taking care of business

Rip It Up, Issue 231, 1 November 1996, Page 36

taking care of business

NEW CONTACTS The new address for Valve magazine and Yellow Bike Records is c/- Dave White, PO Box 1067, Nelson, ph/fax (03) 548 ■ ■ 7366, or e-mail: valve@nelson.planet.org.nz... Pagan Records have shifted out of their premises in New North Road to Mt Eden, con- ■ tact details remain the same — PO Box 47 290, Ponsonby, ph (09) 302 3228 / Fax (09) 302 3229 ...

NZ ON AIR MUSIC VIDEOS The acts who have received NZ On Air video grants at the October meeting are Che Fu Pen And Paper (BMG) Breast Secreting Cake Papa People (Flying Nun) Dimmer Don't Make Me Buy Out Your Silence (Flying Nun) OMC Land Of Plenty (huh!) Upper Hutt Posse Dread On A Mission (Kia Kaha) Cicada Get Up (Mr Banger) Greg Johnson Softly On Me (Pagan) Mary Golden Halo (Panty) Stellar Real (Papa Pacific) • The Verlaines Hanging By Strands z (Sony) Ardijah Oh Baby (South Central) Dam Native Extremities (Tangata) Moana & the Moahunters Treaty

(Tangata) Herman Loto Sleeping Shadows (Urban Pacifika) Lost Tribe Summer In The Winter (Urban Pacifika) Bobby Owen Falling (Urban Pacifika) Head Like A Hole Hootnanny (Wildside) Shihad It’s A Go (Wildside)

NZ ON AIR KIWI HIT DISC The tracks selected for the Kiwi Hit Disc N 0.23 are: The Mutton Birds She's Been Talking (Virgin) Greg Johnson Softly On Me (Pagan) OMC Land Of Plenty (huh!) Che Fu Pen And Paper (BMG) . < Annie Crummer I Come Alive (Warners) Emma Paki Nothing Left To Lose (Virgin) b-Faction Pride (Tangata) Bobby Owen Falling (Urban Pacifika) Mavelle Show Me Heaven (Birthday) Nathan Haines Black Satin (huh!) Shihad It's A Go (Wildside) Jordan Reyne Millstones (Deepgrooves) Cynthia Should Frog (Yellow Eye) Dead Flowers You Drink The Water, I'll Drink The Wine (Wildside) ’ Verlaines Hanging By Strands (Sony) ENZSO featuring Annie Crummer I Hope I Never (Sony)

The following NZ artists qualified due to “significant airplay achieved”, for funding by the NZ On Air Radio Hits Scheme: Supergroove If I Had My Way (BMG) Exponents Do You Feel In Love (Warners) Exponents La La Lulu (Warners) Annie Crummer U Soul Me (Warners)

Muckhole Don't Wanna Know You (Felix) Teina Gone Fishing (Birthday) Bic Runga Bursting Through (Sony) Second Child Desire You (Wildside) Emma Paki Don't Give It Up (Virgin) Garageland I’m Looking For What I Can't Get (Flying Nun) Eye TV Immaculate (Pagan)

PANTERA, BIOHAZARD, FAT MANNEQUIN Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington, October 1.

One hell of a wet and windy night in the capital, saw the black-clad brigade out in major force to catch their ‘spiritual leaders in mosh’. By its mere existence the Queens Wharf Events Centre begs the question — Why can’t arsonists be more discerning with their targets? Not that anyone was that concerned with their surroundings once the heavy-fuckin-metal cranked up. But first up was local boys Fat Mannequin, who power-wise were no match for the numbingly heavy Stateside metallers. Playing tracks from their forthcoming album, including ‘Room And Spine’, and ‘Other than Stares’, Fat Mannequin played a worthy, if somewhat mismatched support. Despite missing some of

Biohazard’s set, the New York foursome hammered home the fact, that there’s no messing with them. Selections from both Mata Leao and State Of The World Address were enthusiastically received by the still growing audience.

Pantera simply delivered. All the insane chunk riffing, double-kicking, Anselmo-screaming, metal-attitude, the filthiest, most zit-ridden young metalhead could have a wet dream over. However, starting with a recording of the laid-back agony of ‘Suicide Note Pt.T, prepared the crowd for nothing. But when they kicked in proper, the instant effect on a large percentage of the crowd was similar to mass-electrocution. Pantera stormed through all the favs; ‘Becoming’, ‘This Love’, ‘Drag The Waters’ etc. Philo spouted off against (amongst other things) White Zombie, false metal and/or Metallica, and endorsed weed, beer, and whisky. Pantera are indeed the party band you’d imagine, having a good time on stage and sharing it with the audience. Musically they’re metronomically precise and uncompromisingly heavy, yet still cling to sad metal cliches, such as Dimebag’s and Rexx’s skip to swap stage sides. Favourites of the night were Sabbath’s ‘Planet Caravan’, ‘Primal Concrete Sledge’, and Biohazard’s cameo Zombie-pisstake of ‘Thunder Kiss 65’. A night of unashamed, metal thrashing madness. GAVIN BERTRAM GARBAGE, ASH, PASH North Shore Events Centre, Auckland, October 11. The bFM ad for this concert may have placed more emphasis on the fact Pash were playing tonight, rather than the long anticipated appearance of both headliners, but I was still in the bath while they were playing. You win some, you win some.

Ash were so lame. The story goes, they spent the previous two nights drinking til the wee hours in Melbourne, then arrived in New Zealand and spent two hours naked in front of airport customs officers. Enough activity then, to unsettle any band, and Ash didn’t disappoint in that regard. The Irish trio had zero charisma, and played without an ounce of passion evident. Closing with perfunctory runs through ‘Girl From Mars’ and ‘Kung Fu’, they looked as pleased to be leaving the stage as I was to see those fakers depart. Thirty minutes later, and the award for Most Coolest Advance On A Stage goes to Shirley Manson. With the room bathed in electric blue light, and the band already in position, Manson, still not visible, coos, ‘doo doo doo doo doo doo’ into her mic, then casually strolls into view and breathes the opening lines to ‘Queer’ — ‘Hey boy take a look at me I Let me dirty up your mind’, while before her the crowd ignites in unison. Awesome. They play almost everything off Garbage, and Manson, wearing “fishnet tights but no knicks”, according to the record co., keeps her audience spellbound for the entire duration. Without wanting to belittle Vig & co., who were musically on the ball, they were backing musicians, pure and simple, in the way the Cranberries are to Dolores O’Riordan. Tonight, all focus was on the girl out front. Attacking her way through super-rock renditions of ‘Fix Me’, ‘Only Happy When It Rains’, ‘Not My Idea’, and ‘Dog New Tricks’, Manson bobs, darts, weaves, bounces, and boogies her way across stage, in command and intoxicating. Ironically, the highest and lowest moments came together a third of the way through, when after an utterly glorious, strung-out version of ‘Milk’, Manson stops the show to have ejected, a “fookin’ cunt”, who’d been gobbing on her from the beginning of the show, After a stomping ‘Vow’, deafening demands brought an encore consisting of ‘Girl Don’t Come’, and the Vic Chesnut number, ‘Kick My Ass’, and like a whirlwind, they were gone far too soon. As a singer, and a frontperson, Manson ranks among the best I’ve ever seen, and those songs, solid slices of what Garbage believe guitar pop should sound like in the 90s, shit all over anything Noel Gallagher has come up with. For now, until I hear any different, I’m convinced Garbage are the real deal. JOHN RUSSELL WEEZER Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland, October 14. Usually you start off a live review with a nod for the support bands. Not this time. It’s time to break tradition for a bit of a spit — what is up with these early gigs! The Sex Pistols finishing at 10.30 pm! Ash going on at 8! Garbage and Weezer arriving at 9:lspm! It’s still light outside for chrissakes. And when exactly do we find out these amended times. Sort it out eh?

Anyway, Weezer used us like a practice session. All we heard from Rivers all night, as he clutched at his guitar like a shield, was “Turn the monitors up!”, “More on the vocals” and occasionally mid way through a song, “Slow it down”. And the flexi-necked, ‘Mammy’ (ref: Al Jolson) hands bass player was the only one who moved about through the whole show. But the kids (and the strange percentage of Hauraki-ophiles) didn’t care. There was a Morrissey fan sense of devotion in the air. The one kid who managed to get on stage didn’t hug them or pat them or dive into the audience, he backed off, fell to his knees & bowed!

The Pinkerton tracks were easy to spot. Weezer’s new stuff is loud & ragey and no one knew what had

hit them. The melodic, familiar, sing along old stuff was the reason these kids were here and ‘Buddy Holly’, ‘Sweater Song’ and ‘Say It Ain’t So’ were the huge, screaming frenzies of the night, predictably. But the crowd politely swayed and danced to the new stuff. They didn’t quite know the words yet but they jumped and shouted to the chorus’, with ‘EI Scorcho’s Tm a lot like you’ providing the evening’s anthem. You see, up on stage Weezer are the rock n roll personification of the Square Pegs TV series. When Rivers switched to the badly timed solo acoustic ‘Butterfly’ (met with restless cheers and whistles from a hyped up crowd) it felt like some kind of confront your fears therapy session. But his audience lapped it up because they usually feel on the outer and their freakish unity gave them strength with the king of the nerds leading the way. Or something. Highlight of the evening was the rough version of ‘The Good Life’, which is easily the best and most telling track off Pinkerton, all full of regret and want and growing old and envying the past. They walked off with the gameshow theme they’d arrived with, and that was the end. Tune in next time kids.

JESUS LIZARD, FUTURE STUPID, APPLICATORS Powerstation, Auckland, October 14. I arrived early (under duress) to behold the straining sounds of the Applicators’ whining punk/metal, complete with imbecilic guitar wank, then held out through the Past, Present and Future Stupid, who incidentally were painfully loud — which I guess matches their dumb meter levels. ENERGY, is definitely written large in the Stupid vocab, particularly the very cool presence of Jason from Love’s Ugly, swinging that bass so lowwwww! - The thin ranks of non drinkers downstairs were swelled by the drunken . rabble migrating south to fill the floor for the main event. On came Chicago drunks the Jesus Lizard. Some eight years since their inception, and on their second visit to these shores in less than 12 months, the Lizard’s musical muscle was a fearsome four-headed beastie. The most obvious of which is of course David Yow, who staggered on stage and before the first three ’chords had pealed out, was surfing the crowd on all fours. He wailed and writhed making a true rock ‘n’ roll spectacle of himself, ensuring all present received due consideration for the entry fee, and at one point a little more than most had bargained. Mr Yow sunk to the floor with a woman wrapped around his neck, and after some cooing and playful screaming, remerged on stage, jeans around his knees. Like the true professional he is he finished the song, put “the little wrinkly” away, and launched into ‘Mary’ from the band’s debut EP. Meanwhile, 'behind the antics, Duane Dennison was a study in guitarist cool, swaying occasionally to the measured doses.of his angular licks. David Sims cranked out precise assaults of killer bass thuggery, punctuating the drum accents by smashing an. imaginary dwarf on the crown with the head of his guitar, over and over, song after song. Holding the chaos together in his own manic style was Mac McNeilly, attacking the skins. And then before David Yow could pop in another between song line of verbal drool (eg “I dedicate this song to the kids in the audience who dream of being old enough to. drink.”) they were gone — and there wasn’t a dry eye left in the house.

MAC HODGE