands like

Whiskey and Lace, Push Push, Nine Livezand Circus attract a specifically female contingent who turn up wearing a good imitation of international rock star's girlfriend chic (as glimpsed on Shakedown videos): all backless bathing suit dresses and billowing hair. Not that the dress

code is sexist—many of the men look just as ravishing in their long hair, skull buckle belts and cowboy boots.

PUSH PUSH The sun shines on those who come from the North Shore, as Push Push have proved by scoring the support slotfor Alice Cooper anc/Skid Row. Rip It Up spoke to rhythm guitarist Silver and singer Mikey in a K Road wind bar one hot winter afternoon! ; Silver was wearing his American flag singlet and purple tie-dyed jeans, his long brown hair curling around the silver amulets around his neckand partly concealing the rose tattoo on his right bicep (which he got after hearing Guns n'Roses for the first | time). Mikey is a fresh faced, bright f eyed blonde. All the band hail from

the North Shore. The core band members met at primary school and have been playing together since they were fourteen. How's that for • paying your dues? Despite the fact that they started out "full-on glam" in tights and ’ make-up, Push Push no longer see themselves as a metal or glam rock - band. More LA inspired hard rock. All five band members are nineteen ortwenty, but they are applying themselves to their cause with a dedication that eludes seasoned pros. Over the Tasman is the obvious .. next place to go but Los Angeles is the dream destination (with songs like 'Blonde On and On' their audience there would seem

assured). \ But Push Push are not just a blonde bimbo's band. Alongside shrilly ? delivered speedster songs like ■ L 'Cherry-O'and 'Diamond Clawed ; Pussycat they sing about power | tripping corporate jerks ('Beating Up Bullfrogs') and do the odd crazily cranked up cover version (their version of the Knack's 'My Sharona'is blood stirring). It would be nice to hear some slow ballads in their set but on the other hand, when you're ' great looking, nineteen, healthy,

happy, and besieged by female fans after every show, what have you got to feel blue about? WHISKEY AND LACE Whiskey and Lace have been off the scene for months due to personnel changes. But now that they've completed their diminished line with' the ex-Psychodaisies rhythm guitarist and a new drummer,. lead singer Kelly H says they're ready to roll again. Kelly says they are definitely not a metal band. They're a little deeper and tinged with alternative influences, just as likely to be listening to Jane's Addiciton as Aerosmith. As for the North Shore connection, Kelly mentions that he went to Northcote College not Rangitoto, and that he now lives in Devonport, not the Bays. ’ He resists categorisation in general, saying he listens to "anything he doesn't hear a hundred times a day on the radio". Whiskey and Lace aren't bothered about building up an adoring following here nor are their. sights set on LA. Kelly would prefer to end up "somewhere more interesting" like New York or Europe. As suggested by the title of theirfirst demo, Burned Out Paradiseo , this ' band is concerned with more meaningful matters than the colour of

their girlfriend's hair. Worth watching for. w I ■ ” SHIHAD Are from Wellington, painfully young and extremely proficient. They started playing at school, recorded a demo, left school and got day jobs but they already have their sights set on making a living from

playing. Speed metallers? "No, that's too restrictive a term," says drummer Tom, "it's all a form of metal and it's all powerful so power metal is more accurate. We don't stick to easy tempos but we're not just thrashing out." Tom's listening material J ■-> includes rap and jazz as well as metal acts from Motley to Slayer. "Music . with powerand a bit of funk.l don't like listening to rubbish." • LastyearShihad won the Grunt Records Heavy Metal award down South. This year they've recorded their debut IP and are about to undertake their first tour. Not bad for a band whose age range goes from seventeen to nineteen (and they don't even have an identifiable image: long hair and black T-shirts are about as far as it goes). Tom says that the metal scene in Wellington is non-existant. "It's us and Strikemaster, that's it. A lot of bands from secondary school are coming up from the Hutt and Paraparaumu but they haven't hit the pubs yet." DONNAYUZWALK

ANIGMA Local metal bands fare badly in a scene where 'alternative'means i dour students playing what is little - more than beefed up folk music. Yet local metal bands are managing to prosper. They have to do it themselves, from finding gigs to producing and promoting their own ‘ recordings. Anigma have been gigging regularly and World of Fear, their six song cassette, has sold well ' not only here but in Australia, Europe, the States and even South America! Pete, Si, Dave and /hark gottalkinginthepub. The press seem to take the easy way out and compare you to Metallica? "Yeah, that's really annoying. Most people don't know or like any speed < metal except for Metallica so that's all they have to compare us with." "Even Campus Radio have given us a hard time, not playing our stuff even though it was Number One in the Alternative Top 10." / "Basically the local press is pretty uncomprehending of NZ metal. They

expect everyone to be alternative and Dunediney." You guys would look really dumb " in black jumpers. "Yeah, and I hate standing still on stage." At this point I'd like to squash the Metallica thing once and for all. Anigma don't sound that much like Metallica and during this conversation enthused about everyone from Black Flag and Fear through Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Queen to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Soundgarden. Even Bob Marley got a mention. A lot less one-eyed than a lot of their critics. ; , "It all seems uphill but we did the tape by ourselves, completely self-financed and promoted and it's done really well." "Most record companies didn't want to know. It was either'lt'll ruin our image' or We haven't got any money to put into a local band.'" But so far World Fear has sold over six hundred copies and found its way to the Top 10 of a European metal radio show. So what about the future boys? "We'll definitely keep playing but who know in what form." 'We'd really like to get the band overseas, even just to Australia. The scene here is too small and there's not the interest in recording. But we'll definitely be back soon, so watch out!" KIRK Heavy Metal Essentials • Bottle of Jack Daniels (either in hand or on T-shirt). • Armloads of skinny silver bracelets. • Armfulls of tattoos (where pain meets beauty). • Monster face T-shirt under shirt. • Crucifix, skull or other talismanic insignia hanging from neck. • Very tight leather or latex pants. • Black wool jumper knitted by girlfriend with red Harley Davidson lettering. • Lots and lots of long hair (the metaller's equivalent to the rappers baseball cap). Metallers Guide to Television • Married With Children.. • Beauty and the Beast. • Superstars of Wrestling. Metal Movies • River's Edge • Spinal Tap • Mad Max • Conan The Barbarian • All horror movies. Metal Events • The Easter Show • Waihi annual bikers meet • Powerstation gigs

DONNA YUZWALK