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Rip It Up, Issue 224, 1 April 1996, Page 10

The Aussie alternative scene is a multi-faceted beast we know very little of in New Zealand. Hugo Race & the True Spirit are a part of that scene that we may get to know more of soon. Race was one of the original Bad Seeds (From Her to Eternity), he has done the living in Berlin thing, he formed the Wreckery in 1985, then on his own he’s recorded six albums since 1989, and he was a guest player on Nick’s latest Murder Ballads. Hugo is on a car mobile in Oz somewhere, and shows no enthusiasm for my mentioning Nick’s latest album — “We were both recording in Melbourne at the same time. It was a fun thing.” He warms up when talking about Tony Cohen, the Melbourne producer who had a comic role in the Nick Cave bio, and whose producing of Straitjacket Fits’ Done delighted many. “Because I was in Melbourne, I got to record with

Tony Cohen. He's incredible, he was giving 100 per cent energy to our record.” Hugo's talking about Valley of Light, recorded with his True Spirit quartet including expat bassist Bryan Colechin, formerly in Christchurch’s Newz and the later Melbourne line-up of the Marching Girls. For convenience I filed Race in the same neighbourhood as Tex Perkin’s Cruel Sea and Nick Cave. Do you guys from the 80s indie scene have much in common? “I think what is in common is background references. The sort of things that Tex has listened to or Nick has listened to, they’re basically the same kinds of music — Chess, Sun recordings — Howlin’ Wolf etc. But what people do with these influences is entirely different." “True Spirit don’t try to be commercial but we don’t try to be obscure. We want new experiences, we don’t want to repeat what we did last year.” Is Europe all techno obsessed now? “No. The English press are always trying to create their own wave to ride. Techno is huge, but a lot of people are not into it, they find it repetitive and redundant. Those people get into our record, we’re a songwriter based group.” Will you live in Berlin again? “There was a time in which it was a nexus point, an energy between people living there. Those days are past and things have become spread out." Were recreational drugs a focal part of that Aussie indie scene? “It’s quite surprising that a lot of the people I grew up with are amazingly straight nowadays. I think I pushed it as far as it could go, years ago. I exhausted it years ago, growing up on the myth of the Velvet Underground.” “I find being sensitised nowadays quite overwhelming. I like it a lot. I’d hate to get stuck in any one episode of my life?

MURRAY CAMMICK

Christine Anu enjoyed her brief visit to New Zealand, two Womad shows and encounters with musicians and media. By the Auckland Womad show, Christine had purchased a tight, bright t-shirt (read “sucks”) proudly showing off her fine seven months pregnant profile. “I know my album can be quite significant over here. I hope I’m involved in more than just Womad. I hope I get to record with Moana and Teremoana. I have an affinity with those woman.” Christine is not that concerned about drawing