letters

Rip It Up, Issue 178, 1 May 1992, Page 22

letters

WRITE TO: RIU LETTERS, PO 80X5689, WELLESLEY STREET, AUCKLAND; OR FAX: (AK) 761 -558.

NIXONS' DEFENCE Who is Donna Yuzwalk? First that pathetic interview with Robert Smith and then the following month a review of the Nixons that seemed more focused on height and hair colour than music. Who gives a shit if guitarist Shaun got egged by John Baker at the Devonport Festival, what has that got to do with a music review? So what if they have expensive equipment, somehow I don't think they'd sound quite the same if Shaun was playing a Vester Strat copy through a Samick Amp. Good equipment sounds good, - simple as that. They didn't hit number one on BFM this week because they look pretty, they got there because they sound good. Donna seems obsessed with making ridiculous comparisons. Wow, Nirvana and the Nixons both have three members and their names start with 'N' and yes, I guess you could say they both have tall bass players. What a load of shit! Who cares! ,

Not only does Donna write a lot of dribble, but I get the feeling she wasn't paying much attention at the gig

anyway. If she'd taken the time to get up and listen, watch and enjoy what the Nixons were doing she may have noticed that Shaun has red hair, not blonde. I point this out because hair colour seems so important to Donna, but again, who really cares? I think the Nixons are great. I think Donna Yuzwalk sucks! GAVIN BOTICA DOMINATION BY KIRK I am writing to lodge an official complaint against RIU and, in particular, your 'music journalist' Kirk Gee. This person dominates your critical output to an extremely unhealthy degree. In the last issue he had four major interviews, including

one with MC 900 ft Jesus (why Kirk??) which, true to form, he completely

fucked up. He also reviewed no less than 10 albums, one music video and wrote the singles column. I hesitate to be rash, but I think I would rather have Kerry Buchanan (groan) doing the

singles once more. I am completely mystified as to why your best writers — Matthew Hyland, George Kay, Russell Brown — are allowed to contribute so minimally. Kirk Gee is frighteningly bad and he should be put down. I find his particular style of ponderous, lumbering sixth-form 'yeah man' prose especially irritating. Murray, get things in order. Kirk, you're shit. Yours, PETE KEMBER P.S.: Matthew Hyland must converse with Blixa Bargeld — now. DYLAN DISTRESS The Bob Dylan concert at the Mt Smart Supertop on 18 April was memorable for two distinct reasons. Firstly, to Bob, thanks for a terrific show. You had me a bit worried through the first three songs, but halfway through 'Just Like A Woman' something fell into place and you absolutely cooked for the rest of the night. No crap, no extended instrumental rest periods, simply a masterful performance. Secondly, to the promoters, Frontier Touring and 98FM, what a fuck-up. If you advertise a concert as having fully reserved seating, then why have some arsehole come on before it's even begun and encourage everybody to come and stand at the front. Anyone in the front rows immediately had their view blocked, and were forced to stand and so on back through the venue. One weak attempt to then get everyone back into their seats turned almost into a riot because by then everyone sitting at the back had moved into the seats vacated by those standing at the front. You deserve to get your arse kicked, publicly and financially. ; Come back soon, Bob, but next time get someone with at least half a brain to handle the arrangements. Sincerely, EARL WILLIAMS LOOPY LETTER Since reading your magazine I have stopped wearing a bra, and my wife has overcome her Icthyophobia. Thank you. Yours, BIGGLES AND MARY AIRCRAFT-HANGER (MR AND MRS) CHRISTCHURCH MUSIC AWARDS OK I'm writing to the person who called him/herself Shardee. Too bad if most of the bands in the NZ music awards come from the North Island. Maybe we've got better bands than the south. As for Crowded House turning their backs on NZ, what bullshit. They simply wanted to get famous in other countries (who doesn't). Mikey Havoc's not just an American

haircut. He has talent and a great voice. Along with an excellent personality (yes, I've met him). At least the Exponents had a go at trying to make it in England. You don't hear

them complaining do you? And as for these groups not singing NZ music, what a lot of bull. The only music that is truely NZ music is Maori. And you don't see that in the charts, but people in Rotorua don't complain. If you and your band have talent why don't you write to a music company somewhere and stop filling the best NZ mag with bullshit. JAYCEE ROTORUA DE-VINYLED Thank you Kyla Sweet, that was the letter I wish I'd written. I am also a 3Ds fan and I am also disgusted by Flying Nun's decision to release Hellzapoppin only on poor-sounding cassette and grossly overpriced CD. Sorry, I'm not buying it. Flying Nun (and the majors!) could learn a thing or two from Dischord Records. You can buy a CD direct from Dischord for around S2O, and many Dischord CDs contain two IPs worth of tracks. At the same time, vinyl is still available for all Dischord releases. Interesting, isn't it, that Dischord CDs sell in the shops for the usual exorbitant $32? If the record companies and retailers really want to convince diehards like me and Kyla to abandon vinyl for CD, they could start by pricing CDs at a reasonable level. Since they are cheaper to manufacture, package and ship than records, S2O seems about right to me, or am I missing something here? MARTIN SIMS, PETONE FLYING NUN REPLY Here at Flying Nun, we were as disappointed as anyone when we were unable to release the 3Ds' Hellzapoppin on vinyl. However, as a small company we were dictated to by the economics of the situation. We are aware of those people like Kyla and Martin who won't buy anything but vinyl; unfortunately sales show that there simply aren't enough vinyl buyers left in New Zealand for us to afford making LPs and their cover artwork (the most expensive part of the process). If more people had kept buying vinyl, maybe the situation would be different... but it's not, and we'd like to have a future putting out music in formats most people want rather than go bankrupt selling a hundred vinyl LPs. Sorry, but the music is more

important than the format. On the tape front, we know our tapes don't sound so great at the moment and we're addressing that : problem right now. Flying Nun tapes will be of better quality in the future. As to the price of CDs... well, they aren't all that cheap to manufacture. The upfront origination costs involved are substantially higher than those associated with vinyl. Minimum runs are also much higher, meaning more money is tied up in holding stock— but unlike dying vinyl, we know that stock

will eventually be sold. Yep, CDs are expensive, but the price of manufacture at the one plant in Australia means little is likely to change in the near future. We aren't in a position to change it. It's a bit unfair to compare us to Dischord, a company which we admire very much, but also one which has two major things going for it — location and Fugazi. Dischord is located in the biggest market in the world where even a small percentage of vinyl-buyers equals enough people to make records viable and they can subsidize other parts of the label cos they basically sell over a hundred thousand Fugazi albums a year (that's in all formats combined). Maybe if one of our bands sold that we 11... 800-YA DIATRIBE I would have liked to write a constructive letter to your paper, but frankly, that is not possible. To put it bluntly, I think RIU is a load of crap! Where do I start? Reviews, which seem to avoid making any direct comment on the music and are regularly factually incorrect (The Wedding Present's Seamonsters described as Seamasters, and the Wonderstuffs Never Loved Elvis as Never Liked Elvis). Also, almost nothing of relevance to anyone who lives in the South Island and a 'News' column rudely culled from the pages of NME, Melody Makerand Rolling Stone. It's just as well that RIU is free, because personally, I wouldn't pay 5 cents for it! I regard NME at $3.45 per week (and three months behind at that) as better value for money and more informative than RIU. Yours faithfully, DARREN HAMMOND TOSSING OFF A pre-ejaculatory comment on Kerry 'Serial Munchkin' Buchanan's example of Deep Throat literary criticism entitled Blurred Vision. Nice one Stu! (late 70s television luminary catchphrase). Heyyy! (term from Fonz, good for a giggle after watching Paul Holmes or John Holmes, preferably together). Choice bud, dude! (Jason Gunn outake circa early 92). Anyway, Kerry, I read your piece after eating a Cramps sandwich with some funky James Brown weed, my Frankenhooker vid on, the Velvet Underground on WWF versus the

Ultimate Warrior with Frankie Howard eating Benny Hill's furburger and that girl on Bold and the Beautiful doing Kung Fu to Jane Campion on NZ Today with Chris Knox deliberately badly. Yeah bro, I thought it was a laff how you says you was on the bus and some of dose 'literary critics' were talking bout the book you was reading:

American Psycho. Yeah I know what you mean man, I caught the train and screened a 10mm version of Taxidriver and I got some funny looks too. Teehee, titter tate gee I'm starting to sound like Billy T James, lucky I'm dead otherwise Rawere Paratene wouldn't have a job making fun of Polynesian taxi drivers. I went to the Powerstation to pick up a chick for my mate Nick

d'Angelo but she wasn't impressed that Danny Watson was my cousin. I had to tell Nicko De Bellyo off cos he wanted to grope a seven-year-old Porno

Queen lookalike for an article so he could get some sexist feedback. I said, Nick it's not worth risking your smut king image for a prison cell with no pornos or Uncle Fester make-up kits, Jeez, plus you'll miss the Spike Lee movie on the life of Robert Rakete, it starts with a track on the mean streets then a close up of a long haired two-year-old playing with a Barbie doll. Ole Nick should take a leaf off of our very own campside queen In The Pink's Mr Charles "Is that an AK47 or are you just pleaed to see me" Groinwatch. I was gonna go to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but I'd miss More Issues so I'll have to tape it. I mean isn't Jon Gadsby a comic genius up there with the drummer from Crowded House, Phillip Sherry and that guy in REM with the bushy eyebrows. I think Hoi Polloi's a great Christian band. When Jesus returns maybe He can play drums on a version of Carcass' 'Necroticism Descanting the Ins al Übrious'. P.S. Robert Rakete's got a small one. Right kids! Yours in fat gorilla phone sex with a mental patient Smith's fan MR CHIPS OIFF (the drummer from Def Leppard's lost arm) CARPING ON KAY Kay McMahon, your review on the Jan 23 Car Park gig was complete bullshit. Naked Lunch you say are a cross between the Velvet Underground and Skinny Puppy... how? The VU were a "guitar" band and Skinny Puppy are, for lack of a shorter word, "techno", whereas Naked Lunch are a wingeing Manchester rip off (no computer in sight). Their lyric structure is based on simple rhymes (something SP have only done once). If you have to make them a "cross between" I personally think Husker Du for the bass and the Las for vocals / guitar would be more accurate. But definitely not Skinny Puppy! Perhaps ' you were just name dropping for street cred, well Shirl you blew it. Also, Love's Ugly Children have been playing together for three years. Is that not enough time to develop for you? Perhaps what you meant to say was: "If they started to play Wonderstuff songs I would like them" (a good reporter would not let a bad opinion of her ex-boyfriend sway her review). LUC sound nothing like Black Flag and I doubt they ever will (perhaps this was another attempt at name dropping... again you blew it). One thing you should remember when reviewing touring bands is your review plays a part in creating the audience for the next tour and if the next Naked Lunch audience is full of Skinny Puppy fans they are only going to be let down. Yours, SON OFARLEK