Second Child

Rip It Up, Issue 171, 1 October 1991, Page 16

Second Child

From grubby Rising Sun stalwarts to Wildside's latest signing, Second Child have come up trumps, even though their brand of granite-like rock (no roll) has put them out on a limb in Auckland.

Like Honeylove — their polar opposite musically—they don't really fit into the any of the local scenes. Too hardcore for Flying Nun, too punk for heavy metal fans, you can't dance to them, they don't do grunge — it's like they have the heaviness of a speed metal band, minus the speed. Still, so far they've managed to clock up one track on the Freak The Sheep NZ music compilation and their debut seven-track mini-album Magnet is out next month. Originally scheduled for release through Ima Hitt, the boys switched to Wildside at the eleventh hour, which means they won't have to do in-store gigs in New Plymouth after all. Fresh back from a North Island tour with the Hallelujah Picassos, Damien Binder (vocals) and Chris Van De Geer (guitar) say they encountered a mixed reaction. Either stolid indifference (Hamilton), mounting enthusiasm (Palmerston North) or, as at Ohakune, a hail of beer glasses. To which tall, quiet Damien (who turns into a demon on stage) retaliated with some priceless repartee. After some hestitation they agree with my suggestion that in ’ rock music, any reaction is a million times better than none, and if someone was moved to hurl a glass, at least it means you were getting under their skin. Second Child's music isn't deliberately confrontational but it could be taken as a challenge to the insecure. Talking to them at Chris's pad, I learn that they're reasonably clean livin', healthy food eatin' young men (Chris offers me a piece of vegetarian pie), serious for a bunch of twenty-one year olds, but not too serious, just no bull, like their music. "We're not aggressive or depressive..." says Chris. "It's desperate but it's hopeful, bleak but with a yonder horizon just moving up," suggests Damien, who sings about personal stuff. "Like I do things wrong and I fuck people off or I look at myself sometimes and I don't really like what I see, and it's sort of like saying, well I fucked up here and I wanna be better." They admit that humour doesn't really get a look in in their kind of sound, which at its best manages to combine intricacy with density, Chris's lead guitar filigree laid over Jules' big bad drumming, Damien's

vocals bearing down from on high. Theo Jackson, the bassist from the Deep Sea Racing Mullets has just replaced Barbara Morgan but don't worry, they hired him for his energy and sympatico personality not his funkability. Which means Chris and Damien are the only surviving members from the original 1987 line-up, formed while they were still at school: only the name remains the same. Covers are a no-no. Although it occurred to me that it would be cool forthem to tackle a Frank Sinatra song, being as how Damien is a Frank fan, thinking of the brilliant heavy-as-lead treatment Killdozer gave to Neil Diamond's 'I Am I Said'. But no, Second Child would rather stick with their own songs. As far as guitar influences go, Chris says he just tries to avoid playing anything that sounds like anyone else. He avoids bar chords "like the plague" because of the standard rock sound they project,

prefering to experiment with discordant notes and droning strings. With the result that sometimes people call his style souless. "Yeah, that's the joke about it— I've got about as much soul as a concrete slab. There's feeling but it's not soul feeling, it's more driving emotion, intensity, aggressive, - challenging sound." . = On the subject of influences, I note that Chris has a tiny record collection. He concurs, saying he had to sell a bunch to make ends meet and never got round to replacing them. He owns one CD (Bob Mould) for the compact disc player he plans on buying one day. And then without batting an eye or blushing or anything he reveals that he listens to REM (!) and Nine Inch Nails, and three years ago he reappraised Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young and all the other heavy-weights you turn off to in school when all the people you < hate are tuned into them. As for the future, Second Child ■ express the usual desire to play in Australia, plus they'd like to follow up the release of Magnet with a four-track EP for a possible combination release in America. Meanwhile they'll settle for the' Fugazi support slot—just confirmed!

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