HZ SINGLES

Rip It Up, Issue 224, 1 April 1996, Page 36

HZ SINGLES

GREG JOHNSON You Stay Out Of Your Life (And I’ll Stay Out Of Mine) CD Single (Pagan) Yet more effortless optimistic pop from Mr Johnson. The infectiously bouncy ‘You Stay...’, a tale borne in Bar 202 of all places, aims straight for the part of your brain that makes you whistle a happy tune. Damn fine. Vine Street Stories' best song ‘lf I Swagger’ gets the remix treatment though it’s barely noticeable, with just a hint of extra keyboards added. And winding up is the sparse and reflective, but not particularly captivating, ‘You’re So Cool’. SHAFT Pooty CD EP (Zero) The gorgeous orchestral pop epic ‘Downhill Racer’ is worth the entrance fee alone on Shaft’s debut EP, and though no other track comes close, there are other cool sounding tunes here; the sleazy/bright pop of ‘Out Frankensteined’, a delicate shuffle in the form of ‘Golden Goose’, and the Monkee-like ‘Tour Of Pooty’. A nice glimpse of 60s pop in the 90s. (Shaft, c/- PO Box 8282, Symonds Street, Auckland). THE MANAGERS . Infiltrator CD EP Another debut EP, this one care of Auckland outfit the Managers. Firstly the crisp sounding Infiltrator is a fine advertisement for what can be accomplished at Ground Zero Studios, secondly it contains a classy party anthem or two, notably the hi-energy ska of ‘Loose Nut’ and the Bodysnatchers-reminiscent title track.

Christchurch’s APE MANAGEMENT talk about rock ’n’ roll the only way it should be dissected. “If it’s got soul, or heart, or balls, that’s the most important thing,” says Ape vocalist, Rock Hard Man. Rock and his sidekicks, Kenny Bear (drums), Gene Pool Belmondo (bass), Brother Love and Dave Doyster (both on guitars), adopt the same attitude to their own brand of blues-drenched, raw-powered, psychedelic rock. They’re not about to get intensely cerebral about what is basically a lot of good, clean noise. “Basically we're mixing the smoothest, creamiest funk, with the dirtiest garage-guitar noise. It veers between funk rock and punky sort of stuff, with quite a 70s rock influence. We take from all over the place, and try and wind it together into something all our own.” Ape Management have peddled their wares around the venues of Christchurch and beyond for the past two years, and this month deliver two take-home reminders of the Ape experience, in the form of a seven inch single, ‘Big Hair’, out on the band’s own Homebacon imprint, and the full length CD Simply the Beast, courtesy of Auckland label Zero. Excluding their adoring public for the moment, Rock readily admits the Ape sound is not an easy pill to swallow for many Christchurch music fans raised on a Failsafe diet. “This involves doing what we think rock is about, regardless of what the current trend is. We’re not young boys wailing about lost love or anything like that, subsequently it’s a bit alien to a lot of people here who are used to that sort of thing. Over the last six months we’ve had a better time playing in the North Island than down here, better receptions, bigger crowds, and more fun.” Maybe half the problem is Ape Management’s reputation for rock ’n’ roll behaviour. To their credit, they

Much of the Managers appeal lies in the winning horn section who provide the major portion of the Managers melodic, esp. on ‘Who Am I Kidding’. Looking keenly towards the album. (Managers, C/- R. Jones, PO Box 1170, Auckland 1). APE MANAGEMENT Big Hair Seven Inch Single (Homebacon) Prior to the release of their debut album Simply The Beast, Christchurch’s Ape Management drop three tracks of very 10-fi, sludgy, gutter rock. A-sides ‘Big Hair’ and ‘Driven By Love’ are both whiplash inducing, dirty noisefests, but it’s the super raucous, Kinks-ish ‘You Really Lose Me’ that exhibits the full raw power of Ape Management. (AM, 578 Madras Street, Chch). SANDRA BELL Angel Seven Inch Single (Zabriskie Point) American trainspotters lap this sort of despairing stuff up, but I can’t stomach it. Maudlin, dirgy guitars paired with tuneless, monotonal vocals does not equate with the enjoyment of music in the way that I understand it. (Sandra Bell, 77 Maitland Street, Dunedin). THE NERVE Goby CD (Face) I’d almost forgotten that folks were interested in this kind of music, not to even mention wanting to record it. The first release from Face Records is 13 tracks of emotionless, by-numbers 80s. jangle from the Nerve, so mediocre it almost makes you cry. Why would people go to this much

effort when aspiring to so little. (The Nerve, c/- Contact FM, Private Bag 3059, Hamilton). ALFALFAMEO Cherub 7 CD EP (Jam Factory) Cherub does not sound anything like the groovy pop band Alfalfameo were when I saw them in Nelson two years ago. A shift to Auckland has turned them hard. They’ve adopted a more confrontational style of songwriting, not dissimilar to the more arty/rock moments of ’ Fatal “Jelly Space, where lyrics are spat rather than sung. Frankly it bores me rigid. Still, 10 points for rhyming ’woman’s thighs’ with ‘mince pies’. (Alfalfameo, c/- 29 Beach Road, Auckland). STATIC BLACK Static Black CD Just what have I done to deserve this? Static Black are Hawkes Bay’s answer to the god-awful Holy Toledos. This involves sounding tinny and sensitively angst ridden, in order to push terminally polite guitars and bad poetry posing as lyrics. Question; Who wants this? Answer; It’s probably not a strange thing that five guys without a rock ‘n’ roll bone in their bodies should be drawn together. (Static Black, 8 Ngarimu Street, Havelock North). MELLO THUMB Boy With A Saw CD EP (Mellon Farmer) No one told Mello Thumb it’s unwise to describe yourselves as a “funknoise rock band”, however, they’re not as bad as that summation would lead you to believe. While their slick, heavily Americanised funk/rap schtick fails to register on any level musically, singer Todd Mohi has a hefty mature voice, that in the right ■ environment will definitely shine..ln addition, you have to respect them for not attempting to clone Supergroove. (Mello Thumb, 3 Rose Street, Napier). JOHN RUSSELL

don’t have a problem being the centre of attention, and have been known to get heinously drunk on stage just to prove it — an antagonistic act perhaps, to those who prefer their rock idols a fraction more sedate and shoe conscious. “We get a lot of that sort of thing, it’s something that people take the most notice of sometimes. We get called scuzzy, basically because we’ve got reasonably large appetites and we don’t mind who knows it — sex, drugs, alcohol, bananas, chickens — but basically that makes us a little more honest than a lot of people. People out there think we’re a joke band, when we’re actually reasonably hard working, serious-minded musicians... although we don’t go overboard. We’re not solemn, pasty-faced black jersey wearers.” The degree to which Ape Management desire to be given a fair go is evident in Rock's mission statement. Having recently reacquainted themselves with the countryside on their fourth national tour, Ape Management wish for the country to become more familiar with them. “I see Ape Management as a pop band amongst other things, and it’d be very nice to achieve some kind of pop success in New Zealand for starters. Obviously we’re pretty much like most every musician in this country, we’d like nothing better than to make a living out of this eventually. At the moment there are only a certain percentage of enlightened people who appreciate our stuff, but it’s growing slowly. It doesn’t mean we’re going to change what we do to gain a modicum of success, but this is our life and we take it seriously. There’s people out there who treat you like a joke band because you’ve got a sense of humour, but that’s not the way we look at it at all — it’s just that our sense of humour gets into everything we do.” JOHN RUSSELL

AUCKLAND A benefit concert for the late Charlie Tumahi is to be held at the Powerstation on April 7 (Easter Sunday). Performing at Herbaciously Yours are: Herbs, Annie Crummer, Dave Dobbyn, Midge Marsden, Ardijah, Hello Sailor, Shona Laing, Emma Paki, Moana and the Moahunters, Southside of Bombay, I Unity, and the Che Ness Band ... the Able Tasmans are splitting up after their April tour. “We’re very positive about it”, says the Ables’ Graeme Humphries, “we want to organise our own funeral, do it right, and go out with a bang" ... after spending February and. March writing and rehearsing new songs in the basement of the old .TVNZ building (now York St: B). in Shortland St, Supergroove are now ensconced at York Street Studio in Parnell recording their second album; which is due for release July 1, to be followed by a nationwide tour ... also at York Street, Bailter Space recorded 10 new tracks before returning to life in New York ... Nathan Haines has left ... . . ........ ....; New Zealand for London for a series of live dates and studio commitments, including sessions with UK DJs Roy the Roach, Judge Jules, and Paul ’Trouble’ Anderson. Haines will return mid-year for a national tour ... bFM held their annual NZ Music Week Mar 27-Apr 3. Bands that played live-to-air were Coelacanth, Shaft, Dead Flowers, and a similcast of the Friday night . Nunfest show ... Garageland have finished mixing Last Exit to Garageland, the album will be out on F Nun in May ... ignore the rumours suggesting the demise of the Hallelujah Picassos. The new lineup is Raudra-Bayanaka on vocals, Bobbyion on bass, Seamus on guitar, and Scott Moa on keyboards. The HPs are looking for a drummer... former Picassos guitarist Gavin Downie has joined Future Stupid, who also boast Semi Lemon Kola's Derek Hunt on drums, replacing the recently departed Dave Toland ... also an ex-HP, Peter McLennan has directed a 24minute documentary on Chris Knox. Songs Of You and Me features interviews with Knox, his partner Barbara Ward, and various music types including Alec Bathgate and Flying Nun’s Lesley Paris." Songs Of You and Me made it’s small screen debut on Max TV, March 30, and is due to be broadcast again soon ... Upper Hutt Posse are performing at the Music West Trade Fair in Vancouver first week of May ... Eye TV have recorded their next single, ‘lmmaculate’, at the Lab (out late May). Meanwhile the trio embark on an Australian tour on April 24 ... Martin Phillipps & the Chills will do a short Auckland “suburban tour” from April 17-21 ... Deluge have finished recording tracks for their CD EP, currently being manufactured. A release is set for early May ... Stayfree Carefree’s album launch gig at Squid on March 1 was thwarted as one member was arrested for pissing in High St. The band have pared down to a three-piece, consisting solely of Reid brothers Julian, Simon and AB ... Bic Runga has begun rehearsing with band, and will be gigging starting late April ... Spacesuit have played their final gig for awhile, as saxophone player Ben Holmes had gone to Melbourne. An album is planned for June release ... watch for Nonoxynl 9's Damien Lines appearing as Basil the Drummer in Nick’s band on Shortland Street ... the Tufnels are recording demos for their second album, real work begins in June ... new fanzine around is Lifted, featuring TV, movie, and music news, plus local info and gossip. Write to Lifted, Cl- Po Box 10 333, Dominion Road, Auckland ... Matty J will tour New Zealand in June, just as ‘Love Every Little Thing About You’, the second single from his album Cruisin', is released

... finally, plans are underway for the second annual Hatching Battle of The Bands. This year there are four categories: “Hard, Fast and Heavy, Grunge/Punk/Alternative, Pop/Rock, and Dance/Funk/Electronic/HipHop.” Heats start in July and entries close May 31. Contact (09)377-5441, for a

Hatching Info Kit.

JOHN RUSSELL

HAMILTON We have been busy in the Waikato, there seems fewer bands than usual at this stage of the year, but no doubt the Battle of the Bands (June) will bring them out of the woodwork ... Inchworm are presently awaiting the return of their CD from Australia. Its called Shiny, and includes an album’s worth of sweet pop songs and some nice artwork by Greg Page ... also releasing CD material soon are BoilUp (local reggae band). They intend to have an EP entitled Maori Version on the shelves by May ... Blackjack have been recording new material for a CD single release ... Hamilton’s Buffalo Springfiel, The Tsunami Band are presently recording on Orange, and will have an EP out in the not too distant, near future (sometime) ... another Orange band, the Emersons are intending to meet to consider the possibility (albeit a small one) of jamming. The band apparently haven’t realised that the term ‘being over exposed’ doesn’t apply to the practice room. Recording at The Fridge at the moment are The Poppets, Lizard and Gas ... The Zoo has closed for good. The Waikato Polytech now owns the recording desk, and everything else is now in Wellington ... Dean Leary has resigned as manager of Hark Records and intends to have a well deserved rest from rock and roll, for at least a few weeks (it being in his system and a 11...) ... word has it there may be a Hamilton music and arts magazine on the streets soon ... Static Television is on air every Monday. It’s New Zealand’s first student TV station and it’s good! First broadcast featured Shihad. live-to-air, and was hosted by Ice TV’s Jon Bridges.

ADAM HYDE

HAWKES BAY Big Blue Blanket are gearing up to record their growing collection of original tunes at Hanging Tree, and are planning a selffunded CD release ... Lindsay Gibb, a stalwart of the HB Musicians Club, has headed off to Australia, while acoustic duo Fine Tunings played their final gig at Brodskies, and well attended it was too. Mark is concentrating on family life for a while, and Liam is seeing which way the wind blows ... Original Music Club is holding a songwriters concert on March 31 at the Century Theatre. Artists include: lan Tubitt, Phil Tilbury, Hanging Tree and Scotty Smith. The club nights at Mossy's are still going strong also ... Hanging Tree news: the label has secured a distribution deal with Germany’s Noiseworks, and a compilation entitled Noisyland will feature some of the bands off the Windows in Wonderland compilation. Hannay has also set up a coalition of bands called, funnily enough, The Coalition, whose aim is to pool resources through various means in order to record and release a CD. Any bands interested in joining can contact Hannay. Hanging Tree Records have also bought video gear and are at present producing a video for local band Soap, to go with the release of their album ... HB Musicians Club have moved back to the bar of the Provinical, but eventually hope to lease their own venue ... SAY is now onto its sixth issue, and looking at increasing in size. More writers are needed, so if you feel like contributing local material, get in touch with Hannay ...

Matt from Mellothumb is branching out into producing a comic of his and other people’s stuff.

TONY PARKER

NEW PLYMOUTH New bands around town in the last few months are as follows: 1080, Subkulcha (a Schizophrenia spin-off), and Hoarmoaning ... Mushroom Ball happens on May 10-11 at Jack's. Playing so far are: Squirm, Lagerwerfer, Whitey Hiss, Sticky Filth, 1080, State Of Hate, Kitsch, Alfalfameo and Hoarmoaning. More are to be confirmed, and Onefoot Records’ recording artists Horace Pinker from Texas will play at the Mushroom Ball as part of their New Zealand tour... Ima Hitt is in the middle of a tax department dispute. Watch this space for reports from the battle zone ... Peter Jefferies is back and played a show at Burundi recently... there were no recording studios in New Plymouth to speak of, now there are four — all or nothing, I guess ... Raw Beal Issue 7 surfaced a few weeks ago, a thrown together issue for sure. If you want a copy check out your favourite record store or send an 80 cent stamp to Raw Beat, PO Box 407, New Plymouth. If you wanna play in New Plymouth ring (06)758-3301 for info.

BRIAN WAFER

PALMERSTON NORTH The Susans release their debut EP, It's Your View, in the Palmy region this month, with national release later in the year ... new bands Terminal Intensity and Sesqui Kings are performing soon ... Greased Arm made their debut on March 14 at the

Wild Horse, definitely one of the seediest experiences lately ... Were Pig and the Flaming Fellars also debuted recently. Much talk of whiskey and a good dose of rock ’n' r 01 1... Torn are another new band, who have yet tp perform, but with big plans. Watch out for them! ... Cannibal Sex Kicks have released their double seven inch single, which includes a live recording ... Polio seven inch out now ... Dog Tooth Violet are doing a one-off reunion gig to celebrate the release of their seven inch ... CUNT have a CD called Crack Pot, out now on Yellow Bike Records, ($lO from PO Box 586, Palmerston North) ... the Livids have released a CD on Spotty Dog Records, and a bloody fine little piece of shiny plastic it is too ... other releases coming up are Wholesale Drainage and Torn, who are releasing recordings on on new label Sinkplug Records ... Finally the Blunt seven inch is released this month (with luck!) ... also look out for seven inch releases from Zenith Street Cleaner and State Of Hate ... Mouldy Old Stick, head guy of Lizard Mull Records, is planning a two-night, eight-band gig in September for a bit of fun ... Foisemaster have a tape out soon on Lizard Mull ... Palmerston North now has its own Music Channel, Dog TV, running 72 hours a week on UHF band 56 ... information for this column can be submitted by phone on (06)3568199 ext. 7780, or by fax (06)356-9049.

J and 808

WELLINGTON Well, whadda month. Wellington sure is the place to be in March! The Fringe Festival (best yet!) has officially come to a

close but you can catch the best of the fringe at Bats, featuring Naughty Bad Girls, Knot a Problem, Glass, Murder and more ... April’s lookin’ big too, with Active 89FM at it again, this time partying up at La Luna on April 20. Action kicks off in the morning, live to air with hot Welli DJs of all descriptions, an auction, drink specials and madness through to the wee small hours ... Head Like A Hole and Shihad are hard at it in the studio, no doubt playing in ya face again 500 n... Bilge Festival release their long awaited album The Shrimp Boats this month ... the old Stax in Cuba Street has reopened as a venue; Sonic Temple has an in-house PA at your disposal, call for bookings on (04)3841700 ... a new venue has opened in the basement of Tatou, it’s called The Cybertron Lounge ... rumours of a new venue (capacity 600) somewhere are circulating ... the Wellington Singles Club will be releasing a split eight inch Geraldine pressing, featuring Scote, Cowcatcher, Loosehead and Svelte. Limited numbers, so get in quick and buy ... German label Noiseworks is releasing a CD compilation of New Zealand underground works featuring Truckstop ... Jawload and Baconfoot take to the road with dates in Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North and possibly New Plymouth, so take cover... look out for a demo release from fluffy locals Letterbox Lambs, and a seven inch from the sexy Sowpuss ... Tailgater Studio are seeing results in the form of recordings from Sone, Ape Management, Jawload and Lichen Pole, who have recorded this time as a three piece ... look out for a big record from sonic sculptors Cattle, who feature ex-Clay David Coventry (also put down at Tailgater), catch 'em live soon ... Pussywillow are still getting heaps better ... a compilation CD featuring Wellington’s finest electronica is due for release this month, with contributions by LRS, Oblique, Larry B and others. To celebrate this release, look out for Transit... more parties from Ebony Beats, Roots Foundation and Da Fonky Monks on their way ... and check out Engine if you’re in town, full of local info on art, music, film, culture, and a gig guide to keep ya

informed!

ANGELA MEANS

DUNEDIN Well, the Nunfest has come and gone, and generated a huge amount of interest. One of the highlights for many was the rare chance to see Snapper live ... the new Dimmer lineup of Robbie Yeats on drums, Chris Heazlewood on bass, Cameron Bain (Super Car and Constant Pain) and, of course, Shayne Carter have been practicing madly ... Robbie Yeats had the daunting task of playing in three bands in one day (Dead C, Dimmer and the Renderers) during the Nunfest ... Brian Cook (the Renderers) is finishing off his first solo album with a little help from drummers Robbie and Peter Stapleton ... Mink are doing the final mix of their new CD, which will include some visuals playable through your CD ROM player — a first I’ve heard of for New Zealand. Steve Cournane has taken over the drummer’s stool from Heath Te Au. Steve is also playing with the revived Animalipse line-up, along with Brian Spittle, Ozi, Geoff Mitchell and Allan Starrett. Recording and live shows due soon ... Andrew Mikkelson of trip-hop group Nimbus has returned from Japan

... Martin Phillipps -enthralled his audience with an in-store show at Echo Records a few weeks ago. The set also went live-to-air on Radio One ... as if to prove it's not all guitars in Dunedin, fucked-up techno outfit ISO 12 have popped up from nowhere. They currently have a song on Radio One entitled ‘Princess Di’s Olivia Neutron Bomb’ ... a couple of long awaited CDs have finally made it- in the country: Sferic Experiment’s CD is out now on Drunken Fish; the Feeler compilation, organised by Alastair Galbraith and featuring Cake Kitchen, Alastair G, Bobs Cardy and Scott, Davids Merritt and Kilgour, and many others, has been going like hot cakes locally. Both these releases should be available through your local esoteric record shop ... the Lonesome Throats have been doing the four-track recording thing and are to realease a single 500 n... the Sharma brothers (Jefferson etc.) have opened up a cool new (retro) shop/gallery/tattoo parlour and vice colony. Rob tells me he is now taking bookings for the Crown Hotel. Shop and bookings on (03)474-9366. Jefferson are performing as Jettison while Todd is in Canberra. They recently played at the Empire with 2 Moons Smirky and Slate (Andrew Dickson)... the Dunedin Sound exhibition is up and running at the Otago Early Settlers Museum. If you are passing through town it’s definitely worth a look ... Radio One is looking for some dedicated soul/s to edit and sell ads for sPec magazine. Contact Darren on (03)4776115 ... local rock gods Funhouse have received an NZ On Air significant airplay grant for ‘I Don’t Mind’. Apparently local station 93 Rox played the song 500 times. That’s a total of 25 hours of Funhouse! The boys have also recorded back-up vocals on the new Mink album ... the DCC, through the Youth Forum, is continuing to organise free public events, including a gig in the Octagon with Cloudboy, Urban Disturbance, Jungle Fungus and others in mid-April ... any news or lies, phone (03)472-7291.

DAVID MUIR

CHRISTCHURCH. Here in Christchurch, the weather has been turned down a couple of knotches. Brrr, not looking forward to winter ... the On the Beaten Track CD release party went well, although Salmonella's drummer Dave fell asleep in the bath, while he was supposed to be on stage. Whoops ... local industrialists Leonard Nimoy have got a bit of national recognition, they’ll be featured on the up and coming Valve magazine CD. Also, their likeminded label KKRRKK Cassettes will have a two-page spread in the same mag ... Jason is taking over bookings at His Lordship’s. It's more up his alley, and his contact number is (025)315-590 ... power popsters Debris plan to release a CD EP in the the next couple of months ... new death metallers in town are the Alluminator. They’re gonna focus on the intelligent side of metal by bringing, in that classical element. Alluminator features Dan, who used to be in the now defunct Bodyfarm ... RDU have just completed New Zealand Music Week. It tied in nicely with fest, and had a couple of successful live to airs with Squirm and Hawaii 5-0 ... the Feelers are working on some demos for an up and coming album ... also on the demo trail are Salon Kitty ... that’s it from Christchurch. Any Rumours phone me on (03)348-0553. SARAH NICOL