Rumours

Rip It Up, Issue 204, 1 August 1994, Page 40

Rumours

CHRISTCHURCH With the main priority for everyone at the moment trying not to freeze to death, a large number of bands have been staying inside and recording. Trawler have released an 8” four track EP on vinyl and have been touring to promote it . . . Pumpkinhead have returned from recording their debut album at Phil Rudd’s studio . . . after supporting ÜB4O and playing a number of very full gigs, EST are now getting their live album pressed . . . Salmonella Dub have taken a similar path having just recorded an EP Whip Me Honey on their own label Noseflute which is distributed through Failsafe . . . Squirm’s debut LP Mastermistakemaker will be out in September . . . Flat City’s latest compilation is selling well . . . Failsafe had the Occidental packed for the release party of their latest compilation Good Things while Nightshift held a party at Warners for their fourth compilation which features 24 local bands . . . the Strangeloves are set for a comeback with an EP and album due to be released through Onsett Records with an extensive tour to follow ... all woman band Punamu have increased their line-up with a couple of guys and have recently released a tape . . . Snort have lost guitarist Fluer to motherhood. Rita has taken over on guitar with Nina-Kay joining as bassist . . . due to band member’s other commitments 147 Swordfish haven’t played for a while in Christchurch but they did recently tour the North Island with Hoover... big news of the moment SPAC now have their venue at 124 Litchfield Street, formerly Daniels Nightclub. The venue will operate as a gallery/performance space and already has several bookings. Initially it will operate as a non-alcoholic venue but this will change later this year. In order to ensure the venue works the society needs involvement from as many people as possible. For more details or bookings phone 3655 156 . . . new bands around include Disgraceland, Swivel, Atmo, Vulture and the F*#k Explosion. J. GREENFIELD NELSON Dreamtime Winter Solstice Dance Party at the Led Zebra was a success featuring Rhythm House, dancers and all night dance party. Good to see the venue being used, let’s hope the council wakes up to its potential . . . recent all ages gig at Molly Maguire’s featured an unlicensed gig during the day with a repeat licensed gig at night. The day gig suffered from a poor turnout despite extensive advertising but the night gig made up for it with impressive numbers and will be repeated soon. The bands that played were Nadir, Screw, Pash, Daemon and Human. Out of town bands interested in playing forthcoming gigs of this sort should contact Greg at Everyman Records (03) 5483083 . . . Screw have been recording, expect a cassette release soon . . . The Arts Centre is not lost as there is still the Watch Tower and Molly’s . . . Lyric, Nelson’s arts and music magazine, celebrated a year of publication recently with its anniversary issue . . . winners of the regional Smoke Free Rock Quest were Slight Delay from Motueka High . . . new bands around town include Truck, Belch, Malice in Wonderland and the Purple Garden Blues Band. MILES FAHEY WELLINGTON Head Like A Hole have a deal with German label Modern Records and guitarist Date and manager Gerald Dwyer have been pressing the flesh on a PR

trip in Europe. HLAH have been in Mediate Studios recording B-sides for their next single ‘Spanish Goat Dancer’ . . . also at Mediate, Shihad have been recording B sides, Gardening Angels are dong six tracks, Cool Disposition are working towards an album and Wayne Mason is doing demos for his post Warratahs solo album . . . also recording, Seep (an album), and EPs by Thrust Reverser Access Panel (TRAP), Truckstop, Gregor the Bug, and Good Children are mixing their album. Both Truckstop and Gregor have South Island tours planned . . . promising local band Breathe are applying for a recording grant and on the basis of their four track self-titled demo tape they deserve one . . . Fat Mannequin have a nine track demo tape out and a four track EP due ... is it the water (or Guinness) that has seen a plethora of Irish bands and bars frothing about town? Banshee Reel, who have their Culture Vulture album available nationally, are part way through a world tour. They cancelled half their OZ tour describing pub managers as “the biggest slime I have had the misfortune to meet”, according to manager Allan Clark. Great crowd reaction has seen the band offered further work next year touring with the Celtic Soul Sons. In Canada they were picked up by a management company and booking agent who gave them a 30 date tour including a headline spot at the Alberta Festival this month. From Canada the band moves to the USA, Europe and the UK . . . Stephan Wolf, the German born bass player with the Justin Payne Orchestra, is in Europe for six months and the band are gigging with a fill in . . . Lushburger have two new members, Gillian Eva Boyd and Dave Harker, joining original Burgers Simon Lear and Peter O’Donoghue. Their debut CD Slaberneckery is due with a tour planned . . . this must be one for the Guinness Book of Records. . . . The Windy City Strugglers have finally released their self-titled debut album 26 years after being formed in 1968 by Bill Lake. Mike Rashbrooke remains as the only other original member of the on and off fluctuating line-up that now includes Rick Bryant, Nick Bollinger and Andrew Delahunty. They recently played a Sunday afternoon bash at the Western Park with ex-pat Kiwi keyboardist Mike Bugg and Darren Watson's Hot Leftovers who played a tight spirited set despite not having played together for three years . . . Vas Deferens vocalist Steve Andrews has graduated from being head ligger to singer with a resuscitated Flesh D-Vice replacing the management mogel of HLAH, Gerald Dwyer . . . the Skitzoid Men (who play “skitzoid pop”) consist of Carson Turnbull and Thane Walls. Live gigs have seen the line-up expand to a four piece. They have an album due with a limited edition vinyl pressing . . . the Bilge Festival’s album Cape Goat should be in your stores and on your stereos now . . . Banana Revolution have a 14 track album out. . . the new Brainchilds is due September . . . Beats Bodega have Volume 2 with ragga and Volume 3 guitars in the pipeline as part of their Pyrite Hits series of compilations ... for some acid jazz check out ten piece Appollo Ten . . . also worth catching live are the Juggar Bars and Short People . . . Stax, or whatever, has yet another name change to Tycody Entertainment Centre with “new inhouse production”. JOHN PILLEY PALMERSTON NORTH

Valve magazine is actually coming out and features a seven inch EP from Yellow Bike with one song each from the Ashvins, Meat Market, Blunt and Froit Head . . . Dave White from Lung has returned from an exhausting tour of the States where the other Lungites remain in residence. Dave has taken on editorship of Valve as some kind of therapy session. Lung recorded 19 new pieces of noise on an eight track in Indiana with James Woods and

most of this will be released on some kind of album very soon . . .

the new issue of Kiwi Rock Times is out now. Contact Perry at Po Box 442, Palmerston North . . . Boris of Blunt has returned to Palmerston North already! He found that Christchurch was too cold and being banned from everyone's mung bean parties was too much to handle. We in Palmerston

North are glad to have Boris back. We actually like to have him at our parties . . . people recording at the Stomach lately include Wholesale Drainage, Blunt, Meat Market, the Ashvins, the Livids, Zigsaur, Gayle Cresswell, Narghile and Rob Thorne-Man Alone. Rob Thorne has just returned from recording in Dunedin at Volt studio with Bill Direen . . . Spotty Dog is a new label that has been set up to release tapes of Palmerston North bands. The first tape will be out in August and features the Livids, Blunt and the last ever Rake recording which features Luke from the Ashvins counting to seventeen! . . . Spotty Dog can be contacted through Yellow Bike at PO Box 586

PN . . . Giardia is a new all woman punk band. Two members come from New Plymouth, which explains the hard rocking leather approach (ie not vegan punk). CLAIRE PANNELL NEW PLYMOUTH Maybe it’s been a while since New Plymouth featured in this column but not because it’s been quiet. The Mushroom Ball in May was a total success, the biggest turn out yet, highlights being Flesh D-Vice and Afterbirth . . . punk/ska dudes Wretched Skinny put down three tracks at Hamilton’s Zoo Studios — free recording time they won through a Battle of the Bands . . . new band Kitsch have just recorded at Rowan Studios in Kaponga . . . after a year’s break Hideously Disfigured are back on the scene . . . skeptics please note, Ima Hitt are bringing Bad Brains to the country . . . new alternative/hardcore magazine Raw Beat for the Malcontents, into its fourth issue, originates from here about the middle of every month and covers stuff you should know about. It’s free and available from a good music store near you or write to RBFTM c/- PO Box 407 New Plymouth . . . Rocks Hard 2 in June blew everyone away. The 600 who came and helped to raise funds for a NP compilation CD were treated to exceptional performances from Wretched Skinny, Nefarious, Hideously Disfigured, the Nod, Sticky Filth, Todd, Kitsch and Shattered Existence. The CD, now in production, is due for release September 3rd at Ima Hitt. .. Todd are a bunch of tight punk rockin’ guys who’ve existed for a couple of years and finally , leapt into the live scene . . . Rock for Health is a charity gig planned for July 31 to raise cash for a ten year old local boy who requires a $200,000 life-sav-ing liver transplant. 16 local bands are playing . . . Brain Biter are still planning to release their album The End of the Beginning with tracks from their Abludo Inverto in E EP .. . a compilation LP of the Wasteland Records show that led to Scream FM being axed has sold out. Cleverly titled How To Close a Radio Station it includes Toxic Avengers, Cleopatra Grip, Man With A Dog, Inebriation, GFNR, Post Mortem Depression, Nefarious and Brain Biter. Express an interest and some more might appear. . . after having to be re-cut, Sticky Filth’s new single ‘Def Thru Misadventure’ with the old (but unreleased) songs will be out early August. Featuring ‘Dead Girls’, ‘Smile’, ‘Vodka, the Devil and Me’ and ‘Dig You Up’ . . . Australia’s Front End Loader will do a short tour during the last week in September courtesy of Ima Hitt . . .a bad attitude on the other side of the Tasman prevented a tour by Aussie legends Celibate Rifles from happening . . . Ima Hitt are also touring San Francisco’s All You Can Eat in August, who plan to do a split ten inch with Nefarious sometime ... the band that can put GG Allin to shame, The Goat Fucking Nun Rapers, have released their 15 track cassette Combined Excretions — it has to be heard to be believed. . . Nefarious are unstoppable, their new seven inch ‘Seven Inches of Evil’ has sold out (for now) and their new vinyl album Dawn of the Rebel Angels is being pressed in Australia while their video is nearing completion. PATRICK FIFE DUNEDIN Peter Jefferies will tour the US with cult duo Mecca Normal and do a few gigs there with Trash once the current Dimmer tour concludes. Dimmer also plan to record an album in October and release a single before the year’s end .. . Jefferies has also set up a recording and distribution label with Geoff Columbus and Brendon Hoffman called IMD. For a catalogue write to PO Box 730 Dunedin. The first release is a

Cyclops compilation CD . . . the Verlaines have been recording at Volt studio. Graeme Downes in his capacity as a music lecturer gave an open lecture at the varisty on July 19th about the life and music of Kurt Cobain . . . Martin Phillipps has recorded at least two albums of material in “advanced demo form" . . . the Dead C played their first gig in over a year at Super 8 on July 23rd to mark the release of their seventh album The Operation of the Sun. Philadelphia label Siltbreeze will also reissue their live album Clyma Est Mort featuring cover art mimicking that for the Fall album Totale’s Turn. Apart from touring the US recently with them, Michael Morley (Dead C, Gate) also recorded with German act Faust and members of Sonic Youth . . . Sandra Bell’s four song vinyl EP Chord is out now . . . Chug had the pleasure of opening for Pavement along with King Loser at Sammy’s. Their ‘Golden Mile’ single will be released in September . . . Trash have a seven inch single out . . . Radio One is having a totally Maori music week from August 1-7. Squid Christmas have been demoing there too . . . Age of Dog played their final gig at the second Melon Farmer Music Festival at Sammy’s on July 29 . . . David Kilgour and band have been invited to join Pavement’s September US tour . . . with Andrew Spittle back in town, Das Phaedrus have reformed at least temporarily ... the new Bats EP features some hot guitar licks from Superchunk’s Mac . . . psycho-mod conglomeration Too Many Daves are proving themselves to have the best song titles in town, such as ‘Selwyn By-elec-tion’, ‘Pavement Are Boring’ and ‘Lockwood Is Dead’. GRANT MCDOUGALL

AUCKLAND Punkers Nothing At All are recording an album at the Chicken Farm . . . the Headless Chickens have finished demos for a new album but recording plans are up in the air as they will tour with the UK with Pop Will Eat Itself . . . superb food and music can be found at Shortland at Deßretts. Run by Harold from the Picassos, the doors are open seven days, 10am until late . . . ex-Straitjacket Fit Andrew Brough is now living in Auckland and taking another stab at getting Bike off the ground, they play at Squid with Chris Knox on August 12 . . . Wellington band Clay were in town for a weekend recording demos at the SAE studios in Parnell . . . Chris Knox has cancelled a US tour with Californian band Smog and is preparing to record a new album, provisionally entitled Jandal. . . the re-introduction of 5 Bands For 5 Bucks at the Powerstation is proving a great success. Any bands interested in playing can contact Carmel on (09) 377-3488 . . . Figure 60 have a seven inch single entitled ‘Six Days on the Road’ out on Crawlspace Records . . . the legendary Nick D’Angelo is now writing for Shake! magazine . . .how do mon! RipitUp editor Murray Cammick made his big screen debut during the recent Auckland Film Festival appearing for almost one and a half seconds in the Bob Marley documentary Time Will Tell. . . Wayne Mason ex of the Warratahs will begin recording his solo album for Pagan in August... a one-off Bygone Era reunion is being planned for October. JOHN RUSSELL HAMILTON The Contact 89FM Battle of the Bands is currently being held weekly at the Wailing Bongo Bar. It’s good to see a lot of new bands performing up against more established ones. The final is on August 19 which will include a guest performance by Australian band Caligula ... the Atrocities One compilation tape was released on July 14 by Theta Productions and includes bands such as Swamp Goblin, Valhalla, 5 Girls, Datura and Enshrine. The 5 Girls song on the tape, ‘Dr Ruth’, is receiving airplay on student radios around the country and the band will release their own six song cassette in August . . . Swamp Goblin are also releasing a six song cassette. They are having a release gig at the Wailing Bongo August 6 . . . Death of a Monkey have changed their name to Twitch and their distribution arrangement with Sony has ceased . . . Love and Violence are presently recording demos at The Zoo studios for their second CD . . . also recording at the Zoo recently, Tetnus, Beatangels and Jacqui Keelan Davey . . . King Biscuit have signed to Hark Records and are now recording songs for a CD . . . also on Hark, Tim Armstrong has two songs left to remix before his debut CD is released . . . the Romantic Andes have finished recording 13 songs at the Fridge studios for a CD which will be released on September 9 at the Wailing Bongo. The release gig will also feature King Biscuit and Mibutt. The CD will be available for sls so there’s no excuse .... Kirstin Marcon and Greg Page, under the name Sticky Hand Films, are currently making music videos for the Pilgrims and Inchworm ... the Pilgrims have remixed two songs at the Zoo for a possible single release . . . the manager of the Clap and the Jinn has formed Golden Crush Records and plans to release a CD of the two bands . . . Spatula Death are about to record their second tape ... the Nodrog cassette, UFOs has nearly sold out so more are being made . . . the Emmersons have released a new tape called Set. JUSTIN HARRIS